Craig McLeish has vowed that his St Mirren side will do everything in their power to retain the Scottish League Cup after being handed a daunting trip to Ibrox in the next round.

Speaking after his side’s narrow defeat to Dunfermline, which saw them slip to second place in Group C, McLeish was frustrated by the late penalty that allowed Chris Kane to snatch an 88th-minute winner.

“Frustrated by the ending of it,” the manager said. “I don’t think it’s a penalty, but we kind of brought pressure on ourselves when we didn’t need to. Dunfermline were throwing everything at us to chase the game.

“We need to be smarter in our decisions at that stage of the game.”

Despite progressing as one of the best runners-up, St Mirren now face a difficult trip to Rangers after Dunfermline leapfrogged them at the top of Group C. The Pars were rewarded with what appears to be a more favourable tie against League One side Ross County.

McLeish was also left to rue Samuel Ramos’ disallowed first-half goal, which was ruled out after referee officials deemed Eseosa Sule to have fouled goalkeeper Aston Oxborough.

“I also don’t see how our goal has been disallowed in the first half,” McLeish said.

“That kind of changes the game. I don’t think there were many clear-cut chances, but when we put together a good move and finish it off, I don’t see why we are penalised for it.”

St Mirren lifted the trophy last season with a memorable 3-1 victory over Celtic in December, and McLeish knows his side must once again overcome the country’s biggest clubs if they are to retain the cup.

“The frustrating thing is we’ve thrown away the opportunity to come through as one of the seeded teams, and we’ve ended up with probably the toughest draw possible in Rangers away.

“But we are the holders, and I’ve told the boys we’re going to fight to make sure someone has to claw it off us.

“If we are going to defend the trophy, we have to beat big teams, and we had to do that last year to win the cup.”