16 hours ago
Albion Rovers losing to Thorniewood wasn't an 'upset', but boss wasn't happy
Sandy Clark says a first-round exit to West of Scotland League opposition wasn't a shock
Albion Rovers boss Sandy Clark insisted being knocked out of the South Challenge Cup at the first hurdle by West of Scotland First Division side Thorniewood was not an upset.
But he was far from happy with his side's performance in the penalty shootout that cost the Lowland League club their place in the competition.
The sides fought out a 0-0 stalemate at Cliftonhill and the visitors prevailed 4-3 on spot kicks.
And Clark said: 'I don't think it is an upset. Thorniewood have got a lot more experience and a much bigger budget than we have.
'If you look at the difference in leagues, we'd probably go in as favourites to most people but we should have won the game, it is as simple as that.
'We dominated, especially in the second half, and created loads of chances. Their goalkeeper was definitely their man of the match and when it goes to penalties I'm disappointed that we didn't execute the penalties as well as I'd have liked.
'I warned the guys beforehand; don't do a tippy-tappy, sidefoot effort. If you are going to hit it, hit it hard, but three of them elected not to take that advice.
'We missed three out of our six penalties and that is why we are out of the cup.
'The actual performance was really good in lots of ways. It was our first clean sheet of the season, we created a lot of chances and played a lot of good football. We just couldn't get that break in front of goal.
'We deserved to win the game but Thorniewood held out and won the penalties.'
Clark now needs to lift his side for a league double header this week.
Rovers are due to host Broxburn Athletic tonight (Tuesday) and on Saturday they travel to Gretna.
Clark added: 'There's no such thing as an easy game and if we want to beat Broxburn, we need to play with the same effort and commitment as we did on Saturday and hope we get the breaks in front of goal.
'We've had a really good start to the season in lots of ways, so we are looking forward to the next game.'
