“It’s not good enough.”
That was the verdict of St Cuthbert Wanderers’ manager after his side suffered a second thrashing in a row.
On Friday night they were thumped 7-1 by Mid Annandale – less than seven days on from their 9-0 Scottish Cup defeat to Linlithgow Rose.
Boss Josh Gardner said: “We’ve picked up where we left off against Linlithgow Rose. It was a poor night.
“It was a shocking first half. We’re all doing a wee bit of soul searching for answers. Teams do go through tough periods but it shouldn’t be anything like this, not with the squad and talent we have.
“We’ve massively let ourselves down but we’ll be working hard to fix it.
“From what I’ve seen in training and the players I’ve signed, the quality is there. They’re talented players. A lot of them it’s their first time at this level and there’s a lot of naïvety in their play and the way we’ve conceded goals.
“Teams don’t really have to do a lot to score against us. Even on Friday, Mid Annandale had eight shots on goal and scored seven. One was a needless penalty and we didn’t defend a set-piece properly. You need to put the hard work in. At the moment we’re out of games before we can even get a foothold.
“It’s not good enough.”
Jordan Harley scored a hat-trick for Mids with Peter Mendy, on loan from Queen of the South, bagging a brace. Dylan Neill and a trialist were also on target, Reece McAteer getting Saints’ only goal.
Gardner added: “The goals seem to come in bunches, which is the concerning thing. It’s not just the players, it’s up to myself and coaches to find the answers.
“We’ve tried a few different things, we’ve some other things we’re going to try but sometimes it’s simplicity that’s needed in moments like this.
“We need to be better, communicate better, work harder, run more. We need to do all those things and be back doing the basics really well and give ourselves a platform.
“It needs to improve quickly and that pressure is not coming from the committee or the fans, it’s coming from myself. I’m here to win and we need to start doing it quickly.”
Gardner is looking for a reaction from his side when they face Lochmaben in the SFA South Region Challenge Cup on Saturday.
The sides met a few weeks ago, with Saints triumphing 3-2.
Gardner said: “I think Lochmaben have done well. They’re a young team and they gave us a tight game the last time we played them.
“Until we get that right that’s where we’ll always be. We can’t progress until we get this right.”
