Dunfermline: Kyle Benedictus calls Ayr loss 'extremely disappointing'

The Pars captain felt his side were "miles off it" during their defeat at Somerset Park and insisted that they should have been able to handle the conditions better than they did.

The match was delayed for 45 minutes due to the Dunfermline squad arriving at 2.50pm, having endured a difficult journey of more than five hours due to Storm Bert.

The team coach faced significant delays on the motorway due to adverse weather, and the club hit out ahead of the revised kick off time that the welfare of their players was "compromised", adding that they strongly disagreed that a three-quarters-of-an-hour delay was adequate for "mental and physical preparation".

Centre back Benedictus, 32, refused to put their display down to that, however, telling Pars TV post-match: "It's happened before. These things happen.

"No excuses in terms of that. We managed to get our pre-match, maybe a bit later, we got here a bit later, but the game was delayed, and it was the same for Ayr.

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"Ayr probably would've been sitting in their changing room waiting for us so, we maybe had to travel a bit later than what we had to, but we got here and, when we got here, everything was fine.

"There's no excuses on that part.

"It was extremely disappointing. Not good enough.

Kyle Benedictus was disappointed with his side's afternoon at Somerset Park. (Image: Craig Brown.) "I thought Ayr were the dominant side, bar maybe the first 10-15 minutes. It's extremely disappointing.

"I think we were not good enough on the ball. We let them dictate too much of the play and it was an extremely difficult afternoon - a hard one to take.

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"I think all-round, beyond on the ball, we were miles off it. In terms of on the ball, I think the pitch was in good condition. It was maybe a bit slippy, but I thought Ayr dealt with it, so we should be able to deal with it, and we never.

"They had a lot of passages of play, and we never got going. It's extremely disappointing considering other games were off, and we had a chance to go and jump up a couple of places, and we've not been able to do that."

Dunfermline, who remain second bottom of the Championship, take a break from league action this Saturday as they travel to Edinburgh City in the Scottish Cup.

The capital side, who lost three and drew one of their four League One meetings with the Pars in the 2022/23 campaign, are fifth in League Two, but Benedictus has warned of a tough test in the third round tie.

"It's extremely important for us and the club," he added.

"Scottish Cup, it's a good chance to get a good run, but we know how difficult it'll be.

"I think Edinburgh have been doing quite well in their league, so we need to not replicate that performance and we need to go and take the game by the scruff of the neck, and go and try and get through."