Mark Ridgers says keeping the goals against column down must remain a crucial pillar in Caley Thistle’s Championship charge.
Inverness meet Arbroath at home on Tuesday (7.45pm), three days after battling back for a 1-1 draw against Raith Rovers which left them three points clear at the top of the division.
Conceding the second half opener to 10-man Raith, following a sweeping home attack, was a rare moment of vulnerability for a Caley Jags side who have only let in five league goals so far this season, and was made less damaging by skipper Sean Welsh’s equaliser.
However, goalkeeper Ridgers thinks Inverness must remain miserly to complement the team’s attacking threat, with a healthy 13 Championship goals scored so far.
Ridgers said: “When you look at the stats, especially with the goals conceded, it’s quite low.
“As a goalkeeper. you have to be proud of that and hopefully it continues that way.
“From the front, with the way we’ve set up and the way our style is from the beginning of the first league game until now, we’re hard to break down and that’s really important.
“We’ve always believed, if we can keep the ball out of the net, we’ve got enough in the team to score a goal or two.
“It’s going to be like that throughout the whole season, so fingers crossed we can continue to do that – keep a good defensive record and put the ball in the net at the other end.”
Caley Thistle met Tuesday’s visitors Arbroath on the opening day of the league campaign, winning 1-0 at Gayfield – the first victory of their seven so far.
Ridgers thinks their performance at a tricky venue against Dick Campbell’s side “set the tone” for the great start to the season.
With Inverness looking to make it six home league wins on the bounce at the Caledonian Stadium when the Red Lichties visit, the stopper said: “The first game of the season set the tone for us.
“People talk about them being the only part-time team in our league and stuff, but, when you put that to one side, they’ve got a very good squad and are rightly in this league. It’s not like they’re here holding on every year. They’ve been really, really good in previous years.
“We know how good they are. When we went there earlier in the season, to get the result – the 1-0 – with the way we defended also in that game, it’s a difficult place to go and that kind of set us up, that mentality from the first game to where we are now.
“On Tuesday, we know it’s going to be difficult, we know the way they want to play, but our home record this year in the league has been brilliant and we need to keep that going. If you want to go on to achieve good things in the league, your home record’s really important.”
Ridgers thinks victory against fifth-placed Arbroath – and a total of four points from the clashes with Tuesday’s opponents and Raith on Saturday – would be a good return.
This weekend, Inverness face fourth-placed Partick Thistle – another side who will be targeting the play-offs at the very least – at Firhill.
The 31-year-old thinks Caley Thistle must deal with being the team everyone is gunning to overtake in the weeks ahead, adding: “When you look at the fixtures the way that they are now and where we’ve put ourselves in the league, everyone’s trying to catch us and ultimately trying to beat us.
“We set the standard ourselves and we need to try to keep to that standard now. Everybody knows the Championship is a tough league.
“These are the games now, where – if you want to do something in the league and get out of the league – you’re going to have to go these places at one point in the season, in good or bad form, and get results.”