Betfred Cup has brought us up to speed – Tansey
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GREG Tansey hopes the new Betfred Cup format helps Caley Thistle avoid the slow start that held them back last season.
It took Inverness seven games to register their first league win of the campaign last year, but with competitive fixtures and goals under their belt early this time round, Tansey is confident they can make a running start at Partick on Saturday.
Richie Foran’s side topped Group C and were joint-top scorers in the first round stages, matching Dundee’s tally of 15 goals after putting five and seven past Dunfermline and Arbroath respectively.
Rather than requiring the first few Scottish Premiership games to get themselves into gear, Tansey feels the rebranded League Cup has proved its worth already ahead of the trip to Firhill this weekend. He said: "It’s going to be a benefit rather than a hindrance. We struggled to get going last year and didn’t catch up. We should have finished top six and hopefully that won’t be the same this season.
"There’s only so many friendlies you can play. Playing teams in the Highland League are good work-outs, but competitive games are the ones you want to be playing in. The lads get a good workout from it.
"We’ve built on each game we’ve played. Playing competitive football early is great because you get into the swing of things quicker. You should be raring to go by the first game of the season whereas sometimes it can take you a while to get going."
He added that the more adventurous style of play implemented by Foran – which has seen wingers Billy King and Jake Mulraney to the fore – has been a joy to watch because the ball is getting played forward a lot quicker.
Tansey said: "Any team we’ll play will struggle with that. We’ll be very hard to stop. Billy has been quality and you can see he’s got class. Jake’s got unbelievable pace and it’s great to play with."
