Caley Thistle will be ready to try to win the Championship title – with second-place the lowest they can accept.
That’s the view of ICT chief executive Scot Gardiner as the Highlanders look to blast back to the top table for the first time since 2017.
Inverness were pipped in the Premiership play-off final by St Johnstone, who roared away to a 4-0 win in the second leg to win 6-2 overall last month.
Third-placed ICT had to come through quarter-final and semi-final double-headers against Partick Thistle and Arbroath before two final fixtures against the Perth Saints.
So, while clinching the title clearly is the goal for Billy Dodds’ men, the never-achieved route to the Premiership from the play-off quarter-finals makes it too tough a task.
Therefore, a runner-up finish, like Arbroath achieved last term, ensures two fewer games, which could make all the difference when these vital fixtures come thick and fast.
Quarter-finalists’ hectic schedule
Kilmarnock have gone up as champions, while Dundee have come down, with League 1 winners Cove Rangers joined by Queen’s Park, and Queen of the South and Dunfermline Athletic relegated to third-tier.
Gardiner sees no reason why Inverness cannot get the better of one of his former employers, favourites Dundee, to gain an automatic step-up.
He said: “The division is there for us to win it. That’s the target for us, without a doubt.
“We know the importance of finishing third or fourth after last season. If we’re not going to win the league, we have to be second.
“We saw the impact of having those extra matches had on us. It affected us, although that’s not why we lost.
“If you are second, you can sit back and watch.
“In our first match in the play-offs, at Partick Thistle, and in came Stephen Robinson (St Mirren manager), Alec Clelland from St Johnstone – everyone is watching the quarter-finalists going for it, full on to try and reach the semi-finals.
“If you’re second, you’re the club going to watch the third and fourth-placed teams.
“Having said all that, if you’d said to us the night before we beat Arbroath 3-0 in March after an 11-game winless run that we’d be 45 minutes away from possible promotion we’d have taken it. At that point, it seemed inconceivable.
“You have to balance the ups and downs. However, the highs can be ridiculous and the lows can be crushing.”
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