Queens player boss Wullie Gibson held his hands up and admitted he must shoulder the blame for Raith’s opener in the Doonhammers’ 3-1 Scottish Trust Trophy Final loss.
And the gutted gaffer stressed his players now have to take that bitter taste of defeat and turn it into energy and desire to stay in the Championship.
Gibson said: “We were by far the better team.
“It is just so disappointing.
“We had three off the bar, two off the post and one off the line and we should have been out of sight at half time.
“For their first goal it is my man and I have to hold my hands up for that one.
“I misjudged the cross and the boy got the header.
“But we had played ourselves into trouble just before it and we had possession when they got their third and that was the game over after that and an uphill task.
“After losing the second goal there was a lack of confidence and maybe a rush to get the ball forward rather than stick to the passing game that saw us do so well in the first half.
“The second half performance was nowhere near the standard of the first half. We have to be more consistent than that.”
Gibson, whose side are stuck to the bottom of the cinch Championship, added: “We started really well. It is a cup final and every game you want to field your best 11 but with boys coming back from injury I threw them all in from the start because we needed to have a go because it is a one off occasion.
“For long parts of the game the game plan went well for us and we made Raith work and they could not get near us.
“But they scored against the run of play and we got a goal at the right time before half time. But we missed a chance in the second half then they got the second goal and you see the lift they got from that and the third one kills it.
“We didn’t have many attacking options on the bench as you could see. That is just the way we are just now so it is a tough one to take.
“All we can concentrate on now is the league and trying to stay in that.”
