Cove Rangers boss Jim McIntyre felt his side could not live with Caley Thistle’s pace as the Inverness side ran out 4-1 winners.
Austin Samuels and Aaron Doran struck in the first half for the home side, before Robbie Leitch pulled a goal back.
Samuels got his second from close range and Nathan Shaw rounded off the scoring in stoppage-time and it was a sore one to take for the league’s new-boys.
“We never started well at all. I changed the shape, so the first 15 minutes is on me,” said McIntyre. “I chose to start with a back five, but we never got tight enough to Caley Thistle and left far too many gaps. Caley’s front five exploited that.
“We’ve had our goalkeeper to thank for only going in at 2-0 down – it could have been a lot more. But the basic principles of any game are getting tight and competing.
“The second half was a different story. We said to the lads to be competitive and see if we can get the next goal, see where it takes us.
“For 20 minutes, I thought we did reasonably well, before fading as the game went on.
“We scored a very good goal to get back in the game but, equally, Caley Thistle were very dangerous on the break. We couldn’t live with their pace.”
Weak performance
Cove handed a debut to new signing Cieran Dunne, whose international clearance came through late on Friday night and he was pitched straight into the starting line-up.
Samuels got the first after being played through by Doran and clipping round the goalkeeper, before Doran diverted Daniel MacKay’s shot past Kyle Gourlay.
Leitch stole in to tap in the rebound from Mitch Megginson’s shot but Samuels was in the right place at the right time to convert Billy Mckay’s ball across goal. Substitute Shaw rounded off the scoring with a one-on-one finish late on.
“I know what the players are capable of now and they just didn’t perform,” said McIntyre. “I take full responsibility for the first 15 minutes because I chose to change the shape.
“We had an illness with Evan Towler not making it so I decided to go another way and it didn’t work, clearly. After 15 minutes we changed back to what we’re used to and by that stage, Caley had all the momentum and we still weren’t getting tight enough to allow us back in the game.
“It’s a sore one for us to take and we just need to lick our wounds and learn from it.”
His Caley Thistle counterpart Billy Dodds was thrilled with how his side upped their game against Cove.
They had drawn their opening two Championship games of the season but took the initiative from the off against the Aberdeen side.
Caley Thistle improvements
“First half we were excellent, I told the boys we had to play with intensity and energy,” said Dodds. “We had players out today and I thought we were great and moved ball great and Jim had to change system and we still had chances and we dominated the first half.
“But I knew what was coming, they will make changes, have a wee go and we lose the goal and start of the second half I thought it could be a long half.
“I said to the players we have setbacks in the game, take focus, dig in and work harder as we will play again at some stages, we missed chances to kill it, but we got third goal and Nathan Shaw with the fourth.
“I was delighted with Austin Samuels’ reaction and Aaron Doran, I talked about getting more bodies in the box and we have to get more. We have had too much possession not to get more bodies in the box. Every chance we created they were steaming in and they all want goals.”
Dodds was pleased with the performance of Samuels, who showed a clinical touch with both of his goals and played a big part in Inverness’ performance.
“He excites me, I like him as a lad and that is why I brought him here, he is still getting coached as he is still young,” added Dodds. “He can be scary to play against and he needs to know how to use his speed, he is still a work in progress, but he looked dangerous, I was happy with him all round today with the squad available.
“We have a strong squad and when players miss out through injury, I have plenty to go in there.”