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MANAGER Paul Hartley offered no excuses after the 2-1 League One defeat by Montrose.

The Gable Endies fought back from trailing 1-0 at the interval to become the first side to beat us at Balmoral Stadium in a league game since we stepped up to the SPFL.

“The result is really disappointing,” said Paul, who also confirmed skipper Mitch Megginson missed out after suffering a hamstring injury in training.

“I felt we were really good in the first half, we moved the ball really well.

“But they were better than us in the second half.

“They were more determined and passed the ball better than us and got on to the second balls more than us.

“The game became really stretched too in that second half.

“It’s disappointing because when we came in at half-time I thought we were looking comfortable in the game.

“We were creating some good situations from good play and we said to them (the players) that it was really important to start the second half strongly, but we didn’t.

“It’s a shame to have finally lost at Balmoral Stadium, but it’s been a really good run.

“What we have to do now is regroup and go again at Dumbarton next weekend.

“We said from the outset that this league is really unforgiving, if you are not on your mettle you won’t win.

“You can’t just play for 45 minutes, you have got to be at it for the whole period of the game.”

Midfielder Fraser Fyvie said: “We were really good in the first half and deserved to go in 1-0 up.

“But you have to give Montrose credit for the way they came back at us after that.

“They pressed us really well and, unfortunately, we were unable to find a solution to that.

“It’s something we are going to have to learn from.

“That’s no wins in three now for us, so it’s vital we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down, and make sure we are able to do better next time out.

“It’s important we review what’s gone wrong in the last few weeks, particularly in the second half of games.

“We know we are in a lot tougher league than last season, as you can see by the table and results.

“Any team can beat any team, we accept the level is a lot higher than it was in League Two.

“That’s underlined by the fact we have now lost our unbeaten home record too.

“There is no time to dwell on that though, the job now is to try and create another long unbeaten run here.

“If we can do that we won’t be too far off where we want to be at the end of the season.”

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ERIC WATSON »