Max Anderson is urging his Caley Thistle team-mates to keep their focus until the final whistle in order to ensure they stack up Championship points.
Ahead of Saturday’s trip to Hampden to tackle Queen’s Park, who are level on 13 points with ICT, the on-loan Dundee midfielder explained the squad must learn lessons from last weekend’s last-gasp 2-1 home defeat against second-top Raith Rovers.
Leading thanks to a Billy Mckay header on the hour mark, a late Lewis Vaughan goal and stoppage-time Jamie Gullan winner from the spot dealt a sore blow to Inverness as they lost their first game since Duncan Ferguson took charge in late September.
Anderson, 22, who is with the Highlanders until the end of the season, has made 11 appearances so far and was close to scoring his first Inverness goal when he smashed a shot off the crossbar when they led 1-0.
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ICT need to learn from weak finishes
He said: “We’re prone to losing a wee bit of concentration in the last 10 to 20 minutes of game sometimes.
“I’d say, as a squad, we can be a bit naive going into those final 10 minutes. We need to learn from that – and we will do.
“We had spells throughout the match against Raith, but we should have been good enough to see out the match after their scored their first.
“It was quite cruel that they got their penalty at the end. I felt, from what we put into it, we definitely deserved something.
“It’s really all about focusing on Saturday’s game and trying to put it right.”
Hampden debut shot for Anderson
Queen’s Park, who defeated ICT 2-1 on the opening game of the season, have not posted a victory in any of their last 10 matches in all competitions.
It will be Caley Thistle’s chance to return to Hampden, the scene of their 3-1 Scottish Cup final defeat against treble-winners Celtic in June.
For Anderson, it will be his first experience of playing at Scotland’s home venue, and he reckons the venue will suit the visitors as they aim to have a go at the Spiders.
He said: “I have never actually got to play at the national stadium. It’s something I am really looking forward to.
“It’s a good opportunity and I think the (wide) pitch will suit us.
“Hopefully it will be a good game of football for both teams.
“We play quite expansive football and we like to ensure we use all the space on the pitch to our advantage.
“Hopefully come Saturday we will be able to use that to the best of our ability.”
Inverness won’t be ‘over-confident’
Although Robin Veldman’s side are off form, Anderson reckons it’s important Inverness arrive in Glasgow with belief, but not complacency, in their bid to put on a winning display.
He added: “We are quite a confident bunch of players. We’re confident in our ability.
“Every day, we set such high standards. You can see the passing moves in the games, which shows how much work we’re putting in each day to try and put on a good show on Saturday.
“But we won’t go into it over-confident.
“Like we do every game, we will give our opponents every respect they are due.
“We’ll set out to play our style, play our way, and hopefully that will help us get the win.
“You can see what three points can do for you. Had we won last week, we’d have moved up another place.
“The Championship is such a tight league, so every win can make such a difference.”
