Caley Thistle defender Josh Meekings will not entertain talk of a sustained challenge at the top of the Premiership.
Inverness beat champions Celtic 1-0 at home on Saturday to stay at the top of the table, with Hoops defender Eoghan O’Connell’s own goal the difference.
Meekings was part of a defence which recorded its fourth straight clean sheet this season but the former Ipswich Town central defender said: “The league is very tight, and anyone can beat anyone.
“It’s a bit early to be thinking about second place. We’ve only played four games so I am not too sure about that, but we will be looking to progress as the season goes on and get better.
“I don’t know how far ahead we can look. We have had four good results and we have to be positive and show people we are ready for a challenge and make it as tough for people to play us as we can.”
Meekings believes the Inverness squad has benefited from a first pre-season under manager John Hughes, who succeeded Terry Butcher last December.
The 21-year-old has embraced the changes Hughes has implemented, but also feels continuity is key in a squad that has remained virtually intact with midfielder Lewis Horner the only addition of the summer.
Meekings added: It was difficult at the end of last season for the manager to come in and get his ideas across. He didn’t get the time he wanted but we had the pre-season and he brought in his ideas. We’ve seen clearly what we wants to do and we have taken to it.
“The former manager was a bit more direct whereas we have a slower approach now where we try to keep the ball, play passes and tire people out rather than go in gung ho. It’s just a different way of playing but both are effective.
“It was slightly different against Celtic because they had a lot of the ball but we we dug in deep and dealt with the challenges well.
“It’s helped us not having many new guys. We’ve got a good bond and we gel well. We all know how we play and work off each other and everyone is enjoying training and it’s showing on the pitch.”