What Malky Mackay said after Ross County lost at St Johnstone
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MANAGER Malky Mackay says Ross County were lacking the cutting edge they had shown in previous away games as they fell to a 1-0 defeat against St Johnstone in Perth.
Graham Carey scored the winner 20 minutes from time to give St Johnstone all three points and move them off the bottom of the table to 10th.
Meanwhile, Ross County dropped back into the relegation zone as they are now in 11th place going into the international break.
Mackay said the Staggies missed the cutting edge they had shown in their previous three matches in a disappointing performance.
He said: "I said at half time one minute of quality is going to change this game.
"Graham Carey scored a very good goal, we didn't have that extra bit of cutting edge today in quality and all over the park that we have shown in the last couple of weeks away from home."
Victor Loturi was substituted at half time as Mackay felt he wasn't doing enough in the game, but said in hindsight, he wasn't the only one who underperformed.
Speaking of Loturi, he said: "It was a tactical change as he wasn't at the races.
"We put Kyle Turner on, but to be fair when I look at it, we didn't have enough that were showing that bit of responsibility and it is not like them as we are a brave team.
"Over the last couple of weeks, the three away games at Dundee, Motherwell and Hibs, we have shown up really well.
"It was going to be tough game with the result St Johnstone got in the last week.
"It was scrappy, we had plenty of the ball, but we didn't quite make the telling pass to give us the goal."
He added: "We have come off the back of five away games in six. It is a lot of travelling, I think we will get into the break.
"There is a ton of games up to January 2, so it will be pedal to the floor after the break and give us the chance to reflect over the next few days."
