Partick Thistle boss Alan Archibald believes his team let themselves down during the first half of their Scottish Cup tie against Inverness Caley at Firhill.
The home side were constantly caught on the counter-attack by Caley Thistle in the opening 45 minutes and were fortunate to trail by just two goals at the break.
Substitute Lyle Taylor pulled a goal back midway through the second half, and Partick were unlucky not to earn a replay as they pushed for an equaliser for the remainder of the match.
Archibald said: "The first-half performance was terrible, probably the worst I've seen in my two years in charge.
"We didn't win any battles all over the pitch. Hats off to Inverness they were by far the better side.
"The crowd stuck by us in the first half. But it wasn't great viewing from my point of view, so it couldn't have been great for them.
"We went about our jobs well in the previous two games against Inverness this season - but we didn't this time.
"Lyle Taylor gave us a lift when he came on. We made a couple of changes at half-time because we had to do something to get back into the game.
"We were better but couldn't do enough to get over the line. We left ourselves too much to do and you can't do that against a good side."
Caley counterpart John Hughes was happy his team continued their recent impressive run, after their place in the last eight was secured by goals from Marley Watkins and Greg Tansey in the opening 27 minutes.
Hughes said: "It's just a matter of staying in the competition now. We've had a wonderful January and this just adds to it.
"February is a big month in terms of telling you where you're going and you could see the spirit and desire and determination amongst our guys. There's character there."