Whitburn boss Darren Wilson has challenged his players - and himself - to use their derby defeat to Armadale Thistle as a learning experience.
The Burnie twice got their noses in front at Central Park but ultimately suffered a 3-2 loss which saw them relinquish top spot of the East of Scotland Conference X table to the Dale.
It was the first defeat under Wilson, who took over from Jamie Sandilands in November after his departure to Rossvale, and he admitted their inability to take control of the game was frustrating.
Stuart McIntyre and Reece Duncan had twice given the home side the lead in a frenetic first half - only to conceded almost instantly on both occasions with Chris Donnelly and former Burnie midfielder JJ Henderson finding the net for the visitors.
The decisive blow was struck by Thistle three minutes into the second half when Robbie Feeney raced onto a through ball and fired beyond Daniel Potts.
Wilson commented: “It was a frustrating afternoon. We got ourselves in front twice and didn’t then continue to play our brand of football.
“That’s particularly frustrating, not so much the defeat but we lost our identity during the game.
“I think we open the scoring with a really good goal and at that point we’re on top in the game but we concede three minutes after and then the same thing happens.
“Their second equaliser probably changed the momentum and after that we struggled to get into a rhythm and play how we wanted.”
He added: “Armadale controlled the game in the second half and it’s a learning experience.
“They have a lot of veterans in their side and they managed the game well and credit it to them.
“I have to look at myself and ask what I could have done differently, and the players have been asked to do the same. We have a massive team environment at this club so it’s a collective.”
Despite that, the gaffer said they won’t be dwelling too much on the outcome and there’s no need for any drastic changes given they’re still firmly in the promotion race.
He added: “You have to reflect and learn but you also don’t want to dwell on things too much.
“We’re disappointed but we’re not naive to the fact that you’re not going to win every game. We’re not going to get too upset about it.”
Wilson’s counterpart Derek Strickland admitted Feeney should have been flagged for offside in the lead up to the winner but the Burnie boss tried to downplay that incident despite admitting his frustration.
He commented: “Their winner is offside and that is tough to take, but it’s difficult for the referee when he’s on his own.
“These things happen and I’m sure we’ll get our fair share of breaks between now and the end of the season. We’ve already had plenty go in our favour so we can’t complain too much.
“It’s how we reacted to it and going behind that we’ll need to learn from and take on board going into future games.”
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