Dunfermline Athletic skipper Chris Hamilton insists ‘brilliant’ keeper Deniz Mehmet deserves no blame for the 2-1 defeat to Partick Thistle.
The Pars number one set a new club record with 24 shut-outs during last season’s League One title success.
But the former Manchester United and West Ham youth was at fault for Partick’s second goal as the Fifers missed the opportunity to close the gap on their visitors in third in the Championship table.
Mehmet inexplicably dropped an Aidan Fitzpatrick corner, which allowed Brian Graham to score from close range.
By that stage, Thistle were already ahead after Harry Milne had outmuscled Josh Edwards to head in a Steven Lawless cross from another corner on the left.
The Fifers fought back with a Matty Todd strike in the 82nd minute but could not find an equaliser, despite hitting the woodwork twice in an improved second-half.
But Hamilton is adamant there was no-one pointing fingers at team-mates following the loss.
The former Hearts youngster said: “These things happen in football. From the mistakes, they score from both.
“We need to stick together and keep going.
Hamilton: ‘Our luck will change’
“I thought the performance was very good in the second-half, especially when we dominated. On another day we maybe come away with a 3-2 win.
“The one that trickles along the line and hits the post, you just want one of them to fall in – but it isn’t happening just now.
“We just need to keep working hard and our luck will change.
“Everyone makes mistakes, these things happen, but when Den [Mehmet] makes one it’s more than likely going to be a goal.
“It’s unfortunate, he has been brilliant for us. Even in the second-half he makes good saves that keep us in the game. No-one is going to blame anyone.“
Dunfermline’s preparations for the match were affected by a sickness bug that resulted in manager James McPake cancelling training on Thursday.
The move largely worked, with only Craig Wighton unable to make himself available for the visit of Partick, although it is understood others were feeling less than 100 per cent.
Sam Fisher also returned from injury, only to be taken off late in the first-half with a head knock that resulted in him being taken to hospital for a check-up.
Despite the setbacks, Hamilton believes the Pars were still capable of getting more from the game.
The 22-year-old added: “It [illness] doesn’t help but we prepared enough throughout the week.
“We had done enough work, we knew what to expect from them and how we were going to play.
‘We were prepared’
“You could see that in the game, we were prepared and looked like we knew what we were doing and what we were trying to do.
“It’s one of those things. We keep working hard and hopefully next week we will get back to winning ways.
“We obviously got the goal reasonably late on, to give ourselves a bit of time to get another one, but it didn’t quite happen.
“I don’t think you can fault the boys’ effort. We created enough, it wasn’t like we were lacking ideas or chances; they were there, we just didn’t take them.
“I thought we were going to get a point out of it, I thought it was the least we deserved.”
