Caley Thistle head coach Billy Dodds accepts the Highlanders are now focused on preparing for the Championship campaign following their 3-1 loss to Cove Rangers in the Premier Sports Cup.
The defeat at Balmoral Stadium leaves Inverness highly unlikely to qualify for the knock-out stages of the competition, with the group stage finishing with a game against Hearts at Tynecastle on Sunday.
Dodds rued poor defending against the League One side, and he has called for Caley Jags to show a strong reaction ahead of their league opener at Arbroath next Saturday.
Dodds said: “I’m not going to make excuses. We must do better. It’s still a big game for us in preparation for Arbroath. We know how tough they are going to be away from home.
“It doesn’t matter what opposition you play against, from which division, we have to be better at both ends.
“I’m disappointed, I can’t hide it. Even this early in the season. I know the boys will come, we played well in patches but we can’t just play well in patches. We have to take our chances to give ourselves some confidence throughout the team.
“Credit to Cove, they have beaten us and beaten us well. The goals we lost were too easy.
“I thought the first one was offside, I was right in line with it and it looked half a yard. But I’m disappointed with the goals, we have to be better defensively.”
Cove manager Paul Hartley was thrilled with the victory, which ends their group campaign on a high.
Hartley said: “I thought we were good. We were more like us – some of our play was excellent and the work-rate was good.
“We are slowly getting there. The fitness was better, so it was a good game and good preparation for us.”