Billy Dodds is relishing the five-way fight for the Championship crown – and is determined to ensure Caley Thistle go all the way.
The Inverness head coach, whose side have had back-to-back draws against rivals Arbroath and Raith Rovers over the past fortnight, face second-bottom Queen of the South at the Caledonian Stadium on Saturday.
Kilmarnock were held 1-1 at Partick Thistle last night to move into second spot, one point above ICT. There are now only five points splitting first and fifth positions.
The Caley Jags would go top with a win allied with a Arbroath defeat at Raith Rovers on Saturday afternoon.
📺 Streaming Info
This Saturday's match against Queen of the South will be live on https://t.co/8eSzkdctwR for Season Ticket Holders and on PPV
Streaming Info👉 https://t.co/7NUg0uzgoP pic.twitter.com/kaAkyAHY7a
— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) January 12, 2022
With at least two of ICT’s top-five rivals going to be dropping points, the Caley Jags are eager to cash in by downing the Doonhamers.
Good or bad runs could be crucial
Dodds knows every result matters with all rivals keen to grab the upper hand.
He said: “Usually you’ll get two or three teams where you’re all vying against one another, but five, and so tight, is just incredible.
“It’s going to take somebody to go on a real good run, or somebody to go on a real bad run before one or two maybe drop away.
“We have to try and make sure that it’s not us, hopefully we’re one of the ones that can pull away.”
Two close encounters with Queens
With the chance to top the table should they see off Queens and Arbroath fail to win at Kirkcaldy, Dodds is taking nothing from granted against a side they’ve beaten 2-1 twice this term.
He said: “It’s another big weekend in the Championship.
“Naturally, we look every week at who’s playing one another, where points could be dropped, but I think you’ve got to do your own business first and foremost.
“We had two really close games with Queen of the South. We played well in stages for most of the two games, as a percentage of the two games we’ve had most of it.
“But Queen of the South have shown when they got an equaliser up here and a late goal down there that put us under a bit of pressure that we have to be taking them seriously.
“We will respect our opponent, that’s what we’ll be doing, but we’ll be hoping for three points because it’s a great opportunity with the other fixtures.
“We all look at it. We can kid on we don’t and say we’re not watching it. We’ll get our own job done and then see what happens.
“Sometimes on a Saturday I do that, but going into this fixture we’ll look at it and recognise it’s a great chance to get three points and that can be a huge three points.”
No damage done in Rovers comeback
It took a cracking late strike from on-loan Norwich City midfielder Reece McAlear to rescue a 1-1 draw against Raith last weekend.
Dodds felt that fell into the ‘good point’ category, given they were so close to losing to a superb long-range Ethan Ross goal.
He added: “We probably didn’t deserve it, but we nearly nicked it at the end.
“We could also have lost it, they had a chance before that where they shot straight at the goalkeeper, we kick it up the park and we nearly nicked a winner but their goalkeeper brings off a good save from Billy Mckay.
“It would have been brilliant if we could have nicked all three points, but it would have been stealing them.
“I would have taken it, but it never happened, so it was a good point.
“We’ll see where that takes us, because it’s two hard fixtures out of the way – Arbroath away and Raith at home – and now we have Queen of the South which is another tough fixture.”
Welsh played through pain barrier
Midfielders Aaron Doran and Scott Allardice are struggling with knocks and might not be ready for this weekend.
Skipper Sean Welsh returned from his injury lay-off to play the final 17 minutes in the Raith game last weekend.
It was Welsh’s first game time since going off injured in their Scottish Cup replay at Morton on December 6.
Dodds praised his captain for showing a willingness to help the team.
He added: “Welshy has been feeling it since the Morton game and he played through the pain barrier for us.
“I had to ask him last week if he could play 45 minutes if we needed him. He is willing and eager and that’s what I need.”
