Caley Thistle manager John Robertson is urging another strong show of defensive resistance to keep Queen of the South attacker Stephen Dobbie quiet at Caledonian Stadium tomorrow.
Veteran striker Dobbie is in outstanding form, having already netted 21 goals in just 13 matches for the Doonhamers in all competitions so far this season.
Inverness have the second best defensive record in the Championship, and having thwarted Ayr United’s 15-goal striker Lawrence Shankland in a 0-0 draw last month, Robertson says preventing the supply to Dobbie will be key to keeping the 35-year-old out.
Robertson said: “Everyone is giving Stephen Dobbie massive plaudits and rightly so – 21 goals is phenomenal this early in the season.
“But it would be wrong to take away from all the other boys in the team like Lyndon Dykes up front, who is a great foil for Dobbie. They have Gary Harkins and a raft of other players who can
cause us problems if we take our eye off the ball.
“We stopped Lawrence Shankland earlier on in the season and he was on fire. It is the same with Stephen Dobbie.
“He will not come in for any special treatment per se, other than we will make our defenders aware of the strengths he carries.
“He is a massive strength of theirs and we don’t want to give him any chances around about the box.
“Yes, keep an eye on him, but if Queen of the South don’t have the ball, Dobbie can’t score the goals. The key for us is to keep possession of the ball, get our dangerous players on it and score goals ourselves.
“We’re playing with confidence and if we take that into he match on Saturday then we are hopeful we can win all three points.”
Robertson hopes to make the most of Caley Jags’ upcoming two games at Caledonian Stadium, adding: “We’ve picked up some good points on our travels and want to build some string home form.
“We won our last game here, which was good, and now want to follow that up in the two home matches we have coming up against Queens and Morton.”