Greg Lobban felt he and Rory Stewart were second-best in their Commonwealth Games semi-final defeat to England.
The squash pair were beaten 2-1 by Adrian Waller and Daryl Selby on the show court at the University of Birmingham to end their hopes of a gold medal.
It was a gruelling contest, with both sides trading games 11-8 before the home pair pushed for an 11-6 triumph in the decider.
Lobban and Stewart had dug themselves out of a hole in the second game, trailing 5-0 at one stage to level the match, but the Inverness player felt the deserved winners went through.
“It’s really tough, gutting,” said Lobban. “I don’t think we played our best today. They played their best or close to it. They got the better of us and overall they were the best team on the court. We just didn’t get it right today.
“It showed our resilience at 5-0 down and 1-0 down (in games) and things weren’t looking good from the get-go. We managed to pull it back, but used a lot of emotional energy in that game and didn’t quite have enough in the third.
“The most important thing is to try put it behind us. We know we’re a great doubles team; we didn’t quite get it right, but there’s a chance to put it right on Monday.”
A great fight from @LobSquash & @Rorystewart_17 in their semifinal match but they have lost out to the 🏴 pairing in a close 2-1.
Back tomorrow to battle for the 🥉. We are all right behind you!#B2022 #TeamScotland | @Team_Scotland pic.twitter.com/rgBcXomQRQ
— Scottish Squash 🏴 (@Scottish_Squash) August 7, 2022
They will face the impressive Malaysian pair of Eain Yow Ng and Chee Wern Yuen for the bronze medal, after they were beaten by Declan James and James Willstrop on Sunday afternoon.
It matches the stage Lobban got to four years ago alongside fellow Highlander Alan Clyne on the Gold Coast, where they missed out on a medal in the bronze match.
Lobban made the quarter-finals of both the singles and mixed doubles at the Games, losing out to Saurav Ghosal of India last week and then, alongside Lisa Aitken, to his wife Donna and her cousin Cam Pilley of Australia in the doubles.
For Perth player Stewart, the defeat in his maiden Games stung and they now have to refocus to try bring home Scotland’s first squash medal since 1998.
“We’re both professional and we’ve still got a lot to play for,” said Stewart. “We’re going to go out and give it our best shot.
“My first Games has been good up until now. We’ve still got a lot to play for and I’m looking forward to that.”
