Bonnyrigg Rose boss Robbie Horn has targeted Tuesday’s home clash with Annan Athletic in the cinch Scottish League Two (19.45) to snap a confidence-sapping, four-game losing run.
The latest defeat came at Cliftonhill Stadium against Albion Rovers on Saturday when the Midlothian combine were edged 2-1 in a game which saw the visitors reduced to ten men.
Rose remain in seventh spot in the ten-strong table with ten points from nine games and are now only two points above bottom-markers Forfar Athletic with Annan in eighth position with nine points from the same number of games following their 2-2 draw at Stenhousemuir on Saturday.
Horn told Rose TV: “The free kick late in the first-half got us back in the game and I thought we started the second-half really positively and we had pressure on them. Their goalkeeper made saves and we had one cleared off the line. We pinned them in.”
The boss added: “We must start better, 100 per cent. We talked about it and we have to start the game better and not give up the cheap goals we have been and give ourselves a chance.”
He was disappointed at a refereeing decision at an important point in the game and he added: “It was a big decision and we did not get it. The players, at the moment, are just lacking a wee bit of confidence, a little belief in themselves.
“We had a good chat (after the game), the boys are working hard and we have a chance to right the wrongs on Tuesday night. We have to keep working hard and sticking together, it is not easy in this league.
“It wasn’t pretty (at Cliftonhill), it was windy, the pitch was heavy and it was a battle, but it was tough to take as I felt we deserved to get something from game.
“It was tough when we went down to ten men. The guys kept working hard and plugging away and that is all you can ask of them.”
The facts are that Luke Graham fired home from a corner to break the deadlock after 14 minutes and then Callum Wilson was brought down in the box by substitute Bradley Barrett and Rovers doubled their advantage from the spot through Charlie Reilly. Time 43 minutes.
Lee Currie scored from a free-kick at the edge of the Albion box to pull one back for Rose a minute before the break and that fired the visitors.
Three headers were denied by the Rovers defence as Bonnyrigg piled on the pressure in search of an equaliser, but Barrett was handed a second yellow and sent off for a foul just outside the Rose box with 13 minutes left.
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