Bonnyrigg Rose boss Robbie Horn sends strong message to players after fifth defeat in six games

Bonnyrigg Rose Robbie Horn put his team’s fifth defeat in six games down to poor defending and fatigue, and warned that a reaction is need to avoid being on the receiving end of a Scottish Cup shock.

Callum Connolly’s headed home a Lee Currie corner in the second minute gave the Midlothian men a flying start against East Fife at New Dundas Park, and two minutes later Scott Grey missed a great chance to double the lead, a close-range header going inches over the bar. But the visitors scored three times in a five-minute spell midway through the second half before adding a fourth in the final minute to win 4-1.

Former Hearts youngster Ryan Schiavone and on-loan St Johnstone midfielder Alex Ferguson both scored twice for the visitors, who had lost 3-0 when the teams met at New Bayview earlier in the season. The victory moved East Fife up to third place in League 2 with 17 points from 11 games. Bonnyrigg are in sixth with 13 points. The Lowland League champions ended a run of four straight defeats by defeating Annan Athletic 2-0 on Tuesday, but that effort they put into that game took its toll. Horn was not impressed with the way his team shipped three goals from the 62nd to 67th minute.

“We defended really poorly,” said the manager. “We should deal with the ball on the edge of our box for the first one. We switched off at a throw in for the second. It was a decent stroke, but we should have closed it down. The third one was a corner and the fourth one came when we were pushing bodies forward.

Bonnyrigg manager Robbie Horn has some thinking to do after five defeats in six games. Picture: Simon Wootton / SNS

“It’s really frustrating to turn in a performance like that. I didn’t think we were at it. We looked leggy. We put so much into the game the other night, when we were really good. But in this game we were poor and didn’t deserve anything. We have to take it on the chin, realise what we’ve got to do, stick together and work hard.”

Horn had made just one change to his team following Tuesday’s win over Annan, with Josh Grigor coming in for Dean Brett. He may now have concern over defender Kerr Young, who limped off shortly after half time. Rose are in Scottish Cup action next week away to East of Scotland League Sauchie and Horn had warned his players that a much better performance is required to overcome a potential banana skin.

“It’s another game to get a reaction,” he said. “It’s not going to be easy. Sauchie have good players. I’ve told them that we need to be at it because if we’re not we’ll get turned over. Sauchie will be looking at it in a similar way we did when we used to play in the competition as an East of Scotland or Lowland League team. It’s always an opportunity against a league team and they will feel the same, so we get a reaction from the player to get a result and then go on a run of winning games.”