Bonnyrgg Rose players must "stand up and be counted" to get League Two bid back on track

Bonnyrigg Rose boss Robbie Horn says his side must cut out unforced errors to remain competitive in League Two after they suffered their third straight loss with a 4-2 defeat to Stenhousemuir.

Rose have slipped to seventh in the table as a result – and pointing to the difference in budgets between the two clubs – Horn said his players must do the basics right to give themselves a chance against higher-spending teams.

An uncharacteristic error from their usually reliable goalkeeper Mark Weir led to Matty Yates giving the visitors a seventh minute lead, and Rose found themselves two goals behind just eleven minutes later through Euan O’Reilly’s header, leaving them with a mountain to climb.

“The game could have been dead and buried in the first half, it was poor mistakes that cost us, and in the second half the goals we gave away were also poor,” said Horn.

Robbie Horn

“That’s the disappointing factor, we never gave ourselves a chance in the game by giving away a goal at such an early stage. We looked nervous after that first goal went in; from that point everyone was like a bag of jaggies.

“The ball should have been sent up the line first of all, but we knocked it back to the goalie, and he then had to take a touch and get it out his feet and kick it up against the wind. It’s not good decision making and ultimately it cost us.

“We didn’t play the conditions well enough in the first half, going up the hill against the wind, we just didn’t deal with it.

“There has got to be a bit of reality to this because when you look at their budget and you look at our budget, there is a hell of a difference between the two teams. That is the case for most of the teams in this league.

“We have got to just deal with it and be as good as we can possibly be. If we do that, then we have a chance, but if you are not and you make mistakes, basic mistakes, then it is going to cost you.”

Bonnyrigg got themselves back into it through Kevin Smith’s early second half strike and pushed for a leveller, but Yates struck again. Neil Martyniuk’s penalty gave Rose a glimmer of hope, only for Thomas Orr to restore Stenhousemuir’s two-goal lead in the 90th minute.

Losing is something this Rose side aren’t accustomed to having suffered just three defeats all season in last season’s Lowland League title triumph.

Horn says his players must roll their sleeves up and be prepared to work hard to arrest their current form.

He added: “Nobody wants to get beat, it doesn’t matter if you are Bonnyrigg Rose, or Man City, nobody wants to lose. We just have to deal with it, but this is when you would expect players to stand up and be counted, and say ‘We are getting beat, but I am going to go and perform today’ or ‘I’m not playing today but I am going to continue to work hard in training and show why I should be playing’.

“We need to do the basics right and then go and play from there. I am confident that we can turn the tide.”