Dick Campbell says his side’s lack of creativity proved costly as Arbroath slumped to defeat against Raith Rovers.
A Sam Stanton goal late in the first half was enough to seal all three points for the Fife side.
The Lichties did have a couple of opportunities to find the net – most notably a Scott Bitsindou header in the first half which was saved by Jamie MacDonald.
That aside, the home team rarely caused the visitors any issues.
Campbell says Raith were worthy of the points.
Performance ‘not like Arbroath’
“I would give all credit to Raith Rovers – they scored a good goal,” he said.
“It was a bad one from our point of view but when you are at the bottom of the league, everything goes against you.
“In the second half, they could have scored another two on the counter attack. We didn’t create enough and that is not like Arbroath. We need to tend to that.
“I thought we had plenty of possession.”
The defeat sees Arbroath three points adrift at the foot of the table after Hamilton beat Inverness on Tuesday night.
Campbell stressed it was too early to be overly concerned about their positioning.
“What makes it a bad result is where we are,” he said.
“We’re bottom of the league and I don’t like that, the fans don’t like it and my players better not like it.
“I know one thing, we’re three behind Hamilton and that’s the way it is.
“I’ve had plaudits on the past but we have to take that on the chin tonight because we didn’t create enough chances.”
El-Mhanni absence
Meanwhile, new signing Yasin Ben El-Mhanni was absent from the squad after being unveiled yesterday.
Campbell said that was down to a paperwork issue.
“There’s an international clearance problem behind the scenes,” he explained.
“There’s a lot going on behind the scenes, we didn’t deserve to win the game and it’s up to me to change things.
“You get down and work hard to turn things around, my team selection will decide who is going win and play.”
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