Caley Thistle head coach Billy Dodds believes fortune favoured the brave as his team kick-started their Championship season.
A sweeping 4-1 home victory over Cove Rangers on Saturday means Inverness will go into this weekend top of the table – should they leave Partick Thistle with full points on Friday.
The Highlanders, who have a Premier Sports Cup second round tie at Motherwell to come on August 31, are unbeaten so far.
A 1-1 opening day league draw against Queen’s Park was followed by a 0-0 battle in the wind at Arbroath one week later.
🔴🔵 First Goal of the Season for Aaron Doran!#ICTFC pic.twitter.com/iwamAyAAcu
— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) August 14, 2022
Dodds urged his team to show courage against Cove and they got their rewards with a brace from Austin Samuels and goals from Aaron Doran and Nathan Shaw.
The ICT manager said: “All we worked on last week was getting bodies in the box. I looked at it at half-time and I saw the bodies we were getting in there.
“Aaron got his goal from starting the move, carrying on his run, and getting a touch on it.
“If you push yourself to get into the box, which is hard work, you can get your rewards – that was my message to the players and I loved the way they carried it out.”
ICT kept cool when Cove hit the net
Injuries kept out defenders Danny Devine, Wallace Duffy, Max Ram and David Carson, as well as skipper Sean Welsh and long-termers Shane Sutherland and Tom Walsh.
However, those remaining got the job done and Dodds was delighted they didn’t panic when Cove halved the deficit through a Robbie Leitch reply.
He said: “I had a young team out there and you wonder how they’re going to handle this (situation) mentally. Sometimes you have to have that focus and determination.
🥶 Ice cool from Austin Samuels in front of goal for our opener yesterday!
🎥 Highlights of yesterday's 4-1 win v Cove Rangers are available online now: https://t.co/d2DzJzyKFd pic.twitter.com/e11RJbo8Sz
— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) August 14, 2022
“When we lost the goal, I just asked them to dig in for 15 minutes, get into their positions, and spring from there.
“Once we got through the 10-15 minutes where Cove were getting a bit of the ball, we started getting into pockets again and we showed we were still a dangerous team.
“We got the goals at good times; we enjoyed the game and merited the win.”
High-intensity delights boss Dodds
Playing on the front foot also thrilled the fans, and Dodds reckons strong form is an extension of their run to the Premiership play-off final in May.
He added: “The real Caley Thistle is the way we ended last season.
“We played good football, we scored goals and had lots of momentum. That’s the way I want it, that’s the way I try to coach my players.
“We want to play with intensity, pace, technical ability and try to score goals.
“We’ve got that in our team and we’ve shown that.”
