Billy Dodds cannot speak highly enough of how his Caley Thistle side are digging deep, after a 1-0 win against Cove Rangers.
The Caley Jags were without five first-team players heading to Cove and lost two more – Roddy MacGregor and Scott Allardice – during the game.
But thanks to Steven Boyd’s first-half goal, they have now won five straight in the league and are keeping pace at the top of the Championship.
“It’s not been pretty but if you’re asking me about determination and effort, I’m getting all of that and we’re winning,” said Dodds
“I’m delighted with the work the boys are putting in. We can play better but my word, if you’re playing bad and winning games you’ve got to take that.
“Scott has a thigh problem and felt it coming on again. Roddy is running and the boy clips his other leg, which has rolled his ankle.
“It’s a mark of a good team when you’re missing so many. That’ll be another two and we’ve got a lot of fixtures coming up.
“But to talk the positives, to win five in this league is so hard. We’ve had to dig in to do it and that’s why I’m thrilled.
“My back four look solid. We always get chances. Even though it was only one on Saturday, if we keep a clean sheet I think we’ll score most weeks.”
Boyd was on hand to finish from close-range after 19 minutes, when Billy Mckay was played through and squared for his team-mate to tap in.
Cove struggled to create too many clear-cut chances, with the best one coming from Mitch Megginson in the second half that Mark Ridgers was equal to.
Substitute Nathan Shaw could have added a second late on but Kyle Gourlay was equal to it, before Cove were reduced to 10 men after Leighton McIntosh was sent off for lashing out at Zak Delaney.
“We had as much of the game as Inverness but it was a tight game and our final pass and crosses just wasn’t good enough,” said Cove boss Jim McIntyre.
“That was where we let ourselves down and we gave away a really cheap goal switching off at the back post.
“We got punished but we didn’t have too much to deal with after that even though Inverness controlled the game for a wee bit after that.
“We looked as it affected the confidence for a while but we came out second half and tried to have a go. We did have a lot of the ball and that’s fine but we did have any penetration.
“We got into some good areas but made the wrong choices and that’s why we’ve not managed to score.”
Cove have now got back-to-back away games, against Ayr United and Hamilton Accies, and they have only picked up a point on the road this season.
“The away results have been poor and we are well aware that we were well up the table in home points and bottom on away points,” added McIntyre.
“So it is up to us to rectify that. We need to produce the type of performances we produce at home but be better in front on goal.
“There are a couple of games where we should have picked up points already so they are not all classed the same.
“The last one away to Raith was our worst away performance of the season even though they were very good.
“It’s up to us to show that stat off our back with a positive performance and more ruthless in the final third.”
COVE RANGERS (4-1-2-3) – Gourlay 6; Johnston 6, Sanders 5, Reynolds 5, Logan 6, Gilmour 6 (McDonagh 79), Yule 6, Scully 6, Longstaff 5 (Leitch 79), Megginson 6, Dunne 5 (McIntosh 46). Subs not used – McKenzie, Towler, Ross, Neill, Vigurs.
CALEY THISTLE (4-4-1-1) – Ridgers 6; Carson 6, Duffy 6, Deas 7, Delaney 6, Boyd 6 (Shaw 79), Allardice 6 (Hyde 46), Harper 6, MacKay 7, MacGregor 5 (Doran 22), Mckay 7 (Oakley 76). Subs not used – Mackay, Ram.
Referee – Graham Grainger 5.
Attendance – 1,071.
Player of the match – Daniel MacKay.