Shotts slip-ups hopefully a 'bump in the road' as boss prepares for Thorniewood test

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Shotts slipped to a 4-1 loss at Renfrew on Saturday to suffer back-to-back defeats in their push for the West of Scotland First Division title.However, boss John McKeown has called on his side to show their slump is just a “wee bump in the road” as they prepare for a potentially pivotal double-header this week.The Bonny were well beaten in blustery conditions at New Western Park and sit eight points off the top of the table in seventh spot, with four games in hand over leaders Drumchapel.They now travel to Thorniewood tonight and then visit Whitletts Victoria on Saturday, desperate to get back to winning ways.McKeown said: “We knew wee bumps in the road were going to come, and we wouldn’t keep winning five or six games in a row at a time.“There was always going to be sticky patches and hopefully this is a wee one we come through.“We’ve got another massive game on Wednesday now.

It is a chance to put things right.“If we play like we did on Saturday, we will have no chance because Thorniewood are flying right now and have signed quality players since Christmas.

We have played against teams with better resources all season and did well so we can’t use that as an excuse.“We just need to get our own form back and hope it returns quickly because this league is very unforgiving.“If you lose a few on the bounce, you can shoot down the table.“This league is so crazy you really do need to focus on one game at a time because anyone can beat anyone on their day.“We’ll put it down as a bad day at the office and learn from it.”Danny Burns was on target for Shotts in Saturday’s defeat, netting to make it 2-1 before Renfrew ran away with it.On the display, McKeown added: “We were a shadow of ourselves.“We were very poor defensively,