St Cuthbert Wanderers were hit by a “sucker punch” by Dalbeattie Star in the Utility Hut South of Scotland Challenge Cup.
The Kirkcudbright side faced the Lowland League outfit in the second round last Wednesday, going down 2-0 thanks to goals from former Saints striker Dale Milligan.
Boss Josh Gardner said: “We conceded in injury time of both halves.
“For the first goal, one of our central defenders has got injured and instead of maybe going down he’s tried to play on, they’ve been able to run through and scored. In fairness, it was a brilliant finish.
“There wasn’t much in the game between both teams. The second half was the same, it was pretty even.
“Dalbeattie maybe had the better of the chances but we had a few opportunities. Our final pass in the final third maybe let us down.
“At 1-0 we were trying to push to get an equaliser and we got hit on the break and conceded the second goal.
“It’s one of those things when you’re 1-0 down late on and you need to have a go but we were hit by a sucker punch.”
Despite the result, Gardner was pleased with how his side fared against a team from the Lowland League – even if their defeats to Edinburgh University and Gala Fairydean Rovers mean their relegation is all but confirmed.
He said: “It’s been a funny few weeks for them. They had a really good result against Celtic then would probably have expected to win on the Saturday.
“I didn’t know the frame of mind they’d be in – would they have tried to put Saturday’s defeat behind them or still be downbeat? In fairness to them they approached the game in the right manner and put in the right amount of effort.
“We’ve not had the best of seasons and people were maybe looking in from the outside wondering if the boys were going to chuck it but we didn’t.
“They went with the right attitude and intensity. I was pleased with a lot of things, apart from the result.”
Saints’ lost 5-0 at Stranraer on Tuesday, only making the journey with 11 players and then suffering an early injury.
The final game of their campaign will be at Wigtown on Wednesday night.
Kane Paton, Jonny Condie and Reece McAteer will miss out with question marks over Kieran Marshall and Farrel O’Sullivan.
