Threave Rovers boss accuses players of not being brave in derby loss to St Cuthbert Wanderers

Threave Rovers gaffer Vinnie Parker accused his players of not being brave enough after a dismal derby defeat.

The Castle Douglas side found themselves 3-0 down to St Cuthbert Wanderers after half an hour at Meadow Park and while they rallied in the second half, it wasn’t enough to prevent a 4-2 defeat.

The result leaves them seven points behind their rivals in the race for the South of Scotland League.

Parker said: “Seven points is not impossible but they’ve got momentum and I can’t see them getting stopped. They might have an off day and drop three points or a point here and there but we need to win all our games between now and the end of the season to have a chance.

“We’ll be on their tails and try to chase them down.

“I take full responsibility. It was me who wanted to play that way and I take full responsibility for the result and performance.

“On paper I don’t think there’s a better team in the region. It’s definitely a mentality thing. The disappointing thing is we work very hard training and it’s about getting on the ball and being brave and the boys doing that in training.

“With the wind and the pitch being a bit heavy, when you’re asking boys to be brave and get on the ball, if one person decides not to do that your shape is knackered and you pay the price.

“I’m not asking boys to go into silly tackles, that’s not what brave is being about it. It’s wanting the ball when the pitch is heavy, someone is on you and the crowd is on your back. As soon as someone doesn’t do that you lose a goal.

“If you look at the goals we’ve lost across the nine or 10 league games any time we lose one, we lose another very quickly and lose our shape.”

Thomas Kelly put Saints in front from the spot after Russell Williamson was