ALLOA ATHLETIC WOMEN were miles off their best as they suffered a heavy 4-0 defeat to Clydebank.

Their unbeaten run in the Women’s League Cup came crashing to an end, with gaffer Charles Dignan describing the performance as “shocking.”

Speaking to Advertiser Sport, Dignan said he knew that performance didn’t reflect the team and that they had much better in them.

He said: “Sunday was shocking, I didn’t recognise my group of players at all.

“I know that they’re so much better than that and that’s why it’s hard to be too critical because I know how far we’ve come.

“We didn’t do any of the good stuff that we had been doing over the last few games, over the last few months of training.

“It was like whack-a-mole with a football, just didn’t settle on it and we allowed Clydebank to play some really good football at times. We paid the price, rightfully so.”

Dignan insisted that this result does not reflect the team’s overall quality, aiming to use this result as a learning curve for his players going forward.

“You need to turn up every week prepared for a hard game,” he added. “You need to remember the identity that we’ve created.

“We didn’t show up with that willingness, that desire. We were a yard or two off every ball, we weren’t in the tackles.

“We need to take the learning curve that there isn’t a team in this league where you can’t be prepared to give your best.”

Alloa will now have a week off while Women’s Scottish Cup matches take place across the country.

The Wasps will take this time to regroup after Sunday’s result and be ready for Rossvale the week after.

Dignan continued: “I think this has come at a good time but the competitor in me wants to get back to it and right the wrongs and I’m sure the team feels the same way.

“However, we’ll dust ourselves off and start preparing. We’ll hopefully have some players back from injury and back working with a full squad.

“With any luck, we’ll be looking to add a few more players as well so from that aspect, it’s come at the right time.

“But, the competitor in me and the competitor in the players will want to right that wrong and we will right that wrong.

“I’m not criticising them one bit but they need to look at themselves from that game and know what they didn’t do and they’ll turn up.”