Dalbeattie Star were left bemoaning their missed chances after starting the Lowland League campaign with a defeat.
The Islecroft side lost 3-1 to Edinburgh University with boss Jordan Williamson calling for his side to be more clinical in front of goal.
He said: “It was three points dropped – we need to be picking up points against teams like Edinburgh University.
“The boys need to learn pretty fast that you get punished if you don’t take your chances in this league as that’s exactly what happened on Saturday.
“We had a chance in the first 60 seconds, we hit the crossbar, and I’m pretty sure if we’d put the ball in the net it would have been different.
“We had another one-on-one with the goalie, another couple of opportunities in the first half and it was the same in the second half. If you don’t put the ball in the net you don’t win football matches and that’s exactly what happened.
“We dominated the game. I felt we were on top for large parts and would have been worthy winners had we taken our chances.
“It’s just sharpness. We’re getting into the right areas and creating chances, we’re just not working space quickly enough. We’ve gone from struggling to break down teams in pre-season to creating double figures in terms of chances.”
After a goalless first half, it was the students who took the lead midway through the second when Ross McGuire headed a free-kick past Sam Henderson.
But with less than 20 minutes to go Star were back level when Alex Ainslie put the ball into his own net.
However, moments later the capital side were back in front as David Maskrey scored, Star being hit on the counter right at the death when Patrick Baird teed up Maskrey to hit the third.
Star are up against another student side this weekend when they travel to Stirling University.
Williamson said: “It’s another opportunity to pick up points. A lot of their boys seem to have moved on to pastures new and they seem to be in a rebuilding phase and we need to capitalise on that.
“We’re only going to get stronger. Tam Kelly will be back and Steven Degnan and Dan Orsi will be back in a few weeks.
“Saturday was fine margins and we now need to look at this week and know we have boys coming back to help us secure three points.”
Williamson added: “He came down and met the boys for the first time on Saturday. He looked very lively and will certainly be a good addition for us in the final third to give us an extra spark.”
