Inverness "not at the races" in Partick Thistle defeat

Inverness boss Richie Foran lamented his side's lack of belief and imagination after beginning their Ladbrokes Premiership campaign with a 2-0 defeat to Partick Thistle.

The Highlanders went into the game having scored 12 goals in their previous two Betfred Cup games but were well off the pace in Maryhill.

Midfielder Chris Erskine, in his third spell with the Jags, scored with a wonderful curling shot in the 36th minute before forward David Amoo added a second after the break.

Foran, looking for his side to pick themselves up for the Betfred Cup last-16 tie against Alloa on Tuesday night, was forthright in his assessment.

It is probably a fair result,'' said the former Inverness player.

I don't know if they were two goals better than us, maybe one.

I thought we lacked a little bit of belief, that is the hard bit to accept, the little bit of belief and confidence we have shown, we lacked a bit of that today.

Alan (Archibald, Thistle boss) has done his homework on us as well, on our wide men. He was doubling up on them and that was causing us not to get crosses into the box.

But we have to come up with imagination, our imagination was poor in the final third and the support to Scott Boden wasn't there.

We weren't enough of a goal threat.

There were some half chances, Scott (Boden) had a good chance but all in all we weren't at the races and the players know that and I know that.

But there can't be too much gloom and doom. We don't become a bad team overnight so we will push on and hopefully get a win on Tuesday.''

After going 10 games in total without a win at the start of last season, Archibald was happy to get three points in the bag so early. His side have also won all four of their Betfred Cup ties so far.

I am delighted, especially after last season when we waited so long for a victory, we get up and running with a clean sheet as well,'' said the former Partick defender.

Archibald is hoping defender Liam Lindsay only has a dead leg after having to be replaced in the second half following a hefty challenge from Caley Thistle substitute Ross Draper.

I am over the moon with the lads. We looked nervy in the first 20 minutes, it looked like our first game of the season, as if we hadn't played a Betfred Cup game,'' Archibald added.

The goal really settled us down. I thought it was a cagey affair up to that point, a lot of misplaced passes, but it was a good bit of play and a great finish by Chris.''