Cowdenbeath manager Jimmy Nicholl vowed to lift the shattered spirits of his shell-shocked players following an “embarrassing” 10-0 humiliation by Hearts.
The Blue Brazil’s double-digit capitulation at Tynecastle equalled the worst-ever margin of defeat in the club’s 134-year history, matching an 11-1 reverse against Clyde in 1951.
It was Hearts’ biggest league win, surpassing the previous best of 10-3.
Genero Zeefuik’s remarkable hat-trick, registered in the space of three minutes and 35 seconds, equals the club’s fastest ever, scored by Andy Black in a 5-3 win over Arbroath in 1938.
Meanwhile, it does not get any easier for Nicholl’s embattled troops who find themselves in the bottom two by virtue of what is now a vastly inferior goal difference to Alloa as Rangers visit Central Park this weekend.
The Cowden boss said: “My job now is to lift them.
“I’m really disappointed for everyone associated with the club because it is embarrassing to lose a football match by those sort of figures.
“We need to have a serious look at ourselves on Monday and get lifted again. We don’t want Rangers coming next week thinking it is going to be a cakewalk because of what happened at Tynecastle.”
He added: “It’s how you react. It’s how I react and how the players react against Rangers.”
In the driving Gorgie rain, the deluge of goals began after 25 minutes with Nat Wedderburn blocking a Sam Nicholson shot with his hand inside the box.
Referee Bobby Madden pointed to the spot and Zeefuik dispatched his kick past Robbie Thomson with aplomb.
The former Netherlands under-21 international doubled his tally 76 seconds later, fizzing a low shot into the bottom corner from 25 yards.
Zeefuik secured his hat-trick from the spot after Mr Madden judged ex-Celtic youngster Lewis Toshney to have hauled down the superb Nicholson as he scampered through on goal.
Toshney walked and the burly Dutchman sent Thomson the wrong way.
Another quick one-two was delivered when Nicholson drifted in from the left flank to unleash a right-footed rocket past Thomson, soon followed by Walker netting his sixth goal in eight games with a calm finish from the edge of the box.
Gomis then made it six from the spot after he was felled by Dean Brett, producing a sumptuous ‘Panenka’ past Thomson.
Hearts’ centre-backs, in danger of developing rigor-mortis at the back, soon got in on the act, with Ozturk firing home a drive from 30 yards before skipper Danny Wilson scrambled a low shot over the line from close-range.
Sow, a second-half replacement for Zeefuik, took full advantage of his weary foes to latch on to a Soufian El Hassnaoui pass and slot a calm finish past Thomson before, three minutes later, arrowing a 20-yard drive into the corner.
Nicholl defiantly added: “I’ve got to still keep believing there is enough, and they have to believe there is enough in that dressing room, to get us out of this situation.
“I still believe we are going to be all right, I really do.”