Caley Thistle manager Richie Foran hopes the psychological power of victory in his side’s last outing will give the Highlanders fresh impetus for today’s trip to Kilmarnock.
Inverness revived their hopes of Premiership survival with a 2-1 win against Hamilton last weekend, which was only their second triumph in 24 league matches.
With three matches to play, Caley Jags are four points adrift of both Hamilton and Motherwell who meet in a Lanarkshire derby at New Douglas Park today.
Foran has remained upbeat throughout his side’s struggles and has even turned to sports psychology in an attempt to lift the spirits of his players but the Irishman believes no inspirational words could match the impact of a victory to boost their confidence ahead of their crucial Rugby Park encounter.
Foran said: “It’s about belief now and the belief will be there. The belief has been very close, even when we haven’t got our win.
“Although we keep speaking to them and we work with performance coach Donald MacNaughton on the mental side of the game as well to keep them positive, there’s no better mood changer than three points on a Saturday.
“It was well deserved, it wasn’t scrappy. The only disappointing part was we maybe didn’t score another three or four goals. To create so many clear-cut chances shows how much the lads were up for it.
“What a great time to have a performance like that and we can’t wait for this game to come around.”
Foran has midfielders Iain Vigurs and Liam Polworth available again but goalkeeper Owain Fon Williams will continue to miss out with a groin injury and the Caley Jags manager has called for character from his side.
He added: “Maybe there’s been a panic with some players over the last few weeks but that’s a huge win for our mental strength. We’re looking for strong characters at this stage of the season.
“Forget about winning games, staying in the league or relegation, it’s about desire, passion, workrate. We need the players to be nasty at times and use their football brain. We outmuscled Hamilton and I want us to do the same to Kilmarnock.
“We’ve got to pick the right players and I’m picking strong-minded players, strong characters. We had that last week and we need more. We’ve got to up our game from last week. We need to raise our levels.”
