Jack Hamilton is convinced Raith Rovers can take inspiration in their bid to reach the Premiership, despite crashing out of the Scottish Cup against top-flight opposition.
Hamilton got Raith off to a dream start as they sought a cup upset against Livingston on Saturday.
His fifth-minute strike capped a whirlwind opening from the Stark’s Park side against their top-flight hosts.
However, they could not make the most of their early dominance.
And, after Andrew Shinnie missed a penalty for the hosts, Jamie Brandon restored parity 10 minutes from the break before Dan MacKay nodded in an 82nd-minute winner.
With Livi six points adrift at the bottom of the Premiership and without a win in 13 games, many were looking to Rovers to pull off a shock.
But, although they fell short on the day as they succumbed to a third straight defeat, Hamilton reckons there were reasons for optimism.
Ian Murray’s side host Inverness Caley Thistle on Saturday sitting joint top with Dundee United in the Championship table but now with just one win in their last six matches.
Hamilton said: “We’re obviously disappointed we didn’t get through to the next round of the cup.
‘Raith deserved more’
“I feel we can go anywhere and win a game and I thought we could win Saturday’s game, no matter what.
“I know they’re in the league above but I thought we were good and we deserved more than we did.
“It just wasn’t to be.
“We’ve got Inverness next week. We’ve had a bit of a sticky patch recently.
“But it was a good performance and I thought we deserved more than we got.
“So, hopefully we can take the performance into Inverness next week.
“We just need to keep doing what we did before in the first half of the season.
“We need to stick together and get through this little tough patch.
“If we play like we did against Livingston then hopefully we’ll get back to winning ways.
“They’re obviously bottom of the league and there’s not too much to us.
“I thought we were good all over and hopefully we can be in the Premiership next season.”
Hamilton thundered a shot underneath Livi goalkeeper Shamal George after taming a long Ross Millen pass on his chest at the edge of the box.
Happy
It was just reward for an electric start from Raith.
He added: “We spoke before the game about Livingston’s weaknesses and Ross Millen has played a quick ball into the channel.
“I’ve managed to chest it down and put it through the keeper’s legs.
“So, I was quite happy with the finish.”
Hamilton was one of five Rovers players returning to their old stomping ground at Almondvale.
And the 23-year-old – who was farmed out eight times during his six years at Livi – admits it provided him with some added motivation on the day.
He commented: “I was trying as hard as I could for the team. I’ll do that, no matter what.
“But it was nice to get a goal against a former club.
“I was definitely raring to go from the start.
“It was frustrating in the end, but we just have to pick ourselves up for next week.”
