Darren Young insists there will be no need for his Stirling Albion squad to have a pick-me-up on Saturday after losing for the first time in nine games last weekend.
The Binos’ sparkling run was brought to an end at Forthbank with a 2-0 defeat to Annan Athletic, but they will be given the chance to get back on the horse in front of their own fans with the visit of Young’s former employers East Fife.
The Fifers themselves suffered home disappointment last weekend with a 3-2 loss against Albion Rovers and Young is hopeful of his side’s chances if they can cut out the errors costing them in recent outings.
Young said: “I don’t need to pick the players up because if someone told us we would go on a run of playing ten games and only lose one of them, then I would’ve bitten their hand off for that.
“It was disappointing on Saturday but we’re taking the positives from it in that we defended really well and that it was a mistake for the goal and going down to 10 men which really cost us.
“The annoying and frustrating thing is that it’s the mistakes that are causing the problems, giving the referee the chance to send players off and so from that point of view, there are things to improve on.
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“We were well and truly in the game at 0-0 and Jack [Leitch] has probably had the best chance of the game to go and score and even at 1-0, it wasn’t ever really comfortable for them and on another day, we might have been able to get another draw and a point. “Greig [McDonald, East Fife manager] has done well since he took over from Stevie [Crawford] and put his own stamp on things; I’ve seen their games in the last few weeks and as always, it’s going to be a hard game for us but it’s an opportunity for us to pick up three points.”
The Albion gaffer also rued the impact of discipline, with Robert Thomson and Cameron Clark shown red cards in the last two games – and recently felt the impact of the dressing room’s efforts to improve the issue in his own pocket after being sent off in the reverse fixture in Methil.
“We need to be a bit more streetwise, both tackles were maybe too aggressive and where 10 years ago you might have got away with them, you won’t now,” Young added.
“We’ve sat down and had a look at discipline but the players know themselves – last year, we had a big problem with dissent and now there are heavy fines for being booked or sent off for dissent.
“I should know because I got fined myself for getting sent off up at East Fife.
“It’s just a case of taking a step back and looking at your position, whether it’s taking one for the team or a 50/50 tackle and when you go in two-footed, referees can deem it as dangerous – we just have to accept it and deal with it.”
