John Robertson said Caley Thistle’s second half performance in the 2-2 draw with Morton at Cappielow was “not acceptable”.
After Sean McGinty and Shane Sutherland traded early goals, youngster Daniel MacKay nicked Inverness in front.
The game ought to have turned further in the visitors’ favour when Rabin Omar was dismissed mid-way through the first half, but the Caley Jags failed to capitalise decisively.
That in turn allowed Morton outfit to stay in with a puncher’s chance, which was given to them by Cameron Blues’ smart finish.
Robertson thinks his team failed to heed his warning to keep their intensity up after the break.
He said: “We lost the first goal, responded magnificently, the guy gets sent off and then we control the football match.
“We said to the players at half-time that the intensity had to stay fast, but we were too slow.
“The goal was boys’ football – I don’t know what (Robbie) Deas is thinking about. The ball is a yard off the ground and he’s tried to head it, when we’ve said not to take any chances on this pitch.
“The difference between the two teams was they’ve thrown half a dozen balls in the box and won the first headers.
“We’ve put in double that and we don’t get on the end of them. We’ve got some big lads, but I don’t think we won a first or second header in the box all night.
“The players decided they wanted to do their own thing and that’s not acceptable.”
Robertson believes last night’s draw – their first outing in close to a month due to postponements – was another two points dropped by Caley Thistle, who are now eighth in the Championship table, although they have played three games less than some of their rivals.
The manager added: “We should have beaten Alloa away and we should have seen that game out last night.
“That’s no disrespect to Morton because they battled away for the point.
“We’ve got some good players, but they didn’t do the hard yards.
“I’m not accepting not playing as an excuse. They should be fresh. It wasn’t rustiness that cost us the points.
“It was more hopeful, rather than incisive.
“Our problem, in my opinion, is we’re too soft. Not soft in a physical manner – we’ll score goals, but we’ll concede too easily.”
Robertson thinks some of his squad have to “prove” they are of Championship quality, saying: “There is no point in feeling sorry for ourselves and some boys will have to prove they are good enough to play at this level.
“We put subs on tonight and one made an impact and the other two barely made an impact.
“They have to come on and show they want to be in the team and they didn’t do that.”
