Peterhead boss Jim McInally felt his players were unfortunate to take nothing from Saturday’s 1-0 defeat against Alloa Athletic at Balmoor.
Euan Henderson scored the game’s only goal in 14 minutes when he slid the ball past Brett Long after an excellent pass from Kevin Cawley.
McInally said: “It’s obviously disappointing to lose the game and I don’t think the result reflects the game to be honest.
“In the first half they were up the park once and they get a goal from a mistake.
“There was actually a couple of mistakes, we had a poor throw-in, the ball is mis-controlled and then Andy McCarthy loses possession and then we probably should have intercepted the through pass.
“Apart from that, I thought we dominated the game, dominated possession.
“In the second half, if you take away Brett’s one on one save from Henderson, they never really troubled us.
“They have a lot of good players in their team and we had a very young team and I thought they did really well.
“We had young lads making their debuts like Jack Brown and even when we lost the ball, four or five of them were chasing to get it back.
“There were mistakes made but they showed a great attitude, a great appetite and it’s really hard to complain about anything other than the mistakes that led to the goal so it was a cruel result.
“I thought young Jack did fine, it’s a big step up for him.”
Also making his first start for the Blue Toon was defender Rico Quitongo, signed from fellow Cinch League One Airdrie last month.
McInally addedL “We know what Rico is all about and he slotted in really well and I was pleased with his performance.”
The 22-year-old former Hamilton and Dumbarton player’s reaction mirrored that of his manager.
He said: “It’s frustrating. We were on top for the whole game, we had a lot of the ball but they capitalised.
“If we keep playing that way, the chances and results will come.”
Although he was named man of the match by the sponsors, the new signing would have preferred a different outcome to the game.
He added: “I’d obviously rather take a win than get a man of the match award. It’s nice to hear but for me, I just want to put points on the board.
“There’s lot to improve on and I hope the club and the fans will see that.”
Another youngster to feature was Owen Cairns, who came on for David Wilson early in the second half, and the manager thought he coped well.
McInally said: “It was a tough situation for him up against Henderson and it’s a good learning curve for him and the rest of our youngsters.
“I felt we certainly should have had a penalty from the corner kick when Andy McDonald was hauled down but, all in all, he refereed the game to the best of his ability.”
