Caley Thistle manager John Robertson is hopeful the Highlanders can kick start a run of home momentum if tonight’s Championship match against Alloa Athletic beats the weather.
An inspection has been called for 9am this morning due the cold weather, with the Caledonian Stadium surface having been under covers since Sunday.
Although the covers can protect the pitch to as low as around -3 degrees, the overnight forecast of temperatures below that will necessitate a further assessment of the surface this morning.
Inverness are eager to avoid another call-off having fallen behind in their fixture schedule, with nine matches postponed since Boxing Day.
Tonight’s game is quickly followed by further home fixtures, with Morton the visitors on Saturday before Queen of the South make the trip north next Wednesday.
Should all the games go ahead, Robertson feels it will be a great chance for the seventh-placed Highlanders to make gains in the table.
Robertson, who could include new signing Anthony McDonald in the squad, said: “There is very little we can do when the temperatures get this low. Even plastic pitches can be off.
“We’ve got the covers down, and we’ve just got to keep our fingers crossed.
“Our problem this season has been that any time we’ve been away from home our pitch seems to have been perfect, but the games have been called off away from home.
“We had Arbroath and Morton which we have caught up with, we had Raith due to Covid, Dundee was rained off, Buckie was frozen off and then suspended, but it was suspended too late for us to get the Queen of the South game on.
“It just seems crazy that everything we have tried just hasn’t gone our way. It’s frustrating because the lads are desperate to play and pick up some momentum.
“We were looking forward to Dundee at the weekend, and then the possibility of three home games in a week.
“We are still hopeful that’s going to be the case. If not we will look forward to Saturday and Wednesday.”
A victory for bottom-placed Alloa tonight would move Peter Grant’s men level with the Highlanders, who are already on the same points total as both Arbroath and Queen of the South.
Despite Alloa’s lowly position, Robertson says his side’s 2-1 loss at Recreation Park in December is all the warning they need.
He added: “Everybody in this league has had little runs.
“We know the dangers of Alloa from the last game we played them. We went down and controlled the match for well over an hour, they scored a wonder free-kick and then Mark made an unfortunate mistake and the game was turned on its head.
“It was the same on Saturday. Queen of the South dominated most of the first half, Alloa scored with their only real attack at goal, but in the second half they got their goal and defended for their lives to get a result. They were up against a Queen of the South team that were on a good run.
“People might have looked at our game against Arbroath and thought it was points dropped, yet they went and turned over the team second top of the league.
“That’s the standard of this league. Everybody can beat everybody. You cannot take anything for granted home or away.
“We were particularly looking forward to this week, with the potential of having three games to get some points on the board and gain some momentum going into the last two months of the season.”
