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MANAGER Paul Hartley and club captain Mitch Megginson spoke to the media after our 3-2 extra-time defeat by Airdrieonians at the Penny Cars Stadium in the second leg of our Championship Play-Off Semi-Final.

Paul said: “It’s a sore one, we are all feeling really deflated and low.

“I really feel for the players, they put so much into the game.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t defend properly to get through, we didn’t manage the game when we needed to and that’s what cost us.

“We only have ourselves to blame for that.

“It’s still very hard on the players, they put so much into the season.

“It was a stop-start one for them too, which made it even harder, but we just couldn’t get over the line.

“We played really well in the first half, we played some really good football but just couldn’t hold on to the leads when we got them, that was the bottom line.

“We might have had a penalty at the end, I suppose that’s the drama of the play-offs at times.

“But the players deserve credit for what they did over the whole season, our first in League One.

“They will be hurting for a few days after this, but we’ve got to then dust ourselves down again and come back, in five weeks when pre-season training starts, ready to go again.

“It will be another tough league when you see the teams who are going to be in it.

“Hopefully we can add a couple of bodies, although some players will be going back to their parent clubs after their loan spells with us.

“Let’s hope it will be a more normal season too, it would be nice to have the supporters back.

“It’s also been tough with all the protocols we’ve had to follow and it has hit a lot of clubs financially.

“But we will pick ourselves up again, that’s what you have to do in football.

“These players haven’t suffered too many lows in their careers with Cove Rangers, but it happens.

“You will suffer them at some stage of your career – it’s how you come back that matters.”

Mitch said: “We are all disappointed, it was there for us.

“But if you lose goals like some of the ones we have over the last six weeks you are not going to win games like this one.

“We need to be doing better at this level.

“We scored our second goal at a great time, there wasn’t long left, so not managing to hold on makes it even more disappointing.

“We are a team that’s used to winning, we don’t like losing, especially when you have a chance to go up to the Championship.

“All we can do is take it on the chin and look to do better if we get the opportunity again.”

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