Caley Thistle manager Richie Foran wants to crank up the pressure on second-bottom Dundee with a Highland derby victory at Ross County tonight.
Inverness are five points behind the Dark Blues with only five games remaining and have won just one of their last 22 league matches.
Despite his team’s poor form leaving them on the verge of being cut adrift, Foran still has the Dens Park men, who recently appointed untested Neil McCann as manager following the sacking of Paul Hartley, in his sights.
Foran said: “Dundee have lost seven in a row now but our full focus is on Ross County now. We want to go there and beat them.
“If we can win this game, it takes us two points behind Dundee – and there’s a lot of pressure on their shoulders waking up on Saturday going to Motherwell.
“We’d love to be higher up the league going into this but we can get ourselves three points closer to Ross County and the rest of the clubs around them.
“For me, it’s still in our hands. I believe we can go and win the next five games.”
Foran reckons tonight’s derby encounter is an ideal game to fire his side’s final run-in, adding: “It’s one we must embrace and look forward to. The mentality is strong and they’re driven boys – they know we’re so close to getting wins. It’s small margins.
“We don’t need any team talk. Our support is travelling there and there is always a fantastic atmosphere.
“They probably feel they are clear of relegation, eight points ahead but we can drag them back into it by beating them.”
Foran will be without left back Carl Tremarco for the rest of the season due to a cruciate ligament injury but the Irishman is pleased he can call upon the experience of Kevin McNaughton and David Raven, who returns from a groin injury.
Foran added: “That’s the benefits of having a big squad at times, having two players for every position. It’s like-for-like change, whichever one we go with.
“Kevin and David are both experienced defenders and that’s what we need at this stage of the season.”
