Inverness Caledonian Thistle assistant manager Billy Mckay admits his side are still learning how to compete in the Championship.

The Caley Jags thought they had turned a corner with 10 points from four matches leading into Tuesday night’s trip to Queen’s Park, only to lose 2-1 in Glasgow courtesy of two cheap goals in Mckay’s eyes.

It was a reminder of the small moments that can make a big difference in the Championship, at times where Inverness may have got away with errors on their way to the League One title last season.

To an extent, that adjustment is still a work in progress in the Highland capital according to Mckay, who says there has been no lack of effort to get to the level of consistency required.

"It's finer margins in both boxes,” he said.

"Last year, we might have got away with playing well and making a couple of defensive errors. This season, you cannot drop off at any point in the game. Tuesday showed that.

"We're still a team learning the division. You can be comfortable in the game and you maybe get a bit too comfortable and you start doing things you wouldn't regularly do, while still having a lot of possession or territory in the game.

"That one moment where you switch off or you don't keep the good habits, you get punished.

"We have got good players in the final third and I see that every day in the finishing and final third drills we do. We maybe just need to be that wee bit more ruthless.”

Ahead of this Saturday’s home match against Arbroath, Caley Thistle’s cause will be aided by the return of valuable experience in the form of club captain Danny Devine and former Canada international David Wotherspoon.

The pair were both involved in the match day squad on Tuesday night out after spells out injured, and could provide vital nous to what is otherwise a young squad.

“Our medical department has done really so Danny is back from his little calf tear, probably a bit sooner than scheduled,” Mckay continued.

“He is fully fit now and ready for selection if picked. Danny is vocal, and he’s obviously our captain, so if he comes back into the team we know what he will give us.

“David had a bit longer out than we initially thought, and he will be frustrated not to come back more quickly, but he’s fully fit again too and has trained really well in the last couple of weeks.

“All he is lacking at the moment is minutes, so we need to try and get some game time in him, even if it’s a bounce match somewhere.

“He’s had a brilliant career up to this point, and we know how good he is in the final third, so he can definitely make an impact for us this season.”

However, they have established themselves as the best part-time team in the country in recent seasons after competing in their seventh second-tier campaign out of the last eight years.

It will by no means be an easy task with both teams looking to get back to winning ways, and Mckay is expecting a difficult afternoon.

“They have really good players in that team with experience of playing at this level and the one above, so we know we will need to pick ourselves up,” Mckay added.

"The boys will be ready to go, and whoever is in the team needs to make sure they're at a good level, and whoever comes off the bench has to back up their teammate.

"We have seen players coming on and scoring goals, which just shows you have to be ready to make an impact whenever your time comes."