Caley Thistle’s concerning home form was the main note of concern for manager Duncan Ferguson in his weekly press conference.
Just two Championship wins at the Caledonian Stadium all season, including three games under his predecessor Billy Dodds, is holding Inverness back.
This Saturday, ICT are home to third-placed Partick Thistle as Ferguson’s team seek to break free from eighth position.
‘Worrying’ home results
On the poor results on home soil, he said: “The home form has been worrying, to be honest.
“We can’t put our finger on it. We have tremendous support here, positivity in the stadium but we just can’t seem to get it over the line.
“We’ve played a lot of good games. I can’t think of too many bad performances. The 1-0 loss against Dundee United here comes to mind, right away. How we never got a point out of that game I’ll never know.
“We’ve got to win up here because we’re putting ourselves under a lot of pressure going away from home, where we’ve been really good. We want the fans here to see us winning.”
Two weeks ago, ICT lost 1-0 against Queen’s Park in the league and last Saturday were defeated 3-1 against Premiership visitors Hibs in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup.
Partick Thistle with point to prove
Kris Doolan’s Partick have been sitting third most of the season and look on course for at least a play-off place.
It’s been two draws in the meetings this season and the Glasgow Jags head north on the back of a Scottish Cup defeat.
Premiership strugglers Livingston hit back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 after extra-time against Partick last weekend.
Ferguson said: “We know Partick are a very good team, who have only lost five games all season, and we’ve had close games with them.”
When asked about mistakes leading to goals, as happened twice against Hibs, he added: “We’ve got to try to eradicate mistakes and do our jobs as best we can. I’d like to get back to producing clean sheets, to give us a nice base.
“We’ve proven in the past we can score goals. It is just about working on the training field, giving the players confidence and trying to eradicate the soft goals.”
Samuel, Longstaff and Boyes out
Striker Alex Samuel, who is on loan from Ross County is sidelined for a second week, with a broken hand, while winger Luis Longstaff faces two months out with a knee injury suffered in training last week.
Defender Morgan Boyes collided with the goalposts when trying to prevent Hibs’ second goal last week, so a knee injury looks set to rule him out, while a knock threatens fellow centre-half Nicola Ujdur.
McAllister is ‘a good prospect’
With Samuel out, Ferguson turned to on-loan Everton and Northern Ireland under-21 international midfielder Sean McAllister to lead the forward line with Billy Mckay against Hibs.
Especially in the first half, he looked a threat and he told the Press and Journal this week he aims to create and score goals.
Ferguson said: “That’s why we got him. I knew the kind of hybrid player he was. I’m close to people at Everton who rate him very highly.
“He’s young, energetic – a good player – and he can do both sides, defend and score. He can do it all.
“His stats on Saturday were high. He’s a good prospect and hopefully can chip in for us now.
“He can bang the ball – he’s a good striker of the ball and hopefully he gets into those positions.
“We want him hitting the ground for us now.
“The (January) signings all had a baptism of fire, coming into the club and me putting them straight in.
“It has been a big ask, but they have stood up to it well.”
Pepple can link the play
Another attacking option for Ferguson is on-loan Luton forward Aribim Pepple. The 21-year-old former Canadian youth international has come off the bench in the past two weeks.
Pepple, known as “Bim”, has yet to play for Premier League club Luton, but has had game-time on loan with Grimsby and Bromley.
The manager said: “It is a bit different for him than where he has been. Playing for me, he has to work a lot harder off the ball.
“We need all of our players defending.
“He has a bit of pace, he’s young as is much of my team – the average age against Hibs was 23.
“He is a threat in behind, but I want him to be more than that and connect and combine the play as well.
“He’s not the finished article. Most of our young boys will be better for it years down the line, but we need them to hit the ground running as well because needs must.”
