Joe Shaughnessy insists St Johnstone have to stop starting poorly otherwise they will face a constant uphill battle in games.
Once again on Wednesday night at McDiarmid against Partick Thistle, Saints lost the opening goal something that has happened in their last eight matches and then conceded another shortly after.
Shaughnessy admitted that left them with a big mountain to climb and while Tommy Wright’s side did gain a second-half foothold thanks to a Chris Kane goal, they could not overcome the early deficit meaning they conceded three points that could ultimately prove costly in the race for a top-six finish.
Shaughnessy said: “The Partick result was very disappointing we let ourselves down.
“We started really poorly and gave ourselves a mountain to climb.
“We have done that a few times this season, we’re giving ourselves too much to do in games.
“In the second half we played well and created some chances, but we still had too much to do.
“More often than not it’s happening, it’s not good to be doing that.
“In a lot of games this season, we’ve come from behind but you don’t want to be doing that, it’s far from ideal.
“We are losing bad goals the ones against Partick were very poor.
“We were all over the shop for the first 15 minutes, Partick came out firing at us and we were not there.
“It has to stop and we need to get on the training pitch, working away to put it right.
“We have to stick together, take responsibility and defend as a unit.”
While Saints have only won once in their last 11 league games, they are still very much in the mix to finish in the top half of the table before the split, sitting in sixth place just three points off Ross County in fourth.
However, former Aberdeen defender Shaughnessy admits the next two games, both on Wednesday nights at home against Inverness and the Staggies, are absolutely vital.
He added: “I still think we’re in a decent position, a few wins will take us to where we want to be.
“So we can’t let things get us down too much, we have to focus on next week now.
“The league is very tight, everyone has a chance of getting into the top six.
“So it’s about the next one for us now, we have two home games and we have to get results in them.
“If we can do that, then we’ll be looking up the table again.
“Our pitch isn’t in the best condition, it’s not very good.
“But both teams have to deal with it and on Wednesday Partick dealt with it better than us.
“We have to get used to it and adapt.”