Rennie: "It seems like everything we try, it's short of what we need"

The Bairns were well beaten on Saturday afternoon by cinch League 1 high-flyers Airdrieonians 4-1 at the Falkirk Stadium, with Leigh Griffiths’ goal only a consolation as the Diamonds dominated.

Speaking to the Herald, he said of the match: “In the first five minutes we actually started the match well, but like so many matches since I’ve been here we ended up conceding the first goal.

“The second half was the concern because we are just making so many mistakes.

“Pretty much every single one we got punished for by a good Airdrie side.

“It was so disappointing because it wasn’t one type of mistake or something you can focus on afterwards to try and stop.

“We are making so many different errors across the park.

“The second goal was terrible and it feels like I am just talking about mistake after mistake after mistake.”

He admitted his side didn’t do enough when they pulled a goal back either.

Leigh Griffiths headed home from a Ryan Williamson cross to bring the game back to 3-1 with fifteen to play.

“It was a great finish but by that point the game had gotten away from us due to our second half performance to that point,” he said.

“Griffiths going off was frustrating too because he has just scored then he picks up a knock that he couldn’t continue on with.

“That maybe took away a little bit of impetus.

“It just seems like every time we do something like that and give ourselves hope in a match or look to change the way it is going, it doesn’t have the effect it should.”

Falkirk tweaked their system with Hull City loanee sitting in front of the defence in the midfield diamond in hope of stopping the Diamonds excellent talents in the middle of the park.

Rennie said: “We had Jevon Mills in there, with a midfield four in front of him in a diamond and we went with two up top.

“It seems like everything we try, it’s just a wee bit short of what we need.

“We lost the game 4-1 so I can’t say the change worked, it didn’t.”

Queen’s Park drew against Alloa Athletic 1-1 at home, dropping points but leaving them still six points in front of the Bairns with seven matches to go.

He said: “That’s the frustrating thing, we have to put performances together that work for us.

“It just seems at the moment whatever performances we put in, they aren’t enough.

“We’re coming up short even when they aren’t winning every week - so it is a massive test of character for us now starting next week to claw the points back.”

Leigh Griffiths went off injured straight after the goal, to add to the injury woes at the club with Anton Dowds pulling of the matchday squad earlier in the week.

Callumn Morrison did return from the bench after a period out.

“We’ve been unlucky with injuries for sure,” he said.

“Having him back will be a big boost to us going into the final part of the season.

“Today we were without Anton Dowds and he makes a big difference to the way we play with what he offers us.

“He won’t be out for too long hopefully as it is just a muscle injury.”

The head coach looked back to last weekend’s 1-1 draw with Clyde as another real moment of frustration, saying he understands the fans annoyance at being unable to string results together.

He said: “Last week was so annoying to me because that was the chance to really put some sort of mini-run of form together that would have got people on side going into today.We had to see it out and we didn’t.

“Airdrie are in a good place and they are at the top end of the league on merit, so we need to put this game behind us quickly.

“I understand why the supporters are so angry.”

He added: “It’s not only about getting to the play-offs, it’s about being in a place to win them and at the moment going on today’s performance we are so far away from that.

“We not only have to get there, but we have to be so much better than we are at the moment.”