Ali Sutherland can’t explain why Brora Rangers have struggled against the sides around them in the Breedon Highland League this season.
The Cattachs’ title challenge was dented on Saturday as Brechin City won 2-0 at Dudgeon Park.
The defeat means the Sutherland side have now lost to the Hedgemen, Fraserburgh, Inverurie Locos and Formartine United this term.
Brora – who face Buckie Thistle this weekend – are now nine points behind leaders Fraserburgh and midfielder Sutherland is disappointed they are no longer in control of their own destiny.
The 25-year-old said: “It’s out of our hands now, all we can do is go out every week and try to win every game and see where that takes us.
“It will be tough for Fraserburgh to go unbeaten the rest of the season, but you never know what could happen in football.
“All we can do is keep going, the pressure is off us really now.
“Hopefully we can get back to winning ways this week against Buckie.
“It seems like we’ve struggled against the sides around us and I can’t really put my finger on it or explain why that’s the case.
“It’s very frustrating and we need to sort that out – there would be no better time to change that than against Buckie.”
Hedgemen dealt with conditions
Ewan Loudon’s double was enough to secure victory for Brechin at the weekend.
Sutherland felt Brora didn’t deal with the blustery conditions well enough or put their visitors under enough pressure.
He added: “There was a lot of frustration after the Brechin game.
“It was a tough game in tough conditions and I think Brechin dealt with the conditions better.
“We weren’t great and they deserved to win. We didn’t really put them under much pressure.
“We came in at half-time 1-0 down and we were quite confident with the wind that we could put them under pressure in the second half, but it wasn’t to be.”