MacPherson saw his side struggle to compete at Hampden

St Mirren manager Gus MacPherson was left to rue the loss of an early goal as his side were brushed aside by Rangers in the Scottish Cup semi final.

"It was extremely disappointing to fall behind so early," he told BBC Scotland after the 3-0 defeat at Hampden.

"After that real setback we went on and passed the ball pretty well.

"But it was very difficult because Rangers were just sitting there with two banks of four and were happy to hit us on the counter-attack."

St Mirren rarely threatened as they attempted to reach their first Scottish Cup final since lifting the trophy in 1987.

And not for the first time this season MacPherson saw his side struggle to open up their opponents.

"In the final third we didn't create enough," he added.

"We worked the ball into good areas but the final ball wasn't good enough.

"We saw that at their second goal when we left ourselves short at the back trying to chase the game and Rangers broke away from one of our crosses.

"The major factor was that we were playing against a very good Rangers team, who could afford to sit deep and soak up any pressure, so there wasn't a lot of space for us to exploit."

St Mirren's Andy Dorman came into the game in a rich vein of form but the midfielder had a quiet day at Hampden, rarely getting beyond his forwards into threatening positions.

"Losing the early goal put us right up against it right from the word go," said Dorman.

"We settled into the game without looking dangerous and we didn't create too many chances

"They just let us play in front of them and we couldn't break them down.

"You look forward to occasions like these in your career, which is why it's so disappointing."

With the Buddies sitting six points above bottom side Falkirk, attention now switches to the matter of Premier League survival.

"We've got to turn this feeling into something positive for the five remaining league matches," continued MacPherson.

"The club is in a good financial position and this cup run has helped. Now we need to make the next step and to do that we need to be in the top flight."

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