Duncan Ferguson wants Caley Thistle’s weekend match-winner Alex Samuel to keep producing the goals to fire them to survival this season.
The on-loan bustling Ross County forward was a handful for Arbroath at the weekend and crashed home the vital winner with 10 minutes to go to earn ICT a 2-1 Championship victory.
The result means ninth-placed Inverness face Queen’s Park at Hampden on Saturday knowing a win would see them leapfrog the Spiders – out of the relegation play-off spot – with just three games to go.
Samuel, 28, moved on loan from Premiership neighbours Ross County in January and got off to an explosive scoring start.
He netted on his debut, in a 4-0 Scottish Cup win against Broomhill, then lashed home a deadly nine-minute hat-trick in a 3-2 victory at title-chasing Raith Rovers.
But he had since gone eight matches without a goal before keeping his balance to produce a sublime swerving finish against Arbroath, ending his drought and landing Caley Thistle’s first home league victory for almost five months.
Former Rangers, Everton and Newcastle striker Ferguson was thrilled to see man-of-the-match Samuel score – and wants more goals from him.The manager said: “Alex has done really well for us and worked really hard, but strikers have got to score goals. It’s the hardest part of the game.
“He leads the line really well – his hold-up play is fantastic – so we just need to have more goals from him.
“His overall performance was very good.
“He popped up on Saturday and scored a cracker. I was delighted for him, but you have to score goals in matches and he did that at the weekend.
“We played well on Saturday and this time we took a couple of chances. It was crucial for us to get a win.
“It had been a long time (without a win) at home. It was nice to win in front of our fans and give them something to cheer about.
“Wallace Duffy popped up where we wanted him and Alex was fantastic.
“He took his goal really well, so I’m really pleased with the lads.”
🙌 Alex Samuel’s winner against Arbroath yesterday! pic.twitter.com/AIRlvtqGaZ
— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) April 7, 2024
Caley Thistle on hunt for second Hampden win
Twenty of ICT’s 35 points this season have come away from home and Ferguson wants to add another away victory when they face Queen’s at the national stadium in Glasgow this weekend.
He said: “Our home form has killed us. It has put us back and that’s why we’re near the bottom of the league.
“If our home form had been anywhere near as good as our away form, we’d be in a completely different position.
“We have been relying on our away form all season.
“We have played 13 away games since I’ve been here, spanning six months, and we’ve only lost three. The third one was against Partick Thistle when we went down to 10 men.”
The Caley Jags swept to a 4-1 win against Queen’s Park in Glasgow in December – before Callum Davidson replaced Robin Veldman in the Hampden hot-seat.
Ferguson hopes his team can show attacking verve there once more, but sounded a cautious warning.
He added: “We did very well last time against Queen’s Park with one of our best performances.
“It’s a good pitch and nice big stadium – there will be no excuses.
“We’ll go there, wanting to play good football and we want to win.
“We know how tough it’s going to be – they’re all tough.
“Look at Arbroath, bottom of the league, and we only beat them 2-1 – there are no easy games in the Championship.
“We’re in there fighting and that’s all you can ask for. It has given us a chance.
“We will go again this week and keep fighting for the club.”
Queen’s Park will be looking to hit back from a 5-0 home defeat against league leaders Dundee United at the weekend.
ICT are one point behind their hosts, but their goal difference favours them by 11 goals.
Ahead of the weekend, defender Remi Savage and full-back/midfielder Cammy Kerr are nursing nose injuries, while Samuel is recovering from bruised shins.
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