Caley Thistle manager John Robertson says Inverness cannot allow Dundee United’s devastating Championship form distract his side from their pursuit of their own points target.
Second placed Inverness trail leaders United by 13 points ahead of tomorrow’s visit of Arbroath, with the top two having both reached the midway stage of the campaign last weekend.
Inverness’ current total is six points ahead of where they were this time last season, while Robertson’s men are only four points short of the halfway tally amassed by eventual league winners Ross County 12 months ago.
United go into tonight’s derby against Dundee on the back of nine straight victories, however Robertson insists Caley Jags must remain focused on their own promotion charge.
He said: “If you go over a 10-year period and look at the points total for wins, there’s a number that is pretty regular. That’s what you’ve got to try and look at, and if you get to that particular number you see where it takes you – but you are never very far away.
“That’s all we are doing at the moment. We are halfway through the season now. We have assessed where we are, and we are just slightly behind where we would like to have been in terms of points, but we are in second place.
“Had we been on it, we would still have been a fair distance behind United because of what they have done.
“When you are looking at statistics, that’s the non-variable in the equation – it’s always dependant on what other teams do as well.
“We have got a points total in mind. We are just going to keep battling towards that total, and hopefully it takes us to where we want to be next season which is in the Premiership.”
Caley Jags go into this weekend’s fixtures with a four point gap over nearest challengers Ayr United, which Robertson insists is equally important as their pursuit of Dundee United.
Robertson added: “If we get our passing game, our commitment, intensity and attitude right, we are as good as any team in the league. We have shown that.
“That’s the key, the consistency is what we want. The consistency United have shown is incredible. To go a full quarter winning every single game is unheard of.
“They deserve the lead they have got, but all we can do is continue to pick up points and keep going.
“What we’ve got to do is pick up what we are looking for in the second half of the season and see if we can put any pressure on United, and also maintain the lead over the other teams below us.”
