Cove Rangers boss Jim McIntyre felt they were punished for their naivety in the 2-1 League Cup defeat to Livingston.
Livi came from behind at the Balmoral Stadium, with Andrew Shinnie and Nicky Devlin cancelling out Iain Vigurs’ opener.
The Premiership side had lost striker Esmael Goncalves in the first half, after the striker was given a straight red card by referee Willie Collum for lashing out at Scott Ross.
Cove had controlled much of the second half but were ultimately made to pay for not taking their chances.
“It was a sucker punch,” said McIntyre. “It’s a hard one to take. Livingston had to defend deep and play on the counter-attack, which we warned the players about at half-time.
“We still had a four-v-three with the goal they scored and just didn’t deal with it. It’s a brilliant finish. When we got into positions in the second half, we didn’t have the killer instinct.
“I don’t think the full-time or part-time has got anything to do with it. They’re a Premiership side and showed their quality when they got their opportunity.
“We showed our naivety in terms of how we defended it and where we lost the ball.
“There are lots of things the players did well but the bottom line is we lost the game because we didn’t manage the game properly. That’s the sore point.”
Livingston went down to 10 men after 24 minutes after Esmael Goncalves’ mindless lash out at Scott Ross, which referee Willie Collum quickly punished.
Cove took the lead in first-half stoppage-time, when Shay Logan’s cross was cleared to the edge of the box and Iain Vigurs struck well beyond Ivan Konovalov.
The 10 men were level at the start of the second half when Shinnie turned in at the back post after a scramble in the Cove area.
Connor Scully and Mitch Megginson both had attempts saved by Konovalov before Nicky Devlin finished superbly on the counter-attack to snatch all three points.
“It’s a frustrating day to lose it so late. At times we were playing a bit too long rather than popping it about,” said Cove striker Mitch Megginson.
“We managed to get into dangerous areas and caused them problems but just didn’t have that killer touch.”
Cove face Kelty Hearts on Tuesday night in their third League Cup game, with realistically a win being required to keep their hopes of qualification alive.
Megginson can see progress being made though under McIntyre, given they were playing catch-up with the change of managers over the summer.
“We’re slowly getting there,” he added. “We were late starting – with Hartley going it was a mad rush to get everything sorted and we’ve not had a lot of sessions. We’re still getting used to how the manager wants to play and putting that into practice on the pitch.
“You’ve got a good squad here that doesn’t need a lot of changing. We need some bodies because we’re a bit light but we’ve got good quality in our ranks.
“You need to have a strong squad in this league. Hopefully there’s no injuries but you always pick up knocks here and there, so you’ve got to have good back-up to that. It’s about finding the quality to enhance what we’ve got.”
COVE RANGERS (4-1-4-1) – McKenzie 6; Logan 7, Neill 6, Ross 6, Towler 6, Vigurs 7, Leitch 7 (McIntosh 84), Fyvie 6, Scully 7, Megginson 6, McDonagh 6 (McAllister 79). Subs not used – Gourlay, Thomas, Reynolds, Masson.
LIVINGSTON (4-1-4-1) – Konovalov 6; Devlin 6, Fitzwater 6, Obileye 6, Montano 7, Kelly 6 (Omeonga 72), Nouble 5, Pittman 6, Shinnie 6 (Holt 84), Bahamboula 6 (Anderson 46 (Bitsindou 89)), Goncalves 3. Subs not used – Maley, Longridge, Brandon, Mullin, Bitsindou, Cancar, Omeonga.
Referee – Willie Collum 6.
Attendance – 797.
Player of the match – Iain Vigurs.