Dunfermline: Chris Hamilton on Queen's Park loss at Hampden

Goals from Ruari Paton and ex-Par Dom Thomas in the second half, despite Ben Summers giving Athletic late hope, were enough to give Queen's Park victory at Hampden, their first in 16 Championship outings.

A desperately disappointing evening for the injury-hit visitors was made even worse by Aaron Comrie being forced off during the first half, whilst forward Alex Jakubiak hobbled off in the second.

Hamilton, who said he won't be having surgery on a fracture in his cheekbone against Arbroath before Christmas, and that he'll wear the protective mask he has adorned against Raith Rovers and the Spiders for another couple of games, revealed words were exchanged in the changing room between the players at the national stadium.

With back-to-back home games, against Airdrieonians on Saturday, then Queen's Park again in a rearranged league fixture seven days later, upcoming, he said the squad need to work hard to ensure they don't produce a repeat of their showing in Glasgow.

"Not good enough. Not happy at all," Hamilton replied when asked for the players' verdict.

"I felt we let ourselves down tonight, let the fans down that travelled. We were just not at it.

"I felt like they wanted it slightly more than us, which is probably the worst thing you could say, but that's what it felt like. There was a flatness.

"You can talk about injuries, you can talk about being down to the bare bones, and a few boys playing that, maybe if we had a full-strength squad wouldn't have played, just due to wee niggles, but I don't think it's an excuse.

Chris Hamilton felt the Pars let themselves and their supporters down at Hampden. (Image: Craig Brown.)

"We had enough out on the pitch to give a much better performance than what we did, so we're disappointed.

"There's factors that maybe play into it, why you're not quite at it, but I think even if you're tired - obviously, we've had three games in a week, and boys not quite 100 per cent - but you can still give everything and still want it.

"The boys do give everything, I'm not trying to say that they don't, but sometimes just those couple of percentages, if the other team are 100 per cent and we're not quite there, then it's a big difference and you can see it. I think that was the case tonight."

On back-to-back home games being a chance to get back on track, and whether it was important for the squad - who have not won in five games - to retain belief, Hamilton continued: "We need to get boys back.

"We need to get the squad back together and start picking up results and performances again. Maybe strip it back to basics and get back to working as hard as we can and giving everything. It's a good place to start.

"We always have belief because we know the quality we've got. We'll never not believe that we can go into games and win them, but, with that quality, you need to have that wee bit something more - that workrate, that desire.

"We need to make sure every game, every training session, that we've got that."

Pars boss James McPake noted afterwards that there were players in his starting line-up who, had he had others available and not on the treatment table, would not have featured at Hampden.

Hamilton admits that players carrying knocks, alongside those who are already out, could have contributed to their display, adding: "You'd be silly not to say that it adds to it, but I still think we had enough out there to give a better account of ourselves than what we did.

"I thought on the ball we weren't good enough, off the ball we weren't good enough, and it just felt like it was one of those nights. It was flat, there was a flatness to the performance, and I think when you are down to the bare bones, sometimes that can work for you, and you can get together and give it a right good go.

"For some reason, it felt like it went the opposite way and we went into our shells a wee bit. It didn't quite work.

"Like I say, we've got the players on the pitch, and even off the bench tonight, young boys, but still capable of doing well, so it's even more frustrating, but we can't have spells of 10, 15 minutes at the end of a game when you're 2-0 down. It needs to be right from the start.

"It wasn't there. We've spoke in there, we've had words, and we need to be better than that. We know that, we need to get back to work, and make sure it doesn't happen again."