Largs - Thistle boss voices penalty frustration over Darvel defeat

Largs have been flying high in the West of Scotland Premier League after a series of good results, but their winning run came to an abrupt end at Barrfields.

Thistle have reached as high as fifth spot in the league in recent weeks, but now face a wait of three weeks in between fixtures - as their next match doesn't come till April 22 against Hurlford United.

Largs are hoping to arrange some friendly fixtures in the meantime and supporters should keep an eye on the club's social media channels for updates.

Voicing his frustration at Saturday's defeat to Darvel, Davidson said: "I think apart from the two penalties, our keeper Jamie McGowan didn't have a save to make.

"Darvel had good possession at times, and they are a good team, but they weren't hurting us too much.

"The two penalties killed it for us, but from the other point of view, but I don't think we showed a true reflection of ourselves.

"I thought we had three or four good chances, which normally we would take, but we didn't.

"I felt in our general play, our edge wasn't there and we weren't ourselves. 

Will Sewell and Ryan McCreath in action for Largs Thistle v Darvel (Image: Newsquest)
"Maybe that was down to Darvel but I felt there was a bit more to give and the players have been giving a bit more in games but we didn't have that bite or sharpness in us.

"We never had the usual confidence in our play at times and we were maybe overthinking it."

Cameron Eadie's red card with 20 minutes left gave Thistle a glimmer of hope, but they were unable to make the most of the man advantage.

"We had a couple of chances after Darvel went down to 10 men," Davidson continued, "but they became compact - it took us ten minutes to get our width.

"We hurt them and made a few chances but Jamie Martin and Scott Lewis put them over the bar - yet 10 times out of 10 at training they're in the back of the net.

"It was a wee bit disappointing to go into this break with a defeat - it is going to be a long three weeks till the next game.

"I told them not to feel sorry for themselves as there were two penalties but we could have done so much more."

The Largs gaffer admitted he was disappointed at the award of Darvel's first penalty - but said he had no cause for complaint about the second,

"On the first penalty, there were claims of offside," Davidson said. 

"I didn't see that, but what I did see was that David McGrath was going to clear the ball and he was definitely fouled.

"The boy has pulled him, and tugged him, and knocked him off balance, and that kept the ball alive in the box for Darvel - and Cory Hughes has dangled his leg in and the Darvel player went down.

"It was probably a penalty, but it was a definite foul right before it, and the referee is standing right in front of it - and given the soft fouls he was giving for their defenders in their box, it was very disappointing.

"The second penalty we got caught too open and McCreath is left last gasp and even though their man put it by the post it was a spot kick."

And despite Darvel being reduced to 10 men on 70 minutes, Largs were unable to capitalise.

The gaffer said: "We brought a few subs on - we have the players to do that, and the chances were there for us, but we didn't take them.

"All the good forwards and finishers we have - it just wasn't their day.

"All we want now is a reaction from the boys for the next game."

Davidson praised the graft and determination of the players in training and said he believed the club will return to form for the final five league games of the season - and wanted more wins to secure their safety in the highly competitive West of Scotland Premier League.

* Result: Budget Blinds Ayrshire Amateurs Premier Division - Tarbolton AFC 2 West Kilbride AFC 3.