Caley Thistle coach Barry Wilson reflected on the number of sidelined stars after his side slipped to a 1-0 Championship loss against Hamilton.
The victory for Accies, earned by an Andy Winter goal, took them off bottom spot and denied ICT the chance to move clear of Partick Thistle in first place.
A pre-match injury to defender Wallace Duffy saw him replaced by Max Ram and that followed injuries to midfielders Scott Allardice and Roddy MacGregor in the 1-0 weekend win at Cove Rangers, which was their fifth victory in a row.
On-loan Hibs winger Dan MacKay was also taken off injured in the second half, putting the pressure on for Saturday’s home league clash with Raith Rovers.
Wilson admits the luckless side fell short as the injuries piled up.
He said: “We’re disappointed. It looked like a game too far for some of the players.
“The injuries have caught up, although we’re not using that as an excuse. Hamilton started well and we got into it and they scored when we were getting on top.
“But for all our good play, we didn’t create enough chances, which was the one thing we can throw at them. We can’t throw lack of effort or lack of work rate at them.
“We lacked that wee bit of quality in the final third which made for a frustrating evening.
“The injury situation is hard – I’m not going to lie. This morning, we didn’t have a team.
“We had two or three boys who needed fitness tests, so we couldn’t work on anything on training. You’re putting square pegs in round holes when you look at our substitutions.
“Dan MacKay looks like he’s got a bad one with his knee and we lost Wallace Duffy in the warm-up.”
Hamilton manager John Rankin, meanwhile, was thrilled by the outcome, with the Lanarkshire side only having ever lost three times at the Caledonian Stadium.
He said: “We played that way on Saturday and never got anything out of the Partick game, which was disappointing.
“To come here, to one of the most difficult grounds in the league, put in that performance and create the chances we did tonight, I’m really pleased.
“We can see what we’re working on coming to fruition now.
“It has taken a while and it’s been hard. We found ourselves at the bottom of the league, which is still not good enough.
“It is something to build on and improve on.”