Renfrew manager Jimmy Quigley admits his team deserved nothing from Saturday's game against Ashfield after leaving themselves a mountain to climb in the first half.

The hosts raced into a 3-0 lead at the Stepford Football Centre thanks to a brace from Shaun Grady and a Bobby Barr strike.

Renfrew were handed a lifeline when Sean Slaven was sent off and managed to pull one back through Cammy Kerr before the break.

There was still more than half-an-hour remaining when Andy Skinner reduced the deficit further but, despite having an extra man, the New Western Park outfit couldn’t find an equaliser.

Quigley told Gazette Sport: “Ashfield gave us a doing in the first half-hour.

“We haven’t been outplayed like that all season. We just couldn’t cope with them and we were lazy and not getting close to them.

“Once their player got sent off, we changed our formation a touch and we had already made a substitution to try and counteract what they were doing.

“After that, we dominated the rest of the game and had plenty of chances but we couldn’t put the ball in the net enough times.

“The only positive I would take from it is that, when we play against ten men, we normally lose our way and our focus but that’s the most dominant we have been in terms of knocking the ball about and creating chances.

“When the opposition goes down to ten men you can sometimes become lazy but we were relentless in the second half and had a couple cleared off the line but, after the way we started, I don’t think we deserved much from the game.”

The result makes it three defeats on the bounce for Renfrew as they look to avoid being dragged into the First Division relegation battle.

Quigley’s team are eight points clear of the bottom three but have played up to seven games more than teams below them and he wants his troops to tighten up at the back.

He explained: “We’ve got nine games to go now and every one of them is critical to try and stay in the division.

“We’ve lost seven goals in the last two games and they’ve been preventable.

“Teams aren’t having to work hard enough to get chances, which is infuriating.”

Renfrew travel to Hannah Park this Saturday to take on Shotts Bon Accord, with kick-off at 1.30pm.