Queen's Park v Dunfermline: James McPake on Hampden loss

The Dunfermline boss branded their performance during their loss to Queen's Park as "not good enough" as his side's winless run was extended to five matches.

Former Pars star Dom Thomas netted what proved to be the decisive goal for the Spiders in their 2-1 success, which was their first Championship three points in 16 attempts.

READ MORE: Thomas haunts injury-hit Pars as they fall to Spiders defeat

Ruari Paton had given them the lead early in the second half and, although Ben Summers' fine strike pulled the visitors level, it wasn't enough to prevent defeat.

The injury-hit Pars lost Sam Fisher, Rhys Breen and Ewan Otoo from the team that played Raith Rovers on Tuesday, and were dealt a further blow when another defender, Aaron Comrie, was taken off after just 19 minutes.

Alex Jakubiak also hobbled off midway through the second period but a frustrated McPake refused to hide behind injuries when assessing his team's performance.

"Bitterly disappointing," he said post-match.

"To me, and certainly my coaching staff, it looked like Queen's Park wanted that game more than us.

"Now, we can sugarcoat it and speak about the injuries and the key players we're missing, but I don't buy that.

"Particularly from when Aaron goes off, we looked as if 'oh, this isn't going to be our night'. We felt sorry for ourselves and it's not good enough."

When asked if there was almost an acceptance of their fate, McPake replied: "Absolutely, yeah. I think everybody did.

"You could see it here, the fans could certainly see it, and I'll exclude a couple in that. Ben Summers; yeah, he gives the ball away for the first goal, but we should still defend it better. Second goal, we don't match a runner, but, on that, I think he's the one who tries to grab the game for us. Not just his goal, but the kid kept trying to get on the ball, kept trying to make things happen, and it was visible from here that he wasn't fit.

Ben Summers tried to spark Dunfernline against Queen's Park. (Image: Craig Brown.)

"We had it scanned. The physio was recommending he didn't play, Ben was desperate to play. There wasn't going to be any chance of real damage. He could've picked up another injury, of course he could, but credit to him. That's the people you want, that are going to run through a brick wall for you, and he certainly did that. Craig Wighton the same - he gave everything for 90-odd minutes.

"It wasn't his best of nights, in terms of what he did, but, again, he's somebody that had we had the squad, then Craig wouldn't have been available tonight. Chris Hamilton the other one I thought was really good, playing with the mask on again, leading, and hurting in that dressing room.

"You could sense it. Queen's wanted it more than us and we got what we deserved from the game."

"That's the worst. It's the first time here. I'm sure everybody will back me up on that that's standing here - it's the first time I've come out and said that. Am I afraid to come out and say it? No.

"I'm quick to praise them, and I praised them before the game and through the week about just how together we had been, but when you bring a decent crowd down here, the fans don't care. They want to see 11 players on the pitch. The staff don't care, we want 11 players on the pitch and, if you go out and fight, run and do everything you can to get those three points and lose the game, we come in and say 'unlucky lads, well done'. It didn't happen tonight."

McPake added that both Comrie and Jakubiak would be assessed following the game.