Ross County midfielder Jamie Lindsay believes the Staggies owe their supporters a strong Highland derby performance against Caley Thistle on Saturday.
The two sides will meet for the third time this season, with a capacity crowd expected at Victoria Park.
Both encounters have ended in draws so far this term, with a 0-0 draw in Dingwall in September followed by a 2-2 draw at Caledonian Stadium in November, and Lindsay feels his side have fallen short of their best on both occasions.
Lindsay said: “I think we owe ourselves one against Inverness – even in our performance levels.
“We have played them twice and we have not played as well as we should have. It’s a massive game, so we will get back to work after Christmas and prepare well for the derby on Saturday.
“The games are good to play in. The atmosphere is really good, especially the first time when the Inverness fans came here.
“We took a good support over there, but we have not really been able to enjoy it because we have not had the results.
“Hopefully we will put that right on Saturday.”
County will go into the match as league leaders after their 2-0 victory over Partick Thistle on Saturday saw them leapfrog Ayr United, who drew 0-0 against Dunfermline.
Former Celtic player Lindsay was pleased to return to winning ways after squandering two opportunities to go top in draws against Queen of the South and Ayr.
The 23-year-old added: “It’s obviously nice to be top. Everybody knows we let ourselves down against Queen of the South. They sat in, we had most of the ball but we didn’t get that second goal to kill it off.
“In the game against Ayr we went 1-0 up and found ourselves 3-1 down at half time, then showed great spirit to come back for a draw. Saturday was a great result and luckily enough Ayr dropped points to take us back to the top.
“We spoke about it in the dressing room – Partick Thistle are probably one of the best teams we have played. There was a big change in them from the first time we played them.
“We know every week is going to be different. It’s a hard league.
“We showed a bit of togetherness, better than we have done, and the clean sheet is massive after conceding three goals the previous week against Ayr.
“That will give the guys confidence and it will be good to build on that.”
