Raith Rovers captain Jason Thomson offered no excuses for the team’s poor performance in the 3-0 defeat away to Livingston on Saturday.
The Kirkcaldy men were missing five first-team regulars for the trip to the Energy Assets Arena but Thomson, whose early own goal got Livingston off the mark, insisted Rovers should have made a better account of themselves.
“We were missing a few players but that’s not an excuse,” he said. “It’s a squad game and, if you look at our starting team, we shouldn’t be performing like that.
“The likes of Joe Cardle and Grant Anderson play every week but we’re not going to make excuses. We just have to kick on next week and hopefully get a result against Dundee on Thursday.”
All three Livingston counters were a result of Rovers giving the ball away in defence.
“The first goal is an own goal by myself, and I don’t think there was too much I could’ve done,” Thomson said. “The boy has crossed it and someone has missed it at the front post and it’s just ricocheted off me and went in.
“It was a disappointing start, but we went on to have a few chances ourselves.
“Then a mix-up in defence gave them a second goal, which you can’t really do when you come to places like Livingston, who are good on the counter.
“The third goal killed the game completely and the second half wasn’t acceptable from ourselves. They just ran riot against us.”
Livingston’s opener arrived in the seventh minute when they won possession from a Raith throw-in near the corner flag and Marc McNulty’s low cross was knocked into the net by the unfortunate Thomson.
Rovers should have levelled in the 24th minute when Ross Callachan’s superb cross was met by Calum Elliot six yards out, but his downward header bounced into the ground and looped over the bar.
There was a let-off for Raith on the half hour as Liam Fox passed straight to McNulty, who ran clear but fired over the bar.
Rovers almost punished that miss two minutes later when Darren Jamieson spilled a Kevin Moon shot, but he recovered quickly to make a superb save at the feet of Gordon Smith.
The home side doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time when another mix-up this time between Callum Booth and Dougie Hill let McNulty run clear. Although Ross Laidlaw saved the striker’s effort, Martin Scott followed in to knock home the loose ball.
Livingston dominated the second half but it was another Rovers error that led to their third goal. Laurie Ellis gifted the ball to Stefan Scougall, who sprinted into the box to slot a low effort past Laidlaw.
Rovers boss Grant Murray felt that if his side had taken their first-half chances the result may have been different.
“We were well beaten in the end but we had chances at 1-0 that, on another day, might have gone in and got us back into the game,” he said.
“Once it went 2-0 things got more difficult for us, and we were well off the pace in the second half.
“Nobody likes losing games, especially 3-0, but the Dundee game on Thursday is the perfect one for us to bounce back in.”