Ross County midfielder Martin Woods has warned his side must cut out the defensive malaise which is costing it dear in the Scottish Premiership.
County suffered a 2-0 defeat at Caley Thistle in a disappointing afternoon at Caledonian Stadium on Saturday.
The Staggies found themselves two goals behind at half-time despite dominating the first half with both goals conceded from poor defending at set-pieces.
Woods knows the defensive deficiencies are costing his club dear and insists it has to change.
He said: “In the interviews I’ve done in the last few weeks I’ve been saying the same thing and the goals we’ve given away are just not good enough.
“It’s something we need to address as we can’t be chasing games from a goal behind every game.
“We felt as if we were the team pushing for a goal before they scored and it left us in the same position of chasing the game again – it’s very hard to do when a team is sitting in like that.
“I keep saying it but our defending is just not good enough. We cannot keep scoring three goals to win a game, it’s just not good enough.
“It’s the issue we’ve had of recent weeks. The goals we’ve lost have been due to individual errors or collective switching off and it’s something we need to work hard on and address. I’m disappointed.”
County’s attempts to come back from 2-0 down were hampered by a lethargic second-half showing at Caledonian Stadium.
Attacker Liam Boyce has been ruled out for a month with a broken hand while Craig Curran was withdrawn after suffering a head injury.
Woods knows the loss of both players impacted on the team’s attacking display.
He said: “We gave ourselves a massive mountain to climb and we were nowhere near the standards we’ve set in the second half.
“It is important to look at performance levels first and foremost and we were the better team in the first half but didn’t take our chances.
“Craig Curran and Liam Boyce work very well together and as a team if we don’t hold the ball up we seem to struggle.
“It is important whoever steps in now can do the same job as they do. Brian Graham is good in the air and Alex Schalk likes to play off a target man but we need whoever plays there to hold the ball up more if we are to be more effective.”