Sean Crighton: We've let Stephen Swift down; this Stenhousemuir team has flopped massively

Swift, 42, departed the Ochilview Park club last week with the Warriors sitting in mid-table – having not won in seven League Two outings, after building a formidable-looking squad in the summer.

Speaking to the Falkirk Herald, defender Crighton, who is currently in interim charge of the team, said after Saturday’s 2-1 league defeat to Forfar Athletic at home: “We are in a bad place and there is no point making excuses. We need to try and get out of the predicament we are in. We’ve under-performed and let Stephen Swift down massively.

“We all wanted what he wanted, success for this football club. It was unexpected to be taking the team but my day is working with Hamilton Accies as a coach so in terms of being in the dugout, it wasn’t a new experience for me.

"The whole situation came to me quite quickly and the chairman asked me to step in and lead the team for a few weeks or however long it takes to appoint a new manager. I couldn’t say no because I feel responsible for Stephen (Swift) leaving the club, as do all of the boys in the changing room.

“The result wasn’t what we wanted but I saw glimpses of what I wanted from the team. It was only a short space of time to put across what I wanted during the previous Thursday’s training session – but the guys did some good things on the day.

“What cost us was mistakes and that has been the story of the season really. The two goals come from errors that you just can't allow at this level and they took advantage of them. Individual errors have really hurt us and even with the injuries we have had over the course, we have a squad that should be able to deal with things like that.

“It has been one of those campaigns. Forfar had one proper attack in the first half and they scored from it. We had two goals chopped off on Saturday, and at least one of them was 100% a goal and just onside. One of Forfar’s goals was offside and the video shows that.

"We are conceding too many goals and we are going into matches having to score so many goals just to have a chance of winning a game. I told the guys that at training because it is true, the quality in the squad isn’t debatable. It isn’t like all of these goals are coming from being cut open. We are genuinely just making huge errors consistently.”

The former Airdrieonians and Livingston centre-back is likely to be in charge for the club’s next two matches against first and second-placed in the table respectively.

“The pressure is all on Dumbarton and not on me or Stenhousemuir,” Crighton said ahead of Saturday’s trip to the league leading Sons. “We have an interim manager and we are in a bad place as I already mentioned. They’re at home and they are at the top of the league so it doesn’t get any tougher. Stevie Farrell has just won the manager of the month award too.

“My job is to get that message across to the players that we can go out and enjoy our football. We need to try and be a bit smarter about how we go about it and it is a free hit. A win would be a big boost.”