Caley Thistle captain Gary Warren hopes the fear of failure can inspire his team-mates to keep Inverness in the Scottish Premiership.
The Highlanders remain rooted to the bottom of the division following Warren’s own goal in their 1-0 defeat at Aberdeen on Tuesday.
Caley Jags have managed just four wins from 31 league matches this season, but Warren is counting on the danger of relegation to fuel desire to keep the club up.
The defender said: “It is a big ask, but if we don’t win the games we are down so that’s our motivation. If we don’t do it our season will be over and we’ll be playing in the Championship.
“Nobody at this club wants that. We’ve worked so hard to establish ourselves in the top flight in the last five or six years and it is going to take a lot of hard work and effort to stay up, but everyone from the players through to the staff is committed and will give their all for the cause.
“We’ll go to the end. We’ve become harder to beat but we have to start taking our opportunities and putting teams away if we are to give ourselves a chance.”
Time is running out for Richie Foran’s men, who have won just won of their nine league matches in 2017, if they are to haul themselves out of the mire.
Only Hamilton and Aberdeen have beaten the Highlanders in the nine-game run, but Warren knows the six draws his team has suffered have been damaging. Warren said: “There are no excuses now. Teams are scrapping for their lives and we’ve got to make sure we’re one of the teams that finishes outside the bottom two.
“We need to have more belief. We played against an Aberdeen side which put seven past Dundee and we ran them close. We have to go into Saturday’s game with confidence and belief from that.
“We need to start picking up points and turn the draws we’re getting into wins. We should have beaten Kilmarnock on Saturday, we could have taken something against Aberdeen, but we didn’t and we have to change that.
“That’s the frustrating thing about us at the moment as we seem to do all right against the teams at the top but struggle against the teams around us and we have to beat those teams if we are to get out of this. We’ve got another game on Saturday against St Johnstone in Inverness and it is a chance to bounce back.”
