Alloa star says they simply must do better

This latest defeat sent the Wasps crashing to the foot of the SPFL Championship table and with a difficult run of games on the horizon starting with Queen of the South at home this weekend, the midfield maestro believes every player must stand and be counted.

Holmes told Advertiser sport: “The Morton game was very poor from us. The first half was a very even game that was a bit end to end at times without too many glaring opportunities. But then after the interval we just allowed Morton to dominate us for a 25 minute spell that has cost us the match and that simply is not good enough. We maybe had ten minutes of pressure late on when we’re chasing the game, but it was too little too late at that point so that was really disappointing. We conceded a corner straight away after the restart that came out of nothing and then we just kept on conceding corners so that puts us under immense pressure and it was of our own doing. It was a silly free kick to give away and especially when they have a player in Ross Forbes, who can hit those type of free kicks all day long. It was a bit of naivety to concede it in the first place when the ball is already going away from the danger so it is very disappointing. People always say that the breaks don’t go for you when you’re at the bottom of the league, but for me it is just down to us as players. It just hasn’t been good enough and that goes for everyone in the squad from the keeper through to the substitutes. There has been times where we’ve done alright, but alright just isn’t enough in this league. We all need to look ourselves in the mirror then look to put things right.”

Holmes, who is the club’s longest serving player, has been over the course a few times before as the Clackmannanshire outfit have continually defied the odds over the past few years, but even he is worried by the gaps already opening up on them by the teams above.

The club veteran also believes their current lack of goals comes down to the entire team and not just the strikers.

He said: “If we could’ve beat Morton it would’ve dragged them back down towards us, but now instead they’ve opened up a decent gap and we have some work on now to make up the lost ground on the teams above us. We will look to next week and it is imperative that we start picking up points now as a matter of urgency. We have never been prolific goalscorers since we got into this league to be honest, but what we have been is solid as an entire unit. Everything in a team has a knock on effect.

"As midfielders we have to ask ourselves where has been the creation for the boys to score goals and then we could say well is the defence high enough up the pitch or are the strikers holding the ball up enough to allow that to happen. So it is the responsibility of everyone in the team to step up to the mark. Duffy and Chops have been taking up some great positions in the first half, then the service to them dries up and they get taken off through no fault of their own. We need to play better behind these boys to get them on the ball because they are the ones who can effect games in the right way for us and make things happen.”

The 31-year-old has endured many battles with Saturday’s visitors to the Indodrill Stadium, and despite a 3-0 defeat in the first game of the season against James Fowler’s side, he believes it is a game that is there for the taking.

Holmes added: “Hopefully come Saturday we can rectify a few of these things. We will need to be difficult to beat and I would take us grinding out a result at the moment to get us back on track and maybe that is what it is going to take. Queens are a good side who we have already seen can punish you if you allow them to. We did that in the first game against them with three self-inflicted mistakes and we have to make sure that doesn’t happen again. We need to start picking up points quickly now and Queens are definitely a team we can do that against.”