Berwick Rangers manager Martin Scott still feeling positive despite third Scottish Lowland Football League East loss on bounce

That was his sixth defeat in eight games in all competitions, three of them in the league, since taking over from Kevin Haynes at Shielfield Park at the end of September and it leaves the Northumbrians third from bottom of the table, on six points from 14 fixtures, ahead of a visit from Edinburgh’s eighth-placed Civil Service Strollers next Tuesday, with kick-off at 7.45pm.

Prior to that midweek fixture taking them to the halfway point of the season, they’ve got a fourth-round South Region Challenge Cup fixture away to West of Scotland Football League fourth division side Eddlewood in Hamilton this coming Saturday, with kick-off against their South Lanarkshire hosts at 1.30pm.

Saturday gone’s game was Rangers’ second loss away to the Fifers in the space of just over a month, having also been knocked out of the Scottish Cup’s first round there 4-0 at the start of October.

It was decided by second-half goals from Harvey Petrie on 58 minutes and Bryan Mwangi on 63 after Ben McCrystal had put the visitors ahead on 19, with the two teams missing a penalty apiece.

Though yet to oversee a league win for Rangers, Scott is confident they’re heading in the right direction, insisting there are positives to be taken from their third fifth-tier loss on the bounce.

“It was a game of two halves again,” the 40-year-old told the club’s Facebook page.

“Although we started the second half pretty well, two set-plays cost us, which is really disappointing.

“I felt, in the main, in the first half, we were pretty controlled in our shape and carried a threat going forward.

“Going in at 1-0, you just reiterate to the players that they need to keep carrying out the same thing that was working.

“To concede from two set-plays, it is disappointing, there’s no doubt about that.

“I’m frustrated, but we just have to keep working hard to improve and get better. The players are disappointed as well – they’re hurting.

“There’s no other way round about it – you just have to get back on the training pitch and keep trying to improve and get better and rectify those small details that can help us.

“I was happy with our performance in the first half, but we weren’t too relaxed at that point. We knew we had work to do.

“I felt that defensively, we actually had a decent structure, a decent shape, and we really did limit them, especially in the first half and open play in the second half, to not any clear-cut chances, so that’s a sore one – there’s no hiding the fact of that – but we just have to reset and go again.

“You’ve got to look at the positives, you’ve got to improve the negatives – that’s all we can do.

“There’s certainly lots to play for. We have to stick together, we’ve got to keep pushing, we’ve got to keep working – that’s the only way.”