Cove Rangers boss Paul Hartley accepts his side were far from their best in their 1-0 win over Forfar Athletic.
In their final Betfred Cup game, Cove triumphed thanks to a Rory McAllister penalty in the second half after the striker had been brought down by goalkeeper Daniel Hoban.
Earlier in the half, captain Mitch Megginson also missed from the spot, with Hoban saving well after Sam Fisher – later sent off for two bookings – had handled Adam Livingstone’s cross.
Hartley expects more to come from his Cove squad, who had beaten Forfar 3-0 in the league a week earlier.
He said: “I didn’t think we played particularly well. Forfar came and made it difficult for us, had a few chances. It wasn’t our best performances and standards dropped. We won the game but we can play better.
“I don’t think we moved the ball quick enough. They came here and defended in numbers but I felt we were loose with our passing. Our rotations weren’t good enough and we gave them too many chances.”
Cove were already eliminated from the competition prior to Saturday’s game after the defeat to Dundee during the week.
However the purpose of the Betfred Cup for the Aberdeen side was always to get players up to speed for the start of the League One campaign.
There was an added boost for Hartley on Saturday in getting midfielder Fraser Fyvie back in the side. Fyvie had not played since injuring his knee during a pre-season friendly against Dundee at Dens Park.
Hartley added: “It was nice to get Fraser some minutes. The plan was always to play him60-65 minutes – he’s not played first-team football in a while. It’s good for him to get minutes under his belt.
“It’s been good in that sense, to get people minutes, but we’re disappointed not to qualify. We were in a tough group but we move on now into the league.”
Attention now switches to a stern test in League One for the leaders, with Cove travelling to Falkirk next weekend to face the promotion-chasing Bairns.
Hartley added: “We’ll get back to work tomorrow to get ready for the Falkirk game. Hopefully it’s a nice test for them – we’ve started the league campaign well but we’ve got to keep going, keep improving.
“We’ll go there with a good gameplan and hope to get a result. Will they have taken notice of us? Hopefully. But we’ll worry about ourselves and not anyone else.”