Caley Thistle manager Richie Foran is wary of a trio of former Inverness players who will be eager to shoot down their former club today when Dundee visit Caledonian Stadium.
Inverness-born midfielder Nick Ross left his hometown club to join the Dark Blues last year, before being joined by English pair Danny Williams and James Vincent this summer.
Dundee are aiming to record their first victory since their last trip to the Highlands when they triumphed 3-1 at Ross County on the opening day of the season on August 6, and their first at Caledonian Stadium, and Foran expects his former team-mates will be leading the charge for Paul Hartley’s side.
Foran said: “We’re up against a really good side in Dundee. They’ve got players who can punish us. They’ve got a few of our ex-players coming back who will like to turn on the style against us as well.
“They’re a threat. We have to treat them with the respect they deserve.
“I’ve got huge respect for them. We’re going to be up against it. We need to compete as hard as we have been in the last few games. The desire, hunger and attitude must be there and I believe our quality will come out on top.”
Foran has hailed the character within his squad in recovering from a poor start to the campaign during which Inverness lost their first three league games.
Since getting their first win of the season with a late 2-1 victory against St Johnstone, Caley Jags have drawn with Aberdeen and Celtic and Foran is urging his side to carry their momentum into today’s encounter.
He added: “Confidence is running through the team and the club. Getting that result against St Johnstone gave us that little bit of confidence but I always had the belief we were going to turn it around.
“Results at the start were not great for us but we didn’t let it affect us.
“It shows the attitude, it shows there are some brave bodies in the dressing-room. There were no crisis meetings, we just kept going and kept believing.
“Now we’ve turned it around, we’re going in the right direction and we’re looking up the table. We’ll be setting up to go and win again. These are the games we must be winning.”