CUMNOCK Juniors boss Stephen Swift has vowed to "try everything" as he looks to turn his side's fortunes around.
It comes after the Townhead Park side found themselves on the wrong side of a cup shock as they exited the West of Scotland Cup against Ashfield.
In a rollercoaster tie, Josh Jack gave Cumnock a first minute lead before Ashfield turned the tie around with quickfire goals on 19 and 27 minutes.
However, Jack's second quickly levelled the match before Creag Little, making just his second appearance for the club, put Swift's side back ahead before the break.
The scoreline remained 3-2 until the final minute of regulation time when Ashfield levelled the scoring to take the match to penalties.
The resultant shootout ended 5-4 in favour of the First Division side, who progressed into the third round.
“It’s a real testing time," Swift said. "Injuries have been absolutely horrendous – we had one first team sub on the bench plus me.
“We had two experienced subs and two players we pulled from the under 20s but it is what it is, we still should have had enough.
"We’ve been put out three cups – leading against Hermes in 89th minute, leading against Ashfield in the 89th minute and 1-1 with Brora in the 92nd minute – and we have lost every game.
“Obviously you can blame injuries etc, but we are conceding late goals and we haven’t defended well all season.
“There’s obviously a mentality block, there’s a willingness and acceptance for me that we are conceding these goals.”
🔢 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗫𝗜
— Cumnock Juniors FC ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@CumnockJnrsFC) November 2, 2024
Here’s how we line up for todays West of Scotland Cup tie with @OurAshfield
🔙Higgins & Wright start
🏁Home debut for Little
🆕Call ups for U20’s players Liam Brown & Jacob Pagan #𝑶𝒖𝒓Town𝑶𝒖𝒓Team | #ATN pic.twitter.com/LI1dStCcMl
Despite the disappointment, Swift has vowed to work through the challenging run his side have been on.
He added: “We need to grind through it, there is no other way to do it, we just need to keep working hard.
“Everybody needs to have a look at themselves, including me, and step up to the mark.
“It’s a tough time we have had in terms of the luck we’ve had with injuries but we need to grind through this period.
“We’ll be trying everything to change it round. We’re actively looking to freshen the squad up as well.
“If we continue doing the same things we are going to get the same results, something needs to change.”
Next up for Cumnock is a trip to face Shotts Bon Accord in a Premier Division fixture, with kick off at 2pm on Saturday, November 9.
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