John McGlynn has lamented the ‘embarrassing, silly football’ which contributed to Raith Rovers’ 4-0 defeat against Hearts.
Rovers surrendered third place in the Championship on a Friday night finale in the Championship as the Jambos ran riot at Stark’s Park, with a Gary Mackay-Steven brace and goals from Euan Henderson and Steven Naismith doing the damage.
Allied with Dundee’s victory at Queen of the South, it means Raith will now face Dunfermline in the playoff quarter-final, with the first-leg at East End Park on Tuesday.
Reflecting on a ‘sore one’ at Starks’s Park, Rovers boss McGlynn had no doubt his charges were, in part, responsible for their own downfall in a chastening encounter, during which Hearts also missed a penalty and hit the bar three times.
“The goals that we lose in the second half are embarrassing,” said McGlynn.
“We’ve got opportunities to clear the ball, but we didn’t. I like us to play out — but that’s different; that was silly football.
“We managed to shoot ourselves in the foot with a couple of the goals we lost and were a little bit unprofessional”.
McGlynn, however, intends to appeal the red card shown to Iain Davidson in the second half, with TV footage suggesting the veteran defender made no contact with Henderson and the attackers hared through on goal.
Craig Halkett missed the resulting penalty kick but that will be cold comfort for depleted Rovers.
With Frankie Musonda already out for the rest of the season due to a knee injury, McGlynn is desperate to ensure Davidson is available for the trip across Fife.
“I’ve been told there is no contact and, based on that, we’ll appeal it,” said the Rovers boss. “We’ll do our utmost now to try and appeal that.
“The game probably turns on the sending off. That leaves us with a very difficult task. It spoiled the game. If we were to have any chance, we had to have 11 players on the park. It became a training exercise for Hearts.”
