Billy Dodds reckons Caley Thistle can give Championship leaders Kilmarnock a run for their money in Friday’s showdown – if they play like they did in the first half against Ayr.
However, the Inverness head coach is warning his players they cannot afford to repeat their second half slump, which allowed the Honest Men to hit back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2.
The positives are third-placed Caley Thistle are now four games unbeaten after three wins prior to their weekend seaside trip, and they are just three points away from securing a play-off spot.
Victory against leaders Killie on Friday night at the Caledonian Stadium will ensure fifth-placed Raith Rovers cannot catch them.
It would also provide a dramatic twist at the top, with second-placed Arbroath then able to slice Killie’s summit cushion down to one point on Saturday, should they defeat rock-bottom Queen of the South.
ICT in control at Ayr after early double
Early strikes by Shane Sutherland and Logan Chalmers had Caley Thistle coasting at Somerset Park on Saturday as they closed in on securing a top-four finish – as Raith lost 1-0 to Morton.
However, all that was good about their first half play was missing in the second half.
Eighth-placed Ayr stormed right back with goals from teenager Fraser Bryden and attacking midfielder Markus Fjortoft.
Four unbeaten ahead of Killie clash
The spotlight will be fully on the Highland capital on Friday as the BBC Scotland cameras roll in.
Dodds’ men have twice defeated Killie this term when Tommy Wright bossed the Rugby Parkers.
Inverness lost 1-0 to Derek McInnes’ re-energised Kilmarnock in January and Killie’s 2-0 win against Dunfermline at the weekend has them four points ahead of Arbroath with three games to go.
Dodds insists his players will dust themselves down after Saturday and will come out all guns blazing to try to secure that play-off shot, which will almost certainly be against Partick Thistle.
He said: “I’m looking forward to Friday. I wish we’d won on Saturday, because we’d be going into it with four straight wins. But we’re still four unbeaten after three wins and a draw.
“We won’t let Saturday affect us. We know what we’ve got to do. We’ve beaten Kilmarnock twice this season, they’ve beaten us once.
“We’re at our best by causing teams problems, but we will have to be at our best. I hope we play the way we did in the first half, but not the second.”
Strong start had Caley Jags flying
And the former Scotland, Aberdeen and Rangers striker felt Inverness were on course to go for goals after taking control with two goals inside 15 minutes.
He said: “The first 45 minutes in Ayr was up there with the best we’ve played this season.
“It was a type of performance where we thought we would go out and do really well after those first two goals. It felt like it could have been two, three or four.
“I told the boys it was important we never lost the next goal and it was poor defending, a turn and hit through a ruck of players and it ended in the net.”
Arbroath remain in title contention
With the top two teams winning, Dodds’ side are nine points away from second-placed Arbroath with just four fixtures to bank from.
He accepts his players fell short, having blown a big opportunity to turn the heat up on their rivals.
Dodds added: “It was good wins at the weekend for Kilmarnock and Arbroath (against Hamilton). We thought if we could win at Ayr, we’d see what happens.
“Fair play to Ayr United in the second half, but we didn’t do our bit and I’m really disappointed with the second half. Even in our bad run, I wasn’t saying that about the boys.
“Although Ayr were in the game, I felt we helped them along. I trusted the boys on Saturday to see it out.”