Thistle cup dream is over:
Thistle gaffer’s blast as Junior Cup dream ends
Alan Paterson slammed East Kilbride Thistle’s ‘kamikaze defending’ after they suffered a Junior Cup hammering away to Banks O’Dee.
The Jags gaffer watched his side shoot themselves in the foot in Aberdeenshire as the North Region Premier side pounced on a catalogue of errors to book their place in the fourth round.
A week on from conceding three goals in the opening 10 minutes against Wishaw, it was a second-half collapse that cost Thistle as they made it five games without a win.
Lachie McLeod’s fifth minute strike gave the hosts a half-time lead before the floodgates opened.
Richard Binne bagged a brace, while Jamie Watt and Jack Henderson also netted to sink the Jags, who grabbed a late consolation through Matt Gray.
Thistle midfielder Ross Smith was sent off late on for a late tackle to complete a miserable day.
But it was the manner of the goals that left Paterson reeling.
He said: “Where do I start with that performance? We looked very lethargic out of the blocks and it was kamikaze defending from us.
“I’ve said before that I’m fed up with us going and conceding stupid goals instead of making teams work for them.
“I felt a few boys threw in the towel in the second half. Maybe their fitness levels weren’t up to it, but we conceded five goals and they all came from us being in possession.
“Five times we’ve given the ball away, five times they’ve scored. “It’s just really naive stuff. “We were only 1-0 down at halftime and we’d actually had the better chances. Jonny Diack missed a good chance and I felt if we could get a goal back it would make it very interesting.
“Banks O’Dee were getting frustrated and it looked like they were running out of ideas, so I felt quite good going back out.
“But Jonny has given the ball away with a really lazy pass and they’ve gone up the pitch and scored. “That second goal really killed us.” Having made the last 32 last season and enjoying taking the scalps of the likes of Girvan during that campaign, Paterson was disappointed his side didn’t put up more of a fight.
He added: “Individually and as a team we were really poor on Saturday, so I can’t have any qualms about the result.
“But we are a better team than we showed on Saturday. We tried to be more attacking late on and it got us a goal, but then we had Ross Smith sent off near the end and that just summed up our day.
“I would have love another good run in the cup, but it’s not our bread and butter. At least we can focus on league games now.”
Paterson has already moved to bolster his defensive options in the wake of this defeat, bringing centre-back Barry Russell across town from Lowland League East Kilbride on a short-term loan. He said: “We are making far too many mistakes and that’s why I’ve brought Barry in.
“Barry is a winner and we are too young and inexperienced at times. His experience will do us the world of good.”
Thistle’s attention now returns to league business and this Saturday they head to fellow strugglers Glasgow Perthshire.
Kick-off at Keppoch Park is 2pm.