Billy Dodds admits Caley Thistle lacked quality where it mattered most as they slid to a 1-0 Championship loss at home to Dundee.
The Inverness head coach was reflecting on the win for the Taysiders, earned by Paul McMullan’s first-half strike, which was also their first-ever league triumph at the Caledonian Stadium.
Inverness are now nine points away from leaders Ayr United, but Dundee are just one point away from the Honest Men.
Dodds felt there was not too much wrong with his men’s display, apart from having the finishing touches at the top end of the park.
He said: “We gave so much to the game. Their goalkeeper Adam Legzdins has come off saying we’re the best team they’ve played all season. And that’s with us missing bodies.
“We will take heart from that. We deserved something from the match. I’m not saying we deserved to win it, but the players gave me so much.
“We’re missing that bit of quality. I’m a bit exasperated of not having the willingness to get on the end of crosses and score. We certainly played some nice football.
“Dundee managed it well when they got in front, but it took a special goal to win it.
“It came from us where we could have retained possession and they attacked and we’re picking it out the net – we’ve been punished again from a mistake.”
Dundee manager Gary Bowyer, whose side have not lost in the league since October 4, was thrilled to not only have moved closer to first place, but to have bagged an historic result.
He said: “It was a hard-fought win and it’s the first time Dundee have won here in the league so we are absolutely delighted.
“But we always knew it would be hard-fought as the league is one of the hardest.
“We didn’t play particularly well. But I was pleased with our mentality and the way we dug in. The way we managed the game at the end was really impressive.
“It was a wonderful goal. He’s been on a fantastic run of form after we challenged him for more goals. He stepped up today and delivered.
“It’s frustrating that we didn’t capitalise on some wonderful opportunities we had second half.
“We had a wonderful support. We all know the cost of living at the moment so for so many to make the journey up was great and we thank them for their efforts.
“The players have been good since we walked into the building. We’ve never got too high or to low and we’ll carry on in that rich vein of form, hopefully. But we are not going to get ahead of ourselves.”
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