Mark Reynolds pinpointed Cove Rangers’ defensive frailties in the wake of their 2-1 defeat to Morton.
Experienced campaigner Reynolds has seen it too often this season, where Cove have cost themselves points by conceding sloppy goals.
He insists it is a collective issue and was disappointed in the manner they lost against in-form Ton.
“It’s two cheap goals we’ve given away,” said Reynolds. “They’re on a run of form and things are dropping for them. But it’s becoming a bit of a pattern that we’re giving away cheap goals.
“We’re just turning off at the wrong moments, critical moments, offensively and defensively. We’re making poor decisions and it’s costing us.
“It’s a bad habit we’re picking up but it just comes down to individual mistakes and game management. The second goal is a long throw and we don’t deal with the first header, then we don’t deal with the second ball.
“He steps on to it with three or four yards of space around him and that can’t happen. We need to cut it out because at this level you get punished for that.”
‘You need to be able to trust players on the pitch’
Cove had just got themselves back in the game courtesy of Leighton McIntosh’s equaliser, only to concede four minutes later from Robbie Crawford.
Manager Jim McIntyre pinpointed “naivety” from his side, with Reynolds saying there is little the boss can do to influence these errors from the sidelines.
“You can’t manage that in games – the manager can’t do it,” he added. “You just need to be able to trust the players you bring on the pitch to make the right decisions.
“Unfortunately, if you can’t come on the pitch and make good decisions, then somebody will take your place.
“It’s cheap goals but everybody has been guilty of it. At this level, you get punished for that.”
Cove remain slightly detached from both the top and bottom teams in the Championship.
They are in eighth spot but five points clear of the bottom two and five behind the remainder of the league.
“Every time we’ve had the chance to put a bit of a gap between ourselves and the bottom two, we’ve thrown it away,” said Reynolds.
“I suppose the good thing is it’s in our hands. We’re not losing games because we’re getting massively outplayed or they’re better than us. We just need to do some simple things better.”
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