Dumbarton manager Jim Duffy admits his side were asking for trouble after “basic” defensive mistakes cost them in Saturday’s 4-2 loss to East Fife.

Sons fought back from 2-0 down to level against East Fife before going on to concede two more in the second-half as the Fifers left with all three points.

And after conceding three goals to Airdrieonians last week, the Sons boss was left frustrated once again after his side had fought back so well to get back into the game.

He said: “When you get it back to 2-2 you really should be lifted by that and be optimistic about the second-half. Instead, it was almost like the weight was on our shoulders and I don’t think we played at all after the break.

READ MORE: Dumbarton left to rue defensive errors in second successive defeat

“We said to the players that we can’t have the same type of start in the second-half as the first and unfortunately we did.

“We just seemed to switch off at crucial moments and made too many basic errors defensively to give ourselves a chance.

“We had a couple of games with back-to-back clean sheets and looked quite solid but in the last couple of games old habits have crept back in, and that’s something we need to work hard to try and eliminate.

“When you make elementary errors like we’re making just now then you’re asking for trouble.”

READ MORE: Sons boss insists Airdrie loss was deserved after slack defending

PJ Crossan was preferred to Isaac Layne in the striking department on Saturday and the 21-year-old created the equalising goal that forced Craig Watson to put into his own net.

And the performance of the former Celtic youngster was one positive that Duffy took away from the game.

He added: “Isaac has been working hard over the last few weeks without getting too many opportunities but I just felt Saturday was the opportunity to give PJ that chance and I think he did well, he does really well for the equalising goal.”

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