Caley Jags boss Foran - Dundee test is biggest of the season so far
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CALEY Thistle’s battling draw against Celtic will count for nothing unless they beat Dundee on Saturday.
That’s the honest verdict of manager Richie Foran, who says the visit of the Dark Blues to the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium is already their biggest game of the season.
The 2-2 draw against the champions on Sunday took ICT off the foot of the Ladbrokes Premiership once more and victory over the Dee would kick them up the table before their away day at Hamilton a week on Saturday.
Foran stressed: "We’re on a great run, having beaten St Johnstone and drawn with Aberdeen and Celtic. Those were three tough games. Those will count for nothing if we don’t win on Saturday – this is our biggest game of the season so far. It’s huge.
"Dundee are a good side and they have three of our ex-players (Nick Ross, James Vincent and Danny Williams), so we know all about them. We will welcome them back as they were great servants, but we need to be right at it.
"If we don’t treat them with the same respect as we gave Celtic, Aberdeen and St Johnstone then we will lose this game.
"We will be right up for this battle and it’s going to be a battle. If we win that, we will win the football game."
Dundee slipped to defeat against last season’s runners-up at the weekend, but Foran feels that the Taysiders are a side on the up.
He added: "Although they lost 3-1 to Aberdeen on Sunday, they played quite well and I heard (Dundee manager) Paul Hartley say they are improving every week as well.
"We need to be brave once more and I want to see more quality on the ball and creating more chances.
"We are getting there after bringing in new players and we are improving every game. If we can play as well as we can, really peak, then we can put a few goals past a team. The belief and spirit is there and they are playing for me and the supporters. There’s a lot more to come from us."
A 4-0 win and a goal in Foran’s final appearance as a player in May still raises a smile and he said: "Scoring against Dundee was my last goal for the club in my last appearance.
"We had a great result that day, but we are up against a different team now and they will believe they can win as well."
ICT will be close to full strength, shaking off some knocks, with only defender Lewis Horner (ankle) unlikely to make the squad as we went to press.
