'We only had 14 fit senior players' - Dunipace boss Danny Smith assesses 2-1 league defeat at Coldstream

After a dominant first-half display by Danny Smith’s team which culminated in Paul Nash’s composed finish after good interplay midway through an opening period which saw ’Pace miss other good scoring chances, the Borders side hit back after the interval to beat the Denny outfit with a pair of stunning long range strikes.

“It was a thoroughly deserved lead at half-time,” manager Smith told the Falkirk Herald. “We were excellent first-half.

"We started the game really well, scored and then Marty Wright missed a second opportunity with a close range shot from an angle which went wide. That could have put us 2-0 up at the interval.

"The turning point was two minutes into the second-half, Coldstream scored a screamer, a tremendous strike from 25 yards to equalise.

"They probably had a bit of momentum at that point and it kind of shocked us.

"We never seemed to get back into the rhythm we were in during the first-half.

"Then on 75 minutes they hit a shot from 30 yards which ended up finding its way into our net again.

"It was like a game of two halves. We huffed and puffed in the second-half but didn’t create any clear cut chances, which was what Coldstream were like in the first-half.

"They could also have scored another goal at 1-1 with a shot from inside the penalty area which crashed off our bar.”

A major problem for Smith on Saturday was that he had only 14 fit senior players, with the remaining three places on the bench filled by three youngsters from the club’s under-20 squad.

“What hit us last weekend was injuries and the sickness bug that is going about everybody,” the Westfield Park gaffer added. "It wouldn’t have been fair to blood those young boys last weekend in a game where we were chasing our tails.

"We are hopeful that this week we have at least a couple of senior players back.”

Dunipace, ninth in the table with 19 points from 13 matches, host 13th-placed Whitehill Welfare in the league this Saturday in a game which kicks off at 1pm.