Fraserburgh boss Mark Cowie was lamenting another slow start after their Premier Sports Cup loss to Stenhousemuir.
The Broch were defeated 3-0 at Ochilview by the Warriors which leaves them with no points from their first three Group B outings.
Although Cowie’s main focus is the start of their Breedon Highland League title defence on Saturday he was disappointed with their first half display.
He said: “Like our first two games in the first half we sat off too much, allowed Stenhousemuir to play and gave ourselves a bit of a mountain to climb.
“In the second half we came back into it and made it much more of a contest, but by then some of the damage was done.
“The way we’ve started games has been frustrating, but we have been up against a good calibre of teams that we wouldn’t normally face.
“We’ve also had some players missing and haven’t been able to freshen up as much as we would like.
“But I’m not making excuses, the players on the park still need to do a job, but the most important game for me is on Saturday against Deveronvale in the league.
“We’re using these games to try to get ready for that.
“I don’t think we’ve been battered in any of the games apart from the first half on Saturday.
“It’s tough going for us, but there were spells in the second half where we competed well with Stenhousemuir.
“On the whole I’m happy with where we are and once we get a few players back in the next couple of weeks we’ll be more of an animal.”
Strikes that made the difference
Will Sewell fired Stenny ahead after 25 minutes following set-up work from Thomas Orr.
In the 52nd minute the League Two outfit doubled their lead with Craig Bryson finishing an Adam Brown cross and victory was secured with quarter of an hour left courtesy of Matty Yates’ strike.
Fraserburgh face Partick Thistle at Firhill tomorrow in their final League Cup.