Duncan Ferguson reckons Caley Thistle must toughen up at the back to avoid ending the year on the slide in the Championship.
After losing only one of his opening nine games in charge, the Inverness boss has seen his side crash to lowly Morton and Arbroath in successive 2-1 league defeats.
The weekend’s loss at home to Arbroath means ICT are now eighth in the division – just one point in front of Arbroath and three points ahead of Queen’s Park, both of whom have played one match less.
Inverness go to third-placed Partick Thistle on Saturday, with the danger of being level on points at the bottom at Christmas should they lose.
That said, Caley Thistle are only one point behind fifth-placed Morton above amid a jam-packed lower-to-mid part of the table.
Most concerning for Inverness boss Ferguson is the manner of the goals his team are leaking.
Slack play at the back against Morton and Arbroath has allowed their opponents easy routes to Mark Ridgers’ goal, which they have cashed in on.
Billy Mckay cancelled out Jay Bird’s opener for Jim McIntyre’s visitors, who had not won since September 23 – form which had led to the recent exit of Dick Campbell.
However, David Gold’s header just before the break put the Angus team ahead again and ICT could not find a way back.
Ferguson, who started with Nikolay Ujdur, Danny Devine and Morgan Boyes as a three-man back-line, brought off Ujdur at half-time to go four at the back, but they failed to find a way back at the top end of the park.
The boss said: “At times, Arbroath played a high line and we tried to hit the ball over the top and never quite got the weight of pass or run right.
“However, the boys really tried and fought until the end. We just could not create that one opportunity to get a draw from it.
“One point would have put us fifth on Saturday night.
“If you can’t win it, don’t lose it.
“Unfortunately, we’ve had two defeats back-to-back, against Morton and Arbroath – two teams underneath us in the league – so it puts us under massive pressure again.
“When you get knocked down, you just have to get back up.
“We know how hard it is going to be to stay in the league. We were not getting carried away with ourselves.
“The players are giving 100% and we’re playing good football at times. We’re just a wee bit soft in our box at times.
“On Saturday, we should have been putting our heads in where it hurts. We didn’t do that against Arbroath.”
Easy winning header for Gold
Ferguson said failing to build upon Mckay’s fine finish from a Cammy Harper cross was a sore one, especially given the winner came from further poor defending.
He added: “We started well and created the first big chance of the match when it was a one v one with Nathan Shaw and their goalkeeper (Derek Gaston) saved it.
“That was a pivotal moment because, if that goes in, it makes a big difference. We then created other chances and never took them.
“They got a deflected goal which drops into their path and Jay Bird finishes it well. That was a tough one to take.
“Then, we go up the park and score one from Billy Mckay, which is good, because we’re level at 1-1.
“However, within three minutes, we’ve conceded again, so it was disappointing that we couldn’t see that period of the game out for longer.
“Had we done that, and gone in at half-time level, we could have kicked on.
“The second goal was really disappointing. I put three centre-backs in there for a reason and asked them to defend our box, but unfortunately David Gold gets into the box for a free header just a few minutes after we scored our equaliser.
“The boys tried their best. We created chances without looking like scoring another.
“In the second half, we changed the shape by taking one of our centre-backs off and went 4-4-2 and we dominated that half, yet never created that clear-cut chance.
“We pushed Arbroath all the way, but we were not good enough on the day.”
Three away matches in next four for Inverness
It is going to be a crunch festive period of Inverness.
After visiting Partick this weekend, they host a rejuvenated Morton on December 30, before a January 2 trip to Airdrie, followed by taking on Ayr United at Somerset Park four days later.
Conversation