Paul Hartley bemoans poor second half display
Dundee boss Paul Hartley admitted his side did not do enough after the half-time interval to secure a League Cup win in Methil.
Dundee managed to grind out an opening goal shortly before the break through Kane Hemmings, eventually breaking down a stubborn Fife defence.
But the Methil men poked and prodded at their premiership visitors and grabbed a deserved second half equaliser when Kevin Smith curled a superb free-kick into the top corner.
The 1-1 draw sent the cup tie into penalties and with Rory Loy and James Vincent having their efforts stopped by Willie Muir, Scott Robinson rattled home the winning kick.
Hartley admitted the second half showing was not up to the standard he demands.
He said : ''We just couldn't get up the park in the second half, we couldn't get out. We didn't threaten their goalkeeper at all. It's not losing on penalties that concerns me, it's that second half performance. We didn't pass the ball as well as we did in the first half and didn't handle the conditions. But I need to give East Fife credit as well for how they played. I looked at the game as a chance to get players involved and give everybody a game without picking up injuries. I picked the best team to go and try to win the game so it's a disappointing one.''
East Fifel boss Gary Naysmith hailed his side for taking the Premiership club all the way before holding their nerve in the shoot-out.
He said: ''A League One club holding a Premier club like that is encouraging. It's a start for us and I won't be getting carried away. In the first 15 minutes we were the dominant team and then as you'd expect Dundee came into it and had a lot of possession. Thier goal knocked us a bit and we lacked that bit of belief. But we went a bit more attacking and went 4-4-2 and it worked. We ended the game as the dominant team again so started and ended the game well.''