Albion Rovers boss 'astounded' in late defeat at Stirling University
Albion Rovers boss Sandy Clark admits he was left ‘astounded’ by their late defeat to Stirling University on Sunday.
The Wee Rovers dominated large spells of the Lowland League contest at Forthbank but spurned a number of chances, which came back to haunt them in the 1-0 defeat.
With the clash heading for a stalemate, the Students won it in the 88th minute when Finn Moffett’s effort found its way past Rovers goalkeeper Ross Connelly, inflicting a seventh defeat of the season.
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And Clark, whose side have slipped to ninth in the table, was fuming at the fumble from his side.
He said: “It is hard to take. Embarrassing is not the right word, but with how the game went on the day and how we’ve lost it is incredible.
“It sums up how inconsistent we can be. The last time we played Stirling Uni, we beat them 5-0 and when I looked at the team sheet today 80 per cent of the same players were on the pitch across both teams - and that is inconsistency to say the least.
“We did a lot of good things in the game and created a lot of chances.
“How Peter Mendy hasn’t scored in the first half just astounds me. He isn’t trying to miss it, obviously, but we had lots of good play but no quality in the last third to make it count.
“I hate getting beat, I really do. Last week [a 1-0 defeat to Bo’ness] was a bit easier to accept because we totally dominated the game after losing a bad goal and then just couldn’t get a break in front of goal. But this time we created really good opportunities and didn’t take them.
“We know Stirling Uni are a good team, they are well-organised and we had to defend well. We did that for long spells but with a few minutes to go, I still can’t believe the goal we concede.
“It has gone through the legs of Ross [Connolly], which is so not like him. I asked him what happened? And he said: I don’t know, I think I was thinking about the next pass and where I was going to through it.
“That costs you games when you concede poor goals and you don’t score. When that happens, you don’t deserve to win games.
“Did we deserve to get something out of the game? Yes, we did because they weren’t better than us by any manner of means. But I can’t say much about it because we’ve lost 1-0 and that leaves us ninth in the league.”
Rovers will now need to pick themselves up for a trip to second-bottom Gala Fairydean Rovers on Saturday and Clark has promised there will be changes.
He said: “I don’t think it will be the same team that starts the game on Saturday. We’ve got to be better.”
