Billy Dodds admitted Caley Thistle blew their chance of victory as a storming first half was wiped out by a poor second half in their 2-2 draw at Ayr United.
The head coach is delighted his men are now four games unbeaten and one win away from securing a play-offs spot in the Championship after fifth-placed Raith Rovers lost 1-0 to Morton.
However, he was less than impressed after seeing his third-placed team squander the two-goal lead they had through early goals from Shane Sutherland and Logan Chalmers.
Goals from Fraser Bryden and Markus Fjortoft in the second half earned a point for Ayr, who stayed in eighth, just above the relegation zone.
Dodds said: “You have to credit Ayr as they are fighting for their lives, but I felt we were very poor in the second half.
“We were doing silly things, with bad habits and we couldn’t get out of the rut instead of doing things properly.
“I said (to the players) Ayr would throw a bit of pressure at us. If we get through that period, we’d get hold of the ball again and go on and score a third.
“I felt it would be 2-0, 3-0 or 4-0, but Ayr got the next goal and it changed the game. We panicked a bit and that’s not been like us.
“We have been playing well and we scored two good goals.”
Dodds felt golden chance was missed
Dodds, who felt his team should have had a penalty when Mckay was tripped, knows this was a golden chance to put one foot firmly in the play-offs
“We’re four unbeaten and playing well, so we are still in a good position. We have been playing well leading up to this game.
“It feels like a defeat because we were 2-0 up and it was such a good opportunity to pretty much seal our play-off spot, but we didn’t do that and that was the disappointing thing.”
Bullen reeling after sloppy Ayr start
Ayr, meanwhile, are three points above ninth-placed Dunfermline, who they face in Fife next weekend.
Their manager Lee Bullen had mixed emotions at full-time as his men showed their good and bad sides.
He said: “I sound like a broken record as we go behind again in the first 10 minutes. This time we were two goals behind early on.
“Ultimately, at this football club, if we’re going to make any progress that can’t be acceptable.
“On the flipside, yes, we have to give the boys a lot of credit. The subs came on and gave us a really positive impact and we could, and possibly should, have gone on to win the game.”
