The scoreline read Bonnyrigg Rose 2, Stenhousemuir 4 and the statistics confirm that the Midlothian side have lost their last three games.
However, this was a story of mistakes and missed opportunities starting after only six minutes with a blunder by big goalkeeper Mark Weir, a day after his 31st birthday.
As Weir tried to kick the ball out of his penalty box razor-sharp Mark Yates siezed his opportunity and was onto the goalkeeper in a flash.
The ball rebounded off Yates’ foot and into the net, sending the travelling fans behind the goal wild.
Rose lost a second in 18 minutes when Euan O’Reilly was in the right place at the right time in the box tto send the ball home. Another avoidable goal.
Manager Robbie Horn, however, aims to put this reverse behind Rose when he takes his men to Albion Rovers on Saturday (kick-off 3pm), but his face spoke volumes post-match.
The former Hearts and Scotland under-21 player said: “I’m really disappointed at the way we started the game.
“We never gave ourselves at chance. We gave away a really poor goal and I thought we could have dealt with initially before it went back to the goalkeeper, to be honest.
“It is basics for me. Mark (Weir) is apologising, but he has to be better when it goes back to him, 100 per cent better.”
The Edinburgh-born former central defender admitted: “Mistakes cost us.”
There were plusses. Kevin Smith slotted after a nod down in the box from Lee Currie to make it 2-1, but he said two more soft goals followed.
Yates netted his second of the game after 75 minutes following a slick passing move and Thomas Orr made no mistake with the fourth in the 90th minute, clinically slotting in the bottom right from just inside the box before sliding on his knees to celebrate in front of the Rose fans.
In between, Neil Martyniuk scored from the spot after a Stenny player handled in the box, the experienced Rose defender, now in his sixth season at the Midlothian club, staying ice cool to send the goalkeeper the wrong way before sliding the ball low into the right-hand corner of the net.
Sportingly, Horn said the Central Scotland club defended better than his men but he added: “We had them penned in, but they got good blocks in.
“I am 100 per cent disappointed, but it is just how we react to it. It’s all about what we can do about it.”
The match statistics indicated that Rose had 12 shots, six on target, and the opposition 11 with seven on target.
Rose had 47 per cent of the play against 53 per cent by the opposition and they created eight corners to four from their rivals. Both sides collected two yellow cards but Stenny committed 17 fouls against nine from the home side.
Horn took positives from the reverse. One is goal scoring and he said: “We’ve struggled to score goals recently and our performance in the second-half was a lot better going forward.”
Another plus was the substitution after 71 minutes of forward Kieran Mitchell on loan from cinch Championship outfit Raith Rovers.
The 19-year-old has been at Starks Park since June 2021 following experience in youth football with Hearts and he had a loan spell with Lowland League side Bo’ness United last season, scoring five goals in nine starts.
Mitchell has made seven appearances for Rovers and he could be in line to start for Rose next week as he made an impression, not just with Horn but also with the home fans in the crowd of 730.
Horn said: “He (Kieran) did not get an opportunity to train with us and the first time he met the boys was on match day.
“It would not have been fair on the young lad to put him right in but when he came on he showed enough to put himself in contention for next week.
“He can play on the wing or through the middle and he definitely brings pace to our team.”
Horn revealed what he told the players in the dressing-room. It was a simple message that that they need to be better.
He added: “Everybody has to be more professional. We are working very hard in training and the standard is very high.
“All you can do is keep working hard and do the basics right and it will come.”
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