Liam Boyce took little pleasure from netting a goal to mark his Northern Ireland recall as Ross County lamented dismal decision-making in the costly 2-1 Premiership home defeat by Kilmarnock on Saturday.
The 25-year-old from Belfast scored his 15th goal of the season but was in no mood to celebrate, or even contemplate his call-up for his country’s World Cup qualifying test against Norway on March 26.
County, punished by defensive lapses and a failure to capitalise on chances in an otherwise dominant display at Dingwall, remain just three points above the relegation play-off spot while slipping six behind the last remaining top-six spot.
Boyce, disconsolate after the final whistle, said: “It was a very frustrating day. Kilmarnock came to sit in and try to play on our mistakes.
“They were two bad goals we conceded and it is just so frustrating having dominated the game. We lost a goal from a throw at the start of the second half, which was poor.
“We kept going and came back into the game quite well, thankfully scoring the goal. We hit the bar a couple of times but the ball just wouldn’t go in for us.
“The goal at the end we’re not pleased about, either – it was just a hooked ball into the box. We didn’t deal with it and it was in the back of the net.”
After seven matches without a goal, Boyce took his superbly on Saturday but added: “It fell to me and I just hit it. Thankfully, it went in, but it doesn’t count for anything now.
“In some situations, we’re shooting when we should be passing or laying it off to someone else. At other times, we should be taking a shot earlier when the goalkeeper isn’t set.
“You see Kris Boyd scoring and he’s mishit it a little bit, but just by luck he’s scored.
“At times we’re over-complicating it when we should keep it simple and there’s other times we need to make that extra pass.
“We’re just not making the right decisions, hopefully we’ll get it right next weekend against Inverness.”
County’s wait for a home victory in the league in 2017 stretched to a fourth match, with only the memory of a thumping 6-2 Scottish Cup triumph against Dundee United to ease the pain.
Boyce added: “It just doesn’t seem to be going our way. We’re creating a load of chances – that’s not the problem. We just seem to have a knack of shooting ourselves in the foot.”
