Caley Thistle defender Gary Warren felt Inverness were beaten by a side hungrier for the points in Saturday’s 4-0 Premiership defeat by Partick Thistle at Caledonian Stadium.
Thistle romped to an emphatic victory thanks to a double from Ryan Stevenson and goals from Gary Fraser and Conrad Balatoni.
Warren felt Caley Jags were better in every department but the 30-year-old could not excuse the fact Alan Archibald’s team worked harder for the win.
Warren said: “We didn’t do the ugly side of things well for some reason. Doing the ugly things well has been the story of our success for most of this season. But we came up against a side which played us off the park.
“We had a couple of chances early to take the lead and if we had it might have been a different story. But after the two goals went in, it wasn’t as if the lads gave up, but we just lost that bit of determination which makes us a good outfit.
“Partick are a very good side and took their chances. But it’s about how much we want to win the game and I don’t think we wanted it as much as them.
“We should turn up every week wanting to win and we did not compete as we should.
“All over the pitch, myself included, we were very poor.
“Usually we have five or six who stand out and I don’t think we had any.”
Despite the result, Inverness remain second in the Premiership and Warren has called on his team-mates to ensure they avoid any further slips.
He added: “We have to forget about it now and start afresh again.
“Our record is not bad. We started the season very well but it’s how we continue and look to improve. We want to pick up as many points over Christmas as we can.
“Now it’s a case of standing up to be counted and sticking together because we’ve got a good group of players who look after each other and that’s what we have to do this week.
“First and foremost we have to work harder than we did.”