Don Cowie was frustrated by the extent of Ross County’s dip in standards in their 2-0 defeat to Livingston at Almondvale.
The Staggies fell to defeat against the bottom-placed Lions – who are now nine points behind County with four games remaining.
Livi took an early lead through Bruce Anderson, who capitalised on a mistake from Ryan Leak before firing home.
The Staggies had spells of pressure but they never looked at ease in West Lothian, with Sean Kelly wrapping up the points with a penalty early in the second half.
It meant second-bottom County were unable to follow up their stunning 3-2 victory over Rangers in their last outing – with Cowie disappointed at the slide in the Staggies’ performance levels.
Cowie said: “It was really disappointing. We rightly got a lot of plaudits after the Rangers performance and result two weeks ago.
“We were a shadow of ourselves from that game. We’re an honest group and it wasn’t good enough.
“The manner and performance against Rangers was really positive. We got a great result.
“I wanted us to build on that but we started poorly and gifted Livingston their first goal which gave them a boost. They kicked on and we didn’t respond.
“We never quite had a sustained period of attack on them. They defended really well so credit to them but we huffed and puffed.
“We tried to change things at half-time when I wasn’t happy. I could have made several changes because we weren’t good enough.
“I thought getting a couple more strikers on would mean we could cause problems but it never happened.”
The result continues County’s dire away form – which now reads as one victory from 18 games.
It therefore comes as a blessing that three of the Staggies’ final four matches are at home, where they remain unbeaten since Cowie took interim charge in February.
With back-to-back Dingwall fixtures against Hibernian and Motherwell to come, County will eagerly hope to draw on home comforts ahead of their solitary remaining away match against Saints.
The Perth outfit fell to a 3-1 defeat at home to Hibs which keeps them just a point above the Staggies, meaning it remains all to play for in the final four matches.
Cowie is primarily focused on getting his own side back on track, adding: “I don’t focus on the other teams. It’s about us and we knew with five games to go the destiny was in our hands so I’m disappointed we didn’t beat Livingston.
“When we’re playing, we don’t know the St Johnstone result. When you see they’ve lost it’s possibly a chance missed.
“We came in feeling good and we’ve made no ground and that’s our own fault.”
The trip to West Lothian represented an altogether different challenge for the Staggies, but Cowie went for the same 11 which secured the historic victory over the Ibrox side.
Livi were gift-wrapped the advantage on 12 minutes when Leak made a hash of trying to guide a harmless long ball from Stephen Kelly back towards Ross Laidlaw, with Anderson nipping in to loft the ball over the advancing County goalkeeper.
The goal came as a major boost to the hosts who looked to extend their lead, with Daniel MacKay crossing for Scott Pittman who was thwarted by a fine block by Connor Randall before the ball was clutched by Laidlaw.
County took time to settle into the game after their early setback, and struggled to fashion an attacking spark. Their first meaningful glimpse came just before the half-hour mark when Michee Efete strode into the box after being picked out by Eli King, before seeing his low effort blocked.
Josh Sims was next to threaten on 35 minutes when he latched on to a loose header from the Livi defence before attempting to flick the ball home, but Shamal George was out quickly to thwart him.
The Staggies were beginning to find their stride and they finished the first half on the ascendancy without conjuring up a goal threat.
Cowie shook his side up at the interval, in a bold move which saw Jordan White and Eamonn Brophy brought on for Sims and Victor Loturi.
They were dealt a blow on 53 minutes when Efete was penalised for handball inside the box as he attempted to clear his lines, with former Staggie Kelly stepping up to tuck home the penalty despite Laidlaw going the right way.
County looked for a quick response, with Brophy’s floated ball towards the far post evading the run of Murray.
Brophy was a lively presence, as he saw a header thwarted on the goal-line after meeting a Dhanda corner, before seeing a powerful effort blocked wide following Josh Reid’s cutback.
County pushed in stoppage time, with George denying Dhanda and Brophy from long-range as the Staggies’ charge ultimately fizzled out.
Player Ratings
LIVINGSTON (4-1-4-1): George 6; Nottingham 7, Devlin 7, Obileye 6 (Sangare 59), Sean Kelly 7; Brandon 6; Pittman 6, Stephen Kelly 7, Holt 6, MacKay 6 (Carson 82); Anderson 7 (Sharp 90).
Subs not used: Hamilton, Bradley, Guthrie, Ledingham.
ROSS COUNTY (3-4-2-1): Laidlaw 6; Randall 6 (Khela 75), Baldwin 6, Leak 5; Efete 6 (Brown 62), King 6, Loturi 5 (Brophy 46), Harmon 6 (Reid 62); Dhanda 6, Sims 5 (White 46); Murray 6.
Subs not used: Ross, Henderson, Jenks, Ayina.
Referee: Willie Collum
Attendance: 1,531
Man of the Match: Stephen Kelly
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