Frustration was the over-whelming emotion for Caley Thistle defender Gary Warren after his side fell to a 1-0 defeat in the League Cup second round against Rangers at Ibrox last night.
With the game poised and extra-time looking increasingly likely, Lewis MacLeod’s deflected shot 12 minutes from time proved enough for the Championship side to advance into round three.
Warren felt his side did not play to the best of their ability on the night. He said: “Disappointed isn’t the word, we’re frustrated. We set our stall out to win the game, but we just weren’t at it. We know we’re better than what we showed.
“It was a deflection and a sloppy goal to concede. I don’t think we looked like conceding but it was just one of those nights.
“Frustrating is the word to sum it up.
“I don’t think it’ll hurt us, I think it will just make us stronger now. We’ve had two little blips but I don’t think we’re far away from where we were before the break.”
Warren appeared to have levelled the tie in stoppage time, however his header was ruled out for offside, with the centre half unsure whether or not the call was correct.
He added: “When we come to places like this we need our big performers to stand up and really shine.”
Rangers manager Ally McCoist felt his side were deserving of their victory, although he admitted the Gers were fortunate with of MacLeod’s winning goal.
McCoist said: “I’m delighted with the win. I don’t think anybody could grudge us it, I thought we deserved it. I thought we were the team who looked more like scoring throughout the 90 minutes.
“That said, we got a little bit of a break for the goal with the deflection. Looking at it now, it was a great result for us and one which was thoroughly deserved.
“Inverness play good football and they knock the ball about. However, we felt we would get chances. It was just a matter of taking them.”