Caley Thistle manager John Hughes has called on his side to learn from costly mistakes which have resulted in a succession of late goals this season.
Inverness have conceded in the last 10 minutes of 15 Premiership matches this season, including the decisive goal in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat by Motherwell which severely dented the Highlanders’ hopes of a top-six finish.
Caley Jags must defeat Dundee United and Hearts in their final two matches before the split and hope Hamilton beat Dundee and Ross County and Partick Thistle draw this weekend.
Hughes knows his team must show more concentration at key moments.
He said: “We need to be more streetwise when we have the ball to see the game out a little bit better.
“We need to work on it. I take responsibility as a coach. I watch the game and make sure that everyone is in position. Through experience of playing the game for so long, I roughly know where the ball is going to fall or going to be and it’s all about helping the players.
“At the time of Motherwell’s winner, I was watching our corner kick. I felt we had the back door shut and it was not until our ball came out and the ball back in was headed out again that they broke on us.
“We need to make sure we contest it when it comes into the box. We can work on that on the training pitch but sometimes it comes down to experienced players knowing where to be in certain situations. Hopefully, we will learn from that frustrating experience on Saturday.”
Hughes has been left frustrated by Inverness’ campaign but has praised his players for their reaction to the departure of several key men, along with various injury problems throughout the campaign. Hughes is determined to finish off the season on a high.
He added: “It’s not been fantastic this year for several reasons but I will flip the coin and say, for all our injury troubles and the players we have lost, to still be in top-six contention and reach two cup quarter-finals is not too bad. We have to weigh up the pros and cons.
“But we have to win. Football is really enjoyable when we are winning. We want to get back to winning ways and we are not too far away. Hopefully, someone can come up with a bit of magic.”
