Gary Naysmith: Stenhousemuir don't look out of place in League One despite second successive loss

Gary Naysmith and Brown Ferguson on the touchline against Stenhousemuir last Saturday during a League One match that finished 1-0 in the Wasps’ favour (Pictures by Alan Murray)Gary Naysmith and Brown Ferguson on the touchline against Stenhousemuir last Saturday during a League One match that finished 1-0 in the Wasps’ favour (Pictures by Alan Murray)
Gary Naysmith and Brown Ferguson on the touchline against Stenhousemuir last Saturday during a League One match that finished 1-0 in the Wasps’ favour (Pictures by Alan Murray)
After suffering a second successive Scottish League One defeat on the road, Stenhousemuir boss Gary Naysmith has reiterated the faith that he has in his team to pick up results in the third tier going forward.

The Warriors lost 1-0 at Alloa Athletic last Saturday afternoon, with a second half Conor Sammon strike sealing the three points for the hosts to condemn Stenny to another loss after falling 2-0 at Kelty Hearts the previous weekend.

But the ex-Scotland full-back says he has seen more than enough from his side from the opening three matches – with the Ochilview side having three points on the board after their opening day 2-1 win over Arbroath.

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"We are never happy losing but the pleasing thing for me is over the past two games, even although we have lost both, we have been super competitive and we don’t look out of place by any means,” Naysmith told the Falkirk Herald.

Conor Sammon wheels away after scoring for Alloa Athletic against Stenhousemuir last Saturday during a League One match that finished 1-0 in the Wasps’ favour (Pictures by Alan Murray)Conor Sammon wheels away after scoring for Alloa Athletic against Stenhousemuir last Saturday during a League One match that finished 1-0 in the Wasps’ favour (Pictures by Alan Murray)
Conor Sammon wheels away after scoring for Alloa Athletic against Stenhousemuir last Saturday during a League One match that finished 1-0 in the Wasps’ favour (Pictures by Alan Murray)

"We simply need to quickly learn that in a higher league – you need to take your chances. You can’t switch off either against these teams or they will punish you. In League Two, we didn’t play at our best in some matches but still managed to pick up the three points. That won’t happen this season.”

On the defeat at the Indodrill, Naysmith added that his team put in a solid display for the opening 70 minutes before conceding the only goal of the game.

He said: “After watching the match back, I would say that up until 65/70 minutes when Alloa scored, we were at least a match for them or possibly the slightly better team in the game. We had the best chance of the match through Matty (Aitken) but we don’t take it.

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"We held our own until the goal and that knocked us a wee bit – their substitutes caused us some bother too. We needed Darren (Jamieson) to make a couple of cracking saves to stop them scoring a second goal.”

Stenny now have three games at home in a row, starting with the visit of Cove Rangers this Saturday afternoon.

Ahead of that match against Paul Hartley’s side, the Warriors boss said: “Any win we get this season will need us to be at our best and that will be the same on Saturday.

"We need to cut out the mistakes going forward.”