ARTHURLIE boss Gavin Duncan has called on his side to get back to basics following their opening day defeat to Irvine Meadow.

Goals from Paul Maxwell and Mark Staunton were the difference at Dunterlie as the Ayrshire giants swept away their hosts on Saturday afternoon.

With both goals coming from slack defending the ‘Lie supremo told Barrhead Sport his side need to focus on the staples of the game if they are to have a successful season.

He said: “The goals we conceded at the weekend could have been prevented and it was just down to error and not doing the easy things.

“The boys need to focus on the basics and cut out the mistakes, I told them this in no uncertain terms after the game and they know that we expect a lot more, they just need to believe in one another and work hard.

“We saw at the end of last season that when the side bonded the results improved and they need to realise we are a team not a group of individuals.

“It is no different this season and we have all got to have faith in one another and do the hard work.” Although not getting their league campaign off to the best of starts Duncan insisted there are positives to take from their display.

He added: “We know Irvine Meadow are a good, experienced side who finished second and reached the later stages of the cups last year and they have also managed to strengthen over the summer so it wasn’t going too easy.

“Obviously we would have liked to have got off to a good start and it is just disappointing because we managed to create a number of chances.

“You need to take your chances at this level, especially against the likes of Meadow, because if you don’t you will get punished like we did.” ‘Lie now look forward to taking on Beith on Saturday and Duncan admitted he isn’t expecting an easy match.

He said: “Beith have just come up but they are a good side and we know we will need to be at the top of our game to get a result.

“If we approach the tie in the right manner then we should be able to come away with the win.”