Neil McCann told his Kilmarnock players they had let themselves down after a penalty shootout defeat to 10-man Aberdeen in the Premier Sports Cup quarter final, saying he hoped they were hurting.
Golden opportunity missed
Kilmarnock failed to take advantage of their extra man after Aberdeen's Dan Happe was sent off on 57 minutes. Tyreece John-Jules cancelled out Kevin Nisbet's opener after the red card.
Despite playing 30 more minutes of normal time and 30 minutes of extra time, Kilmarnock could not beat Marius Muller in the Aberdeen goal. The German goalkeeper saved spot kicks from John-Jules, Mark O'Hara and Aaron Tshibola to send Aberdeen through.
McCann's verdict
McCann refused to blame his penalty takers. He said: "It's disappointing. Anyone can miss penalties. It's a huge disappointment. We know there's going to be a winner and a loser and it's a very cruel way to lose but with the extra man the disappointment is we didn't do enough."
He added: "It was a golden opportunity to go to a semi-final and we didn't take it. The message was clear - we were a man up. Aberdeen kept two strikers on and were going to launch and use the pace and power of their front two.
"We were trying to force the game and the message was to move the ball quickly. But the biggest thing was to take responsibility as an individual. An extra man gives you possession easier but you still have to do it and come up with something.
"That's the difference between getting to a semi and not and we didn't do enough of it which is so disappointing."
Looking ahead
McCann said: "Psychologically the boys will be down and I really hope they are because I am and all our fans are hurting. They've let themselves down massively."
Kilmarnock travel to face Hibs on Tuesday as they look to move off the bottom of the table. McCann said: "Semi-finals don't come around often and they need to use this feeling to go again on Tuesday night but it's sore.
"It's a big miss tonight. We tried to freshen it up because I felt they were flat and it was almost as if they were waiting for someone else to take responsibility and there was no spark. They've probably got a long night ahead of them."
