Allan Johnston has been reflecting on the first round of games in the Championship and admits there’s room for improvement.
With the first quarter of the season gone, Queens sit seventh in the Championship on nine points after losing 2-1 to Ayr on Saturday.
Five of Queens six league losses this season have been by just one goal. But the manager believes that the squad will continue to improve as they play more games together.
Allan said: “You are always disappointed with the points tally but it’s a difficult league and we are playing against some good teams.
“The boys are giving everything they’ve got and I think we are improving from where we were at the start of the season. We have a lot more competition compared to what we had at the beginning so it’s good.
“I think we will improve on where we are just now, we have nine points so far and we haven’t been far away in a lot of the games but I think squad wise we are in a better place so hopefully we can kick on.”
He added: “There is always room for improvement. You’ve got to defend well, especially in this league, you can’t afford to give away cheap goals but going forward as well you’ve got to be clinical.
“Today was another game where we should’ve got something, at least a draw for all that we put in, but we will get there.”
The South had plenty of chances to win the game in the first half and ended up shipping poor goals.
Allan said: “The first half we were totally dominant and their keeper had a couple of good saves.
“There was a fifteen minute spell where we lost our way and let them back into the game as we stopped passing the ball and they got the goal which was preventable. We know ourselves there was no need for us to dive in as he was going nowhere and you know the psychology in football, you get the equaliser and they are fighting for everything and eventually they get a second.
“So, it’s frustrating as the boys did more than enough to win the game. We have got to learn the finer detail as you can’t afford to lose cheap goals.”
The manager wants to see better game management from his players going forward to help put games out of sight.
He said: “Wherever you go teams are going to put a wee bit of pressure on you, teams are always going to have a spell in the game at some point and you’ve got to manage that. Sometimes you’ve just got to try to restrict them to few chances.
“Nobody likes to lose a derby. Its always disappointing. The fans were brilliant, They were clapping at the end and that shows they appreciate the effort they put in, we shouldn’t have let that game slip.”
