'We're unfairly out of the Scottish Cup': Raith Rovers boss Ian Murray reckons his side deserved more following 2-1 defeat at Livingston

Murray’s team surged into an early lead on Saturday when Jack Hamilton controlled Ross Millen’s lofted pass and sent the ball past Shamal George after just five minutes, before Livi spurned a great chance to level when Andrew Shinnie sent a penalty wide after the experienced attacker had been brought down in the box by Kyle Turner.

But David Martindale’s side did equalise after 33 minutes when Dan Mackay crossed for Jamie Brandon at the back post, with the ex-Hearts ace lashing home.

And the hosts won it in an end-to-end second period, despite Rovers having the better of the proceedings, with Hibs loanee Mackay heading home Stephen Kelly’s cross with eight minutes to go.

“I think there is frustration and disappointment as well,” Murray told RaithTV. “I feel we’re unfairly out the cup because I thought we played very well today.

"I thought we matched Livingston in the first half, very equal game.

"I thought second half we were the better side. But look, the cup competition is about getting through and I’m sure David (Martindale) will say the same in the Livingston camp.

"It’s about getting to the next round and they’ll be delighted to get through.

"There were a few key moments in the game. The chances we created were really high for us and Kevin (Dabrowski) has not had too much to do at the other end.

"Obviously they’ll look at the penalty and say it could have been 2-1 at half-time. It was a penalty as well, we have to acknowledge that, it looked a stonewaller to me.

"But we could have had a couple. The one on Callum Smith towards the end of the half when he was pulled back looked a penalty all day long.

"We’ve got to take our chances. We had so many good chances there today and we didn’t take them.”

Murray also said that Raith would have to look back at the two goals they conceded and see where they could get better.

He added: “It’s obviously a really good ball in and right on his head, but we need to try and recgnise that situation a bit quicker.

"We lost the ball in the middle of the park as well, which wasn’t ideal, and we never really regained it from there.

"But the guys have given it everything again. It’s just we came out on the wrong end of a scoreline.”

Despite Rovers now having lost their last three games, there is no panic from Murray.

He added: “I’m not too disappointed. Obviously we want to win all the games but I feel that our performances are creeping up to the levels they were before Christmas.

"I think out of those three defeats we were really poor in one of the games. The other two games, you could argue that we should win them both.

"We haven’t. That’s football, sometimes the performances don’t reflect the scorelines.

"I think we’re actually starting to motor a wee bit again.”