Peterhead boss Jim McInally had two main messages for his players following Tuesday night’s 2-0 Premier Sports Cup defeat at Inverness Caledonian Thistle. The Blue Toon boss is looking for mistakes to be cut out at the back however he also saw plenty of positives in how his side played.
Jim explained: “We made a lot of changes from the Hearts game on the Saturday and it took a bit of time to settle. However once we did we played well and we grew stronger as the game went on. In fact for large periods of the second half we played a lot of good stuff and were probably the better team.”
“I saw enough during that time to say that we have improved from pre-season and improved from the Hearts game. There are further improvements to come as well.”
The loss of two goals early in the second half irked Jim both in the sense of how they were lost and the timing as he explained: “We got to half-time goalless and were perhaps a bit fortunate to do so. I told the players that we had a platform to build on and to go out and win the second half.”
“They were doing that from kick-off in the second 45 minutes and we were on top in the game. Then however we made a mistake at the back and lost a goal and then quickly afterwards we lost a second. It was a great strike from their player but we allowed him time to shoot.”
“We need to be sharper in these occasions.”
“We had gone from looking good for to picking up points to being two behind. To be fair to the players they rallied after that and we went on to push Inverness back and create chances. Russell McLean was unlucky with a couple but we will get there with goalscoring.”
Peterhead now host Cove Rangers with Jim adding: “It does not get any easier as it has been a Premiership side and then a Championship side and now we are facing a side many tip to win our league. Stirling have also been tipped to win their league so we have two tough games coming up.”
