Cove Rangers boss Paul Hartley felt his side fell victim to the conditions in their 3-0 defeat to Elgin City.
The swirling wind at Borough Briggs was prominent, particularly in the first half, with Elgin adapting to the conditions better.
The first goal came from a loose pass from Scott Ross that allowed Kane Hester in, while the third goal at the start of the second half, scored by Rory MacEwan, came from a cross that hung in the air due to the wind.
It is only Cove’s fourth league defeat of the season, with all of them coming away from the Balmoral Stadium where they still have a 100% record.
Hartley told his players afterwards they cannot play their normal game on surfaces such as the one at Elgin, something they experienced the week previous at Albion Rovers.
He said: “Especially in the first half, we didn’t play the conditions the way we should have.
“With the first goal, we’re loose in the back-pass and sometimes you’ve just got to put your foot through the ball and defend properly. We didn’t.
“At half-time you still think you’re in with a chance if you get a goal back but we then conceded within a minute or two.
“It’s difficult to come back from that.
“The players kept going but we didn’t handle the conditions as well as we should have.
“The goals killed us. I don’t think it was a tactical game – it was a game to play the conditions. A bit like last week.
“You’re away from home, playing on a tricky surface against difficult opponents and it’s windy.
“We couldn’t play like we do at Cove and we said that to the players.”
The visitors were forced into a late adjustment to their starting team, with skipper Mitch Megginson suffering a calf injury in the warm-up and teenager Josh Mulligan being drafted into the side from the bench.
Rory McAllister was partnered with Mulligan up front before the introduction of John Robertson eight minutes into the second half. Megginson leads the League 2 scoring charts with 18 goals so far this season.
Hartley said: “Mitch pulled up in the warm-up. We’ll see how it is. Hopefully it’s not too long but we’ll just have to wait and see next week.
“It was difficult for Josh but I thought John looked sharp.”
Cove have the top-of-the-table clash with Edinburgh City next weekend, with the capital side cutting the gap at the top of the table with a 3-0 victory over Annan Athletic.
When the two sides met on the opening day of the season Cove won 5-0, before losing at Ainslie Park at the start of December.
Hartley added: “We have to regroup. It’s a massive game for us next week.
“There are 13 games to go and next week is the all-important one for us.
“We need to get back to the way we play. We’ve been strong at home all season. We’ve got to show a bit of character next week after a bad defeat.”