Aaron Doran reckons hard graft and quality have helped take Caley Thistle on a five-match winning surge and to level top spot in the Championship.
The Highlanders, who are without crocked midfield duo Roddy MacGregor and Scott Allardice for Tuesday’s home showdown with struggling Hamilton, wrapped up their latest success on Saturday with a 1-0 victory at Cove Rangers.
It means one or three points gained against Accies at the Caledonian Stadium will take them ahead of Partick Thistle, albeit having played one match more.
Wide midfielder Doran is almost certain to be handed a start against former ICT team-mate John Rankin’s visitors and he explained their surge up the table stems from literally taking their work levels to new heights.
He said: “We wear the GPS (Global Positioning System) vests to show how much we’re running, and over the last few months the team as a whole are running a lot more.
“It shows how many sprints we’re doing, and we need to work hard in this league.
“It’s tough, anyone can beat anyone, so you need to put the work in before you can show the quality the team has.
“We’re working hard for each other, and I think that’s one of the causes of this run of form. If we keep doing that, we’ll be hard to beat for any team.”
Great results keep ICT on title trail
Injury-ravaged Inverness, who might have skipper Sean Welsh back from injury this week, are not bashing teams.
Yet, four clean sheets out of five and four away wins during that period leaves them in a healthy position right now.
Doran insists the main goal is to stay on the title track. The flashy football will come when it can, but banking as many points as they can is the name of the game, according to the long-serving star in his testimonial term.
He said: “I’d love to play lovely football every weekend, but going to places like Cove away or Ayr away – the fans won’t remember for long, but they’re great results for us at hard places to go.
“If we keep winning games 1-0, we’ll get promoted.
“We want to score more goals, everyone wants more goals, but sometimes it’s the results you go for and we’re doing pretty well.”
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ICT aiming to up the ante at home
And Doran believes Caley Thistle’s paper-thin squad digging out narrow wins really does highlight the willingness to succeed as a group.
He said: “It shows what resilience we have really.
“If we can go out and play 10 per cent more of the football that we know we can play, it will mean good things for the team.
“We want to put that on to the pitch starting with Hamilton, and I’m sure it will be good viewing for fans.”
Accies have incentive to net points
Hamilton, who beat ICT twice last season, have toiled in the Championship so far, winning just once and are bottom on goal difference, just below Arbroath on seven points.
Doran, 31, however, is sure that the incentive to make a move off the bottom spot will give their opponents an edge after their 2-1 home weekend loss to Partick Thistle.
He added: “You have to respect everyone in this league.
“You can see how tight it is, because everyone is beating everyone, so we need to stay on top of our game and keep doing what we’ve been doing.
“We need to make our home form as good as we can.
“Hamilton were a Premiership club a few years ago, so we can’t take them lightly.
“They will be desperate to get off the foot of the table, so they will be a danger, but we’re confident and we’ll give everything we can to keep this winning run going.”
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