Frustrated Albion Rovers boss Sandy Clark admitted ‘naivety’ cost his team last Saturday as they lost 2-1 at Linlithgow Rose in the Park’s Motor Group Lowland League.
Recent signing Peter Mendy tapped home his fifth goal in just four appearances for the club to give us the lead at Prestonfield after neat work from Dom McMahon and Paul Kennedy, but a second-half double from home substitute PJ McGiff handed the hosts the three points – with Rovers going down to ten men with the score level at 1-1.
And despite substitute Kai Kirkpatrick’s ordering off coming from two swift yellow cards edging on the softer variety, Clark says going down to ten men shortly after McGiff’s leveller isn’t an excuse for why we lost out.
“It is a tough one for Kai (Kirkpatrick). He has to take some blame for going in on a booking but it is really harsh,” Clark explained.
“It is two quick yellow cards that didn’t need to be given. The game didn’t have a bad tackle in it but the amount of cards didn’t give that impression.
“The two tackles are innocuous. I just don’t think it’s right. The referee didn’t lose us the game though.
“But both goals are not wonder-goals from them, we could have defended better.
“We were naive in our approach after the ordering off.
“One decision did have a big impact on the result and it was at a time in the game we looked like going on to score a second goal.
“We hit the bar twice and Cammy Binnie has made a great save but over the 90 minutes we didn’t create enough.
“For me, the frustration also lies in that we score a great goal in the first half but don’t add to it – if we scored a second then, we probably take the three points.
It was great for Peter (Mendy) to get another goal. He is going to be a big asset for us.
“It was a strange game. Performance-wise, I thought it was reasonable from us.
“We didn’t hit the heights that we did against Tranent midweek but we weren’t totally out of the game either.”
Rovers now host third-bottom Gala Fairydean Rovers at The Reigart Stadium this Saturday afternoon, 3pm kick-off, with a game against bottom club Broomhill following on Tuesday night, again at home, kick-off 7.45pm.
Despite our mid-table position, the boss believes that the league table can look drastically different in a couple of weeks time.
“We are sitting in twelfth place and that isn’t acceptable really,” Clark admitted.
“But in truth, when you look at the league table, it is tight.
“We aren’t far off that top four. If you can put two or three wins together then you will move right up the league.
“I have total faith that we can do that.
“We’ve had a full week off and you take the positives from that. The games come thick and fast early on.
“An incredible amount of games are crammed into August but that’s just the Lowland League works – it is the same for every team.”
