Stirling Albion manager Darren Young cut a frustrated figure after his side were beaten 1-0 by Bonnyrigg Rose at New Dundas Park on Saturday.
The Binos were going for a third straight win in cinch League 2 but went down to a Neil Martyniuk penalty after 13 minutes in a keenly-contested game with not much between the teams.
The defeat capped a disappointing few days for Stirling, who were knocked out of the SPFL Trust Trophy by Highland League leaders Brechin City at Glebe Park last Wednesday.
Dale Carrick scored the equaliser in a 1-1 draw but Jack Leitch had a stoppage-time penalty saved and also missed in the shoot-out as Andy Kirk’s men prevailed 5-4 on spot-kicks.
Young’s side will now be without a game on the weekend of September 24, when the third-round fixtures take place. Next up for the Binos is a home match with Albion Rovers on Saturday and Young will be hoping his side can get back to winning ways.
Looking back on the Bonnyrigg game, he said: “It’s disappointing and frustrating. We gave a cheap penalty away at the start of the game when we had an opportunity to clear the ball. From our point of view, it was a terrible goal to lose and we can’t keep doing this.
“We gave away an early goal against Annan last week, although we managed to come back, and we did it again against Brechin in midweek. It’s nothing to do with formation or shape or anything like that, it’s just down to individual errors and we need to cut them out.
“We showed a good reaction to going behind and we had some good chances but it just didn’t fall for us. Fair play to Bonnyrigg because they are good at what they do and they won the game.
“There was no lack of effort but we dropped our standards. If you keep on making mistakes you’ll be punished and we want to get better and get more points on the board. There’s maybe not too much wrong but if you give teams that opportunity, it makes things much harder.”
Meanwhile, Young has made Kai Fotheringham his latest new signing, with the 19-year-old joining on loan from Dundee United until January.
Fotheringham made his debut at Bonnyrigg after Josh Cooper was forced off injured in just 11 minutes - he put in an excellent performance and was unlucky to finish on the losing side.
Former Stirling Albion midfielder Brian Grant, who is Head of Player Pathways and Loans at Dundee United, told their club website: “Kai is a young man with immense attacking threat.
“He’s developed this by working within the first-team environment here and on loan spells at Falkirk, Raith and Cove Rangers. This is another crucial stage of his development as he will get the opportunity to play regular, competitive football at Stirling.”
The transfer window shuts at midnight on Thursday, September 1 but clubs outside the top flight have until the end of the month to make domestic loan signings.
