Albion Rovers lacking a goal threat, admits boss after sticky start to Lowland League

Albion Rovers boss Sandy Clark admits his side haven’t been enough of a goal threat after a difficult week in the Lowland League.

A 3-0 midweek defeat at home to Broxburn Athletic and a 2-1 loss at Bo’ness United have left the Coatbridge club 12th in the table.

Rovers have a big week ahead, where they will host Cowdenbeath in the SPFL Trust Trophy second round tonight before travelling to Fauldhouse United in the South Challenge Cup first round on Saturday.

Clark is trying to bring in more firepower, and a trialist striker scored their goal on Saturday, but says replacing Niyah Joseph and Joe Bevan from last season is proving difficult.

He said: “There aren’t a lot of positives to take from Saturday and it has been a poor week. Broxburn and Bo’ness were similar in that we made a mistake in the first minute on Saturday and conceded a goal, and if you give teams a start like that it makes life difficult.

“We did the same at Broxburn in midweek, gave away a penalty early on and set ourselves a mountain to climb right away. So it has been a poor week, and one of the biggest factors is that we’re 100 per cent not enough of a goal threat just now. I’m looking at personnel, shape, different ways of playing, to try and fix that.

“The problem you have with part-time football is that when you’re playing in a midweek game, you’re playing Saturday-Tuesday, you’ve got a training session on Thursday where you’ve got to be careful with legs and fitness, so it’s not a lot of time to work on things, and that’s frustrating me. I’m looking, I have been for some time.

“When you think back to this time last year we had Niyah Joseph and Joe Bevan, and it’s really difficult to replace that kind of quality.

“I’ve been trying to do that since