Hamilton Accies boss John Rankin admits his side must find a better level of consistency after two consecutive defeats dropped them down to seventh in the Championship.
Accies have followed up good wins over Morton and Airdrie with defeats at home to Livingston and at Partick Thistle on Saturday, where they were hammered 5-1.
Rankin says that has been their season so far in a microcosm, as Jags ran riot at Firhill.
Scott Robinson had Thistle 2-0 up and cruising in 19 minutes, and though Kevin O’Hara pulled a goal back on the stroke of half-time as he capitalised on an error by keeper Myles Roberts, Brian Graham struck a double either side of a Logan Chalmers strike to complete the rout.
Rankin said: “The levels of consistency are not good enough. If you look at some of the games, we scored three and four, we’re flying, and it looks really good, but then we concede a goal and then before you know it we’ve conceded three or four in a game.
“The levels of consistency are not acceptable at this moment in time. We need to find a way of getting that.
“When I look at the game, it’s individual errors that have cost us. I wouldn’t say, collectively as a team, we were really poor, I think it was individual errors that cost us at vital times in the game, which is annoying.
“It’s about making sure our concentration levels are high enough to not concede those goals at the times that we’re conceding.
“But we need to find a level of consistency in our performances, both home and away.”
Rankin wasn’t happy with the manner of the defeat, and with the goals Accies lost as tehy seek to get back to winning ways against Raith Rovers this weekend.
He said: “They looked like soft goals. The first one is a mistake, second one we don’t match the runner at a corner, third goal, again, runner goes off someone, the fourth is an error, and at the fifth the man is standing in the middle of the box for a tap-in.
“Fundamentally, as a team, you can’t allow your defence to concede goals like that.
“Then it’s a case of making sure you go back in and we’re ready to go with our positive heads on to try and get a result against Raith Rovers.
“It’s always nice to be at home. It was a difficult game there, the last time we played, it finished 3-3, so it’s going to be a tough game next week.”