Kyle Gourlay felt Cove Rangers were punished for a lapse in concentration in the 1-0 defeat to Caley Thistle.
Steven Boyd’s goal settled a tame affair at the Balmoral Stadium and despite seeing improvements on the showing against Raith Rovers, Cove did not have the quality to get anything out of the game.
“It’s a better performance from last week and everyone could see that,” said Gourlay. “I thought in the second half we massively dominated the game and I don’t remember having much to do.
“But good teams hurt you when you switch off for a moment and that’s what’s done for us.
“You’ll have games like that when you play well and lose and you’ll have games when you don’t play well and win. In the second half we showed a bounce back from that defeat at Raith.”
Cove were beaten 4-1 in the reverse fixture at the start of the season but gave a better account of themselves on Saturday afternoon.
Gourlay reckons they have made strides as a team since then but still have improvements to make.
“When we lost up there it was near the start of the season when we were finding our way in the Championship,” he added. “We have definitely improved at this level since then and everyone can see what we are trying to do now.
“That makes it more disappointing losing to them this time, especially as our home form has been really good.
“Away form is something we need to pick up and improve on, but we had enough to beat Inverness but didn’t do it.
“We at least showed we can compete with a good full-time team like Caley Thistle now. They’ve got good players but so have we but we need to keep proving that by bouncing back again.”
Cove are on the road in their next two fixtures, with Ayr United and Hamilton Accies to come.
Their away form has been a source of concern, with their only point away from the Balmoral coming in a 2-2 draw with Partick Thistle.
“We have to look at it as a good chance to put some points on the board after a couple of defeats now,” said Gourlay.
“We are a positive group at Cove and you could see that whatever the result we are still fighting to the end.”