QUEEN’S Park coach Billy Stark says his side’s recent run of disappointing results isn’t going to affect his side’s morale.
After a tremendous string of results at the start of the season, which saw them string together five wins out of five, the Spiders have now gone five games without a win.
Billy said: “We’re not going to let our heads go down. We’re not going to get downhearted, as we always said it would be a difficult season after getting promoted with basically the same squad this season, apart from Weatherston.
“We won the first three games against good opposition, but that can happen, and no one was getting carried away at that time saying we were going to win the Third Division.
“Our aim is to show we can compete on a week to week basis, but in the last few games we’ve not looked like it.
“There will be plenty of ups and downs over the course of this season, that’s for sure, but we won’t let ourselves get too low.”
The boss was frustrated by the manner in which his side lost to Alloa.
“I’m very disappointed - we didn’t start the game well after being well warned they would come out the blocks. They grabbed the initiative and we never really looked as if we were going to do anything.
“It’s disappointing in that we looked kind of weak on Saturday - they outfought us and scored from setpieces, and then even when we had created some good chances that could have got us back in the game, it didn’t happen.
“It was capped off by Stuart Kettlewell getting send off, so it was a poor, poor day for us.
“Defending setpieces is becoming a bit of a worry for us, as four of the Raith Rovers goals came from setpieces.
“We had to deal with them last year against sides like Arbroath and East Fife in Division Three, but it’s an even bigger hurdle as you go up the leagues.
“On Saturday, Alloa were bringing up their two centre halves every time they got a corner or a setpiece in our half, and we’ve ended up being done by them, for various reasons.
“We’ve to try and address that.”
Stuart Kettlewell’s red card was the side’s third in their last three games, following Richard Sinclair and Alan Trouten into having been sent for an early bath.
Stark said: “It’s quite frustrating as discipline is something I’ve spoken about.
“Stuart has been nothing short of magnificent, and after the disciplinary problems he had a few seasons back, he had sorted himself out and got that out of his game, so it’s very annoying to see him get a red card.
“That’s now three players who’ve got themselves suspended before we’re even out of September, and we just can’t afford that.”
Looking ahead to this weekend’s trip to Balmoor Stadium, the Spiders know it’s going to be a tough trip to the north east of Scotland.
Billy added: “Peterhead have some players we know from playing against them in the Third Division a few years ago. They’re under new management, and have brought in several foreign players, and they’ve been getting some good results after a difficult start.
“We know how tough it is - we say that ahead of every game - but we’ll just knuckle down and try to be more resolute.”
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