Head coach Simo Valakari provided his reaction to Saints TV following our penalty shootout defeat to Ayr United on Tuesday evening.
The Saints had recovered from 3-1 down to force spot-kicks in the quarter-final tie at The Falkirk Stadium, but would exit the competition.
Simo said: “Cup competition, it is very simple. You need to win to get to the next round, and we could not do it.
“The last five minutes, we went for everything. But the rest of the match was very difficult for us. That was for many reasons.
“We have been scoring a lot of goals but, always, our foundation has been how we defend. We saw on Tuesday night, when you don’t defend well, it is difficult to win football matches.
“It starts from the strikers being the first line of our pressing and defence. We need to do it all together then, when we defend well, we attack better.”
Simo added: “At the end of the day, we did not deserve to go through. We are always honest with our performances and it was not the level we expect.
“We were not at our best but there is no point dwelling on it. We have the Championship and in 72 hours comes another very big match. The recovery and focus now turns to Friday night.”
On the support at The Falkirk Stadium, he said: “The fans were fantastic. It was so nice to have the ultras on our side. Their noise was very good.
“I think it was painful for them to watch because we did not give them many opportunities to cheer the team on. But they kept going, kept going.
“It was a very big support and I know they will be with us on Friday also.”
