Malky Mackay apologised to Ross County’s supporters for his own part in the humiliating 5-0 defeat to Motherwell.
The Staggies fell to the heaviest defeat during Mackay’s tenure at Victoria Park, with Well netting four second half goals to run out rampant winners.
County have conceded seven goals in their last two games, with only one victory from their opening nine matches.
Mackay took responsibility for the bruising defeat, which keeps County five points adrift in 10th place.
He said: “I want to apologise to our fans, for having to watch what they did.
“I am embarrassed for my own performance, so there’s an apology from me to them on that. They have been fantastic since the day I got here, with the backing they have had for the team.
“We have to compete and do the fundamentals to make sure we pick up points in the Premiership.
Mackay ‘deeply disappointed’
“That’s something I will continue to drive, but I’m more embarrassed by my own performance.
“I certainly have to get a bit of pride back into my performance.”
Mackay was keen to spare his players from harsh criticism in the immediate aftermath of the defeat, insisting he will closely analyse what went wrong in the coming days.
He added: “I’m experienced enough to realise that emotions have to be held in check when you go into the dressing room after games.
“Sometimes you say something, and it’s actually not true. If you look at the video the following day, sometimes it’s not the case.
“It’s not the time for that – Wednesday will be the time we look at the video and then people get to actually see what they are doing.
“I have a really hard group who are trying hard. They have for the last year, as the new ones have since they came in.”
Mackay was frustrated not to build on a first half in which County remained firmly in the game, despite falling behind to an early Kevin Van Veen penalty.
Mackay added: “In the first half I thought we started reasonably well and the penalty came against the run of play.
“I thought we were quite attack-minded and managed to get into high areas of the pitch.
“The ball just seems to be rolling the other side of the post. We had a few chances in the first half, versus their penalty.
“Coming off the back of last Saturday it was the same sort of thing, where we played well in the first half but the second half was awful.
“That is something we have got to address. I’m deeply disappointed with it.”
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