Billy Dodds believes Queen of the South deserved their win over Caley Thistle which kept them in the Championship.
The Inverness CT coach was disappointed after seeing his promotion-chasers lose 2-1 against their basement hosts with two more regular games to go.
Goals from Josh Todd and Euan East had Queens ahead at the break after Logan Chalmers had levelled for ICT.
There was no more scoring and the hosts walked off with three precious points to keep their place in the league, moving to within six points of Ayr and Dunfermline at the foot of the table.
The Highlanders secured a play-off spot on Friday thanks to a stirring 2-1 comeback win against leaders Kilmarnock.
They knew a victory in Dumfries would secure third position and home advantage in the play-off quarter-final second leg.
Soft goals so costly for Caley Thistle
However, they were not at those levels at Palmerston and Dodds paid credit to his former club, who need wins against Ayr and Dunfermline to have any chance of escaping relegation.
He said: “I don’t think we did enough.
“In the first half we played pretty well but they were two bad goals to give away.
“We started poorly and lost a goal then we started playing and scored a beauty through Logan.
“We controlled the rest of the half, but they scored again and we were chasing the game.
“They dug in and scrapped for everything and we weren’t good enough in the second half.
“We were nowhere near where we can be and we were poor.”
Queens gave their all to get victory
The defeat came after a five-match unbeaten run and Dodds felt the second half display in particular let them down.
He added: “I said to them we should be trying to go six games unbeaten and get some momentum and not to throw it away.
“I thought we dominated the first half and played a lot of good football.
“You could see they were open, even at 1-1 as they needed the three points.
“When they scored before half-time, it was poor play from us and we dropped our man.
“It’s a good finish from Euan East and they had something to hold on to and we had to go open.
“We didn’t do enough to get back into it, but not too much in the second half.
“Queens needed nine points, they have got three and they gave their lot for their club to try and stay in the division.”
Caley Thistle remain four points ahead of Partick Thistle and can secure third place with a win at Morton on Saturday ahead of their final match next Friday against Hamilton.
