Dalbeattie Star manager Eddie Warwick believes things are heading in the right direction at Islecroft.
The Lowland League basement boys suffered another defeat on Saturday when they lost 2-0 to Tranent Juniors.
But there were positives for Warwick to take as he continues his efforts to get the side moving up the table.
He said: “In the league the performances are starting to pick up.
“We lost 2-0 to Gala, beat Berwick and fell slightly short on Saturday.
“I must admit I thought the first half was quite even but they had more pressure than us and needed our goalkeeper to dig us out a wee bit.
“We hemmed them in for the second half and were by far the better team. We just couldn’t score.
“We had loads of corners, loads of effort, loads of endeavour, loads of shots on target, just nothing really threatening.
“We lacked that cutting edge in front of goal and goals change games.
“If we’d got an equaliser it was right in the mire. I think we were good value for a point. I don’t think we deserved to win the game but we did enough to get a point.
“It was difficult underfoot, the pitch hadn’t recovered too well from the Darvel game as it’s been battered by rain.
“It was a good, meaty game – they’re a good juniors team, very aggressive, stick together and know how to hang on to leads. They’ve won nine games this year and you can see why.”
Ben Miller gave Tranent the lead in the first half, Adam McGowan killing things off with the second goal five minutes from time.
Star assistant Bryan Gilfillan was shown a red card before the end after complaining about a decision a little too vociferously.
The Islecroft side's game against Hearts' youngsters was rained off on Wednesday night and this weekend they head to Bo'ness United.
Before the postponement, Warwick said: “I’ve only been in a month and twice we’ve had three games in seven days.
“We had Spartans, Gala and Berwick last time, this time it’ll be Tranent, Hearts and Bo’ness. It’s really difficult.
“We have a system in mind that is best for us and the players we have in the changing room. It would be ideal to change people but we don’t want to change too many. We want to give boys the opportunity. It’s a difficult time of year to get players.
“The evidence is there to believe we’re going in the right direction. We need to try to grind out another couple of wins between now and Christmas to be in the mix at the turn of the year. If we don’t we might be away sooner than later.”
