Bonnyrigg Rose skipper Jonny Stewart puts slump in form down to individual errors

Bonnyrigg Rose captain Jonny Stewart insists they only have themselves to blame for their slump down the League Two table.

Despite a whirlwind start that saw the New Dundas Park outfit amass seven points from their opening three fixtures, Robbie Horn's newcomers have lost eight of their previous 11 since the 2-2 draw at Stranraer in mid August. The club also suffered a Scottish Cup exit to lower league Sauchie Juniors last month. And although 32-year-old Stewart believes their form will take a turn for the better, he says the squad have to buck up their ideas and cut out the silly errors.

"We had a superb start but since then it's not been great to be honest," he told the Evening News. "It's been disappointing, but at the end of the day it is our first season in League Two so there are going to be ups and downs. All we can do is stay positive and hope that we can turn it around. We all believe we're more than capable and to be fair we have had a hard run of games. There's a long way to go and if you look at the table it is extremely tight so a couple of wins can catapult you up towards the top again.

"We were under no illusions that this wasn't going to be easy even when we won our first two games. If you're not at it 100 per cent then you will lose games. There have been some matches where we've been poor to be honest and deserved to get beat. We've tried to put our finger on it why we've been on this run and I think it comes down to individual mistakes. We seem to be getting punished for everyone we make, either individually or as a team. The confidence has maybe taken a bit of a battering, but we're working hard to put it right. We've been reminding ourselves we are all good players and we didn't get to this level for no reason. There has been a step up in quality but we have enough to believe we can stay in this league."

Bonnyrigg Rose captain Jonny Stewart. Picture: Joe Gilhooley LRPS.

And Stewart, who joined Rose in 2014, is adamant the manager and his backroom team have their full support.

He said: "The majority of boys have been in for years and we've all grown to love Robbie. He's done a remarkable job on and off the park so there's no question marks whatsoever. We all believe in what the coaching staff are doing and it's up to us on the park to deliver the results we all crave. We have been used to winning the past few years so it's been different. When you win on a Saturday afternoon it makes your weekend so much better. We're enjoying playing in the league despite recent results as it's a new challenge we desperately wanted. We're hoping Geo's (George Hunter) last-minute equaliser at Forfar can be a turning point and just who knows how important that point could turn out to be come the end of the season. It was more than we deserved last week so here's hoping it can set us up well. We've played everyone now and take points off each other. It's a big game tomorrow. We lost to Stenhousemuir at home not so long ago so we'll go through there and try and turn that around hopefully."