Irons: Stenhousemuir have plenty to do to get back on track

The Warriors followed up their shock 3-0 defeat to Penicuik Athletic, with losses to Edinburgh City and Queen’s Park to round off a thoroughly miserable week at Ochilview.

Irons concedes his team have plenty of work to do to get back on track.

He said: “We didn’t really threaten but it’s not just about that part of the pitch, it is disappointing all over.

“That’s three poor performances, it’s about trying to analyse, break it down and see what is causing us issues, preventing us from being a side that looked quite competitive, positive and compact like in the first few games when I took over.

“It was never going to be easy, I wasn’t expecting it to be but the last few games have certainly shown that we’ve got a lot of work to do to get back on track.”

Irons believes his team need to go back to basics to turn around their form after their surprising exit to Penicuik in the Scottish Cup.

He said: “Has the Penicuik game had an impact? Possibly, we had a bit of momentum and then the first game gets rescheduled and then since then we have fallen off the wagon.

“I’ve been in football long enough to know that you can get a run of games where things are difficult, you don’t look like creating much and then something happens.

“I’ve said to the boys after the game it’s all about going back to basics. In spells of the game I thought we did ok, passed the ball well and moved it, but as soon as they scored it seemed to really affect us.

“I’ve no complaints about Queen’s Park winning because they certainly deserved it.

“When you’re losing games, you’re confidence is quite fragile at times we’ve got young boys in the team. I’d like to think not but again it’s maybe a factor. It’s just about learning and experience.”

The defeat leaves Stenhousemuir in sixth just outside the play-off spots in League Two, but Irons stressed he is not thinking about catching any other team and wants to keep the focus on themselves.

He said: “I’m not looking at anyone we’ll just deal with ourselves and concentrate on ourselves and pick up as many points as we can. It’s just about this group of players, preparing them right and getting them back on track.”

The Warriors are at Albion Rovers this weekend before their mouth-watering clash against Partick Thistle in the Challenge Cup.

Irons said: “There’s 20 odd games left and football is relentless like that. Every time you have a setback, you have to be ready to go again.”