Caley Thistle midfielder Ross Draper is targeting a seventh-place finish in the Scottish Premiership after helping the Inverness men haul themselves away from the relegation play-off yesterday.
The Highlanders came from a goal behind at half-time to beat Kilmarnock 3-1 at Caledonian Stadium yesterday. The result has taken Inverness up to eighth in the league table, one point behind seventh-placed Dundee.
Greg Tansey scored from the spot and further goals from Draper and Danny Williams secured the points for Caley Thistle, cancelling out Kallum Higginbotham’s opener.
With the pressure off and Inverness no longer looking over their shoulders, Draper is hoping his side can finish the campaign with a flourish.
He said: “We enjoy our football but hopefully the pressure of not needing results will go in our favour in the last four games.
“We’ve got bonuses to play for and we want to finish seventh. If we could do that it would be a nice way to make up for not being in the top six this season.”
A disappointing crowd of just 2,228 turned up to watch the game at Caledonian Stadium and they watched a poor first-half showing from John Hughes’ players.
A whirlwind second-half display which brought three goals in 22 minutes swung the match in the Highlanders’ favour but Draper knows there is room for improvement.
He said: “There wasn’t a great atmosphere in the ground and we had to get the crowd going rather than look to them to get us going. The tempo wasn’t there in the first half.
“We pressed much better in the second half but we can’t take 45 minutes to get going in games and it is something we have to put right.”
Draper was fouled for the penalty which led to Kilmarnock goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald being sent off before Inverness equalised. Draper scored the second himself and played a role in the build-up to the third goal.
The victory takes Inverness 11 points clear of second-bottom Killie with four games remaining but Draper had sympathy for the way in which the visitors were punished.
He said: “It was a triple punishment for them.
“The rule has got to change sometime where you cannot have a penalty and a red card for a goalkeeper, but that’s how it stands just now.
“It was 100% a penalty but a red card? I don’t know. I have sympathy for their player but it’s dog eat dog and we needed the points just as much as they did.
“It is perhaps a little bit harsh as I was going away from goal but the referee had to make a decision and he did.”
