They’ve won their last five games – but Neil McCann believes Inverness Caley Thistle are capable of even better as they look to keep their good run going against Morton.
Since a home defeat to this evening’s opponents on March 9, the Caley Jags have gone on a six-game unbeaten run, triumphing in their last five fixtures.
Preparation time between games has been in short supply for Inverness, with tonight’s clash at Cappielow their 11th match in the six weeks since interim manager McCann took charge.
As a result, he believes there are still further improvements to come despite their recent good run.
McCann said: “I believe there’s a lot more to come from them.
“We’re still really struggling to get good training time on the pitch, so there’s a lot of fine-tuning and other coaching I’d love to do with the boys, Barry (Wilson), Doddsy (Billy Dodds) and (Ryan) Esson.
“We’re just not getting the time to do that and, now, because we’ve progressed in the cup, it means another midweek game against Dundee.
“We’re getting the wee bite-sized info into them when we can. That’s important.
“But I believe they are well capable of showing they’re even better than what they’re playing like just now.”
Confidence built from winning
Defeat to Morton last month left Caley Thistle ninth in the Championship.
Now the Highlanders are fifth just a point outside the promotion play-off places.
Boss McCann added: “I can’t speak about individuals and how they feel, but confidence comes from winning games of football.
“When you play well and don’t win, it doesn’t have the same effect.
“It is only natural after we started stringing wins together that the confidence would be better. Momentum is important in sport.
“When you’re winning games, people feel a wee bit braver in taking the ball or trying something where they might have played safe, three or four weeks before.
“I want the boys to be brave in possession and in decisions at any point in their season.
“Basically, you want bravery on the ball when you have it and solidity off it.
“We’re getting it now. That comes from winning.”
Play-off pressure
The battle for the promotion play-off spots in the Championship looks set to go to the wire with just six points separating Raith Rovers in second and Queen of the South in sixth.
McCann believes Caley Thistle are “a different animal” as a result of their recent good form, but isn’t looking beyond tonight’s game with eighth-placed Morton when it comes to the fight for a play-off place.
He said: “The pressure is there as it is so tight.
“We dropped out of the top four at the weekend, but you don’t want to surrender too many points at this stage of the season.
“We have five wins on the bounce and everyone knows Inverness are a different animal to what we were just over a month ago.
“I think most teams are looking at it that if you don’t approach games the right way you can get quickly dragged into bother.
“But approaching it the right way gets positive results and gives you a brilliant chance to do something special.
“We can’t look any further than Morton and it is a massive game for us. We know this is going to be a difficult game.”
