Stunned James McDonaugh demands strong response from Edinburgh City

James McDonaugh couldnt believe how poor his Edinburgh City side were against Cove. Pic: TSPL

Almost a week on from the abject 5-0 defeat in Aberdeeenshire, the manager remains stunned at the manner of his team’s opening-day capitulation.

He warned his players they will be in danger of losing their place if there is no improvement at home to Brechin City this weekend.

“It was a terrible performance last week and we need to put it right,” said McDonaugh, who has been agonising over last Saturday’s setback all of this week. “It’s hard to say how good Cove actually are. They were good obviously on Saturday but no disrespect to them, we were just terrible. We didn’t have one player I’d give pass marks to. Every aspect of our game wasn’t good enough. It was unacceptable. The players have got to buck up their ideas and improve 100 per cent.

“We have to make sure it proves to be a one-off freak result. I know we don’t have a big fanbase but the small fanbase we’ve got support the club very well and the people behind the scenes make sure the players are well looked after. All these people were let down really badly on Saturday and that’s something that can’t happen in that manner again. Everybody can accept getting beat if you give everything but that was something I didn’t see coming and something I’m not going to accept.

“When you get a bad result, sometimes you think, on reflection, I should have done this or that differently in the lead-up to the game, but I don’t think I would have changed anything in terms of the preparation. The performance was just the worst since I’ve been at the club. I’ve spoken with the players at training this week and they’re hurting but it’s down to them to put it right. If things hadn’t been right off the pitch (in terms of preparation) we could have looked at that, but that’s not been the case. It was just down to the performance on the day.”

McDonaugh remains adamant that he has recruited well this summer despite last weekend’s false start. “It hasn’t changed my opinion on the players I’ve signed,” he said. “They’re good players and it’s not just the new guys who are to blame for Saturday. Every player who took to the pitch underperformed on Saturday. They’re putting themselves at risk of being replaced. If they’re not doing it, that’s what will happen.”

McDonaugh is without four key players tomorrow as goalkeeper Calum Antell, captain Craig Thomson and centre-back Liam Henderson are all suspended ,while vice-captain Josh Walker is injured. “We’re missing our captain, our vice-captain, our goalkeeper and our centre-back so it’ll be a challenge,” said the manager. “Regardless of the result, we need to see a huge improvement in terms of performance.”

Former Burntisland Shipyard goalkeeper Ryan Adamson is likely to replace Antell between the sticks, with 17-year-old Dean Beveridge on the bench, although McDonaugh has been pondering bringing in a new keeper.