Ross County manager Malky Mackay felt his side should have come away with a share of the points in their 2-1 loss against Hearts at Tynecastle.
The Staggies trailed by two goals at the break following a below-par first half display.
A strong response after the interval saw them cut the deficit through Jordan White, but they were unable to find a leveller.
Although he was disappointed with his side’s start, he felt the Staggies’ reaction merited a point from the final match of 2021.
He said: “It was a tale of two halves.
“I don’t think we can allow a team as good as Hearts to start like that and us not to start the way we normally would.
“The last time we did that was against Hibs at the start of the season.
“It shows how far we have come that in the second half we ended up with 14 chances to three, and how we never scored at the end I’ll never know.
“We could have got a point, and should have got a point.
“That said, Hearts could have been out of sight at half-time.
“We’ve got to make sure we start against top teams way better than we did.
“I gave them a challenge at half-time to get ourselves back into the game and we did. It shows the spirit and belief that we’re going toe-to-toe with the best teams in the league.”
County were without a number of players for the trip to Tynecastle, with Jordan Tillson, Ross Callachan, Ash Maynard-Brewer and Keith Watson among those missing.
Having only named five substitutes, Mackay says the winter break will come at a good time for the Dingwall outfit.
He added: “We are all in the same boat. There are a lot of clubs that have skeleton staffs at the moment.
“We have three or four injuries to come back for the Motherwell game. It gives us a bit of time.
“We will give them some time with their families. We will then come together and go away for a few days, because it’s a long time to just be training up in Dingwall.
“We will get ourselves ready for the Motherwell game in midweek before the Scottish Cup.”
