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Paul Hartley spoke to the media after our 3-0 defeat by Hearts at Tynecastle in the Premier Sports Cup.

He began by praising the performance of goalkeeper Kyle Gourlay, who made his debut for the club in the Group A tie.

Paul said: “Kyle made some good saves, although he was disappointed with the second goal, just before half-time.

“But he can be pleased with his overall performance.”

On the game itself, Paul said: “We started really well and had a good opportunity to score, (through Leighton McIntosh, in the ninth minute) but it was a hard game for us.

“There was still a lot of good work and that’s a lot of good minutes in the players’ legs as we prepare for our opening league game.

“We never gave in, the players kept going right to the end and their attitude was very good.

“We won’t come across many better teams than Hearts in our division, so it’s good to have come up against them at this stage of our preparation.

“Because of the situation we have been in, we are probably a couple of weeks short of being able to do as well as we would have preferred against opponents of that quality.

“It was only our second game of any sort and we had to patch some people up to put out the strongest side we could.

“We also had players out of position, so they deserve enormous credit for doing as well as they did against a full-time side.

“We aren’t the only club to have suffered because of the COVID pandemic, I think there will be more as the season progresses.

“We just have to get on with it and get the players prepared as best as possible for the league opener (against Falkirk at Balmoral Stadium) at the end of the month.

“I’m hopeful we will have more players back for this weekend, although we also have some injuries.

“Harry Milne and Scott Ross had to come off at Tynecastle but it looks as if it was just cramp so we are hoping they will be fine.”

Our next Group A match in the Premier Sports Cup is away to Peterhead on Saturday, 3pm KO.

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