Gary Naysmith admits Stenhousemuir didn’t show up against Cove Rangers in key league clash.

Stenhousemuir’s Scottish League One title bid is in tatters after a surprise 2-0 defeat away to relegation play-off threatened Cove Rangers last Saturday.

The Warriors, who now sit four points behind champions elect Inverness Caley Thistle with two games remaining, lost out in Aberdeen while the Highlanders edged out a 1-0 home win over Kelty Hearts. And that sees Scott Kellecher’s side at the finish line - they can be crowned champions this Saturday if they beat East Fife.

The Ochilview Park team had previously chalked up an impressive 16-game unbeaten run in the third tier but they now need to defeat Alloa Athletic at home this weekend and hope for a favour from Dick Campbell’s outfit to take the title race to the final day.

Title is Inverness’ to lose now, admits Stenny boss

Speaking to the Falkirk Herald, boss Naysmith said: “We’ve had the weekend to stew on it... it is now about getting back to work. That is all that you can do. If Inverness win their game on Saturday then they win the league. But if they draw or lose then we have to make sure that we have won our match to take it to the final day. Anything can happen then. That’s all we can focus on.

“Even taking all of that away - we just want to perform at our best again, reach the levels we know we can do. Saturday has to be a one off. We have been on such a good run and the performance came out the blue. At part-time football, sometimes you can have a day like that. It can happen across football. We still have so much to play for. We need to get the three points against Alloa and take things from there.”

Adam Emslie and Mitch Megginson scored either side of half time at Balmoral last weekend to secure what was in truth a comfortable win for Paul Hartley’s side. And former Scotland full-back Naysmith shared the blame, admitting that gamble to switch things up after the break didn’t work.

Naysmith explains ‘double disappointment’

He continued: “You can have days like that. But it was a double disappointment in that so much was riding on the game, the title race was so close. We’ve handed Inverness a big, big advantage. A performance like that earlier in the season still isn’t good enough, but it doesn’t have as much attached to it. Inverness have the initiative. Sometimes, you can have one or two players off their game but the team can carry them... we had more of their games than not. And that makes it an impossible job.

“I take responsibility too. I made changes for the second half to try and make us better but in truth it probably made us worse, and we didn’t look like we were going to get back into the game. It’s a collective thing. You have to own it when you have a day like that. We had a big support travel up and they didn’t see a Stenhousemuir performance. When you are so close to winning a league, you want to win it. You don’t want to come second.”

Ahead of facing Andy Graham’s Alloa this Saturday, Naysmith also provided a squad update. He confirmed that Kane Ritchie-Hosler had returned to Dunfermline after suffering an injury but that the winger could return to the Warriors’ squad soon. Motherwell co-op loanee Olly Whyte is fully fit after illness.