Marcus Fraser held his hands up and admitted St Mirren were nowhere near good enough as they crashed in the capital.
The experienced defender fronted up after the Buddies were thrashed 4-0 by Neil Critchley’s revitalised Hearts at Tynecastle. Saturday’s shocker was way off it for Saints who slipped to eighth place in the Premiership table.
It’s Rangers next for Fraser and his Buddies but the 30-year-old insists some tough lessons will need to be learned before they begin thinking about how to get a positive result at Ibrox.
He said: “It was a bad day and, as players, we take responsibility for that. We’re a side known as well organised, well structured and hard to beat and here we were anything but that.
“That’s on us and we know going forward that we will be better than that. We know it’s not good enough but we don’t put the blame on each other.
“We will look at what individual could have done better and as a group we will learn from it. I can’t put my finger on it just now but we will go back and look over the game. We would have done that even if we’d won.
“We would still pick out the things we want to improve on and look at what we did well. Here, it’s what we can improve on as a group.
“Together, we know it wasn’t good enough. The only thing we can do is get on that training pitch and work as hard as possible.
“From speaking to the players in there, we’re looking to get in, watch and analyse this game then put it behind us.
“I don’t think any of us can look in the mirror and say we played well. As players, we take responsibility for that.”
Saints were blown away in Edinburgh after Kennth Vargas clipped the Jambos into a half-time lead. Daniel Oyegoke scored a wonder second goal, substitute James Wilson poked home the third and Blair Spittal’s low drive sealed the deal.
Stephen Robinson’s men offered nothing and all five substitutions being used by the 61st minute was a graphic illustration of the type of display that was being served up in Gorgie.
As one of the more experienced players and a dressing-room leader, Fraser looks set to play a key role this week as Saints aim to get back up from the canvas before facing Gers.
“I’ve always learned not to get too high if you are doing well and not get too low when things don’t go your way,” he reflected. “It’s going to hurt but that’s what happens.
“For the younger players, you want them to learn from it and improve because I’m still learning. I’ll be looking to see what I could have done better. I could have done a lot of things better. As a team, we need to have that mindset.
“In football, you always get another opportunity and our opportunity comes next week. It’s disappointing and it’s going to hurt for a couple of days but we come in, don’t feel sorry for ourselves, puff our chests out and work harder.”
Meanwhile, forward Greg Kiltie has signed a two-year contract extension with Saints.
The 27-year-old – who has made more than 100 appearances for the club since joining in 2021 – was set to become a free agent at the end of the season. Kiltie has recently returned to the fray after missing the early part of the season with an ankle injury.
He told the club website: “I’ve loved my time so far and when I came to the club there was a lot of ambition about getting into the top six and in the last two years we’ve finished sixth then fifth so there has been that progression.
“I enjoy being in at the club, it’s a good environment and it’s suited me over the last three season playing as many games as I have. I’ve loved the fact I’ve played over 100 games for St Mirren and I couldn’t see myself going anywhere else. Hopefully being back fit now I can contribute as much as I did last year.”
Boss Robinson – who is reportedly close to signing a new deal himself – added: “We’ve missed his quality and football intelligence since he’s been injured. He’s a big part of what we have achieved over the last two years.”
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