Caley Thistle may have won just five league games so far this season but midfielder Ross Draper is confident his side can still salvage success from the campaign.
Inverness are eighth in the Scottish Premiership but the struggle for consistency follows the club’s most successful season in its 21-year history, with the Highlanders last year finishing third in the league, qualifying for Europe and winning the Scottish Cup.
Caley Jags find themselves at the centre of a tightly-packed group of teams in the lower half of the table and are just a point adrift of sixth-placed Partick Thistle.
Draper is one of several players who have recently returned from injury and the Englishman, who is currently in talks over a new three-year contract, is optimistic there is plenty more to come from his side, starting with today’s trip to Hamilton Accies.
Draper said: “It’s fine for Celtic and Aberdeen, who have the squads and facilities to get people in. They can rotate.
“We had near enough the same 16 players that played last year. There’s no excuses, though. We set our own standards and we haven’t been good enough this year. Forget about injuries or any of that, we haven’t been good enough and we need to get going and get our season back on track.
“For other teams, I’m not sure they would have coped. We’re a couple of points off the top six. Another couple of results and we’d be right back up there.
“It’s a strange league. Fair play to the top four – they’re running away with it and they’ve put points on the board early doors.
“Dundee United are a bit adrift but the other seven teams are all in a pack. We’re looking up, and we’re looking down, so it’s exciting.
“We want to kick on. There’s a long time left in the season, so, hopefully, we can stay injury free and get back to doing what we did last season. It can still be a successful season.”
Inverness squandered a two-goal lead against Aberdeen in their last outing, ultimately having to settle for a 2-2 draw at Pittodrie, and Draper says there are lessons to be learned.
The 27-year-old added: “The lads maybe sat in a little bit. When we go a couple of goals up we need to keep playing. We need to get out of this mentality of sitting back and resting on our laurels. We need to go and punish teams and beat them by three or four.
“We rarely do that. There are things to work on from Aberdeen but to be disappointed with a point shows the way the club is going.”