Duncan Ferguson sees no reason why his Caley Thistle team’s pursuit of points won’t go all the way to the final night of the Championship season.
The second-tier of Scottish football had everything decided on week 36 last term, with Inverness losing 2-1 to Ayr United and missing out on a top-four spot as a result.
A six-match winning run under Billy Dodds took last year’s Scottish Cup runners-up into a promotion place, but the slip-up against the Honest Men denied them a second successive shot at a step-up.
There has been a change this season at Ayr, with former Celtic, Scotland and Aberdeen skipper Scott Brown replacing Lee Bullen.
🎟️ Tickets are available now for this Saturday's cinch Championship against @AyrUnitedFC at the Caledonian Stadium
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— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) March 12, 2024
And they are the visitors to Inverness on Saturday as ICT seek to win their first home league game in four months – since defeating Ayr 3-1 in November.
Ninth-placed Caley Thistle will leapfrog Ayr and could move as high as sixth in an ultra-competitive division below title contenders Dundee United and Raith Rovers.
With eight games remaining, ICT sit just six points below fourth-placed Morton, albeit having played one match more than Ton.
Beating Ayr is ‘crucial’ – Ferguson
Inverness are on a five-game unbeaten run, but with four draws within that sequence, and manager Ferguson reckons Friday, May 3, when Morton head north might be the date final places are decided.
He said: “We expect it to go all the way. It has been a long, tough season.
“Apart from the top two, all the teams seem very similar to one another.
“I think it will go to the wire.
“A win on Saturday would give us a real boost to move towards mid-table. We have a massive away game after that away to Dundee United, so this one against Ayr is crucial.”
Strong on road, struggling at home
Ferguson has already voiced his concern about their “crippling” home results this week, but he hopes having the chance to overtake Ayr will provide the edge for ICT.
He said: “It’s good motivation to know we can go above Ayr.
“The big one for us is to try and address the home form.
“That should be giving us the motivation because we’ve not won here (in the league) for months and months. That has put us under real pressure.
“Our away record is the third-best in the division (after Dundee United and Raith Rovers). It has been fantastic.
“Our home form has been shocking, so we need to turn that around at the weekend.”
Clean sheets could be ‘an extra point’
Inverness currently have the fifth-best goal difference in the Championship, aided by three successive shut-outs.
Ferguson reckons becoming harder to score against has been the foundation for their improvement last and this month.
He added: “Keeping clean sheets is important. You then only need one goal to win a game.
“We’re a good team and defensively we have tightened up.
“It’s about getting the balance where we create the chances and take our chances. We played well against Airdrie (in the 0-0 home draw) on Saturday without creating too many chances, although I felt we were the better team.
“When we won 2-0 at Morton recently, we also played well, so we are on a good bit of form.
“The clean sheets could well help us achieve what would be like an extra point if it goes down to the wire.”