Luis Longstaff reckons Caley Thistle will be in the running for a top-four Championship finish – and hasn’t ruled out a shock late bid for the title.
The winger made his first start since October 28 in Tuesday’s disappointing 2-1 defeat at Morton.
It was a result which denied Inverness the chance to move into fifth place and means they are just now four points ahead of new basement side Arbroath, who they host on Saturday.
Such is the tight nature of the division, sixth-placed ICT are just five points behind Dunfermline Athletic, who are fourth, albeit the Highlanders have played one match more.
Inverness sit a whopping 20 points adrift of leaders Raith Rovers, who travel to Dundee United on Saturday with the top two sides looking destined to be battling it out for first prize this term.
Longstaff, who played for Cove Rangers in last year’s Championship, insists a winning run of form can soon catapult Duncan Ferguson’s team into the promotion hunt.
Promotion remains ICT’s top goal
Having been given a starting shirt on Tuesday, the 22-year-old ex-Liverpool youth player said: “I want to push into the team and cement my place.
“More importantly, just for the team and club, it is about getting ourselves into the play-off places and maybe even making a push to win the league.
“With the way we’re going at the minute, I don’t see why that’s not a realistic aim.
“But the play-offs are a definite target. We want to get there and get promoted to the top division. I think that’s what everyone is looking at.
“Morton were bottom of the league two games ago and now they are just behind us.
“If we had won on Tuesday, we’d have been up to fifth and two points off the play-offs.
“The league is that tight and it is the same for every team.”
ICT must ‘fight for second balls’
Arbroath tumbled to the bottom of the league with Morton beating ICT and stayed there when they lost 2-1 to a stoppage-time goal against Raith Rovers on Wednesday.
Ex-Cove and Ross County boss Jim McIntyre has only recently replaced Dick Campbell as their manager.
This will be his, and ICT’s, third game inside a week. Inverness thumped Queen’s Park 4-1 before falling to Morton, while Arbroath were edged out 2-1 by the Ton before their last-gasp defeat to Rovers.
Longstaff said: “It will always be a tough game – it always is against any team in this league.
“We will probably face some direct play and we will have to fight for second balls, but we can’t let that affect how we want to play.
“We still want to get the ball down and pass it around like we have been doing in recent weeks.”
🔜 We return to home action this Saturday as we face Arbroath at the Caledonian Stadium
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— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) December 13, 2023
Caley Thistle capable of striking back
Longstaff says the squad retain the belief they can hit back with a victory after their Cappielow setback.
He added: “It was just a difficult game all round on Tuesday, which felt even worse coming off the good performance against Queen’s Park.
“We know we’re not going to go the rest of the season winning every single game.
“It is going to happen, but when it does, we just have to bounce back as a team.
“It just shows the character of the team. We lost the Raith game in the last minute and came back with that Queen’s Park performance. It just shows the lads have it in them to bounce back after a defeat.
“I don’t think there’s any worry about the standard of the performance or the results that everyone wants.”
Longstaff hails great finisher Brooks
Former Celtic starlet Adam Brooks climbed off the bench to score the late consolation against Morton and, with attacker David Wotherspoon a doubt,
Longstaff is confident the striker will be a real asset if given the nod.
He said: “We’ve got a lot of quality coming off the bench and Adam has been showing it in training.
“His finishing, especially inside the penalty area, is up there with anyone in the squad.
“I was just pleased for him to get on and get his goal.
“It should give him the confidence to keep pushing on because, like all of us, he’s been training really well.
“It is just about taking your opportunity on the pitch. He did that on Tuesday.”
Inverness have played Arbroath twice this season – both at Gayfield.
In one of Billy Dodds’ last games as manager, they slipped to a 4-2 SPFL Trust Trophy defeat on September 9, but in Duncan Ferguson first match in charge later that month, they ran out 3-2 victors.