Caley Thistle head coach Billy Dodds is determined to deliver a winning blow against bogey side Hamilton – starting on Saturday at New Douglas Park.
Last week’s 2-0 SPFL Trust Trophy defeat against their Championship hosts came with ICT’s under-18s mainly involved.
It was a spirited performance from the young group, pitched into action after the Highlanders opted to rest their regular seniors amid an injury crisis which still extends to nine players.
🔜 This Saturday we're back at New Douglas Park in league action as we face @acciesfc
Ticket & Supporters Bus Info 👉 https://t.co/WIWI3HBBxZ pic.twitter.com/cPwmdHKtfG
— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) December 14, 2022
The head-to-head record between the clubs is now all-level, with 11 wins apiece and six draws.
However, in recent times it’s been Accies who have had the upper-hand, with a 1-0 league win in Inverness in October following two victories and a draw last term.
This weekend, sixth-placed ICT are hunting three precious points, needing to get their first Championship victory since beating Cove Rangers 1-0 in mid-October.
The game, which is subject to a 7.45am pitch inspection, is of huge importance to John Rankin’s Hamilton too, with the Lanarkshire side two points behind Arbroath at the foot of the division.
ICT must match Accies’ desire – boss
Dodds knows that energetic willingness to work non-stop is the first aspect of the game his own players must be ready for.
He said: “Even when Hamilton were comprehensively beaten 4-0 in their last league game against us last season, the one thing that Hamilton always have – especially against us – is that real desire and hard work ethic.
“It has got them success against us, and we have to make sure we match that.
“I’m sure we will, I’ve been seeing positive signs, but we have to realise that some teams you play against have a good record against you.
“Hamilton have a good record against us, and we want to put that right.”
Capable of beating most opponents
Accies don’t have a magical formula they’ve worked out against ICT to have the best of the recent games and Dodds is confident ICT can be the winners this time.
He said: “When we played them at the end of last season, we won 4-0 and we were really good that day.
“There have just been a couple of crucial games – we went on a five-game winning run and they hit us with a sucker-punch.
“We weren’t at our best that night, we didn’t play particularly well, but we gave a lot to the game in terms of effort and work-rate, it just never worked out for us.
“That was the start of a run where we lost a few games, so we need to start handling individual games.
“It’s not about looking at the opponent, because we say it all the time that anybody can beat anybody.
“We just need to make sure that certain teams don’t get the better of us again.
“We’ve had the beating of Hamilton, but we’ve found it hard lately. I’ve got high hopes and expectation in terms of when we get it all right – putting in the effort, quality in the final third, defending properly and winning battles in the midfield area – we’re capable of winning most games in this league.”
Still low on numbers after ‘rest week’
Dodds, who could welcome back forward Billy Dodds from a calf injury, hopes taking the group of regular players out of action last week might have been of benefit, although they’ve still got a lengthy injury list.
When asked about the rest of the seniors, he added: “Freshness-wise, yes it was a good thing.
“Hamilton rested a few players as well, but they did have four or five first-team players out there as well.
“Mark Ridgers was the only one for us really, and he did well with what he did.
“We’ll be fresh, but we still have a few missing.
“If we keep talking about it, people think we’re making excuses, so we’ll move on and try to get three points on Saturday.”
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