Kilmarnock manager Kenny Shiels praised Stenhousemuir’s display after the Second Division side ended his team’s defence of the Scottish Communities League Cup at the first hurdle.
A penalty from Brown Ferguson and a header from John Gemmell gave Stenny a two-goal lead.
And despite Michael Nelson’s late goal it was the Warriors who went through to the third round of the competition.
Shiels said: "If you look at what happened on Saturday when we were fantastic against Dundee United, we didn't get much credit and it was all about how poor they were so I don't want to come across that way and talk about how poor we were.
"I'd rather give credit to Stenhousemuir rather than talk about some of the faults in our play.
"They came here and played really well, were 2-0 up at half-time and it should have been more, and they were better than us and we're disappointed with the outcome."
Kilmarnock face a trip to Dingwall at the weekend to take on a Ross County side unbeaten in 38 league matches.
Shiels says their task won’t be helped by their mounting injury list after Jereon Tesselaar limped off against Stenhousemuir.
He added: "That's the downside to football - the highs and the lows - and we've lost another player tonight with Jeroen Tesselaar going off after feeling his hamstring.
"God knows how I'm going to put a side out for Saturday now with the injuries we have, but that's the challenge."
