Inverness Caledonian Thistle lost for the first time away from home in 20 league matches on Sunday.

Terry Butcher's men went down 1-0 at St Johnstone which marked their first league defeat on the road since November 2009 when they were beaten by Partick Thistle in the First Division.

The result and, in particular, the way his side played was the most flattening thing for Butcher who was offering no excuses for the performance.

"I don't think I can describe how disappointed I am. It's the manner of the defeat that's so disappointing," he said after watching Collin Samuel's 85th minute goal deny his side a spot in the top four on the SPL table.

"It's cruel to lose a goal so late in the game, but St Johnstone had a number of opportunities before that and only Ryan Esson's saves were keeping us in the match.

"In all departments, we've been poor by our own standards. Compared to the way we've set that unbeaten away run, we've been poor.

"I hope that's the festive period over now because it's been a wretched time for us with two home defeats, as well.

"No excuses, St Johnstone won the game today. Good luck to them and we move on. I didn't think the players were at it today and they've been told that.

"We've got this record by being a hard team to beat and by being a much better team than we showed today."