Caley Thistle boss Billy Dodds insists his side paid the price for slackness at both ends of the park as they slipped to a 2-1 Viaplay Cup loss at League Two Dumbarton.
Goals from Ryan Wallace and Tony Wallace had the Sons coasting, although a disallowed first half Billy Mckay goal for an infringement on goalkeeper Harry Broun was a bone of contention for the Highlanders.
Billy Mckay’s club-matching record 101st goal, a tally set by Dennis Wyness, offered hope, but it was not to be for the Championship visitors.
ICT host Airdrie next Tuesday then go to Dundee on July 30 and they need six points to have any chance of edging through to the knock-outs to add to the 2-1 win against Bonnyrigg Rose at the weekend.
The ICT head coach admits conceding sloppy goals made it too much to pull back in the end, but he was happy with the display overall.
He said: “I am disappointed with the result, of course. That’s natural, but I am not disappointed with the performance – we missed so many chances.
“It’s a game we should have won but we never won it because we defended poorly and missed chances. We have got to stop conceding bad goals. We’re working on our mental strength since we’ve come back from pre-season. We need to be better mentally.
“Tonight though, we played well and switched off twice. It’s still early and we’re only back a couple of weeks.
“We lost a bad goal on Saturday and two bad ones tonight. We gave ourselves, not quite a mountain to climb, because we should still have won this game. We can’t score three, four or five goals every time we lose two bad goals. That will get better as the season goes on, but overall we looked fit and sharp.
“We were unlucky not to take the lead. I have seen the goal and I can’t believe the referee chopped off Billy’s first half goal. It’s embarrassing.
“Billy was two yards onside but he said it was a foul on the goalie. It’s never a foul on the goalie. Wallace Duffy is up early to challenge.
“However, it is taking nothing away from Dumbarton who were good and sharp. But we were good in terms of creating chances and doing things properly, but we were not good at taking them and we lost two bad goals.”
Dodds, who praised Billy Mckay for bagging his 101st goal, accepts qualifying for the knockouts will be a challenge for ICT now.
He added: “We now need two wins and that will be tough. We should have at least have had a penalty shoot-out here tonight.
“We could have got a point or even got two points, but it was just one of those nights. Everything we did was the way I wanted it – we just need to be more clinical.”
The Caley Jags are the idle team in their section this Saturday and return to action next Tuesday at home to newly-promoted Championship side Airdrieonians before finishing away to Championship winners Dundee on July 30.
