Five star Leven too good for Newmains
VALE OF LEVEN ................................ 5 NEWMAINS ....................................... 0 Newmains United boss Craig Gupwell urged his players to cut out the mistakes after a heavy defeat to Vale of Leven.
United trailed Vale of Leven 2-0 at the break then conceded three more in the second half after the clash was switched to Millburn Park.
But co-boss Gupwell insists the performance against the League Two tabletoppers was better than the scoreline reflected.
He said: “On the result it’s obviously a poor one and another heavy defeat.
“I felt we played reasonably well for large spells but basic errors were our downfall. An encouraging sign after the game was the fact for the first time in a while you could tell the result had hurt the boys.
“There were a number of questions being asked of each other in the changing room. Hopefully by getting things out in the open it’ll start putting extra demands on everyone in the squad.
“We fully believe the quality is there now after some recent additions.
“If we can cut out basic errors we’ll slowly but surely see our results improving.”
United sit in 12th spot in League Two and travel to Ayrshire this Saturday for a clash with relegated Maybole (kick-off 2pm), who are a place and five points clear above them.
Between now and then Gupwell and fellow co-boss Paul Davies will get to work on what went wrong at The Vale.
Gupwell will set smaller targets for his side in the hope it can build towards them making bigger steps in the longterm.
He said: “We know what needs worked on from that game and we now need to prepare right for what comes next.
“I see a mini-league forming at the bottom of the table at the moment and a win would put us in a great position to get to the top of our mini league right now.
“If we can get to 11th place as our first target it should leave us in a position where we can then target the next couple of teams above us and try and push into mid table. That isn’t being negative but we are where we are and we need to set realistic goals.”