Rutherglen Glencairn boss Joe Pryce was ‘proud’ of his side as they went down 3-2 at Cowdenbeath in the senior Scottish Cup, and urges them to maintain that standard in the league.
Glens narrowly crashed out of the first round against the Lowland League side at Central Park, having held them to 1-1 at half-time in their first-ever tie in the main round of the competition.
Cowdenbeath , who are two tiers above Glens, took the lead through Jamie Docherty inside two minutes, but Dylan Collins levelled that in 29 minutes.
Riley Haston regained the Fifers’ lead in 68 minutes, before Scott Jarvie again levelled from the spot in 72 minutes.
But parity lasted only two minutes before Docherty netted his second of the day to clinch it.
Pryce said: “I was proud of my players, especially in the first half. I thought we were excellent.
“We got off to a bad start, losing the early goal, and looked a wee bit nervous for the first five or 10 minutes. But after that we managed to get a hold of the game, and for the rest of the first half we were the better side.
“We go in 1-1, maybe deserved to be in front, but Cowdenbeath came out and they were the better team in the second half.
“They just managed to edge the game with the odd goal in five.
“I was proud of the way my players performed, but we’re disappointed not to have enough to get ourselves through the tie.
“We could see the whole club was there, we had a good loyal bunch of fans who came along and supported us, so it was a good occasion for the club and it has certainly given us a taste for more of it.
“That’s why we just have that wee tinge of disappointment that we didn’t manage to sneak through – but we’ll certainly come back, stronger for it.”
It’s back to reality on Saturday as Glencairn travel to Irvine Meadow in the West of Scotland First Division.
Despite not being involved in league action for four weeks by that point, Glens are still second in the table, three points behind leaders Arthurlie, and with two games in hand on the top seven.
Pryce said: “Irvine Meadow were just along the road from us at Burntisland Shipyards, had a terrific result [4-1 win] and got themselves through, so they will be buoyant.
“We’re in a decent position, but as I’ve always said, I’d rather have the points than games in hand.”
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