Stuart McKenzie hopes Cove Rangers can end their away-day hoodoo and leapfrog Championship rivals Caley Thistle.
Cove have not won on the road all season and can pile further pressure on the stuttering Highlanders with victory at the Caledonian Stadium this afternoon.
Inverness were thumped 5-1 by Partick Thistle on December 23 and while they have had a catalogue of injuries to deal with, their promotion aspirations look to be hanging by a thread.
Cove, on the other hand, are looking to end an unwanted record of their own, having drawn four and lost four of their eight away games to date.
“We play Inverness today and they’re the team above us just now,” said McKenzie.
“Hopefully we can get our first away win in the league and that would take us above them.
“That’s our aim, to get the three points, which is important.
“We go into every game wanting the three points. Our home form is a lot better than our away form, so hopefully we can get that first win on the road. We can’t just keep relying on our home form.”
Few doubts Cove had the quality to step up
Cove closed out the year with a 2-0 win over Hamilton Accies, which put a 10-point gap between them and the bottom side.
The Aberdeen side want to be chasing down the sides above them and are only a win away from being able to get into the middle of the pack.
But they have also managed to do that while retaining a nucleus of players who have been with the club from the Highland League, such as McKenzie, Blair Yule, Connor Scully and Mitch Megginson.
“There’s been games where we’ve maybe deserved more out of but have not seen out properly,” added McKenzie. “We’ve got a lot of new players and it took time for them to settle in.
“In the second quarter the team has gelled better and we knew each other’s games better.
“You’ve seen over the years, when we were coming through the leagues, that we did well when we played against the league teams in the cups.
“I don’t think it was ever in doubt we could do it. It’s just about doing it every week. It shows you the calibre of player we had at Cove in the Highland League – I think there’s still six of us here now.”
McKenzie’s own form and future
McKenzie has made the most of his return to the side, having started the season behind Kyle Gourlay in the pecking order.
He returned with an important display in the 2-0 win over Queen’s Park and has kept performances up to retain his spot between the posts.
“I feel I’m doing alright. It wasn’t easy when I wasn’t playing, as there aren’t many games for the goalie that’s not playing,” said McKenzie.
“It’s about taking your chance when it comes and I feel I’ve done well so far.
“I need to keep it up, as I know if I don’t perform he (McIntyre) can change it again.”
Fellow club stalwarts Scully and Yule recently signed new deals at the Balmoral Stadium, until 2025, while Scully has a testimonial on the horizon.
McKenzie had his testimonial during the summer and is in talks over extending his stay at Cove.
“I’ve spoke to the club – there’s nothing agreed yet so we’ll just see what happens,” he added.
“I’ve had a lot of success there and spent a lot of years there, so we’ll see.”