Caley Thistle assistant manager Scott Kellacher hopes Inverness are starting to develop Ross County’s Championship title-winning traits in their own promotion bid.
Inverness face Ayr United today in the second leg of their play-off quarter-final tie with John Robertson’s men carrying a 3-1 lead from the first encounter at Somerset Park on Tuesday.
Should they retain their advantage, Caley Jags would face Dundee United over two legs in next week’s semi-final, with St Mirren or Hamilton Accies lying in wait in the final.
Champions County impressed Kellacher with their knack of churning out results, and with Inverness going into today’s match on the back of three straight victories he hopes his side have developed a similar ruthless streak as they aim to make it a double Highland promotion.
Kellacher said: “Ross County have done remarkably well this year. I’m delighted for the two young managers (Stuart Kettlewell and Steven Ferguson).
“They have done a great job and I’m sure they will do well in the Premiership.
“Hopefully we can join them, but we will take it one game at a time.
“Our last two league games before we played Ayr were probably more Ross County type performances, in terms of not playing well but grinding out results.
“Tuesday was probably the best we have played out of the last three games.
“Hopefully we are taking a bit more momentum going into Saturday and hopefully beyond that.
“It was pleasing to see we played two games before Ayr and ground it out, by not playing well but winning.
“Ross County did that a fair bit this year, but that’s why they won the league. They played well and won and played poorly and won, and that’s a big part of winning leagues.
“Teams don’t like coming up this way, so it would be ideal to have both of us back in the league.”
Ayr boss Ian McCall has admitted his side need to score first at Caledonian Stadium in order to have any hope of turning the tie around, and Kellacher reckons they will arrive in attacking mood.
Inverness are unlikely to risk skipper Carl Tremarco due to a calf injury, with Kellacher adding: “Teams have come here and sat in against us, which has always been hard for us to try and break down.
“If a team is coming here to play an open game and attack us, hopefully it makes for a good game as we will be looking to try and win the game as well.
“It will be nice for a team to come here and actually have a go at us.
“Hopefully it makes for an entertaining game, and one we can hopefully win.”
