Caley Thistle manager John Hughes is relishing his side’s return to home action when the Highlanders take on Hamilton Accies in tomorrow’s crucial Premiership match at Caledonian Stadium.
Inverness’ hopes of finishing in the top six for a fourth successive season suffered a blow when they were defeated 1-0 by St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park on Wednesday night.
The result adds more significance to tomorrow’s encounter with Accies but, with the Lanarkshire side just three points behind Caley Jags, an away victory could drag Hughes’ side into the relegation play-off mix.
Tomorrow’s fixture ends a sequence of five consecutive away matches for Caley Jags during which they have failed to record a victory.
Hughes is relieved to get back to Caledonian Stadium but does not expect a return to winning ways to come easy despite Accies recording just one win in their last 14 games.
Hughes said: “Games are coming thick and fast and it’s about playing and resting, playing and resting.
“We’ve been away five games in a row – for the first time in the club’s history. We are delighted to get back to Inverness.
“After the 8-1 drubbing Hamilton got against Celtic in January, Hamilton have changed their shape and are harder to beat.”
Inverness’ task has not been helped by the absence of several players through injury, with the likes of Josh Meekings, James Vincent and Alex Fisher sidelined recently.
To make matters worse, Caley Thistle will be without suspended defenders Gary Warren and Carl Tremarco against Accies tomorrow but Hughes has called for his depleted squad to rally for a result.
He added: “We’ve been asking the same boys to go again and it will be the same again this weekend.
“I always try to put myself into a player’s shoes and I’d rather play than train. The games are not a problem.
“Our problem is we need to get boys back from injury and get better numbers to pick from.
“We thought we were going to be able to build on what we did on Sunday but then Andrea Mbuyi-Mutombo and Miles Storey were not feeling well and missed out against St Johnstone.
“We just roll our sleeves up and get on with it. If it carries on, there’s a big Hughes boy who might get a game, and not the one who played on Wednesday night.”
