Caley Thistle have come unstuck against the best two sides in the country in recent weeks – but you won’t catch Richie Foran using that as an excuse.
The Highlanders were well beaten by runaway Premiership leaders Celtic earlier this month, with their trip to Parkhead ending in a 3-0 defeat. Three second-half goals proved the difference, with Foran accusing his players of a lack of belief on the ball against the champions.
Inverness faced another tricky fixture on Saturday when they hosted second-placed Aberdeen and despite taking an early lead against the run of play, through on-form attacker Lonsana Doumbouya’s fourth goal in five games, Caley Jags eventually fell to a 3-1 loss against a slick Dons side.
Foran was again far from impressed, making no attempt to disguise his disappointment at the performance, with midfielder Iain Vigurs revealing the manager made his feelings known by not addressing the squad after the match.
Foran’s reaction on both occasions is a sign of how much belief he has in his players, with his expectation that they go toe-to-toe with the best owing much to the fact they managed to claim a point against both teams earlier in the campaign. Both Celtic and Aberdeen have the ability to canter to victory when on their game though, and deep down Foran will know his side will not be the last to come up short against them.
The head-to-head record against the top two sides will not determine Inverness’ campaign, and they can take heart from the fact the results they have already achieved against the pair will likely be more than some teams will manage all season.
The fall down from the back-to-back defeats has also been far from dramatic. Inverness have only dropped one place to seventh, just a point away from Motherwell who were the only team to take advantage by leapfrogging them.
It leaves Caley Thistle in a relatively healthy position going into the next seven games, which will undoubtedly have a much greater say in whether Foran’s now-public target of a top-six finish will be fulfilled. With the exception of Rangers, who currently sit third, all of Caley Jags’ opponents prior to the winter break are those with similar ambitions.
The bottom half of the league is very tightly-bunched at present, with just three points separating sixth-placed Motherwell with bottom side Dundee – who Inverness take on at Dens Park on Saturday. Any side which puts together a solid run of form between now and January can stake a strong claim to be in the top-half come the end of the season.
Ross County had been bottom of the table but quickly surged to eighth following their 4-2 win against St Johnstone. That result ended a 10-game sequence without a victory, and although losing can be a tough habit to break, no team’s poor form is being punished by the sort of detachment suffered by Dundee United last term. Likewise, nobody has offered the sort of consistency to challenge any team that can put just a handful of victories together.
Points will continue to be shared and league placings will rotate, but the opportunity is there for Caley Jags in the coming weeks to put some distance between themselves and the sort of crazy permutations that could see them, in seventh, being leapfrogged by the team occupying bottom-spot, as is the case on Tayside at the weekend.