Jim McInally felt Peterhead were lucky to escape with a 6-0 defeat at the hands of their League Cup opponents Raith Rovers.
Peterhead were well-beaten at Stark’s Park and turned up to the game with just 12 players, with no substitute goalkeeper on the bench.
Dylan Easton scored a hat-trick and Liam Dick, Jamie Gullan and Aidan Connolly all found the net in the second half on a forgettable night for the visitors.
The Blue Toon’s struggle for players has been well-documented but on Wednesday night it was brutally exposed by a relentless Raith side.
McInally started 36-year-old Sandy Wood in goal, who had not played a senior game in six years having just signed from junior outfit Banchory St Ternan.
McInally accepted the situation could not continue but Peterhead are not likely to see their squad numbers improve any time soon.
“I think we’ve got to be happy with six because it could have been a lot more,” he said. “I’d been dreading it to be honest. It was like men against boys.
“I don’t think we could have had a worst game to come into after Sunday. When you see what we’ve lost and you see Scott Brown playing for them and the class he’s got, it’s a big jump.
“It’s a case of trying to get through this period and get our better players back in the team.
‘You think things can’t get any worse sometimes’
“The main thing was to try get through without any injuries, which we did. We’re at that stage that if we’d got any injuries we wouldn’t have been able to play on Saturday, which would have been pretty embarrassing.
“We’re six people down. We’ve got two significant injuries to two of our best players. A suspension, which was self-inflicted, to one of our best players. One player is on the way back from an operation and one has to get one. Our goalkeeper is in Spain but should be back on Friday.
“The trepidation was that we got any more injuries. Jordon (Brown) ran off to be sick before the third goal. You think things can’t get any worse sometimes.”
For all their grit and application against Aberdeen on Saturday, Peterhead were found wanting on a chastening night.
Seven of the 11 players who played 90 minutes against Aberdeen had to do so again four days later and for a part-time team who need players, the task was always going to be huge.
Easton scored his first with a spectacular overhead kick then got a second which went in off Blue Toon defender Paul Dixon.
He completed his hat-trick at the start of the second half with a shot which crept inside the near post before Dick beat Wood to the ball to head in a fourth.
Gullan had a tap-in for the fifth and Connolly wrapped up the scoring with a brilliant free-kick in the closing stages.
“I’ve been in the game long enough now to know we just need to see this through,” said McInally. “This isn’t the real season for us. It’s all about the league.
“We’ll catch a break at some point and we need to try get another three players in. We need to bide our team with that.”
