Caley Thistle manager John Robertson feels his side passed up an ideal chance to open up a gap in the Championship table in Saturday’s loss to Partick Thistle.
Inverness went down 3-1 against the Jags on Saturday, with the result moving the Firhill men off the bottom above Alloa Athletic on goal difference in manager Ian McCall’s first league game since returning to the club.
Caley Jags had been on the coat-tails of Dundee United and Ayr United at the top of the table, however victories for both mean Robertson’s men are now five points behind the pair.
With fourth-placed Dundee held to a 1-1 draw against Queen of the South on Friday, Robertson bemoaned missing the opportunity to extend the four-point difference above the Dark Blues.
Robertson said: “It’s a big loss for us. We felt if we could win, with the result on Friday night and the fixtures on Saturday, it could open up a big gap for ourselves and the two Uniteds to push further away from the teams below us.
“We go down to Ayr next week, so to produce a second half performance like that was very disappointing.
“In all games in this division there is very little between teams in terms of ability and quality.
“There should not have been an attitude problem. The players were warned of the dangers of a new manager coming in at Thistle, and the second goal gave them the confidence and the lift they needed.”
Inverness last tasted defeat on the opening day of the Championship campaign, going down 4-1 away to Dundee United on August 3.
Caley Jags’ response to the loss was excellent, winning five of their subsequent six matches in all competitions, however Robertson took little consolation following Saturday’s game.
He added: “We responded well after we last suffered a defeat but we don’t take anything from that, there’s no solitude in that at all.
“We have been playing with a lot of style, particularly at home.
“We will have to work extremely hard again this week because we go into a massive match down at Somerset Park now.”
Robertson had few complaints about Saturday’s outcome against the Jags, adding: “We tried to change it, get more men on and more energy. We wanted to get crosses into the box for Jordan White and Nikolay Todorov and we did have chances.
“We felt if we could have got the equaliser we could have gone on and won it, but Thistle were holding us. They started really knocking the ball about and hit us on the counter superbly.”