Goalkeeper Mark Ridgers is urging Caley Thistle to roll up their sleeves, prepare to match their Championship rivals, and kick clear of the relegation zone.
The Inverness number one was reeling after the Highlanders slid to a 2-1 home defeat against Arbroath – who climbed off the foot of the table to move ninth, just one point behind ICT with a game to spare.
Last Tuesday, Morton also shot off the bottom of the division with a 2-1 win against Inverness. These costly defeats have drawn Duncan Ferguson’s team into the relegation equation once more.
At the same time, strong form since Ferguson arrived in late September means the Caley Jags, who are away to Partick Thistle on Saturday, are only one point away from fifth-placed Morton, who are on a three-game winning league run.
Jay Bird’s first half goal for Arbroath put Jim McIntyre’s team ahead in only his third game in charge since replacing Dick Campbell.
Billy Mckay slammed home an equaliser, but just before half-time, David Gold headed the visitors to their first victory since September 23.
Struggling ICT seek bounce-back win
Ridgers said: “We have done a lot of what the manager wants us to do, but when it goes a bit flat, or it becomes aggressive, like against Morton, we have to match that. In the last two games, we’ve not done that, and it has cost us six points.
“We’re in a little bit of a better position than when the manager came in, but ultimately, this squad should be looking to be higher than this.
“I say every year, this Championship keeps producing shocks.
“At the moment, we’re the so-called bigger team that is struggling, so we must pick ourselves up again.
“It’s really frustrating when you have a lot of the ball and possession, but it is goals that win you games.”
Three-point return is ‘really bad’
Losing back-to-back fixtures against opponents lower than them at kick-off was sore for Ridgers, who said: “We’ve been playing really well lately, so the Morton game on Tuesday was really disappointing.
“The minimum we should have been looking at from our last three games was seven points – we’ve only taken three by beating Queen’s Park. That’s really bad.
“We have to pick ourselves up from this. We’ll stay positive and try to put it right on Saturday.”
Caley Thistle must ‘knuckle down’
Weekend hosts Partick Thistle don’t look like being title hunters with leaders Raith Rovers and Dundee United in the distance.
Thistle do, however, look the next best team, holding a seven-point cushion over Dunfermline Athletic, having beaten the Fifers on Saturday.
Ex-Partick keeper Ridgers explained they have to try and end 2023 with strong results at Firhill then at home to Morton on December 30.
He added: “Partick Thistle had another good result by winning 2-1 at Dunfermline on Saturday. They are flying up the right end of the table.
“You would have thought we’d have got the result against Arbroath, and it didn’t happen – that’s the Championship for you.
"It's something we've done quite well is we've always bounced back. I think that shows the character that's there and that's why again we go with that same team."
🗣️ Kris Doolan 🗣️https://t.co/5WYBPcB0k8
— Partick Thistle FC (@PartickThistle) December 16, 2023
“In terms of our overall possession, we probably deserved a point against Arbroath, but ultimately the goals we conceded in the first half cost us the game.
“They were really poor from our point of view.
“We did have some good chances, in the first half especially, but we huffed and puffed in the second half, but didn’t really work their goalkeeper (Derek Gaston).
“For me, it’s deja vu. I have been here a long time when we face games like this when we’re on a good run and you think ‘here we go again’ as we lose to Morton and Arbroath, which puts us right back in the mix at the wrong end of the table.
“We really have to knuckle down, hit the reset button, and try to get a good result at Partick Thistle this Saturday. We need that to kick us on going into the new year.”
