Kilmarnock manager Lee Clark was left ruing a costly error by Conrad Balatoni as his side fell to defeat in Inverness.

With Kilmarnock leading 1-0, an under-hit backpass from Balatoni saw Ross Draper win the ball a split-second before being fouled by Killie keeper Jamie McDonald, who was sent off and conceded a penalty.

Greg Tansey scored from the spot and Inverness never looked back, adding to the scoreline with goals from Draper and Danny Williams. The defeat furthered Kilmarnock's relegation fears as they remain in the play-off spot with just four games remaining.

"We got ourselves into a great position and threw it away," Clark said.

The manager spoke about his displeasure at Balatoni's mistake, saying the effects would still be felt in a crucial game to come with McDonald now facing suspension.

"There's nothing [Balatoni] can say because it's something that's been talked about before.

Hopefully he learns but if you keep making the same errors then you have to change the personnel. We talked about it at half-time, it was unnecessary to pass the ball back to the 'keeper because of where he was on the pitch.

"It wasn't as if he was facing the 'keeper, he should have clipped it up to the striker and turned the Inverness back four.

"It has a knock-on effect as well, Jamie has been the best goalkeeper in the league this season so it's a double blow that he'll be banned now. The red card and the penalty changed the game because there was nothing between the teams."

John Hughes was delighted his Inverness side had taken three points to allow them to look up the table instead of fearing being drawn into the relegation fight.

"This result takes us clear but we want to finish the season well and win all our remaining games," he said.

"It wasn't a great game and there wasn't much between the teams in the first half. We looked strong at set-pieces and were threatening, so to go a goal down was really disappointing although it was a great finish.

"We said to the players at half-time to get the ball down and execute what we have been doing on the training pitch and if we did that we would get back into the game."