Caley Thistle manager Richie Foran has urged his players to not dwell on their humiliating 6-0 Scottish Cup defeat to Celtic when they take on Hearts at Tynecastle on Saturday.
Inverness are three points adrift at the bottom of the Premiership, and searching for a first league victory in a 13-game run stretching back to October.
Saturday’s mauling at Parkhead has done little to help the confidence of the Caley Jags players, but Foran said they must forget the heavy defeat at the hands of the Hoops, who are on course to secure a domestic treble in manager Brendan Rodgers’ first season at the club.
Foran said: “The players have to forget about the Celtic result.
“We need to put that game in the bin. The hunger was there from the players, as well as the work-rate and the attitude. They were just outclassed.
“There will be no stopping Celtic if they keep playing like that, but we’re not playing Celtic on Saturday.
“We will pick ourselves up and move on to the Hearts game. We can get ourselves back smiling again on Saturday with a good performance and a good result.”
Inverness clawed their way back from two goals down to secure a 2-2 draw at home to Dundee in their last league fixture.
Although the Highlanders have a lengthy list of defensive absentees, with Gary Warren and Brad McKay suspended and Josh Meekings and Kevin McNaughton sidelined through injury, Foran wants his side to mirror the spirit they showed against the Dark Blues.
He added: “We worked harder when we had to defend. We’ve always looked good in attack, but we didn’t have that togetherness in defence, we didn’t work hard enough. We weren’t backing each other up and filling in, but we did that against Dundee.
“I had a go after the 3-0 defeat against Hamilton and got the response I was after.
“We’ve got to keep that mindset positive and our breaks will come.”
