'We weren't at the races' says gutted Glenrothes FC co-boss John Martin

Trailing 2-0 at half-time after being hit by a breakaway for the first goal and then a defensive mix-up which led to Uni’s second, Glens pulled one back with an 80th-minute strike by Jordan Mackenzie, but couldn’t find a leveller despite late pressure.

"In terms of the overall performance, myself and Kev (fellow co-manager Kev Smith) were really disappointed to be honest,” Martin – whose team are now 10th with 18 points from 14 matches - told the Glenrothes Gazette.

"The quality just wasn’t there and we kind of took our foot off the pedal a wee bit. I don’t know if it was because of maybe where we are in the league, we’ve been a wee bit complacent.

"But we definitely weren’t at the races on Saturday, especially in the first half. The way the players conducted themselves wasn’t of the standards we were expecting, especially from the last four weeks when we’d been picking up some good points.

"It was another opportunity to collect three points but we let it slip.

“Second half we created a few chances, got ourselves back in the game with Jordan’s goal, their keeper’s pulled off a few good saves.

"But I think the damage was done in the first half.”

Martin, who said that the players were told in no uncertain terms post match that their display in the capital was ‘unacceptable’, is now hoping for a reaction in their next game.

"Unfortunately we don’t have a game this weekend,” he added. “We’ll probably have a bounce game; we’ll definitely be doing something, that’s for sure.

"Our next fixture is Tynecastle at home in the league a week on Saturday.

"We’ve been good at home, that’s where we’ve been picking up most of our points. Hopefully we can continue that.”

In division one last weekend, Thornton Hibs lost 4-0 defeat at Arniston Rangers. All the goals came in the first half, which featured a Jordan Daly hat-trick after Mikey Hamilton’s early opener.

Thornton have no competitive fixture this weekend.