Coyle plots January additions after County slip to bottom
Ross County boss Owen Coyle endured a 'horrible day' as his side were left propping up the Ladbrokes Premiership going into the winter break.
The Staggies went down 2-0 at relegation rivals Partick Thistle, leaving them three points adrift as the league takes a three-week break.
They were second best throughout and gifted the hosts a first-half lead when Andrew Davies made a horrible misjudgement with a ball back to his goalkeeper to allow Kris Doolan to score.
Conor Sammon wrapped up the victory for Thistle late on and Coyle was dejected with his side's efforts, admitting they may have regressed after a run that sees them without a win since the start of November.
'It is a horrible day, especially when we had a lot of fans down here,' Coyle said. 'The second half was nowhere near good enough from us.
'The big skipper (Davies) had a great chance to make amends and he misses a sitter and he is hurting right now.
'We have to be better than we were.
'We got a reaction when we first came in, but whether we have regressed again I don't know. That is something we will change in January and bring in the types of players we need.
'They need to have that mentality and drive to see you through in tough games in this league.
'It is horrible to finish going into the break with a defeat and we have given ourselves a long three weeks now.'
It was a big three points for Thistle, who made it three home wins on the bounce against Motherwell, Hamilton and Ross County could all be competing around the bottom of the table come the end of the season.
Manager Alan Archibald, despite seeing a further two players added to his injury list, was pleased to climb off the bottom of the table going into the break.
He said: `Our incentive was to get off the bottom and make the pack a bit tighter.
`I think we have done that, other teams have won but I think anywhere down from sixth will be really tight now and it's important we now regroup after the break.'
He added: `There wasn't a lot in the first half and it took a silly mistake to get us in front.
`The first goal is always vital so we were delighted with that and a professional second-half performance, I thought we coped with everything they threw at us and we looked a real threat on the break.