CIVIL Service Strollers' 92nd minute winner on Saturday has left Cowdenbeath with their worst start to a league programme since 2022, and manager Paul McLean was rightly very upset with the way his team threw away a point with poor defending.
And he has made it clear to his men that he expects them to up their game 100 per cent this Saturday when Lowland League leaders Broxburn come to Central Park.
He stressed to them after the game at Christie Gillies Park, that playing well for 35 minute spells in games is simply not good enough and that against Broxburn they need to be at their best for 90 minutes plus, to get the result they need.
He said this week: “Basically at Tranent last Tuesday we played really well in the first-half and should have been ahead at half-time, but in the second period fell out of the picture badly and lost the game.
“On Saturday the first-half was very poor, from our point of view, and then we conceded a soft goal, but then hit an excellent 35 minute spell where we scored twice to get back into the game and were looking the likely winners, only to concede a needless goal in time added on.
“It is so demoralising to lose games in the way we are doing with cheap goals being conceded, and we have to greatly improve starting on Saturday against Broxburn.”
McLean added: “Broxburn have made a good start but we have to go out and fully compete for 90 minutes, not for half an hour here and there.
“Our defending has to be much better, conceding cheap goals is unacceptable, and we need to up our game massively starting with this Saturday.”
Definitely out of action will be striker, Ewan Sutherland, who is this week to have a scan to get to the bottom of his troublesome knee injury, but otherwise the Blue Brazil will be at full-strength, and manager McLean may well include himself in the squad for the Broxburn test.
Share