Caley Thistle midfielder Scott Allardice admits it is now or never for his side in their quest for promotion.
Inverness, who travel to Morton on Saturday, have just seven games left to try to overtake their weekend hosts and Partick Thistle to edge into the top-four.
Their 1-0 win against the Glasgow Jags last Friday means they are six points away from Thistle with a game in hand.
They trail Morton by four points, therefore the value in winning at Cappielow is clear for all to see.
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Passing well can outsmart opponents
Although the team might be forced to roll the sleeves up and grind out wins, play-maker Allardice reckons there’s a more effective way to bag points.
He said: “I think we’ll take the ugly wins, but if you want to be successful you need to try and pass the ball.
“We’re at our best when we try to play, and we’ve got good players that can hurt teams.
“As much as you will take any result at this stage of the season, we still want to put an emphasis on trying to play well and free up the attacking players to go and do their thing.
“It’s probably at a stage in the season where it’s sink or swim.
“I think that’s the case for all of us if we’re going to get into the play-offs. The Partick game was one we needed to win and this is exactly the same.”
Ace Allardice is keen to settle score
Inverness, who face Falkirk in the Scottish Cup semi-final on April 29 at Hampden, have a score to settle with Dougie Imrie’s Morton.
The Ton have taken seven points from the three meetings this term, most notably including a Friday night 4-0 pasting under the floodlights in Greenock in October.
ICT were experiencing deep injury concerns at that time, but with more players fit and ready, 24-year-old Allardice insists they can put in a stronger display this time.
He said: “It’s up to us to go and perform, and losing games isn’t easy – nobody takes it well.
“You want to go and put on a performance, and show a club like Morton that they won’t get so many points this time around.
“We are confident, but we need to go and win the game if we want to be in the play-offs.
“It has been very up and down, but at this stage in the season, there are positives.
“We’re in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup and we’re still in with a shout of the play-offs even though it has been an inconsistent season for us.
“We know we can still make it a positive season.”
Allardice ready for Cappielow test
Despite not yet getting the better of Morton this season, three wins against them last term, according to Allardice, highlights the need to keep calm and avoid knee-jerk reactions.
He added: “Obviously when you lose games it’s easy to try and do something drastically different, but what we’ve done in the past has worked as well.
“I don’t think it will be a case of going and doing something drastically different, but going to Cappielow you need to play a certain way.
“You need to win your battles first and foremost, and allow the attacking players to play their game in the final third.
“We won’t treat it any differently to other weeks, but we know exactly what to expect and we’ll try to get three points.”
Midfielders winning battles for ICT
David Carson has been drafted back into midfield from defence in recent weeks, with Lewis Hyde taking a central role against Thistle last Friday.
And Allardice feels his key area of the park is doing their jobs well, allowing the attackers to ask questions of their opponents.
He said: “As a three in there, we’ve done all right whoever has played in there over the last few weeks.
“A lot of games we’ve played in have been a battle that you need to win in the middle of the park, and we’ve done well.
“That helps the attacking boys as well, because they know that if something breaks down, we’ve got boys who will do the defensive side, and we’ll get up to support them as well.”
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