Naysmith glad to pick up three points after 'energyless' first half showing against Albion Rovers

The Warriors picked up the three points at Ochiview against the Coatbridge outfit on Saturday afternoon, despite a lifeless first-half showing which was dominated by the visitors.

However, after the break, a quick-fire double from Nat Wedderburn and Matty Yates ensured that Naysmith’s unbeaten run as Stenhousemuir boss stretched to six outings.

“The only positive you could take from our first-half performance was that we managed to keep the score at 0-0,” Naysmith admitted. “That is about the only bit of credit I could actually give the players. We weren’t at the races in the first half at all. We were reactive and energyless in all honesty.

“I think in all honesty, for the first time since I joined the club back in January, we were being outworked by the opposition. That was disappointing and we had a few words at half time in the changing room.

“We took off our two wider players at the break and changed the shape a wee bit for the second half. We brought a striker on and went for it, we wanted to be on the front foot.

“The two quick goals really helped. We rode our luck a little bit after that too, they had one cleared off the line brilliantly by Callum Yeats and the boy Charlie Reilly had an excellent free kick hit the bar.

“But we also looked threatening too in that second half and I was much happier with our performance by the end of the game, I wouldn’t want to watch back that first half, put it that way.

“We’ve taken 12 points from six games and that is a good ratio. We were only a point in front of the likes of Albion when I came into the job, and we are now eight ahead of them.

“If we keep hitting this ratio of points then we would be very unlucky if we didn’t make the promotion play-offs, but that first half today was a warning for us. You have to turn up against everyone.”

Naysmith’s double substitution at the break changed the game, with Ross Forbes and Motherwell loanee Kian Spiers coming on for Euan O’Reilly and Adam Brown.

The switch in system saw the home side finally put the Rovers backline under pressure, with midfielder Forbes putting in a classy display.

On his influential performance, the boss said: ”I need to find a way that allows me to get him into the team. He has been training well and I had a proper good chat with him a couple of weeks ago.

“He was close to starting today against Albion but I just felt like no one deserved to drop out of the team. Ross has that real quality on the ball and he is a great player to have available.”

The Warriors now travel to bottom club Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic on Saturday.