MIDFIELD ace Colin Spence is urging his Troon side to bounce back after suffering their first defeat in six games against league leaders Pollok.

The Seasiders went down 3-1 at Portland Park to leave them trailing the Glasgow side by four points.

Spence was disappointed with the display.

He said: “We started off really well in the first 15 minutes and we got the goal.

“But it gave Pollok a wee jag instead of giving us impetus and they changed it, going to 4-4-3 instead of 4-4-2.

“They got the goal at the right time just before half-time as had we gone in 1-0 up it would have been a different game. We lost our shape in the second half and to be fair they picked us off quite cleverly so although we didn’t play well you must say they did as they are a good side.”

He continued: “We had a chance to go top but it hasn’t happened. But we still have two games in hand over Pollok and Petershill come here on Saturday and we must look to take three points. We had been on a five-game unbeaten run but we have seen still to play and the aim is to go on another run.

“We must take it a game at a time. We are not screaming that we are going to win the league. It’s our second season back in the league and we finished seventh last season. If we can break into the top three we will see what happens. Going out of the Scottish Cup to Darvel was the biggest disappointment of my career but we bounced back with 13 points so hopefully we can go and do that again.”

Manager Gordon Burns felt his side fell way short of expectations and said: “It was a disappointing result. We should have built on the goal but did not. In the second half we were quite poor and just weren’t at it all over the park.

“ I just didn’t think we did ourselves justice. Pollok looked a bit more up for and a wee bit hungrier than us and deservedly got their win.”

However he concedes the league is still tight.

He added: “We’re in contention but four or five teams are in the mix. It’s all to play for and is so tight. We have games in hand over Pollok and Talbot and Rob Roy and Glenafton all have games in hand over us and Pollok and we all still have to play each other.

“We must aim to get back on track against Petershill and start a new run.

“The aim is to take three points on Saturday. We must now focus on that.”