There is little doubt Caley Thistle are entering the New Year in desperate need of a win.
More than two months have passed since a victory in the Championship, which has increased the pressure on head coach Billy Dodds.
Their last league win came on October 15 when a Steven Boyd goal earned them a 1-0 result at Cove Rangers, which was their fifth straight victory. Everything was rosy.
On Monday afternoon, Jim McIntyre brings Cove to the Caledonian Stadium with the chance to leapfrog ICT and go into seventh position.
Had it not been for Partick Thistle keeper Jamie Sneddon scoring a stoppage-time leveller, Cove would have posted successive wins over the Glasgow Jags and Hamilton Accies, who they defeated 2-0 on December 23 to haul Inverness within range.
It took penalties for Caley Thistle to get a bonus-point League Cup win over Cove in July after a 1-1 draw, while a sweeping 4-1 success and that 1-0 away victory at the Balmoral have earned ICT full points in the league meetings so far.
Cove are hot stuff at home, banking 17 of their 21 points there, with a record only bettered by Partick.
Clearly, no wins and just four draws on their travels have kept last year’s League One champions Cove eighth, but still seven points ahead of Arbroath.
Play-off push came late last season
McIntyre and Dodds, a League Cup-winning duo at Ross County in 2016, are close friends and they will both know the importance of Monday’s match, especially for the hosts.
After a three-month winless run last term, Dodds guided his team all the way to the Premiership play-off final, where St Johnstone in the end proved too strong in the second leg.
That second-half surge was superb from the Highlanders, but their weary players were on the floor after a quickfire six-match play-off run, which saw off Arbroath and Partick after a third-place finish.
Winning automatic promotion, in other words the title, was clearly the goal for ICT from the first whistle of this season.
Injury crisis at heart of poor form
The injuries have been spoken and written about and Dodds would prefer not to have to mention it.
However, without defenders Robbie Deas and Danny Devine, captain Sean Welsh at times, midfielders Scott Allardice and Roddy MacGregor, winger Tom Walsh and forwards Shane Sutherland and Austin Samuel for much of the campaign so far has taken its toll. Other players have also dipped in and out of the treatment room too.
The return of full-back Lewis Nicolson from a loan spell at League Two Elgin City and four other youngsters from Highland League stints will at least offer Dodds options should he choose to pitch them in.
Eight successive league fixtures without a win has put ICT too near the foot of the table.
At the top end, Dundee are now the front-runners thanks to six straight wins, a run matched by Owen Coyle’s promoted high-fliers Queen’s Park, who are deservedly just one point off the summit.
Arbroath will target Caley Thistle
On Saturday, Caley Thistle head to Arbroath and they won’t want to do so on the back of losing to Cove Rangers.
Should Dick Campbell’s side, last season’s runners-up, end Dundee’s winning surge on Monday, they would have Inverness firmly in their sights.
In fact, they will have regardless of what happens. The gap right now is nine points, albeit ICT have a game in hand at Hamilton as added insurance.
Any talk of the Caley Jags being involved in a relegation play-off rather than a promotion push should not be happening, but the reality is, it is.
🔜 The match info for our home game against Cove Rangers on Monday 2nd January is available now
👉 https://t.co/Eu7XysuI6I pic.twitter.com/8iEA2yAFIO
— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) December 27, 2022
Transfer moves required this month
Former interim manager Neil McCann last week stressed the need for the club’s “brilliant” board to back Dodds in the transfer market, especially in light of their injury crisis.
Away from the boardroom, Dodds’ men must deliver a winning week for their fans and give them something to believe in, especially after their recent 5-1 mauling by Partick Thistle.
Losing against the Championship’s two part-time sides would do little to ease the tension amid supporters already fearing the worst but two wins would certainly help lift the mood.
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