Alfie puts the cap on his gaffer’s bottle blast
ALFIE JONES insists St Mirren aren’t “bottle jobs” after their 3-1 loss to Livingston.
Saints boss Oran Kearney ripped into his flops, branding their second-half display an embarrassment and accused his men of lacking “bottle” after they let a lead slip for the second game in succession.
But on-loan stopper Jones disagreed with his gaffer and insists the Buddies need to be better at closing out games from a winning position.
He said: “When you go in at half-time 1-0 up, we were feeling comfortable and confident. To come out in the second half and put in the performance we did was obviously frustrating.
“Things have got to change and we’ve got to up our game and start seeing these matches out. It was like watching two different teams.
“In the first 45, we were higher up the field, put pressure on Livi and we dealt with the long balls and physical threat.
“In the second half, we were too deep, sat in and got camped on the edge of our own box.
“That allowed them to be more direct and get on top of us. We didn’t win our battles and it gave them the momentum and the goals.
“We need to step up to tests like that and be harder to beat, and see games out. I don’t feel that we bottle it when we go ahead.
“It was just the situation, they were trying to get a goal back and had nothing to lose, so they started coming in with more of an attacking threat and pumping balls into our box and we just needed to have the confidence to get up the pitch.
“That’s the most frustrating thing about the last two matches. In the Hibs match as well we lost two goals when we were in a winning position.
“In the changing room after the Hibs game we all said that’s something we need to work on, be more solid and compact. So for the same thing to happen again is hugely frustrating.”