Caley Thistle goalkeeper Mark Ridgers hopes the second Highland derby of the season can help his club snap a frustrating run of draws.
Inverness stretched their unbeaten Championship run to 22 matches in familiar fashion on Tuesday as they recorded their sixth straight draw after the shares were spoiled with Dunfermline at Caledonian Stadium.
Five out of the club’s six home matches have ended with honours even so far in the league and with title rivals Ross County making the trip across the Kessock Bridge on Saturday Ridgers know his side needs to get back to winning ways.
He said: “Yes, we had a good run of clean sheets and in the 10 games previous we kept six.
“But we need that win. I felt after the Alloa game I’d take a 4-3, 3-2 – anything. At the moment, it just isn’t quite going for us.
“We just have to pick ourselves up and get going and we’re looking forward to Saturday’s Highland derby now.
“There are negatives, but we have to draw positives. We don’t look like losing a game at the moment, but we don’t look like winning. We just need to flip that around.”
Ross County make the trip seven points clear of their Highland rivals and Ridgers knows the importance of a win for his side this weekend but he is aware how tough a task that will be given the good form of Stuart Kettlewell and Steven Ferguson’s Staggies.
He said: “If we can get the win against Ross County, for the city it would be brilliant. For ourselves, it is one that would definitely give us a boost going into the next set of fixtures.
“It is going to be difficult. They have found their feet and they’ve got the balance in their squad right. It has taken them a lot less time to do that than other teams coming down.
“We all know they have quality players, but so do we. It is going to be a very good game.
“It was tight through in Dingwall between the two sides and it will be like that again. Fingers crossed it is a win for us.
“For 70 minutes in the first derby we were on top of them and had chances. Towards the end, they created a couple.
“But they changed the way they had been playing in previous games to stop us from playing and that shows how far we’ve come.
“Teams, now, are setting up to stop us and that’s a credit to everyone involved.”
Derby day is always a family affair for the Ridgers family. The Inverness goalkeeper’s wife Emma works at County where her father Peter Swanson is a director and former chairman.
The County side of the family are in confident mood but Ridgers hopes his side can change that come Saturday.
He said: “The family missed the last derby, but they’re all back now.
“Hopefully, for myself, I’ll produce a clean sheet in front of them. For once, I’m hoping it isn’t a draw, but a win for us.
“It is so frustrating when you come off the field. We need three points not one.
“It’s funny because my mother-in-law, before every game, says she hopes I do well but doesn’t care about the Caley Thistle result.
“I also get on well with quite a few people in the boardroom at Ross County who I met through Peter and with my wife working there as well.
“She wasn’t happy with the last County performance, but hopefully she’s a bit like myself now with the frustration I feel coming home after every draw.
“I’m looking forward to it – it will be nice to have them in the stands.
“But hopefully this time it’s a win for us.”
