Coll Donaldson was left crestfallen following Falkirk’s comprehensive 3-0 Scottish Cup semi-final defeat by Inverness at Hampden Park.

Caley Thistle’s veteran striker Billy Mckay scored twice – the first coming from the spot, the second after Daniel MacKay had scored a header – to help the cinch Championship side set up a final meeting with either Rangers or Celtic.

Bairns defender Donaldson told the PA news agency: “I haven’t had many worse feelings in football. It is so disappointing.

“It was a strange sort of game where we had the lion’s share of the play but Inverness were more clinical which decides football games.

“I don’t think you can have many complaints about the scoreline even though you can maybe argue that we had some nice passages of play.

“But in a semi-final, 3-0, there are no complaints, it was disappointing.”

After Mckay netted his early penalty, Falkirk attacker Callumn Morris hit a Caley Thistle post from distance with the goal empty, which may have turned the game.

Former Inverness centre-back Donaldson said: “These are big moments that need to go for you in semi-finals so when they don’t, you begin to wonder where the goal is going to come from.

“I have played with Billy (Mckay) for years and you know what he is like, he can be so quiet for the majority of the game but he takes his penalty really well, he takes his goal really well so he has punished us and that’s what good strikers do.”

Falkirk will now turn their attention to getting out of League One through the play-offs and Donaldson remains confident they can succeed.

He said: “Going up won’t make you forget about this day but it might make it easier to get over.

“This is going to be a hard one to get over but we need to.

“The Falkirk fans and the Falkirk board will not let us feel sorry for ourselves and we will not feel sorry for ourselves, the management team won’t let that happen.

“It is Peterhead next week and we just need to get up there and try to carry on the momentum that we maybe created last week at Alloa.

“I am still very confident that we can get the club back to where it belongs.”