RED FACES ALL ROUND
Glens skipper blasts‘ embarrassing ’4-0 cup collapse
Embarrassing. That was the verdict from Glencairn captain Tony Fraser after his side suffered a dreadful Scottish Cup exit at the hands of Petershill on Saturday.
The Glens were thumped 4-0 by Peasy – who play a division below them – at the Celsius Stadium, as their poor run of form continued.
And with a trip to league leaders Kilwinning Rangers this weekend, the captain warned that improvements are urgently required.
He said: “I think embarrassing is the only word for Saturday. It was just a disastrous day all round.
“In the first half we didn’t play too badly, but we never took any of our chances and we just got punished for making sloppy mistakes.
“We tried to chase the game in the second half and got sucker punched. It’s just embarrassing goals that we’re conceding at the moment.”
The Glens suffered the worst possible start when they conceded inside the opening five minutes.
And they repeated the trick right at the start of the second half, with Petershill scoring a killer third that settled the tie.
Fraser added: “Losing an early goal gave Petershill such a boost and our confidence is low at the moment, so as much as it worked for them it had a negative impact on us.
“Confidence is down at the moment, there’s no point in pretending otherwise.
“Everyone is still working hard and it’s not through a lack of effort that we’re losing. But people start doing things they wouldn’t do normally, like snapping at a shot too quickly or misplacing a pass.
“Even at half time we were saying we’d created six or seven good chances in the first half, so we needed to get the next goal and get them doubting themselves – but then we conceded immediately.”
The Glens now face a daunting trip to Kilwinning Rangers on Saturday.
The previous encounter could be looked at as a sliding doors moment for the club, as leading 4-1 with 20 minutes to go, the Glens collapsed and lost 5-4.
Since then they have struggled, while Kilwinning have surged to the top of the table.
Tony added: “That game seems to have defined both teams’ season since then.
“They were relieved just to get an equaliser, then they grabbed the winner and it was a really sore one for us.
“We’re in a relegation fight now and we realise that.
“We need to dig out a result somewhere and just get going in the right direction.”