Ross County manager Don Cowie accepted his side got what they deserved in their 1-0 defeat to St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park.
The Staggies made the trip to Perth looking to make it three straight victories, but fell to defeat against the Premiership’s bottom side courtesy of Makenzie Kirk’s second half goal.
In a scrappy game, County lacked the attacking verve they had shown in their wins over Motherwell and Dundee, in which they scored three goals on each occasion.
County drop to ninth place as a result of the defeat, although for now they are eight points above the bottom of the table Saints.
The Staggies are also five points ahead of Dundee, who occupy the relegation play-off spot.
Cowie admitted his side was well below-par in their defeat at McDiarmid Park.
He said: “I don’t think we deserved anything out of the game. St Johnstone were the better team on the night, and deserved the three points.
“We are an honest group so we accept that. We just never got started within the game, and built up any momentum.
“It was one of those games where, at that stage, you make sure you don’t lose it and try to get a point. But we made a mistake and got punished.
“It was a challenging game on the surface, but St Johnstone dealt with it really well and at times played good football.
“We just didn’t get a grasp of the game.
“We allowed St Johnstone to feel comfortable within the game, and didn’t unsettle them at any moment.
“That has been a big part of our game recently, we have put teams under pressure and looked in control of what we were doing.
“It was nobody in particular individually – I just thought collectively we weren’t at it. When that’s the case, it’s hard to win football matches.”
County aiming to get back on track when they host Killie this weekend
It was an uncharacteristic error from defender Akil Wright which led to Saints taking the lead on 66 minutes.
The Englishman had control of the ball inside the box before taking a heavy touch which allowed Stephen Duke-McKenna in for a shot at goal which Jordan Amissah did well to parry, but Kirk was quickest to the rebound to tuck home.
There was no meaningful late onslaught from the Staggies in their efforts to claw back a late point, with their only effort of note coming just shy of 90 minutes when Nohan Kenneh’s powerful low drive was well held by Fisher, with a number of County players looking to capitalise on any rebound opportunity.
The Staggies will look to get back on track when they return to home action against Kilmarnock on Saturday.
Cowie is remaining level-headed following his side’s off-colour display.
He added: “I’m not going to get caught up in it. The group has been fantastic, and in really good form.
“We deservedly won our previous two games having played well – but we didn’t play well and deservedly lost this game.
“We are disappointed, and frustrated with the result, but we are not going to get too down.
“With our results recently we have got ourselves into a really good position, and we want to try and build on that.
“It wasn’t to be the case against St Johnstone, but we have the chance to get that going again in a couple of days against Kilmarnock.”
Conversation