Caley Thistle manager Robertson says players must dig deeper
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CALEY Jags boss John Robertson reckons that his Ladbrokes Championship toilers need to show mental strength in their bid to turn their season around.
A 2-1 loss at Dumbarton at the weekend left them third from bottom and five points behind the Sons.
Connor Bell’s second goal in succession put ICT in front, but a Dimitris Froxylias volley just after the break restored parity then a Sam Wardrop close-range finish after returning keeper Owain Fon Williams saved a Froxylias free-kick secured the victory for the hosts.
Captain Gary Warren was sent off with 11 minutes to go when he was booked for a second time in the game and he’ll miss Saturday’s home clash with Queen of the South.
Robertson insists much of what the players are doing pleases him, but they need to at times dig deeper mentally to ensure that they either finish teams off or stay solid at the back.
He said: "For 45 minutes, we dominated against Dumbarton and were unfortunate not to add to our one-goal lead.
"Unfortunately, in the second half, we panicked and dropped off in terms of our passing and movement. The players, as ever, worked their socks off, even when we had 10 men.
"We had a penalty appeal turned down and you find when you are in our situation things like that don’t go our way.
"There’s a frustration all round at yet again we have not won a game we have been in control of. We seem to have a five or 10-minute spell in games where we let our opponents in.
"We really needed that second goal to let us relax a little bit, but again we lost a couple of silly goals.
"We need our strikers to score goals, which in turn takes the strain off the defenders, but we also need to have the confidence that when we have the lead we don’t concede the way we are doing at the back.
"In football, you can work on the technical aspects of the game or on set plays, but we can’t work with the psychological aspect of winning or losing.
"When you are winning, it feels as if you have a few more extra seconds. When you are losing the pressure is on, but we need to just play our way through this and things will improve."
As a legendary goal-grabber for Hearts and Scotland, Robertson knows all about the highs and lows up playing up front.
He explained: "I have played terribly yet scored for fun then other times I have played well and not scored. It comes down to confidence.
"We will keep going and I know we will take our chances, starting against Queen of the South on Saturday."
