David Carson is urging Caley Thistle to open up a four-point gap against opponents Morton – before hunting down their Championship promotion rivals.
The versatile right-back is keen to help the Highland side extend their unbeaten league run to five fixtures, with a home win on Saturday having the incentive of widening the advantage over their nearest chasers.
Inverness are fifth in the division and sit just two points away from Partick Thistle, who take on Cove Rangers at Firhill.
🔜 This Saturday we're back in home action as we face Morton at the Caledonian Stadium
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— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) February 2, 2023
Experienced Carson, who can switch to midfield when required, is determined to see off Morton and keep looking up.
He said: “It should be an interesting game. It’s massive for us in terms of trying to create a gap over Morton.
“We’re looking forward to it. We’ve been working hard on things which will hopefully help us get to get three points to continue our positive run in the league.
“We go into every game looking to take maximum points. But, when you look at the table, we know a win would allow us to open a gap over Morton.
“They have a game in hand, but if we beat them on Saturday then they can’t catch us with that game.”
Confidence rises with every victory
Carson, 27, is boosted by the return of team-mates Scott Allardice and Cammy Harper from injury last week, with more injured stars closing in on a return.
And he reckons the players have belief in their ability as they seek to build up momentum further.
He said: “You’re always confident as players, as a group.
“With more players coming back, we will hopefully go from strength to strength.
“All we can do is look forward to Morton and hopefully pick up three points, which will keep confidence high.
“That will hopefully help take us through to the end of the season and we will be right up there.
“To get another win would give us even more confidence.
“Building up our unbeaten run is something we want to do. We’ve started the year well and, with the way we’ll be set up on Saturday, all the boys are keen to keep the run going.”
Healthy competition within squad
On-loan St Mirren midfielder Jay Henderson and former Manchester United and Burnley midfielder Ben Woods were the transfer window recruits secured by boss Billy Dodds.
Carson, now in his fourth season with Inverness, feels the returning players will provide healthy competition, meaning no one can effort to let their own standards slip on matchdays.
He added: “We’ve probably been waiting for this time of the season when we get some of our players coming back from injury.
“Although we’ve not brought in a vast amount of players, we’re getting more players returning, many who have not been available for the majority of the season.
“You can almost look at them as being new signings at this point in the season.
“We will be stronger with more personnel available to us. Everybody has to be ready to take their chance on the day because we have a bigger and stronger squad.”
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