The loss at Keanie Park sees Burgh languishing in eighth position, however with a number of games in hand they still harbour ambitions of securing a promotion place come the end of the season.

If they are to seal a top three spot they will need to get back to winning ways, starting with this weekend’s fixture with already promoted Rossvale.

Smith said: “Saturday wasn’t good enough if we are to finish up where we want.

“Rossvale already being promoted doesn’t change anything from our point of view. I always said that Rossvale were the team to beat, and they have been promoted in my eyes for a number of weeks.

“We know it is going to be tough but we need to get a run together. I think we have been a bit complacent in recent weeks and we can’t afford to keep doing it.

“Everyone’s disappointed with Saturday’s scoreline and we need to buck up our ideas before playing Rossvale.” With Martin McIntyre suspended, Grant Kelly missing through work commitments and Ross Perrie only making a cameo from the bench, it was day to forget for the onlooking fans as Burgh failed to get to grips with their opponents.

McIntyre and Kelly will once again miss out this weekend but, despite missing two of his key men, Smith will still expect better from his battling troops.

He added: “Saturday’s performance caught me by surprise as we had performed well against Lesmahagow last week.

“I expected a lot better and the players know exactly how myself and Davie feel, we made that perfectly clear.

“It was always going to be hard with a number of players missing. We had to field Steven Fitzpatrick but he wasn’t match fit.

“We also had a trialist that we had to take off after an hour but no matter what we will expect better this weekend, we have to be.”