The first game in the Championship was always going to be a tester for Brechin City and so it proved.
They slipped to a 4-1 defeat against a Queen of the South side which showed little change from their experienced line-up of last season.
City manager Darren Dods summed it up, saying: “We froze and did uncharacteristic things and made mistakes we didn’t make last season.
“Individual errors and schoolboy errors have cost us.
“It was just a bad day at the office but it is gone and we have to look forward.”
He cited Queens’ second goal just before the break as a telling factor, adding: “It came when we were down to 10 men for three or four minutes.
“There was probably a bit of naivety on our part with our man ready to come back on and we had a chance to put the ball out but didn’t.
“They used that extra man well and got the ball back and kept it for quite a lot of passes and eventually scored.”
Dods felt his players still had a chance when they did get their goal.
He said: “ I think overall the standard we set last season was lacking.
“If you are not at your best in the Championship you’ve got to accept that it’s going to be difficult.”
The match took a long time to really get started, with both teams struggling to make an impact.
In fact, the first threat came just after the quarter hour when Queens had to switch keepers as Alan Martin slipped and pulled up and substitute Jack Leighfield had to race out of goal to head clear just outside the area after a long ball had beat his defenders.
It was just after this that the Doonhamers made their breakthrough when a cross from Jordan Marshall found the unmarked Derek Lyle 10 yards out to turn the turn the ball into the net.
And the striker was on target again when an effort by Shaun Rooney was cleared off the line and Lyle was on the spot to ram the ball home.
Brechin turned in their best play of the game just after the break, with Andy Jackson coming close to cutting the deficit with a drive which just went outside the upright.
But it was the home team who pulled further ahead in 59 minutes when a shot by Lyle was blocked by a defender and John Rankin cracked the rebound home from close range.
Brechin’s slim hopes were raised when they did pull one back in 75 minutes as Chris O’Neill beat the Dumfries defenders to a cross from the left and slammed in an angular drive.
But sadly for the travelling City fans, some slack defending allowed Queens to restore their lead three minutes later as Lyndon Dykes was allowed the ball in the area and easily slipped it past the stranded Brechin keeper.
Dods is now looking at the possibilities of strengthening the squad and should have an option this coming weekend with one or two missing faces ready to come back.
