Caley Thistle defender Gary Warren has not given up hope of his side breaking into the Premiership top-six.
Inverness are running out of time to secure a fourth consecutive top-half finish. They must defeat Dundee United today as well as Hearts on Tuesday and also rely on numerous favours from other teams.
Should Caley Jags claim maximum points, they will need today’s match between Ross County and Partick Thistle to finish as a draw and for Hamilton to defeat Dundee.
The permutations leave the Highlanders’ hopes slim but Warren says his side cannot lose hope.
The 31-year-old said: “All we can do is win our two games and hope other results go for us. It is still within our grasp but is looking more and more unlikely.
“As a club and team we’re always striving to get into the top six and that’s what we’ll keep trying to do until mathematically impossible.
“We must focus on winning the first game on Saturday and then go again on Tuesday night. There is still an outside chance of us doing it. We’re relying on other teams, rather than us being in control. But if we win and results go for us on Saturday, we still have a chance going into the Hearts match.”
Caley Jags have won just one of their last nine games and Englishman Warren is determined for his side to show a reaction in the remaining games.
He added: “We just want to get back to winning.
“We’ve been a little too easy to beat. Against Motherwell last Saturday it was frustrating to concede the way we did in the last minute.
“It was the manner of conceding the goal late – and the fact it has happened so many times – that was most frustrating to me.
“When I spoke after the game I was angry, just at the fact it has happened so many times and we haven’t learned from it.
“I’m hoping we can go from now until the end of the season with a reaction from that game and the others where we conceded in the last 10 minutes.
“We will go down to Tannadice to win and to perform in the way we know we are capable of – and kill teams off, rather than have that soft underbelly.
“We want to be a team ruthless in offence and defence and play with that kind of passion and aggression.
“We need to take the aggression from last week and take it out on our opponents in the next couple of games.”
