Dougie MacDuff insists it’s still too early to judge him after six fraught months in the Irvine Vics hotseat.
The Westenders finish the year rooted to the bottom of Conference A with just one win and two draws from 23 league games.
A 2-1 defeat at home to fellow strugglers Bellshill last weekend put the seal on a miserable 2021.
MacDuff admits results haven’t been anywhere near good enough since taking the reigns in June.
But he insists it will take time and patience to get things right on the park after buidling a squad from scratch.
He said: “I was on a hiding to nothing when I came in. We had three players and were six weeks behind the other teams in terms of preparation.
"To be honest, looking back, the club did well to get a team on the park in all the circumstances.
“I’m not one to shy away from the facts though. The results are there in black and white and I take responsibility for that.
“What I will say is I think we are in a bit of a false position in the league. We’ve played a lot of good football this season and dominated games against some of the better sides.
“More often than not, teams know they’ve been in a game against us.
“I look at the other leagues and see teams taking doings - that’s something that’s not really happened to us.
“But a lack of experience has cost us and we’ve conceded far too many goals. That’s something we need to address.
“Judge me next year, that’s what I would say.
“We’re already thinking ahead to next season and talking about targets. What’s clear to me is we need to bring in a proven goalscorer.
“We created 19 chances against Belllshill and it took an own goal for us to get on the scoresheet. We have to do much better than that.”
For the time being, it’s all about setting small targets for MacDuff - but there’s one big one he hopes to achieve before the end of the season.
“The challenge for us between now and the end of the season has to be getting off the foot of the table,” insisted MacDuff.
“I told the players that before the Bellshill game and in hindsight that maybe put too much pressure on them.
“But we need to try and build a bit of momentum in our remaining seven games.”
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