Caley Thistle manager John Hughes is confident the Highland club can avoid a repeat of its abysmal first-half showing against Aberdeen last time out when they take on Partick Thistle at Firhill today.
The Caley Jags conceded four goals before mounting a spirited comeback in the second period in losing 4-3 to the Dons at the Caledonian Stadium last Saturday.
Inverness have built their reputation and place in the Scottish Premiership table on a strong defence and Hughes wants his players to return to their miserly ways as they aim to exact revenge for a 2-1 loss against Partick in October.
He said: “Sometimes you have to give credit to the opposition, Aberdeen were clinical.
“Our only crime was trying too hard. We has to chase the game and we left ourselves a little bit exposed.
“The players responded to everything we asked of them at half-time, as they did at Hearts.
“They implemented every instruction we gave them. Even in defeat, there was plenty to be proud of.
“But we need to get ourselves back to winning ways against Partick.
“They play nice football and have one or two injuries at the moment which have probably hampered them a little bit.
“With any Partick team at Firhill – especially with a Boxing Day atmosphere – you know you are in for a game.
“They have beaten us already, so we know how difficult it is going to be.”
Full back Graeme Shinnie will captain Inverness at Firhill with Richie Foran set to be out for at least the next two months.
Hughes added: “At the age of only 22 Graeme has a big future in front of him.
“David Raven has been injured so Graeme is a left back playing right back.
“It does not faze him. Left back is his favoured position but he is quite happy as long as he is playing.
“We don’t know the extent of Richie’s shoulder injury. He will see a specialist, but he is going to be out for a good few weeks and he will be a massive miss. I will need to think about how we fill the void.”