Don Cowie lamented the dire defending of his side after shipping six goals to Rangers, with the Ross County manager admitting that their opponents had just been too good for them to live with on the day.
The slackness of his side was doubly frustrating for the County boss as he said his players knew the calibre of team they were up against, and that they hardly needed the helping hand that his men seemed determined to give them.
“Really disappointed,” Cowie said.
“Rangers were really good. When you give a good team space and time to hurt you, they'll do that. I’m just really disappointed that we managed to allow it to get to the score that it finished.
“We're playing against a very good team. We recognise that. I felt at 1-0 in the first half, despite us being fortunate at times, I would have been very happy to get in at 1-0.
“So, really disappointed to concede the goal right in half-time, which gives Rangers a two-goal lead. It's a big challenge for the second half, but you've still got to face that and be prepared and ready for it. I’m so disappointed with the goals that we conceded in the second half.
“It was maybe just being sloppy in the transition. When you give the ball away, when you're playing against good players, it takes one pass and it opens you up. That's what they did. Off the top of my head, a couple of goals as players get into the byline and flashing it across. So that's not when you're open. That's just losing your duels in 1v1 scenarios and then not dealing with it when the cross comes in.”
Cowie says though he is not worried though about his team despite this thumping loss on the back of the shock League Cup defeat to Spartans last weekend, and he has backed his players to respond in a positive fashion.
“No, not at all,” he said.
“Because you can lose games of football, it happens. It's how you respond and react to that.
"You don't want to get into a habit of doing it. But this club has shown time and time again that if you lose games of football, you react and go again. That's what we'll do next week.”
