By Dylan Inglis
Paul Davies reckons Newmains produced one of the worst displays of his time in co-charge of the club after they lost 2-0 to basement boys Royal Albert.
United came into the clash buoyed by a four game unbeaten run but their Larkhall-based opponents emerged with their first win of the season.
Albert were in control throughout and claimed their first win of the season, leaving United co-boss Davies far from impressed.
Davies said: “It’s definitely one of the poorest displays I’ve seen from a Newmains team.
“Since myself and Craig Gupwell have been here we’ve had some big defeats against good teams, but on Saturday we should have done better.
“We just weren’t at it, we didn’t want the ball in midfield and I felt in possession the team were very poor.
“We made a couple of changes and we’ll hold our hands up as well - maybe they were changes that shouldn’t have been made.
“Take nothing away from Royal Albert though – I thought they made it difficult for us and ultimately took their chances when we didn’t.”
With Victoria Park waterlogged the clash was moved to the John Cumming Stadium in Carluke.
In a frantic start Albert went close with a free-kick inside the first ten seconds before Mark McQuade headed a free header over for United.
Albert made the breakthrough on 65 minutes when Aaron Minto latched onto a short back-pass.
Newmains pushed numbers forwards in search of an equaliser but were punished in the dying seconds when Matthew Webb arrived at the back post to kill things off.
Davies added: “Losing Craig Scott and Dom Cherrie had a big impact because we had to bring in two new players to go into the back three.
“I thought the two lads who came in were outstanding. The result wasn’t their fault and the same goes for Lewis Noble who played alongside them.
“We failed to retain possession in midfield more than anything and were second best. We need to dust ourselves down and come back stronger.”
Newmains now visit Thorniewood United in the league on Saturday. Kick-off is 2pm.
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