Cove Rangers manager Paul Hartley says his side must improve after a poor display led to a disappointing defeat against Hamilton Accies in their League One curtain-raiser.
Hartley’s men travelled to their title rivals for the second consecutive week after drawing 2-2 in the League Cup just seven days earlier – but left empty-handed on this occasion after a lacklustre showing at New Douglas Park.
Josh Kerr’s first-half own-goal was the difference, as he turned Dylan Tait’s cross into his own net after 34 minutes.
The visitors thought they had levelled when Paul McGowan headed home Tyler Mykyta’s cross minutes later, but it was ruled out for a marginal offside.
Kyle Connell replaced Dayshonne Golding at half-time, and the substitute should have levelled midway through the second half when he headed over from close-range with the goal gaping.
Hamilton’s task of closing out the contest was made considerably easier when McGowan was shown a straight red card by referee Lloyd Wilson for an off-the-ball incident after 82 minutes.
Hartley said: “I’m disappointed. We didn’t have a particularly good first-half and in the second half we changed the shape but didn’t really create any situations and huffed and puffed a wee bit.
“We need to be better in the final third, our build up play was too slow, and we didn’t keep it well enough at the top end of the pitch.
“This was the real stuff starting today, this is where you’re judged throughout the 36 league games.
“The first goal is always vital and I always tend to think if you score the first goal in this league you’ve got a good opportunity to win the game.
“We felt we had a perfectly good goal disallowed and it looks like Paul was onside.
“I thought we were a bit more solid in the second-half and then went down to 10 men which didn’t help our cause. We need to regroup and go again because it was not the ideal start that we wanted. When you come to places like this, you’ve got to be up for the battle and the fight.
“You’ve got to play every team four times a year, so it’s one of those things. We knew that we were away from home for the first game of the season and were looking to get some sort of result to start the league campaign.
“We’ve got 35 games to go. We know we need to be better, that’s a fact. We’ve got some key players missing, so hopefully we will get a couple of them back as well.”
On McGowan’s red-card, Hartley added: “It was (frustration) – but he’s an experienced player, isn’t he? What can you say to that?
“It’s something he should know better about. He’s had enough abuse throughout his career to deal with it and let it go.
“We’ve now lost an experienced player and he was our captain today. That’s the most disappointing thing. He’s let himself, his team, and the supporters down.”