Caley Thistle will be on their guard against the dangerous Cove Rangers finishers who have buried teams in the Championship this season.
Inverness head coach Billy Dodds takes his team to the Balmoral Stadium on Saturday looking to extend a four-game winning run – and with a chance to be leading the league by full-time with a victory.
However, with Jim McIntyre’s Cove banking 10 of their 11 points at home, ICT expect a tough time at a venue where they lost 3-1 last season on League Cup duty.
Dodds was blown away by Cove’s thrilling 3-1 victory over visitors Dundee earlier this month, with Conor Scully’s acrobatic brace following a Mitch Megginson equaliser after Dundee scored first.
League One champions Cove, who lost 4-1 at Inverness earlier this season, have also recently sent last season’s runners-up Arbroath away pointless in a 2-0 victory. Scully netted twice in that game, too.
Therefore, Dodds is well-briefed on what lies ahead and he’s calling for a top performance from his side in order to stay on the title trail.
He said: “Cove beat Dundee 3-1. I watched the game and they were brilliant.
“The goals they scored were quality from Mitch Megginson and Conor Scully, and it is some work ethic Jim gets from his team.
“We can’t take that lightly, but we won’t – we have a good professional group of players.
“There are not many matches where we don’t score, so if we keep clean sheets there is every chance we’ll be winning games.”
Cove Rangers have depth and energy
Despite that defeat at Inverness, Cove have also troubled Dodds’ team by drawing 1-1 at the Caledonian Stadium in July, taking their Premier Sports Cup tie to penalties before ICT edged it.
Dodds feels their eighth-placed opponents, who could rise to mid-table depending on results, have improved since their league meeting in August.
He said: “Cove are in a different position mentally because they have picked up points and been winning games, although Raith beat them on Saturday.
“They also have good depth in their squad now and Jim has made a few good signings. He has a lot of energy in his squad now, with young lads coming in who can get about the pitch.”
Friends and rivals going head to head
For the third time this season, Dodds will face his friend McIntyre on the sidelines.
McIntyre and Dodds won the League Cup for Ross County in 2016 and have strong links on and off the park, but the Inverness boss stressed it’s the men on the pitch who matter this weekend.
He added: “Jim and I are used to it because we’ve played one another twice. It’s just another game and you get on with it.
“It’s not about us – it’s about the two sets of players. We can give them the information, but ultimately the players have to do it on the pitch.
“We will phone one another after it, as we always do, and have a good chinwag.
“At Saturday 3pm, we will both be desperate to win.”
Boss keeping feet firmly on the floor
Dodds, though delighted with their four-match winning run, isn’t getting carried away, despite seeing off Raith, Dundee, Ayr and Partick Thistle.
He said: “If we start thinking: ‘that’s a statement to the league’ then we’d be barking up the wrong tree.
“Morton, for example, beat us up here, so you can slip up.
“Cove beat Dundee, too, you can see it all the time in this division.
“The results in this league are brutal. Anybody can turn anyone over. I’m not looking at any team and thinking it will be a nice easy one.
“We’re enjoying the run, but we have to keep going. We have to have our game heads on week to week.
“If we don’t, it will go the other way and we’ll lose games. We’re in a really good place and I’m really happy with the boys’ mindset, focus and determination.
“We hope to continue the run and this is another big game for us. We’ve beaten big teams away from home and on Friday at home against Partick Thistle, so we have to realise every game in this division is tough.”
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