Gary Naysmith: Viaplay Cup group stages demanding on part time clubs like Stenhousemuir

The Warriors’ free matchday is this Saturday, meaning the Ochilview club has played four competitive matches in quick succession before the end of July.

Speaking after the recent 2-1 loss to Stirling Albion at Forthbank, he said: “There are a lot of positives to take from the first week. There is stuff that we need to work on for sure.

“We've had a lot of players playing out of position so far and we have picked up a couple of injuries due to the demands being put on the guys so early on.

“Three games in a week is tough for a part-time team at any level and you cannot play any trialist either, which makes it very difficult. I don’t know of any team that has a full squad ready to go by the 15th of July.

“It really does put a big workload on the guys you already have in the building. The injuries aren’t severe but they are keeping guys out of the team and forcing us to change things. It is difficult to pick a team at the moment due to all of these factors.

“Gregor Buchanan just came back from two-and-a-half weeks in Australia on his honeymoon and he had to play 70 minutes against Stirling Albion the following day.

“Four games in 10 days is tough but I told the players that we don’t want to get into the habit of losing games.

“Every match so far has been close and could have gone either way, including the St Johnstone one that we won at home.”