Goalkeeper Mark Ridgers warns Caley Thistle they must look no further than facing Cove Rangers – with a treble of crunch Championship games offering the chance to remain high-flyers.
The Inverness number one, who has helped the Highlanders to four clean sheets so far this season, is focused on getting the better of Jim McIntyre’s steadily improving Cove at the Balmoral Stadium on Saturday.
Leaving the Granite City with full points would make it five straight wins ahead of back-to-back home matches against Hamilton and Raith Rovers.
Beating Partick Thistle 1-0 last Friday hauled ICT into a three-way battle at the top alongside the Glasgow Jags and Ayr United.
A faultless week ahead, therefore, would leave them sitting pretty before they round off the month on Friday October 28 away to Morton.
Confidence surging through the side
Ridgers knows the importance of these next three matches, but acknowledges the hard work must continue against Cove to make the perfect week possible.
He said: “If we could go and win these three games in a week, it would be ideal – perfect.
“But the most important thing is to maintain our consistency and winning obviously makes a massive difference.
“The confidence is there for everyone – you can see it on the training ground.
“We’re all buzzing to go again and when you’re winning you want these games coming thick and fast.
“Realistically, if we manage to win these next three games, we’ll be top of the table and that’s where we want to be.
“But the first focus is Saturday. We’ll look for a performance and result to set us up for Tuesday night against Hamilton.”
McIntyre improving Cove’s fortunes
The 32-year-old shotstopper recognises Cove, who have recently defeated Dundee and Arbroath at home, are a side getting used to life in the second-tier.
He said: “Cove are well-organised. Their manager Jim McIntyre has a lot of experience and did really well at Ross County.
“Cove started slowly, but found a balance within the team and more consistent team selection has brought them results.
“We just have to continue doing what we’re doing and get another result on Saturday to keep us at the top end of the table.
“Teams promoted always come in with a bit of momentum. Queen’s Park have done it as well in this league.
“But when you start off by losing games and are struggling a little bit, as Cove were, it is a case of reorganising. Jim is very experienced and has done that.
“They have found a style and got results to put themselves in the mix for the middle of the table. It is really tight, still, after the first quarter.
“We have to be consistent, go to these places and pick up results which, come the end of the season, could be massive for us.”
Clean sheets giving team platform
And Ridgers, whose 75 clean sheets in 209 games is a club record, feels standing strong against their opponents is proving to be a sound foundation for the move up the table.
He added: “I always enjoy a clean sheet, but if we’re winning games that’s most important.
“At this club, everything is geared towards getting us out of this league. Clean sheets just make it more likely we’ll win matches.
📅 Fixture Amendment
Our cinch Championship away match against Partick Thistle will now take place on Friday 23rd December, 7:45pm kick-off following the agreement of both clubs. pic.twitter.com/Nsqln2hLJm
— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) October 13, 2022
“If I’m getting them and the team is scoring, we’re going to be winning games.
“We’ve gone for solid and hard-to-beat again. Three clean sheets in the last four games has helped.
“We have got goalscorers in the team who can always win us games.
“Billy Mckay only needs one chance, as he showed against Partick.
“We’ve drawn confidence from it and we have to build on that on Saturday for a difficult game again.”
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