Glenrothes FC: Co-boss John Martin hits out at his players for being 'second to everything' early on in 7-2 hammering at Sauchie Juniors

Although Glens did pull a goal back before half-time through Stuart Cargill and then further reduced the leeway to 6-2 through Callum Kinnes’s goal on 69 minutes, the hosts then added their seventh strike of the afternoon late on to emerge as heavy 7-2 victors.

Gutted co-manager Martin told club media post match: “I was extremely disappointed at our performance in the first half today.

"I thought we were second to everything and the work-rate wasn’t up to the standard I expect.

"I don’t think Sauchie had to work hard to get their goals, we gifted six goals and found ourselves with a mountain to climb after 36 minutes.

“We have pulled one back with two minutes to go until half-time, but I think it was more a case of Sauchie taking the foot off the gas than us upping our standards!

“At half-time I let the players know my frustrations and changed the formation a bit.

"We asked the players to make sure we didn’t lose the second half and the performance had to be better as we wouldn’t be accepting that.

"Second half again we proved that we can compete at this level with this group of players. We never lost the second half and could have won it, if it wasn’t for a penalty save from Sauchie’s goalkeeper.

“But the reality is you don’t just play for 45 minutes, we need to be able to perform at that standard we expect for 90 minutes if we are going to win points.”

Sauchie’s seven goals against Glens arrived via Ross Kavanagh (3), Danny Smith (2) and Ross Hutchison (2), as they went second in the table with 25 points from 12 fixtures.

Glenrothes are now firmly isolated in the relegation zone. With three teams going down this season, their tally of six points from 11 matches leaves them five points adrift of fourth-bottom Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts ahead of this Saturday’s home league game against 12th-placed Hill of Beath Hawthorn, which kicks off at 2pm.

Martin added: “Hopefully we can get a good crowd behind us supporting the guys.”