DUNFERMLINE boss James McPake has praised the reaction of his players to their midweek setback but said it "needs to carry on" into this afternoon's match at Livingston.

After winning their opening match in Group E of the Premier Sports Cup last Saturday at The Spartans, the Pars slumped to a shock home defeat against Forfar Athletic on Tuesday evening.

Going into the third match day weekend of the group stage, four teams sit on three points, with The Spartans leading the way on goals scored, courtesy of a 5-0 win at Cove Rangers.

Livi, relegated from the top flight last season, are one of those but, crucially, have only played once so far.

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Athletic know that, realistically, a win is required in West Lothian to keep their aspirations of progressing into the knockout phase alive, and McPake has said that's what his team will set out to do.

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He's also looking for a positive reaction after the defeat by the League Two Loons, which he described as "nowhere near good enough".

"So far it has been good. I think that’s the big thing - it needs to carry on to the game, and I’m sure that it will," he said of how his team have reacted in training this week.

"They have been good. They came in on Wednesday as well and they were brighter than I’d imagined them to be. We did the analysis and the input was good from them.

"It’s a tough game going there - it always is for any team that goes there and plays. It is tough and Davie (Martindale, Livi manager) will have them well drilled and ready.

"We need to go and, at certain times, roll the sleeves up, (and) show that we have got that because it certainly wasn’t evident on Tuesday. I will stand by that.

"Forfar were more physical, more stronger than us on the day. The players accepted that but it has been good the last couple of days. Wednesday, Thursday Friday has been good on the training pitch.

The Pars were beaten by Forfar on Tuesday.The Pars were beaten by Forfar on Tuesday. (Image: Craig Brown.)

"We are going there to try and win the next game, like we always do, but we know how important a win would be at Livingston. We need to put the performance right for everyone.

"Sometimes you come out and say the fans deserve a better performance. They do but, I think everybody in that group all agree collectively that we need to do better.

"Sometimes off the back of a poor performance, when you go and put on a good performance, you do feel that wee bit better about yourself and, hopefully with that, comes the three points and we still have a chance in this cup."

McPake, who yesterday added goalkeeper, Kai McLean, to his squad, is set to welcome back Craig Wighton and Rhys Breen for today's game, but Chris Kane is set to miss out.