Caley Thistle head coach Billy Dodds admits there is minimal margin for error in their quest to win promotion to the Premiership.
Friday’s 1-0 defeat at Partick Thistle saw the Glasgow Jags leapfrog ICT and they will pull five points clear – with a game in hand – in third place if they defeat Queen of the South at Firhill on Tuesday night.
Inverness are in fourth position, kept there by one point by virtue of Raith Rovers crashing 4-0 at home to Ayr United at the weekend.
ICT welcome leaders Arbroath to the Caledonian Stadium on Saturday, with the Highlanders now winless in 11 games, stretching back to December 11 when they thrashed Morton 6-1 in Greenock.
With just eight matches left, Dodds’ men trail Dick Campbell’s shock troops by 11 points, with second-placed Kilmarnock just one point off top spot.
ICT’s winless run consists of six draws and five defeats and Dodds knows their early season winning form has to return and remain for the run-in, with the danger of slipping out of the play-offs a genuine concern.
He said: “We need to win games. Draws are no good now. We tried to win on Friday and were caught.
“We have eight games to go and we need to win nearly every one of them because that was a sore result against Thistle.”
Spirits remain high at training
Despite the long search for victory, Dodds insists the mood in the camp is far from downbeat as feels that credit to his squad.
He said: “Everyone associates the run we’ve been on with us being down.
“The confidence was probably at times low, but training has been incredible considering the lack of wins. The mood has remained upbeat.
“They never get too down. I try to keep them up as I’m positive, that’s the type I am and that’s the way the group is.
“With this run you could maybe think you could struggle to get the boys winning games, or where they should be mentally. It’s not like that with this group.
“They go up to training with a smile on their face on a Monday. There have been a couple of times when I’ve had to tell them to go again, as we are not going to feel sorry for ourselves.
“We have to get on with it, but it’s not that difficult with this group.”
Character has been evident to Dodds
Dodds is keeping the faith, sure the fortunes will turn in their favour, because they’ve come ever so close to breaking their winless cycle.
He added: “There were have been times within games. We were up 1-0 against Dunfermline at half-time, and we were up 2-1 against Queen of the South here after fighting from 1-0 down.
“We have shown the character. But we have not sustained it for long enough periods within games.
“If we start sustaining it and winning a game, I think we will flourish.”
