'Undercooked' Pars humbled in Premier Sports Cup opener

East Kilbride 3 PARS 0, Premier Sports Cup, Group C Neil Lennon has said he'll take responsibility for his Athletic side looking "undercooked" in losing to East Kilbride in their Premier Sports Cup opener. The Dunfermline manager conceded that his team "were second best" as they fell to a three goal defeat to the newly-promoted League One side. Having reached last season's Scottish Cup final, hopes of a deep run in this tournament already look precarious, after a humbling afternoon in South Lanarkshire. Lewis McGrattan, who had replaced the injured Joao Balde, gave last season's League Two winners a first half lead, which was added to after the break by Finlay Gray and Cameron Elliott. The scoreline didn't flatter the home side and, afterwards, Lennon felt that the Pars lacked the same levels of sharpness of their opponents. "Quite clearly, we're not ready yet, undercooked, and I'll have to take responsibility for that," he said. "I don't know if we've worked them too hard this week, or we haven't done enough football, but it's quite clear that it looked like East Kilbride were way ahead of us in terms of sharpness and fitness. "We were second best today. "It's a bit early, so I'm not going to panic or anything like that, but the more games we get, and Tuesday, will do us the world of good as well. "That'll do us the world of good today, but we're definitely still undercooked." Musa Dibaga, who signed for the club earlier in the week, made his Pars debut in goal, whilst fellow summer arrivals Sam Cleall-Harding, Kian Corbally, and Oli Shaw, started, with another, Luke Robinson, on the bench. The hosts started brightly, with Jamie Hamilton and Sean Fagan both going close, before Cleall-Harding and Andrew Tod had decent opportunities at the other end. However, a minute after Malek Zaid had sent an effort off target, Kilby took the lead when McGrattan curled home after good play from the former to set him up. Craig McGuffie sent another attempt off target as a leggy-looking Dunfermline struggled gain traction in the contest. There was a scare when Dibaga came out to the edge of his box to try and deal with a high ball forward, but was beaten to it by Gray, only for the ball, fortunately, to drop wide of goal. Callumn Morrison had Athletic's best effort shortly after the break, flashing a shot narrowly wide of the far post, only for them to fall further behind nine minutes into the second period. A long ball forward caught out the Pars defence and, with Dibaga coming out to try and intercept, Gray this time got their first, and lobbed into the net. Darragh O'Connor then headed off the bar as East Kilbride sought a third goal, but Athletic's attempts to respond through Cleall-Harding and Andrew Tod efforts came to nothing. With a quarter-of-an-hour to go, the hosts wrapped up their victory when, from another long ball forward, Elliott raced into the box, rounded Dibaga, and slotted home. "We had a game (a bounce match with Rangers) on Wednesday and we did some work yesterday," Lennon continued. "It might have been a bit longer than we expected, but, it's quite clear that we were not pressing well enough. "We lost all the physical duels and they were a lot sharper and quicker than us. "Credit to East Kilbride. They were the better team by far, but that's down to me, and my backroom team. "We definitely haven't got them ready yet." In Group C's other match, Dumbarton, who visit KDM Group East End Park on Tuesday, were beaten 4-0 at home by St Mirren.