'We weren't too harsh on the boys' - Hawick Royal Albert boss Kenny Aitchison saw positive signs despite 3-0 loss at Arniston Rangers

The hosts ran out 3-0 winners in this East of Scotland League second division encounter, leaving Hawick bottom with two points from 10 games.

"I feel it was a deserved win for Arniston," Aitchison told The Southern Reporter. "The league table doesn't lie, when we played them they were fourth in the table so they had a good squad with a lot of good young players I'd coached before.

"Notably their striker Aaran Laidlaw who has scored 20 goals this season, which to put in context is almost double our whole team has scored this year in the league.

"It sounds silly to say but I wasn't actually too disappointed with the performance. I thought the guys played reasonably well so we weren't too harsh on them."

Albert trailed 1-0 at half-time to a first-half Ewan Graham shot, before Rangers clinched it after the break with a Laidlaw penalty and Dan Greig's header from a corner.

With four teams relegated, Albert face a battle to stay up but Aitchison is optimistic ahead of this Saturday's league trip to fellow strugglers Edinburgh United, followed by a home game against second bottom Lochgelly Albert a week on Saturday.

"The next two games are massive when it comes to the relegation spots," he added.

"A reason why we are so low is we have played the majority of teams in the upper half this season. These games give us a great opportunity to pick up points."