By Fraser McLuggage

Stuart Malcom blamed individual mistakes for his Forfar side’s 3-1 Scottish Cup defeat to Dumbarton in his first game in charge.

The ex-Forfar and Ross County player said: “There wasn’t too much in the game, I thought it was pretty even in terms of opportunities created but we made a couple of individual errors late on in the game that cost us dearly.

“If we can just eliminate those mistakes that are very costly then we will find ourselves moving in the right direction.”

He continued: “Everything we asked them to do in terms of their commitment, their hunger and desire, we can get ourselves up the park, especially in the second half we need a wee bit of more belief to try and hurt the opposition.

“We seen everything and there was lots of positives to take in that respect, we just need to eliminate the mistakes.”

The former centre back was particularly aggrieved by the manner in which his team conceded the goals which led to the defeat: “It’s the rein of form were in just now and have been, theres a lack of confidence but if we can do what we did up until 70 minutes then we will be absolutely fine, there’s too many good players in that dressing room not to be.

Malcom doesn’t have to wait long to try and get his first win as the new gaffer with The Loons travelling to Starks Park to take on Raith Rovers tonight and Malcom has faith his new team can bounce back.

He said: “With the talent in there [The Squad] I have all the faith in the world with them.

“Up until 72 minutes we look like the team who’s going to go on and score the goal that would take us into the next round and we end up losing the game 3-1.”