Caley Thistle midfielder Scott Allardice had mixed emotions after their surprise 2-1 defeat to Hamilton knocked them off the top of the Championship.
The Inverness side are still joint first on points, but are behind new leaders Arbroath on goal difference following a result few could see coming through the fog.
That was especially so after Cameron Harper buried home ICT’s opener on 65 minutes.
Shane Sutherland was a whisker away from making it 2-0 soon after that, with Accies goalkeeper Joe Hilton saving with his feet.
Sixth-placed Hamilton, who beat Caley Jags 2-1 in October, battled back into the contest and turned the match on its head with goals from David Moyo and Andrew Winter, who had been out through injury for 10 months, sealing the win.
Inverness have lost twice to Accies, once to Dunfermline Athletic and been held by Ayr United – all lower half teams with something to fight for.
‘Chucking away’ points so costly
Allardice, who had a terrific game, admitted part-time Arbroath deserve praise for edging into first position, but admits ICT should be out on their own.
He said: “You’re not top of the Championship at the halfway stage without being there on merit, but again we need to look at ourselves and how many points we have chucked away.
“We have spoken about how many games where we’ve dropped points when we’ve been in control of games.
“It’s something we need to look at, but to be in this position, level top even with the amount of games we’ve chucked away, that’s a positive.
“If we’d been told we’d be joint top at this point of the season, it would be positive. It’s easy to be down when you lose, but in the bigger picture, there are lots of positives for us to take from it.”
The 23-year-old, who is having such a positive influence on this Inverness side, reckons every team in the league is willing to battle for the duration.
He said: “Every game in the Championship is hard. At times, it lacks a bit of quality and can be scrappy, but every single player will work to their maximum. That maybe explains why the games are scrappy at times.
“Whoever we play against, we know it will be a battle. It is about taking our chances and going and getting into leads of 1-0 then 2-0 and seeing games out that way.”
Undone by Hamilton’s fightback
Like head coach Billy Dodds, Allardice felt they paid the price for not coping with a short burst of pressure from Hamilton when they conceded twice.
He said: “It is hard to look beyond the scoreline, but we played well for much of the game.
“It should have been out of sight then they had a spell of 15-20 minutes where they were not cutting through us, but they were getting crosses into the box, corners and set-pieces.
“They scored two goals, which sums up where we are at the minute. We are creating chances and playing well, but we’re getting done when they have a short spell within 90 minutes.”
Second goal was needed to seal deal
This defeat came a week after ICT crushed Morton 6-1 and the midfielder believes a second goal could have also killed this contest.
He said: “Against Morton last week, when we did go 2-0 up, we added a third and we went on to win it. Saturday’s game could have had the same feel to it.
“The minute they score and then get another corner, the exact same thing happens. We know that’s not good enough.”
Allardice eyes Boxing Day response
Boxing Day sees ICT host Partick Thistle, a team they defeated 3-1 at home earlier this season and should have beaten in a 0-0 draw at Firhill.
Allardice added: “We played so well against them here last time, so it’s a case of same again for us. We need to put in a very good performance and if we win that we can hopefully go on a run.”