Manager Duncan Ferguson frets on Inverness Caledonian Thistle's poor home form
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DUNCAN Ferguson has branded Caley Thistle’s home form as “worrying” ahead of tomorrow’s visit of promotion-chasing Partick Thistle.
The Inverness manager admits he has been left baffled by poor results at the Caledonian Stadium despite reasonably positive performances.
Caley Jags have won just twice in the league on home turf this season – against Airdrie and Ayr – both during the flourish of fine form that followed Ferguson’s arrival as Billy Dodds’ successor in late September.
In the last seven away games in all competitions, there has been just one solitary Scottish Cup win against Lowland League minnows Broomhill.
Away days have been happier, with big victories over Raith Rovers and Ayr United and creditable draws against the likes of Morton and tomorrow’s opponents Partick.
“The home form has been worrying,” Ferguson admitted.
“We can’t quite put our finger on it. We have tremendous support from the fans up here, positivity in the stadium, but we just can’t seem to get the results over the line.
“We’ve played a lot of good games. I can’t think of too many bad performances. Dundee United here comes to mind, right away. How we never got even a point out of that game, I’ll never know.
“We’ve got to start winning up here because we’re then putting ourselves under a lot of pressure going away from home, where we’ve been really good.
“We want our fans here to see us winning.
“Even before we got here, it wasn’t great at home. It would be a massive three points to beat Partick.
“If we get something from the game we’re happy, but we need to start winning in Inverness.”
Ferguson is certainly not underestimating how difficult that will be for his young side against the third top team in the Championship.
“Since I first came to the club, we’ve never been comfortable or managed to get daylight between us and the bottom band of teams in the league. It is very congested down there,” he stressed.
“We want to build on our performances and win the game. We’re desperate for the three points.
“We know Partick are a very good team, who have only lost five games all season, and we’ve had close games with them. They like to attack with a lot of players on the last line, they like to build through the pitch, but what I’d like to do is get the form changed at home.
“This is the big thing for us. We’ve got to try to eradicate mistakes and do our jobs as best we can.
“It is just about working on the training field, giving the players confidence and trying to eradicate the soft goals.”
Defender Danny Devine returns, but Ferguson will be without attacker Luis Longstaff, now ruled out for two months after a scan on a knee issue. Morgan Boyes’ collision with the post in the cup defeat to Hibs has ruled him out.
