Ger's thoughts after yesterday's injury time cup exit

Out but definitely not down.

Travelling away to Coldstream yesterday, there was honestly never a doubt in my mind that the minimum our boys would put into this last 16 tie would be nothing short of their absolute best.

Although we pass up the chance to progress into the quarter finals the only emotion I had for the group as we travelled back to Peeblesshire was one of a sense of pride. Losing games of football at the best of times no doubt takes it out of you however to lose this one in the 93rd minute I could totally understand the dejection from our boys at the end. However as both teams probably cancelled each other out for the majority of the 90 minutes at Home Park I felt there was nothing really in it on balance. Defensively I felt we dealt with the majority that was flung our way. Cal (Mackenzie) and Ben (Brown) were colossal throughout and Cammy (Hanratty) once again produces another cracking penalty stop early on in the proceedings to keep the game exactly where we needed it to be. Both sides then huffed and puffed without being clinical in the final third and in the second half we bring out the best in big Elliot Turnbull who rolled back the years to touch one round the post from a Michael Joyce effort that looked destined for the net. Then probably at a key time in the game we lose Ben Brown to injury and our hand is forced into making a defensive change when we felt an offensive one might’ve gotten us closer to winning the game. Again that’s the small margins. And as the game looked set to go into extra time Coldstream to their credit asked us a few more difficult questions. Heartbreakingly as we make a last ditch tackle 10 yards out from a corner the ball falls right in front of our goal. And devastatingly for us it goes straight to a Coldstream player and he taps it in. Sometimes that’s just the way football falls.

A cruel way to go out but nonetheless the boys have to hold their heads up. Their effort, desire and commitment resembled absolutely everything we are trying to build at this club, the only slight frustration is that we have to be a little better in the key moments. I felt we were a touch wasteful from middle to front. That being said Coldstream had to earn it and on another day we maybe nick it at the other end and find ourselves in the next round. So we have to lick our wounds quickly and take away the positives of which there were a few. Focus now turns to another real tough one next weekend against Whitburn who occupy top spot. But the boys should be going into it full of confidence.

Finally we wish yesterday’s hosts the very best of luck in the quarters and on a personal note it’s always great to see some of the old guard still doing their thing at this level. Although our name might not be in the draw for the next round, yesterday was another indicator on just how far this group have come in a short space of time.