Reidsays5-0 defeatisn’t acceptable

“To throw in that performance is a hard one to take.

“It was a big game for us because if we’d beat Stranraer we could have been level on points with them, giving us a chance to finish higher than we are right now.

“I’m looking for a massive reaction now because that is totally unacceptable.

“We were going through the motions, which is not like us because we’ve got good characters in the dressing room.

“We just downed tools. There was no energy about us, we were flat.

“That’s probably the worst we’ve played all season. We never won a tackle, never won a header and, if you do that, this is the result.

“It’s not acceptable because I’ve still to decide whether some of these guys are going to be at Albion Rovers next season or elsewhere.

“Every single player didn’t put in a good enough performance.

“You’ve got to work hard and make the opposition work hard, but they didn’t and I told the players I’m not going to accept that.

“You can have bad performances but you can’t go from the run we were on to that, especially in front of our own supporters.”

Reid added:“stranraer wanted it more than us and that’s how the result came about. Losing five goals at home is not good enough.

“That level of performance won’t get anyone a new contract or a move up the leagues.

“If any player keeps performing like that they won’t be going up the way next season, they’ll be going to the Lowland League or below.

“These next three games, they are playing for their future at the club – or they will be going elsewhere.”

Rovers fell behind after just three minutes when Matthew Yates opened the scoring. Seven minutes into the second half Tommy Muir added a second, before a late goal flurry saw Ayrton Sonkur, Craig Ross and Paul Woods net in the final six minutes to complete the rout.

The manner of the goals infuriated Reid, who added:“the first goal looked like the boy could have been offside and the second one, I could see it from where I was that the boy was a yard offside.

“We’ve still got to stop simple balls in behind us and defend the situation better.

“To rub salt into the wounds, we lost two very late goals. You have to concentrate for 90-odd minutes, not just chuck it, which a lot of them did.

“That’s unacceptable in any team I’m manager at and they were told that in no uncertain terms.”

A trip to fifth-placed Stenhousemuir looms this weekend and although they have yet to beat the Warriors this season, Reid believes his side can get a win that can boost their hopes of equalling or bettering last season’s seventh-placed finish in League Two.

“Stenny are a decent squad with a good budget,”said Reid.“they’ve got something to play for, but so do we.

“We’re more than capable of going there and getting a result, but we will have to perform at a level far greater than we did on Saturday.”