Caley Thistle defender David Raven claimed Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at St Johnstone hurt more than their 4-0 drubbing at home to Partick Thistle the previous week.
John Hughes’ side suffered back-to-back defeats in the Scottish Premiership for the first time in 2014 in a highly controversial match at McDiarmid Park.
The turning point came in the 63rd minute when Saints attacker Brian Graham seized on Ryan Christie’s slack back-pass and fell to the ground while rounding goalkeeper Dean Brill.
The Caley Jags stopper was adamant he had not made contact with the on-loan Dundee United player but referee Brian Colvin awarded the spot kick, scored by Graham.
Midfielder Ross Draper was dismissed after barging into Saints midfielder Simon Lappin with his arm raised four minutes later and Raven admitted the defeat left a bitter taste.
He said: “We wanted to bounce back from the defeat against Partick, which was really hard to take.
“But this one felt worse as the 4-0 defeat was a bit of a bashing.
“This was a narrow 1-0 defeat with a penalty against us and a man sent off.
“This one really hurt.
“I was behind Dean at the penalty and he said he didn’t touch him.
“As for Ross, he gave the referee an opportunity to send him off by raising his hands.
“I think he was just trying to protect himself so I don’t think it was a red card.
“Drapes is aggressive, a big lad and he throws himself into tackles.
“Sometimes I think referees jump on that and he has to be a little bit streetwise and look after himself.”
Defender Raven, who almost equalised for the Caley Jags with a well-struck effort which hit the post, admitted Inverness did not perform nearly as well as they can against Tommy Wright’s in-form side.
He added: “That was a frustrating one for us. That is the sort of game we have to try to get at least a point from.
“We have to come to a places such as McDiarmid Park and do better.
“That is the frustrating thing for me as we are better than that. We didn’t play like we can. We have players who aren’t performing and we all need to step up.”