Peterhead suffered a fourth defeat on the spin with a 2-1 loss at Queen of the South but joint caretaker boss Jordon Brown took positives from his side’s display.
The Doonhamers took the lead in the 48th minute through Ruari Paton’s penalty before Jason Brown levelled with just over 20 minutes to go.
But it was the hosts who found the winner through Lee Connelly with six minutes remaining to leave the Blue Toon bottom of League One.
They sit four points behind second bottom Clyde, who drew 0-0 with Falkirk, with one game in hand on the Bully Wee.
Brown said: “I can’t fault the boys who started or the boys who came on.
“The attitude was absolutely different class and you could see the togetherness.
“It is so frustrating.
“It is a cliche but the decisions and the wee breaks go against you when you are at the bottom.
“I don’t know what the stats were but we created chances and could have scored a couple of times.
“I can’t fault anyone. I’m absolutely proud of everyone but there is still the disappointment of not taking anything from the game.
“We are getting closer.
“We are fully aware, with the situation we are in, that the games are running out.
“But I have nothing but pride with what we got from the boys.”
Chances spurned for the Blue Toon
Brown felt his side had chances to lead at the break and was pleased with the spirit shown by his side after going behind following recent heavy losses against Falkirk and Airdrieonians.
He said: “We had a game plan and it worked really well.
“We caused them issues.
“I had a header and Kieran Shanks had a chance towards the end of the first half.
“There was another one that Shanks put across the six-yard box and it somehow went through the defender and myself.
“I felt we lost our composure for five or 10 minutes after conceding the first goal.
“We were frustrated with the penalty decision.
“Four or five of their players were saying it was either outside of the box or not a foul.
“The reaction was brilliant.
“We scored to get ourselves back in the game.
“It is about getting over the line.
“It is building blocks and taking small steps but we are running out of steps.
“It is a feeling of frustration and pride.”
Make home advantage count
Next up for Peterhead is the visit of FC Edinburgh to Balmoor this Saturday and Brown knows it is vital his side takes maximum points with only six games left to try to move away from bottom spot and automatic relegation to League Two.
He said: “We need to put points on the board.
“Last week (against Alloa) was had a good first half but the second half wasn’t so good.
“This week we were competitive right up until the 96th minute.
“It has been a while since we felt that way.
“We need to keep believing in ourselves because we can feel it is coming.
“Everyone has bought into it – from the starters to the guys who are coming on.
“We believe we can threaten teams.
“We have got a home game coming up and undoubtedly need to look at getting three points.”
Your #BlueToon line up for today’s @cinchuk League 1 match against @OfficialQosFC pic.twitter.com/ExhqILVjcN
— Peterhead FC (@pfcofficial) April 1, 2023
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