Malky Mackay admits rock bottom Ross County were struck by a perfect storm after being hit for six by Hearts.
The Staggies boss believes a combination of his side being below-par against a resurgent Jambos was the cause of a scoreline which could have been far more humiliating. County have picked up just 12 points from 15 games on the road this season and languish at the foot of the table and Mackay insists it's a scoreline which his side need to quickly get out of their system.
He said: “We were way off it and Hearts were excellent; give them credit where it’s due. It’s happened twice this season. Earlier in the season against Motherwell at home where we were really off it, and that’s the second one. We’ve just got to get back on track again. We’ve come off the back of three good performances but everyone, to a man, was under par.
“That’s what happens when you are off it and the opposition are doing well. We’ve got to make sure, going into these last five games, that we get back on the way we’ve been playing over the last few weeks.
“We’ll have a look at it and analyse bits and pieces of the game, but really it’s about making sure we put that to bed and get ourselves back on with it again. As I’ve said, that’s only happened a couple of times in the whole season and we’ve got to make sure we get ourselves ready for these last five games.
“We’ve got a break next weekend, which probably comes at a good time and we need to get everybody back to the way they should be again going into the last five games. People were under-par and there’s not really any explanation to that, other than the fact we didn’t perform.
“Give credit to Hearts, they did and they were excellent on the day. As far as I was concerned, we certainly weren’t under-estimating Hearts.
“I know there was a lot of talk about how they were playing, the results, and stuff like that, but we’re talking about players who have been third in the league and have done it at this level."
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