Gaffer ready to move on from Gretna loss

After a sobering defeat to Gretna 2008 on Tuesday night at home, Caledonian Braves manager Ricky Waddell said he and the team will have moved on and be fully focused on the challenge of Stirling University come matchday.

The two teams met in pre-season and although that match ended in defeat for the Braves on that occasion, Waddell said it could be a benefit for his side to have seen Stirling in action already.

"That comes into it [knowing how Stirling may play]. I think we need to look at the Gretna game, dissect that, swallow our pride and ask ourselves why that happened and move on very quickly."

The Braves lost 5-0, their worst defeat of the season, and the manager was shellshocked after the match. 

Waddell said: "It's hard to put any of that into words, and I apologise for that. In this game you need to make your own luck, and you make your own luck by biting, scratching, and everything else that you need to do to win a game, and we weren't prepared to do that.

"You can talk about their respective goals which were fantastic, but they deserved that.

"I was disappointed with my own decisions as well, I need to look at myself for sure. I went with a formation that I felt could unlock doors, putting players in positions that could really hurt the opposition and it obviously didn't work. It worked in small moments in the first half, but not enough.

"From myself all the way through the guys, it's absolutely unacceptable and it can't happen again."

The Braves are in 13th place in the Lowland League going into the game tomorrow. They will welcome Stirling University to Alliance Park in a 3pm kick-off. Stirling won the pre-season fixture 4-0 and currently sit ninth in the table on ten points, their most recent fixture a 3-2 defeat at Berwick Rangers.