Caley Thistle defender Robbie Deas felt his side should have taken at least a point from their crucial Championship encounter against Queen’s Park.
The Inverness side’s hopes of reaching the play-offs suffered a setback when they went down 2-1 against the Spiders, despite having led at the break.
Deas said: “We had chances in the second half to equalise, which is disappointing.
‘I hold my hands up’
“There were a lot of positives in the first half, but in the second half, we were not good enough.
“And I hold my hands up myself for the goals we lost.
“It was disappointing, especially going from the high of last week (Scottish Cup quarter-final win against Kilmarnock) to the low of today, but there are still plenty of games to play and plenty of points.”
Caley Thistle, who have now failed to keep a clean sheet in their last six matches, almost conceded after just eight minutes when a Dom Thomas free-kick from the left picked out 6ft 7in Stephen Eze at the back post, but his downward header crashed back off the base of a post.
The visitors should have taken the lead in 11 minutes when Nathan Shaw slipped the ball through to Daniel Mackay, but Queen’s goalkeeper Calum Ferrie raced from goal to block with his legs.
Billy Dodds’ side broke the deadlock in 27 minutes in freakish fashion.
A long clearance by goalkeeper Mark Ridgers was misjudged by Billy Mackay, but the ball spun off his back into the path of Danny Mackay, who drilled the ball into the corner of the net from 22 yards for his third goal of the season.
‘It’s a learning curve for myself’
Queen’s levelled in 64 minutes when Connor Shields picked out Grant Savoury at the far post with a superb cross and his deft head flick was placed beyond Ridgers.
And six minutes later Queen’s completed their comeback when Thomas curled in a corner from the left, and Eze rose high above the Caley defence to power a magnificent header past Ridgers.
Deas added: “Eze is a big lad, he’s a big boy, but I need to do better.
“It’s a learning curve for myself and I hold my hands up. Credit to him, it was a good header.
“I have come up against plenty of big lads, but on my day I would fancy myself against anyone. I just switched off for that one second when he got that run on me. He’s a good player, but I just have to take this one on the chin.
“The first half we felt completely in control and we know how Queen’s play.
“We just weren’t at it in the second half. We had moments, but overall we weren’t good enough.
“We’re disappointed in there because we know we are miles better than that and have a good enough team to challenge for this league.”
Caley Jags passed up a great opportunity to draw level in 75 minutes when Nathan Shaw’s free-kick from the left found Deas unmarked, but his header drifted wide.
Deas added: “We’ve had half a team for most of the season, myself included coming back from injury.
“We are playing for places for the Scottish Cup semi-final and want to get yourself in the team, but that’s in the distance.
“The game today was the focus and we are bitterly disappointed. The focus now goes to Friday at home to Partick Thistle. We need to start picking up points.”
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