Former Caley Thistle assistant boss Maurice Malpas pinpointed home form as the key to glory for the club in the Championship next season.
Malpas was team-mates with current ICT head coach Billy Dodds at Dundee United in the late 1990s before the ex-Scotland striker clinched a move to Rangers.
And he’s been impressed by Dodds who, in his first year in charge at ICT, guided the club to the play-off final where there were pipped by St Johnstone.
Malpas, with Terry Butcher as manager, helped bring Inverness back into the Premiership in 2010, after the pain of relegation the year before.
Caley Thistle finished third in the Championship last term and were eight points behind champions Kilmarnock and six points poorer than runners-up Arbroath.
A dip in form, which saw them fail to win for 11 straight games mid-season, cost them the chance of pushing for the title.
Scotland and Dundee United legend Malpas follows his old club with interest and he believes Dodds’ men have to make life especially tough for opponents when they visit the Caledonian Stadium.
ICT must slice gap at the top – Malpas
Inverness had the third best home form behind Killie and Arbroath and Malpas feels maintaining, or improving that further, will bolster their chances at the top.
He said: “I am sure the players will be more confident of getting closer to the leaders next season.
“And it’s not so much about getting better runs of form. It’s about making sure they have less of the poor runs, they will be a handful.
“I don’t care what anyone says – very few people enjoy going up to the Highlands to play.
“They find the journey difficult and the conditions are not easy. A lot of teams can be beaten before they even get up there.
“That’s where Inverness have got to ensure they make it difficult for opponents to pick anything up from the Caledonian Stadium.
“They can then try and go away and do the business away from home as well.”
Top two places must be goal for ICT
The fixtures were released on Friday, with ICT hosting newly-promoted Queen’s Park on July 30 before a trip to Arbroath and a home fixture against Cove Rangers, who have just installed ex-Ross County boss Jim McIntyre as their new manager.
Malpas knows his old pal Dodds will need to be wise in the market this summer as the side aims to win the league or, at worst, finish second to have only four play-off games at most compared to six last term.
He said: “If I was in their shoes, I’d be confident of having a really good season and at least getting into the play-offs.
“If you’re not going to go up automatically by winning the league, make sure you finish second to have two fewer play-off fixtures.
“Inverness won’t have a massive pool to pick from, so you have to go back to the well to pick the same players for so many games. It’s not easy.
“Billy will try to add to the squad, but as ever it comes down to what the budget allows.
“Nothing will change at a club like Inverness. Pounds and pennies are counted, which you have to try and wangle to get yourselves a better player.
“Doddsy will have a lot of wheeling and dealing to be done in the coming weeks. He will try to get a nugget of a player from somewhere for not a lot of money.
“That one player might make your team a bit better more often.”
Pride after making play-off final
Malpas watched the Highlanders’ promotion games on TV and feels they can regroup, boosted by taking their promotion bid to the wire.
He added: “I think they’ve got to take heart from how close they came last season.
“At the start of last season, they would have been targeting the play-offs, which they reached, and made it the way to the final.
“They struggled at times and they had two or three spells where they looked as if they’d struggle to beat anyone, but they kept on going and were the team who finished the strongest.”
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