Manager Duncan Ferguson wants Caley Thistle to address their alarming home form in a bid to widen the gap between themselves and bottom spot in the Championship.
Eighth-placed Inverness have recorded just two league wins at the Caledonian Stadium this season – and Saturday’s clash against Queen’s Park is the first of three successive home fixtures.
Next weekend, they welcome Premiership Hibernian to the Highlands for the fifth round of the Scottish Cup before hosting Partick Thistle on league business on February 17.
🔜 We're in home action this Saturday as we face @queensparkfc at the Caledonian Stadium
Buy tickets in advance to save money!
Ticketing Info 👉 https://t.co/s31tvXVW11 pic.twitter.com/UQmeVs70ky
— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) January 29, 2024
Ferguson’s side are going for their third successive win in all competitions and their fourth victory in five games.
Caley Thistle aim to improve home form to widen gap at bottom of table
ICT have taken 15 points on their travels, but only nine points on home soil and Ferguson knows that must improve.
He said: “We have been poor at home and have not quite got the results we’ve been looking for.
“We have been very good away from home. Hopefully we can produce a good performance at home this weekend and give us a little bit of daylight away from the bottom of the table.
“It has been a long haul and yet we are stuck in that wee band near the bottom. If you string two or three results together then you can get away from it.
“We have been unable to do that, but hopefully we can on Saturday.”
Duncan Ferguson ready for Queen’s reshuffle
Former St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson replaced Robin Veldman in the Queen’s hot-seat last month.
Veldman’s final game in charge was a 2-1 Hampden win against Dunfermline, then Davidson – boosted by the capture of Sean Welsh from ICT – got off to a dream start with a 2-1 victory at Raith Rovers.
The Glasgow team were beaten 2-1 by Scott Brown’s Ayr United last week, with Welsh sent off for two bookable offences, ruling him out this weekend.
In Veldman’s final fixture at the boss, Caley Thistle beat Queen’s 4-1 at Hampden in December.
Ferguson, whose side are four points ahead of their visitors but have played one match more, believes this contest will be tighter.
He said: “They will be set up differently from our 4-1 win at Hampden. The previous manager had them set up as a 4-3-3, whereas Callum goes with five at the back.
“It’s a different tactical set-up and manager, but it will be a tough match. They were unlucky with a sending off at the weekend, which set them back a little bit after winning two games.”
Longstaff fit after injury scare – boss
The ICT boss said winger Luis Longstaff made a “miraculous recovery” to shake off what was first thought to be a pulled hamstring, which must have just been a bad case of cramp, so he’s in the weekend squad.
Defenders Danny Devine, James Carragher and Wallace Duffy and midfielder Aaron Doran are all aiming to shrug off knocks in time for the match.
