Angry Rutherglen Glencairn boss Joe Pryce says his side’s performance against Darvel was the worst of his tenure, after they crashed out of the Junior Cup at the third round stage.
And he has warned players who are not up to the task that they will be replaced if they don’t sharpen up their act.
The 2023 Junior Cup finalists went down to a narrow 1-0 defeat in Ayrshire, but Pryce was furious with the lack of quality his side displayed.
He said: “We let the players know in no uncertain terms at the end of the game that those standards won’t be accepted here.
“As a management team, we work too hard with them at training for them to put that level of performance in on a Saturday.
“They let themselves down as well because we see them at training, and the levels they put in there are exceptional. But you’ve got to replicate that on a Saturday.
“Congratulations to Darvel, they edged it and they probably deserved to go through on the day, so we wish them all the best for the season.
“But I am certainly not going to accept those levels from our players, not a chance. If they are not up to it, we’ll just have to get players in who will be. That’s the way football works. Football can be harsh sometimes, but that is the reality.
“I think they were enthusiastic enough but they have got more quality than they showed on Saturday. I can take losing but I am not going to accept the performance level we put in – that was as poor as I have seen us.”
Glens have a real battle on their hands in the West of Scotland First Division as they seek a return to the top flight.
They sit third in the table, three points behind leaders St Roch’s with two games in hand, and travel to lowly Ashfield on Saturday looking to bounce back.
Pryce added: “We know we have got a fight on our hands in this league. St Roch’s have just gone top of the league, Renfrew are there, Maybole are there, Arthurlie are there, so this is going to be a really tough league.
“We need to be on it every Saturday if we are going to get three points from games. A win could take us top, depending on other results, but we’ve got to concentrate on what we’re doing.”
Kick-off on Saturday is 2pm.