Threave Rovers suffered their second West of Scotland League defeat in a row on Saturday.
The Castle Douglas side went down 2-1 at St Peter’s in the fourth division, a week after Kilsyth Athletic had ended their perfect start to the season.
They now sit three points behind leaders Kilsyth, who have played a game more.
Boss Vinnie Parker said: “It was going to take us a few games to get bedded in. Winning 9-0 against Rossvale was possibly the worst thing that could have happened.
“I don’t know if a bit of complacency set in and we’ve also had one or two injuries.
“I think the Kilsyth game was down to being unlucky with the chances we had but Saturday was a different story.
“For spells they were the better team, we did have the lion’s share of the possession but you’ve got to use it when you’ve got it. They did exactly that and they put their bodies on the line to defend.
“They play exactly the same way we try to play, with high intensity, but they did it better than us.
“I think they’re the best we’ve come up against – they won the under-20s last season and I think it was most of those boys. They were well drilled, they defended brilliantly and took the few chances they had.
“The first goal was a peach from 20 yards out, the second one we were chasing a goal, they broke and their finishing was clinical.
“We weren’t ruthless enough in front of goal. We kept hitting the post and the bar and it just wasn’t going in the back of the net for us. We weren’t unlucky, they were more than a match for us.”
After a goalless first half, goals from Lewis Whitelaw and Thomas Haggarty seemed to have sent St Peter’s on their way to victory.
But with 15 minutes left Lewis Sloan struck from the edge of the area to set up an exciting finish, the Castle Douglas side unable to find an equaliser.
Threave didn’t have to wait too long to get the defeat out of their system as they were in action again on Sunday when they faced local rivals St Cuthbert Wanderers in the Cree Lodge Cup.
Tam Coles gave Threave an early lead but Saints were back on level terms by the break thanks to a goal from Dillon Black.
Threave restored their lead when new signing Dan Orsi headed in a debut goal and they sealed progress when Connor Potts volleyed in the third.
Parker said: “The worst thing in world in football is waiting a whole week to get back to it, so 24 hours is maybe a bit on the quick side but it was probably the best thing that could have happened.
“Seven of the boys that played on Saturday played on Sunday. They all understood it was a derby and it was played like that in the first half. It was very congested in the middle of the park, there were a lot of tackling going on and a lot of battles.
“We knew we would have to earn the right to play and we did that in the second half.”
Orsi and Jack Steele were signed purely for Saturday due to the busy weekend but Parker is planning talks in a bid to convince them to stay for longer.
This weekend it’s back to league business with Eglinton visiting Castle Douglas.
The Meadow Park boss added: “I know they’re in the bottom half. No two teams have been the same. When we played Harmony Row, they were sitting second bottom and they were well drilled and hard to break
down.
