Aaron Doran believes a second Scottish Championship win for Inverness Caledonian Thistle over Kilmarnock would be significant blow in title race
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Aaron Doran believes Caley Thistle would deal Kilmarnock a significant psychological blow by triumphing tonight under the Caledonian Stadium lights.
The league leaders have not savoured victory in Inverness for 11 years but remain unbeaten on the road this season in the Championship.
Caley Thistle’s fine late August victory at Rugby Park represented a serious boost to their promotion credentials.
Repeating the feat at home this evening in front of a live television audience would set Billy Dodds’ men two points above Killie and Raith, with the latter facing a tricky away test tomorrow against feisty part-timers Arbroath.
Winger Doran, clearly energised by the challenge in hand, needed no priming on the game’s importance.
“We want to be at the top of the league come the weekend,” the long-serving Irishman said. “Friday night under the lights is always good to play in. There’s more of an atmosphere – personally, I enjoy it more.
“We’re looking for a win and it’s a great incentive, the chance of going into the weekend top of the league.
“We’re on our home patch and we’ve already beaten Kilmarnock.
“We’re going to go out there confident. Being top over Christmas would be massive for everybody.
“Two wins over Kilmarnock might give us a bit of psychological edge. They are favourites for the title, but we don’t fear anybody in this league.
“When we play to the level we know we can, we’re a good match for anybody.
“We’re really confident coming off the win at Queen of the South and we just need to bring the same performance and workrate.”
Kilmarnock have made us of their large squad lately.
They rested 10 players in their SPFL Trust Trophy win against Hamilton on Tuesday. Caley Thistle, with tighter resources, used some of their key men sparingly in a penalties defeat to Raith.
Doran reckons he and other teammates would have been happy to play the full 90 minutes.
What irks him, though, is a recent relative shortage of goals, with only two to his name this season so far.
The Caley Jags have netted just six in the last seven games, with wins harder to come by of late despite positive performances.
“Everyone is confident – we think we’re playing some nice stuff,” Doran stressed.
“We just need to put the ball in the back of the net a bit more.
“The players behind Billy Mckay need to help him out. I’ve got two goals so far and I need to be aiming to get double figures by the end of the season.
“Billy is in double figures now and he was just giving me a bit of stick saying I hadn’t scored enough. I’ve had good chances lately, so I need to rectify it.”
