Ian Murray praised his depleted Raith Rovers squad despite their 3-1 loss at Championship leaders Dundee.
The defeat at Dens Park was their third in a row as their chances of a play-off berth fade.
Goals either side of half-time from Zach Robinson took the game away from Rovers before Alex Jakubiak made it 3-0.
William Akio did get one back late on but it was too little, too late for Murray’s men.
Rovers were missing a number of first-team players, too, with experienced goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald and midfielder Brad Spencer late call-offs.
“I’m full of admiration for the way they went about their business,” the Rovers boss said.
“I think lesser players could have gone up to Inverness or here and got a real hiding but that’s not happened.
“We only had two subs tonight – Brad Spencer pulls out in the warm-up, Jamie MacDonald in the afternoon.
“So it has been a really tough couple of weeks for us.
“Even the knock-on effect of training, with 12 bodies there’s not a lot you can do and you are petrified of getting another injury.
“We took Scott McGill off because he was on a yellow card – the last thing we can afford right now is a suspension.”
Defend better
The first of Raith’s four remaining Championship clashes comes on Saturday at home to relegation-threatened Arbroath.
And Murray says his side must improve at the back if they are to pick up a morale-boosting victory.
“It was a very hard game tonight, conditions were tough and the pitch was hard,” Murray added.
“First half our defensive shape was good, we tried to create a few openings but couldn’t quite get there.
“Then we concede. It was never a throw in for Dundee in the first place, I’m not sure how the officials have got that one.
“But after that we must defend better.”
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