Stirling Albion defender Adam Cummins should have seen straight red card for 'shocking' foul says Stenhousemuir gaffer Stephen Swift

With the visitors already 2-0 down to goals by Dale Carrick and Robert Thomson and a man light after the early dismissal of centre back Daniel Higgins, Cummins’ 64th minute foul on Yates was only deemed worthy of a yellow card by referee Lloyd Wilson.

Swift said: “Cummins has tackled Matty from behind – out near the touchline and close to the dugout – and it’s an absolute shocker.

"He kind of scissored him and for me it’s a red card.

"Wee Matty was holding the ball in and he’s gone right through the back of him. It’s a real dangerous tackle and he could really have injured him.

"The referee didn’t see it that way. It just wasn’t our day at all.

"You are looking for a bit of consistency from the referee.

"Michael Moore asked the referee why he didn’t send Cummins off and he was booked for it so I thought I’d better not make any more of it.

"It wasn’t to be but there are no complaints. We had an absolute shocker from the start and got exactly what we deserved which was zero points.”

Despite his frustration at Cummins avoiding a dismissal and his team conceding a late third goal by Carrick, Swift had no complaints about Higgins’ early sending off.

“It was a totally correct decision,” Swift said. “I think it was a really poor start from us in terms of I thought our centre backs didn’t have their minds on it for some reason.

"The first goal kind of typified that and then to make matters worse, it was a simple goal kick that we didn’t deal with and Daniel Higgins thought the centre half was going to win it.

"Unfortunately Robert Thomson came round the blind side of him and he’s obviously pulled him back as the last man.

"So by the letter of the law quite rightly he got sent off.

"At that point, three minutes on the clock, 1-0 down and down to 10 men, it’s curtains really from that moment on.

"It’s always difficult with 10 men. You’re going to concede territory in the wide areas but you’re hoping that you’ll be able to defend your box well.

"To be honest, I think we know and the players involved know that we didn’t defend well on the day.”

One ray of light for Stenhousemuir on the day came via the performance of goalkeeper Conor Brennan who made several fine saves to keep the scoreline down.

Stenny’s 1-0 half-time deficit would have been much worse were it not for the frequent interventions of the 28-year-old former East Kilbride custodian.

The display was hailed by Ochilview boss Swift who said: “Conor had to pull off some outstanding saves.

"He kept us just 1-0 down at half-time but that’s been kind of the story of the season.

"I saw a stat on Sunday night that Conor has had the most saves so far in the league campaign with 16 saves which tells you that we need to tighten up at the back.

"Stirling were well worthy of their victory.

"The three goals that we conceded were really, really poor goals at our end of things.

"It was a real bad day at the office.

"It’s not been a good start defensively. We know there’s so much more to come from this group of players.

"We’ve got a good team but it’s been an indifferent start.

"We just need to regroup and we’ve got a big game against Dumbarton on Saturday.”

Saturday’s defeat has left Stenhousemuir seventh in the table with three points from three league games, ahead of that aforementioned home fixture against leaders Dumbarton who are top after recording three wins out of three early in the campaign.

Higgins will miss the game through suspension so there will be at least one change in the Stenny rearguard.

Swift said: “I think the nature of our squad is that we’ve got competition for places.

"I believe in these guys, they are good players.

"It’s just that they’ve had a really, really poor day at the office on Saturday which can happen.

"But we’re just hoping that it won’t extend any further into the next game.

"Dumbarton were relegated from League 1. They have obviously come into this league as one of the favourites.

"But we believe in ourselves. Even although we’ve let ourselves down the last couple of games after getting a good three points in the first game of the season.

"We are looking for a response from the boys.”