'We haven’t got started this season' - Berwick Rangers boss Stuart Malcolm looking for improvement after home loss to Caledonian Braves

After the shock 2-1 cup loss at Stoneyburn Juniors seven days earlier, Berwick succumbed 2-0 at home to Caledonian Braves in Saturday’s Scottish Lowland Football League encounter.

“We’ve not got started at all this season,” Malcolm told the Berwickshire News. “We look a bit off it just now in terms of doing the basics and applying ourselves well.

"We are not doing those things as of yet.

"So until we start doing these things we are going to cause ourselves problems.

"If I’m being brutally honest, I don’t think we deserved anything out the game on Saturday.

“We had a great chance to make it one each with a header in the first half that we don’t take.

"But even then I think it would probably have been unfair against the opposition.

"However, if we do apply ourselves with the players that we’ve got and the quality that we’ve got in that dressing room, on paper it looks like a very good squad but we need to apply ourselves much better within the game to go and be where we need to be.”

Braves took the lead after 12 minutes on Saturday when Zac Butterworth cut in from the right and fired into the top corner.

And the Motherwell team sealed the points late on when Marc Kelly netted after Scott Forrester’s initial header had been saved.

Berwick had their moments too, including a strong penalty shout for handball after just three minutes being waved away, Sean Stewart not converting a 24th minute header from a Jamie Stevenson free-kick and Liam Buchanan rattling the bar with a shot early in the second half.

On being denied the penalty, Malcolm added: “The ball hit the guy’s arm which was kind of flailing from his body.

"In this case we never got the penalty, which was a wee bit disappointing.

"The rule says that if the hand is disconnected from your body – whatever that means because your hand is at the end of your body so I don’t know how it can be disconnected – it is a penalty.

"They say if your hands are at your side it’s not a penalty kick but if they are flailing and making your body bigger, it is.

"It’s a grey area.

"We’ve not got VAR and it’s the referee’s discretion as to what is and isn’t a penalty.

"With the rub of the green we could have got a penalty kick.

"These things kind of go against us as well at times.

"However during the game we didn’t have a cutting edge in the final third so we’ve got to be better in all these departments.

"If Liam Buchanan’s strike goes in we maybe have a rally at the end of the game to try and get something out of it. It was a great effort.”

Despite losing at the weekend, Malcolm stressed that his team weren’t exactly played off the park by their visitors to Shielfield.

"We have been beaten but Caledonian Braves haven’t had a whole host of chances,” the 43-year-old ex-Forfar Athletic gaffer added.

"Yes they were better than us on the day, there’s no question about that.

"But they haven’t peppered our goal for 90 minutes, it’s been nothing like that.

"They have made a couple of half decent chances. The first one we should do much better with although it was great play from the winger Butterworth.

"And our quality in possession needs to improve.

"We look a wee bit rushed. Things need rectified.

"I take my own responsibility for what’s going on, however, we also need the players to recognise what they should be doing.”

Saturday’s defeat has left Berwick 14th in the standings with nine points from their seven league matches.

They are back in league action this Saturday when they travel to Gala Fairydean Rovers for a match that kicks off at 3pm.

Malcolm said: “It’s going to be an edgy encounter. It will be vital whoever is prepared to go and be brave and take control of the game.

"Gala have been beaten on Saturday by a margin – 5-1 at Open Goal Broomhill – and we are not going particularly great guns and trying to find confidence.

"We’ve got to go there and try and build confidence through the team.

"This week the boys are obviously low.

"They know and accept what we are asking them to do.

"But we need them to recognise what it actually is on the park.

"We can’t be leaving it to each other to do it, it needs to come collectively.”