Thurso manager Tom McKenna labels players ‘fragile’ after most embarrassing moment of coaching career in derby drubbing against Halkirk United
Tom McKenna called Thurso’s drubbing at the hands of Halkirk United on Wednesday night the ‘most embarrassing moment of his coaching career’.
Thurso fell to a 9-1 defeat against their closest rivals, being four goals behind inside 10 minutes.
McKenna says his players were beaten by the better team, but he was disappointed with how easily they folded when confronted with adversity.
Having just arrived at the club over the summer, though, he has also resolved to look at his own role in the defeat, admitting he may have to change his methods and messaging.
“Tactically we lost ourselves by becoming desperate and lacking confidence,” McKenna said.
“Personally, I’ve only been with the team for a short period, but if last night’s performance is a representation of the message I’ve been trying to get across and the work I’ve been putting into Thurso I need to take a long hard look at myself and see what I can do differently.
“At the moment, I’ve got a group of lads who don’t know how to deal with adversity. I think they’re a fragile group who don’t know how to overcome certain moments in football games, and we have to try and change that behaviour and that mindset.
“It’s going to take hard work, a change in personnel and a lot of hard work from the group of boys who are already with Thurso at the moment.
“All we can do is learn from last night. For me, it’s probably the most embarrassing moment of my coaching career, and I hope the lads will have walked away from that feeling embarrassed themselves.
“That should give them the motivation to work hard and be better, and reach the levels that Halkirk displayed on Wednesday.”
McKenna also believes that the issues at Thurso run much deeper than one performance relatively early in the season, and he hopes that losing so heavily to Halkirk will provide a wake-up call ahead of this Saturday’s home league match against Orkney.
“The lads have been battered for the last couple of years so they seem to have become accustomed to accepting it,” he reasoned.
“It’s not a time to accept it, it’s a time to show a wee bit of character and resilience to try and overcome these moments.
“It takes moments like these to realise where we are and what we have to work on to improve.
“Form a coaching point of view, I will take a lot from it and it will help me to put training sessions on and have conversations with the boys to try and take this group of lads forward.
“I’m hoping that the boys feel emotionally disappointed the way I do, and I’m sure if they’ve got anything about them they will want to turn up on Saturday and show a bit more desire and character to bounce back.
“That’s the focus, to show a bit more resilience, quality and togetherness to get to a certain level which will help us to grow and develop as a team.”
