Berwick Rangers boss Kevin Haynes calls for more after 'below par' win over Stobswood Welfare

Berwick Rangers boss Kevin Haynes has admitted that he felt his side were “below par” despite beating Stobswood Welfare 3-0 in their friendly clash at Shielfield Park on Tuesday evening.

Jamie Pyper opened the scoring for the hosts partway through the first half, connecting with a Josh O’Connor free-kick from close range. Danny Handling would then double Berwick’s advantage after the interval before O’Connor rounded off another impressive preseason result with a thumping penalty.

But despite the one-sided outcome, Haynes suggested in a post-match interview that he would still like to see more creativity and attacking fluidity from his squad going forward. He said: “This is probably the only time of year where you'll hear me say performance is more important than the win, but I thought we were a wee bit below par tonight.

“We didn't replicate the levels that we reached on Saturday [a 5-0 win over Ashington]. A lot of that was to do with Stobbswood - they came here and defended resolutely, actually. They had 10 men behind the ball. I feel that they knew that we were going to have a lot of the ball and they got themselves into a solid shape and defended well.

“We just have to be a wee bit better in possession. I don't think we moved them around enough. We were quite laboured, we had to pass the ball with a bit more intensity and make the opposition move, which creates gaps for us to play in, and I felt we didn't quite do that tonight.”