‘We are not done yet’ – Cammy Kerr remains confident Inverness Caley Thistle can avoid relegation play-off despite Championship defeat to Raith Rovers
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Inverness Caledonian Thistle’s Cammy Kerr insists defeat to Raith Rovers has not knocked the stuffing out of the Highlanders’ bid to avoid a relegation play-off.
The Caley Jags somehow failed to score on Friday night after hitting the woodwork four times, having one effort from Alex Samuel cleared off the line and forcing visiting goalkeeper Kevin Dubrowski into several outstanding saves.
That left Inverness relying on results elsewhere going their way to avoid slipping back into the bottom two this weekend.
Caley Thistle got that favour when Queen’s Park, who currently occupy the play-off spot, could only draw 0-0 away at Dunfermline Athletic.
While a win for Morton does most likely make it a two-horse race to avoid the relegation play-off between ICT and the Hampden Park side, Kerr insists there is still plenty of determination in the Inverness camp despite what could have been a demoralising weekend.
“We went into the game feeling confident, and I think our performance across the whole team was outstanding,” the 28-year-old, on loan from Dundee, insisted.
“Our work rate was brilliant and we created chances, but football is a cruel game at times and we couldn’t get that goal to get us over the line. Fair play to the Raith Rovers goalkeeper, who was outstanding.
“Not getting the result we wanted is hard to take, don’t get me wrong, but as players we have to keep going.
“I go back to us and our team, and it’s going to be a tough end to the season but we’ll keep fighting. You can see in this dressing room how much we’re hurting, and that’s a good thing because it will spur us on to go again next week.
“I’ve always kept tabs on the league as a football fan, and this season started poorly for Inverness.
“They were always playing catch up, but in the time I’ve been here the professionalism and the manner in which the boys train every day and approach every day at work is second to none.
“It has been a tough season, but we are by no means done. We’ve got a lot to play for, and I’m still positive that we can stay in this division.”
Despite fighting uphill for most of the campaign, Kerr says heads have not dropped in the Inverness dressing room.
He points to the experience among the club’s senior players as a positive influence during tricky times, which will be important again when Caley Thistle travel to Dunfermline next weekend.
Barring a remarkable turnaround in both results and goal difference, the Pars have nothing left to play for in the final two matches.
Even if they did, though, that would be meaningless for Kerr who is entirely focused on what ICT can do in the final weeks of the campaign.
“I’m one of those guys who tries not to look into if we’ll need this or that,” Kerr added.
“We need to win the two games in my eyes and take care of our own business. I was absolutely gutted about the Raith result, but I’ll dust myself down as will the rest of the boys to be ready to go again next Saturday.
“Every day the boys come into work, they are professionals. They are a good bunch of players right through the team – Mark Ridgers, Danny Devine, Aaron Doran and Billy Mckay – who have been in cup finals and seen it all.
“It’s been a tough season, but there’s no room for let-up now. We’ll keep going right to the end and do everything we can to stay in this division.
“The best thing for us is the game next week. We are capable of beating any team in this league.
“Most years you play in this league, you see that anyone can beat anyone. If anyone is off it slightly, the other team will capitalise. That means one mistake in a game can define the result.
“We just need to be ready. Dunfermline aren’t going to be in the play-offs, but that might mean the pressure is off them, I don’t know.
“I won’t be looking at that, I’ll be ready to go next week against whoever I’m up against to make sure I give my all. That’s what I’m here to do, as is the whole team, and if we play like we did against Raith surely we’ll win the game.”
