Billy Dodds reckons a willingness to win helped shoot his Caley Thistle aces back up the Championship table.
Back-to-back league losses against Morton and Partick Thistle, as well as a 4-0 Premier Sports Cup defeat at Premiership Motherwell, were a cause for concern.
Injuries were stacking up and confidence within the group was low, but they’ve responded in style with 2-0 and 3-2 league wins away to Raith Rovers and Dundee respectively.
The fixture in between, at home to Hamilton, was postponed following the death of the Queen.
At the weekend, Inverness kept their focus and dug deep when required to post a cracking victory over the Dark Blues on Tayside.
ICT moved above Dundee into the fourth spot and they sit just three points behind Partick Thistle and Ayr United and only two behind Queen’s Park after the first seven fixtures.
Cammy Harper wiped out a deflected opener from Ryan Sweeney, then won a penalty – which Billy Mckay tucked away.
Joe Grayson guided home a Paul McMullan shot for Dundee to make it 2-2, but ICT stood up to strong home pressure before Harper sealed the win to take ICT up a place.
Didn’t fold after two conceding goals
Head coach Dodds believes the players showed a fresh resolve to stand up to the test when it wasn’t going their way.
He said: “Dundee is a tough place to come. They are, for me, the favourites for this league.
“They have, like Kilmarnock last year, come down from the Premiership.
“It’s a big three points for us – but that’s all it is.
“We’ve come through two tough away games now, against Raith and Dundee, and so far handled it brilliantly. That shows you the togetherness within this club and within this group of players.
“We reacted well to going 1-0 down. Earlier in the season against Partick Thistle when we lost cheap goals, it floored us. We lost a cheap goal on Saturday and it didn’t floor us.
“I was delighted with that attitude where the players said: ‘Okay, there will be times when we’re up against it, we’ve lost goals, what do we do about it?’. I thought we showed that (character) as well.”
Unbeaten run is target for Dodds
Ayr lost 3-2 at Raith to slip off top spot, overtaken on goal difference by Partick Thistle, who were held to a 2-2 draw by Cove Rangers in a late fightback by the visitors at Firhill.
Owen Coyle’s Queen’s Park bounced back from their 3-0 loss at Dundee to win 2-0 at Hamilton.
Dodds hopes, after two straight wins, his team can add to their run when they visit Ayr on October 1.
He said: “This is a tough league and teams are finding that. Any team who can out a run together, as we proved last year, will be there or thereabouts.
“That’s what we’re aiming to do. Dundee will be there as well, as they are a very good team.
“They were putting us under pressure in the second half, but it could have been an easier day had we made it 3-1. We handled it and got the goal.”
Fans made themselves heard – boss
Almost 200 Inverness fans made themselves heard at Dens Park amid the 4,396 crowd and the ICT boss praised their efforts for spurring the side on.
He added: “The fans, who were so loud, maybe don’t realise how much they help us. They keep us going.
“For Cammy to score and all the boys go down and celebrate with them – as well as after the final whistle – was great.
“The fans will get their rewards. If we can score some good goals and give a good performance, they will be loud, and they were on Saturday.”
Game-time for fringe ICT players
Dodds will freshen the side up as much as he can at the moment when perfect Highland League starters Brechin City visit on Saturday in the third round of the SPFL Trust Trophy.
And the manager, who will assess Austin Samuels, who came off with a shin knock at Dundee, will use the competition to keep his full squad active.
He said: “The cup game will give others who have not been on the pitch too much a chance.
“I did that last year and I will do it again.
“It is hard to get local friendlies, those we want to keep the players fit, but I want to take every opportunity I can.”
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