Inverness Caley Thistle defender Cameron Harper admits that he is hurting after heavy defeat to Partick Thistle in Glasgow
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Inverness were blown away at Firhill as Partick Thistle cruised to victory leaving Inverness reeling from their worst performance of the season so far.
Harper (20) says at full time there was rage and anger in the dressing room as the entire squad was hurting from the scoreline.
The defender says the worst thing about the night was they could have no complaints about the scoreline, admitting they were not good enough.
"That hurts me, and it hurts everyone in the dressing room, if it doesn't hurt you, then you shouldn't be a footballer," said Harper.
"It is not good enough and it is not what we're about.
"We had such a strong start to the League Cup campaign, beating Livingston where not many teams win at that ground.
"We were unbeaten until Partick and that game was not good enough.
"If you had spoke to any player in our squad, they would say exactly the same thing.
"It hurts us, we know how good we can be and when we don't show how good we are, that is what hurts us the most."
Harper says the players know that they let the fans down who travelled down to Glasgow on Friday.
"It hurts us, the gaffer, the coaching staff and the fans as well.
"We want to do well for them, we don't have the biggest fanbase in the world, but our fans will always support us and we want to pay them back.
"You don't know what to think, there is so much rage and anger at not performing well and we only have ourselves to blame.
"We will dust ourselves and make this right next Saturday for the remainder of the season. We won't park this and forget about it, we want to rectify it."
Inverness were second best throughout the match as Partick took a two goal lead at half time before continuing their dominance in the second half.
Six days previously, Inverness beat Cove Rangers 4–1 at the Caledonian Stadium and Harper was at a loss to what happened in Glasgow.
But he says he is determined to figure out what happened as Inverness still believe they are good enough to win the division.
"Credit where credit is due, Partick put four goals past us and we have to hold our hands up, we weren't good enough.
We weren't at it from the first whistle compared to what we were last week.
"We need to bounce back quick because if we want to do what we want to do this season, that won't win the league for us.
"We need to get into training and put in hard graft and be where we were against Cove Rangers.
"It was night and day from last week, as we were so good against Cove Rangers. I can't put a point on what happened.
"We will watch it back on the video but none of us think that was good enough. "We have standards among the group and we know that wasn't good enough and we have to make sure that doesn't happen again."
Harper says one bad result doesn't make a season.
He thinks Partick Thistle will be up there challenging for the title this season.
But he believes Inverness does have what it takes to finish on top.
"Partick are a good side and one of our title rivals, but it is disappointing to come here on a Friday night on television and not done ourselves justice.
"There is a long way to go, we have not lost the league right now.
"But it hurts, because that is not what we're about, that is not what the gaffer instils in us and trains us for."
Former Ross County striker inflicts first defeat of the season on Invernes Caledonian Thistle.
