DEJECTED Irvine Meadow skipper Ben Carson admitted his side "blew" their chance of a Scottish Junior Cup quarter-final place on Saturday.

They went down 2-0 at home to Lochee United in a fifth round tie, with the East Superleague team scoring a goal in each half.

Now the side are aiming to push up the Super League First Division table following a poor first half of the season.

He said: "The defeat was hard to take. It was a great chance to go into the quarter-finals and we kind of blew it. On another day had we taken our chances we could have gone through.If we had got through we could have got anyone and then could have had a two leg semi-final against one of the big boys."

Now on Saturday, they host leaders Petershill and Carson said: "They are probably one of the best sides we have played this year but I think we are stronger than the last time we played them. I fancy us as I would against anyone in our league. We must dust ourselves down and try to get promotion even if that is through the playoffs. We should be going automatically but results have sometimes not been good enough. We have a big squad and everyone will have to play a part, especially in the games we have coming up in midweek."

Boss Brian McGinty was disappointed with the result and said: "We created a lot in the first half and are starting games well but have to score when you're on top. That was the story of the game, Ben Carson and Con Boyle had good chances but missed them. The opening goal came from Ben's back pass and for the second they got a breaking ball and reacted to it, fair play to them."

Now the boss will focus on the league and added: "We had a couple of wins to get us back in the pack. Hopefully a bit of work will be done on the park. It will be a hard game as they are top of the league on merit, we will try and get three points to kick on in the league. Now we have no distractions and must make sure we start climbing the table."

Meanwhile Kilwinning Rangers boss Chris Strain has decided against appealing his six-game ban following his dismissal in their last game against Glenafton Athletic.

He said: "I thought about appealing but will just serve the ban."

Strain expects a tough task away to strugglers Girvan on Saturday and said: "They will have their first home game in a few weeks so it will be tricky. We haven't had a game in five weeks although we have had three friendlies but that's not the same. We have do what we can to take the three points."