Caley Thistle head coach Billy Dodds insists Hamilton’s recent upturn in form shows his players must not underestimate the task at hand in two successive Championship showdowns.
John Rankin’s team are bottom of the table, three points behind Arbroath with a game in hand. However, before losing 2-0 to Hearts in the Scottish Cup last Friday, they were six games unbeaten in all competitions.
The sides meet at the Caledonian Stadium on Saturday then again on Tuesday in a rearranged fixture down at New Douglas Park.
It’s the South Lanarkshire club who have the best of the head-to-heads in recent times, losing just one of their last six meetings against ICT.
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‘Anything can happen’ in this league
Dodds, whose team sealed a March 10 Scottish Cup quarter-final against Kilmarnock by beating Premiership Livingston 3-0 last Saturday, will have his team ready for a testing 90 minutes.
He said: “Hamilton’s record against us is good. We beat them 4-0 last season, but we’ve not had brilliant results against them.
“I know they are bottom, but this league is mental. Rangers or Celtic playing a bottom team in the Premiership, you can usually predict Rangers or Celtic will win the game, they might sneak it or will thump them. But you can’t predict that in the Championship.
“I am not saying we are top because we are seventh, but we are known as one of the better teams in the league, but nothing guarantees you that, look at Partick v Cove Rangers recently when Cove won at Firhill.
“Anything can happen. This is a toughie, but like the Morton game recently where it ended 2-2, I would do anything to get three points.”
Dodds impressed by Rankin’s Accies
Accies made Hearts work for their victory at New Douglas Park last week and Dodds says he’s seeing exactly why it’s been a largely upward curve for their visitors in recent weeks.
He said: “They’ve been doing well. I watched the Hearts game last Friday and in the first half they played a back five, then changed shape. It seemed to work for them.
“I thought Hamilton were excellent in that second half against Hearts.
“It doesn’t surprise me, given the way John Rankin has been setting out his team and the way results have been going for them.
“This is a real tough fixture, but one we’re looking forward to.”
Inverness lost 1-0 to Accies in the league in October before a mainly youthful ICT team were beaten 2-0 at Hamilton in the SPFL Trust Trophy in December amid as injuries hit their peak.
True team effort sunk Lions – Dodds
Dodds was delighted to see wingers Jay Henderson and Daniel MacKay cause Livi headaches last weekend in a tie won with a Billy Mckay brace and a header from Sean Welsh.
However, he insists the result was earned by a high-quality collective display.
He added: “I can’t emphasise how big a performance it was from (goalkeeper) Mark Ridgers.
“He had great saves during the games, and my back four, who had been leaking goals and giving away silly ones, were brilliant to a man.
“In the midfield, Sean Welsh hitting the box and getting his first goal of the season, being solid and dominating the midfield and Nathan Shaw brought the quality between strikers and midfield. I thought, to a man, they were brilliant.
“I spoke about Billy Mckay and the way he played, but it was about the full team on Saturday.”
Shaw coming out of his shell – boss
Dodds is also delighted to see Shaw, in his first season at the club, kick on and be a menace as he created two of the three goals last week.
The manager feels, now he’s found his feet after joining from National League North side AFC Fylde last July, Shaw is really making an impact on and off the park.
He said: “Some people take a wee while to settle in, but Nathan is a real good player.
“The one thing I asked him to do on Saturday was have the discipline side spot on because of their sitting midfielder Jason Holt.
“I know the type of guy he is. He is studious and took it on board and he was on it all the time. I know he is a good player, he was twisting and turning.
“I like what see. He is coming out of his shell as well. He is giving patter and stick to the boys, which I didn’t see before.
“It takes some longer than others. He is one where I thought his performance was great.”
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