Smith had successfully restored the feel-good factor - as well as some much-needed stability - to the club after taking over the reigns in January.

And, although his unbeaten domestic record remains intact, he was far from impressed by today's performance against 10-man Caley Thistle.

Charlie Adam opened the scoring after Darren Dods saw red for a last-man challenge on Kris Boyd but, instead of killing the game off, Gers were left rueing missed opportunities when Craig Dargo snatched a late draw.

"The performance was, without a doubt, the poorest since we've been here," said Smith.

And the Rangers boss admits his players can have no complaints about the outcome.

"We're disappointed today," he said. "We started the first 15 or 20 minutes okay but, after we went in front and Caley went down to 10 men, we didn't impose ourselves on the game.

"We had possibly too much possession of the ball and we ended up over-elaborating in terms of that.

"We didn't really create that many opportunities in the first half but in the second half we had one or two decent chances that we missed.

"We have to say we didn't do well enough to complain about the fact that Caley got the goal despite playing so much of the game with 10 men.

"We didn't do enough overall to be surprised that Caley Thistle caught up with us."

Rangers and Aberdeen are both battling for second place in the SPL - and Champions League football next season - and today's results leaves the Dons trailing by just five points.

Both teams clash at Pittodrie on the final day of the season and Smith said: "I don't know whether it will go down to the wire or not.

"That will depend on the other results and the rest of our performances as well.

"Our performances haven't been like that one, we have played very well in recent games, and that was the disappointing factor about today.

"It was disappointing to play in that manner today."

Speaking of the red card, Inverness boss Charlie Christie said: "I thought it was quite harsh but I want to see it again on TV."

He was thrilled by the fighting spirit shown by his players, especially following their 3-1 defeat to SPL bottom side Dunfermline in their last outing.

"It doesn't surprise me," he said. "We have bounced back so often, which is why we have achieved so much for a small club.

"We are resolute but I don't want to talk too much about effort and work-rate because there is a lot of quality in the team as well."