Manager Jamie McKim insists Johnstone Burgh’s league campaign remains the club’s top priority this season.
But he admits it was still a “big blow” to be sent tumbling out of the Scottish Junior Cup in the first round after being beaten by Ardeer Thistle on penalties.
Burgh were the hot favourites in Stevenston as they faced a team one division below them in the WoSFL structure.
The hosts have enjoyed a promising start to their Second Division campaign though, with Jack Loudon’s penalty quickly cancelling out Brian Connor’s opener in a frantic start to Saturday’s tie.
While Burgh pushed hard for a winner, seeing one goal controversially chalked off, the clash went to penalties with Ardeer’s Glenn Lewis eventually slotting home the decisive blow.
Disappointed McKim told Express Sport: “It was a really tough afternoon for us.
“I think Ardeer’s reputation isn’t representative of where they are now as a team.
“Sean Kenney has done a great job and while some people think this was a big shock result, I don’t think that’s the case anymore.
“I think there’s a bit of a lack of respect to them at times.
“That being said I thought we were very poor on the day.
“We created a lot of chances to go and win the game but we just didn’t take any.
“Everyone knows the league is our target this season.
“Being competitive in the First Division is our main priority.
“We made five changes to the team for the Ardeer game because we had a few struggling with knocks and illness that we didn’t want to risk long term.
“It’s still a big blow to exit the Scottish Cup in the first round, there’s no two ways about it.
“We want to go deep in every cup competition we enter, especially the Scottish.”
McKim believes some of Burgh’s younger players struggled to cope with the conditions in Stevenston, with the home side backed by a particularly noisy crowd.
He also felt the referee was below the level required for an important cup tie for both teams.
McKim explained: “The surface was really difficult to play our style of football on.
“It was also quite an intimidating place to play for some of our younger players, and for our young fans as well. Some of the behaviour towards them was unacceptable.
“For two weeks in a row now I’ve come away from the game saying that’s the worst level of refereeing I’ve seen.
“The standard was awful against Neilston and it was the same again against Ardeer.
“We had a perfectly good goal chalked off, and they had a great shout for a penalty turned down as
well.
“There was just a basic lack of knowledge of the game and it just reinforces the need for better
assistance.
“I’m not sure how this referee ended up with a Scottish Cup tie.
“I know it’s a hard job, but the standard simply needs to be better.”
