Peterhead manager Jim McInally made no excuses after his side suffered a 3-1 defeat at Falkirk.
While other managers might have tried to spin Peterhead’s 3-1 defeat as “unlucky” or “undeserved”, Scotland’s longest-serving boss did no such thing.
“We were well beaten, weren’t we?” he admitted while reflecting on a thoroughly one-sided first half which saw Falkirk dominate possession – 65 per cent to 35 – and rack up nine attempts on goal, hitting the woodwork and forcing five superb saves from Blue Toon keeper Jack Newman.
“Our goalkeeper was outstanding and he’s been outstanding for us ever since he came to the club,” said McInally, whose shell-shocked players mustered only one first-half effort on target.
Full-back Max Gillies certainly made it count, however, as he fired Peterhead in front in the 45th minute.
“We didn’t even deserve to be one-up,” conceded McInally.
“You’ve got to try and quieten the home crowd and maybe we could have done that if we’d held onto our lead until half time.
“We might have had a wee chance if we’d done that, although I’m probably kidding myself on there.
Renewed energy
“As it turned out, Falkirk managed to get a quick equaliser (through Ryan Williamson four minutes into first-half stoppage time) and that made sure their fans stayed right behind them.”
The Bairns duly plugged into the renewed energy coming from the home support and went ahead in the 58th minute when Callum Morrison rounded off an aggressive forward run by beating Newman with the outside of his right boot.
McInally immediately made a double substitution, bringing on Jack Wilkie and David Wilson, but Peterhead’s hopes of a late leveller were dealt a fatal blow six minutes from time when Conor O’Keefe received a straight red card from referee Stewart Luke after bringing down Leon McCann. Substitute Gary Oliver made it 3-1 in the 90th minute.
“I thought the referee was outstanding right up until the red card,” said McInally. “For me, that was never a red card and it spoiled the ref’s performance a wee bit.”
Having sunk to second-bottom in League One, a single point above foot of the table Kelty hearts, Peterhead welcome Queen of the South to Balmoor this Saturday.
Following relegation from the Championship last season, the Dumfries club is struggling to adapt to its new surroundings and only heads the Blue Toon by a single point.
“This is a really tough league, especially this year when we’ve been rebuilding the team,” noted McInally. “We really need to improve our quality if we can.”
