ARDEER Thistle manager Sean Kenney cut a frustrated figure after his side lost 3-0 away to Port Glasgow on Saturday.

The defeat brought to an end a three-match unbeaten run for the Stevenston side, who had picked up seven points from a possible nine during that period.

It was a run that gave Kenney's side breathing space from the relegation zone in the West of Scotland Football League Third Division - though that gap has now been cut by their opponents on Saturday.

Thistle now lie four points ahead of Port Glasgow in the final relegation spot - though another run could see them claw their way out of trouble into into the promotion reckoning in what is a tightly packed league table.

Thistle are only six points off those places, with the next run of games set to prove vital in deciding the direction of their season.

Boss Kenney says he hopes his players need to prove they can learn from the weekend's loss - one which left him with a lot to ponder.

Speaking the club's social media after the game, he said: “I’m really, really disappointed. From start to finish we weren’t at it at all. The better team won.

“I don’t think we were good enough – from the standards we set. Preparations weren’t good enough today. We need to be far better than that.

“We’ve been on a good run the past few games but that brought us down to earth with a bump.”

He says his squad need to now take responsibility, and strive for better next time out when they face Threave Rovers at Ardeer Stadium.

Kenney added: “There’s not excuses for that. We should be able to take responsibility for everything that we do.

“I’ll need to look to see if my preparation was good enough today, and I expect everybody else involved to do the same thing.

“We will need to reset. We need to have a long, hard look at ourselves. I hope there is a lot of reflection going on.

“We’re really unhappy with ourselves today because we’ve let ourselves down big time – we are far better than that.

“It’s all right saying that but we need to prove that.”