brewster hopes to strengthen defence by signing veteran

Caley Jags keen on wanted man Pressley

By Stephen Kasiewicz

Published:

Caley Thistle face competition for the signature of veteran defender Steven Pressley, the former Celtic and Hearts player.

Pressley is a free agent since returning to Scotland from Randers in Denmark and the 35-year-old is considering the club’s offer of a contract until the end of the season.

Inverness manager Craig Brewster hopes Pressley can shore up his defence which leaked three more goals at home to Rangers yesterday. Pedro Mendes opened the scoring for Rangers after 46 minutes and Kris Boyd scoring in 81 and 87 minutes.

The 3-0 loss to the Light Blues was the club’s sixth in a row in the SPL and increased the pressure on Brewster, whose side is now isolated at the foot of the division.

Despite supporter discontent, Brewster believes he can steer the club away from the relegation zone and has started to scour the transfer market for new players. Pressley is first on his list of targets.

Brewster said: “I am happy I still have the confidence of the board. The board wouldn’t be backing me with trying to bring in new recruits if it was not behind me. I have spoken to Steven Pressley and he has alternatives on the continent, we will just have to wait and see.

“He would be coming to us as a player only, rather than a coach, and we will find out what he wants to do this week.

“Any deal would be until the end of the season.”

The next two games will be pivotal for the Highlanders, with Partick Thistle visiting on Scottish Cup duty on Saturday followed by a must-win match at Hamilton in the league to follow.

Brewster said: “We have two big games coming up – Partick Thistle and Hamilton. It will be a test for us and we have to go about the games the right way and play as we did in the first half against Rangers.

“There is pressure on managers whether you are at the top of the league trying to win titles, in mid-table trying to get into the top six or there is pressure on us at the bottom of the table to try to win games and get out of this situation.

“I am no different to any other manager – we are all desperately trying for our teams to win games of football.”

Goalkeeper Ryan Esson is confident the club’s stay at the foot of the division will be a brief one.

Caley Thistle have not kept a clean sheet since the opening day of the season but Esson is confident the club can move away from the relegation zone.

The 28-year-old said: “We are not detached. We have got Hamilton coming up and we feel we are good enough.

“There is time to get points back. We are positive despite the position we are in. We have got good enough players and we can get out of this.

“The league is so tight because there is no Gretna this season.

“Two defeats can see you go down the table but two wins and you climb the table.

“I think it is going to be like that all season and we have got to be positive.”