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St Mirren were hampered by a lack of confidence in their comprehensive 4-0 Scottish Cup replay defeat at Inverness, says manager Tommy Craig.
The Buddies boss told BBC Scotland: "We looked totally bereft of confidence from the very first goal.
"Once that went in you could see our confidence draining. Under current circumstances you can understand why.
"On the night we were beaten by a much better team. We can't afford to give a goal away, let alone four."
Following the 1-1 draw between the teams in Paisley on Saturday, St Mirren headed north for the replay hoping to secure a fifth-round tie against Partick Thistle,
That would have been a welcome reprieve from the pressure of fighting for their Scottish Premiership place.
St Mirren manager Tommy Craig "When you play with that lack of confidence it only leads to trouble."
However, Inverness goalkeeper Dean Brill was a spectator for much of the match as his team-mates scored two first-half goals through Gary Warren and Greg Tansey, the latter from the spot, and Danny Williams and Graeme Shinnie made it 4-0 by full time.
"When you play with that lack of confidence it only leads to trouble," added Craig.
"What highlighted our lack of confidence was their refreshing look of confidence. They are joint [scottish Premiership]leaders with Celtic and you can see exactly why. They are a really good team.
"Hopefully we can get ourselves back on track on Saturday. We've got St Johnstone at home and we'll need to put up a much better performance than we did tonight."