Caley Thistle boss John Robertson wants his side to stop being nice in their hunt for second place.
Last night’s 2-1 defeat against Dundee United all-but hands the Championship title to the Tannadice side, who stretch their lead to 21 points with 11 games of the season to go.
The Caley Jags are in a battle for play-off places with several other sides, as Ayr United, Dundee, Arbroath and Dunfermline are all in close proximity, with Morton hovering not too far behind.
Robertson’s side could lose second spot this afternoon, with Arbroath and Ayr due to meet at Gayfield, and the Inverness manager wants his players to add an edge to their game in the season’s run-in.
He said: “I don’t think we hurt enough when we lose. The players are too nice to each other at times. They don’t fall out with each other on the pitch. They don’t give each other stick for a bad pass. You’ve got to drive each other on, if someone’s not doing something you need them to do.
“We put more than enough into that game to get something out of it. The reason we haven’t is we’re not clinical enough; lots of little things make a big difference and that’s what’s let us down again. Right now, any one of five or six teams can finish in the play-off places.”
Inverness had gone in level at the interval against the Arabs, thanks to Jordan White cancelling out Louis Appéré’s opener. However, the league’s leading marksman Lawrence Shankland decided the contest in the second half.
Robertson had no qualms about pitching in James Keatings against one of his former clubs, after a nightmare week for the forward. The Scottish FA rejected Inverness’ appeal to have his second yellow card against Rangers colts overturned, despite clear video evidence in their favour, resulting in a strongly-worded statement calling into question the figures that head up the disciplinary panel.
It is a move that has generated support across Scottish football and opened the wider debate into reforming the procedures. The club’s chief executive Scot Gardiner had said Keatings was left devastated by the ruling, however there was never any doubt in Robertson’s mind that he was going to play against United.
Robertson added: “James was ready to play and he played very well. He was determined to play – he’s got a fire in his belly because he’s annoyed with the situation. But all our thoughts were on to win three points.
“All I’ve been doing is concentrating on the Dundee United match. That’s been passed over to the board to deal with, after the statement.”