ICT ace Draper aims to hit the goal trail
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ROSS Draper wants to chip in with goals for Caley Thistle as well as helping to shut opponents out.
The midfielder is filling in with Danny Devine at central defence without injured duo Gary Warren (broken leg) and Josh Meekings (hip).
Sloppy defending against albeit rampant champions Celtic was a concern in the 4-2 Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership defeat but he explained that scoring matters just as much to him and all his team-mates as keeping rivals out.
Draper almost scored at the weekend as ICT had Celtic under pressure and only a Craig Gordon save on to the post denied him.
The 26-year-old’s last goal came in March 2014 in a 2-2 draw with St Mirren and he says all players have to help win games at either end of the pitch.
He explained: "We haven’t scored enough goals as a team, not just the strikers. Everyone needs to get up the pitch a bit more, press teams a little bit higher. Even myself and Danny (Devine) playing at centre half right now. Danny hit the post against St Johnstone then I hit the post against Celtic on Saturday. We all need to chip in with goals.
"I would love to start scoring goals again. It’s been too long since I scored. As a striker, pressure builds when you don’t score a goal, so if we can win games by scoring when strikers aren’t that’s ideal. Everyone works hard to help us keep clean sheets, so we need to help at the top end of the pitch.
"Dani (Lopez) came in without having played a lot of football and scoring against Celtic will do him the world of good. He’s looking better every day in training, while Andrea Mbuyi-Mutombi looks lively and given the boys a real lift."
Hamilton come calling this weekend as ICT seek their first win of the season before a trip to face in-form Dundee before the domestic action stops.
Draper said: "It’s pointless even looking at the table so early in the season.
"Most teams have still to play Celtic and we have some big games coming up, ones where we feel we can get points before the international break, against Hamilton then Dundee.
"These are six points we are targeting. That would kick us up the league before we get a small break to regroup."
Draper was not impressed by the goals they leaked against Celtic last weekend but says the work began to address that on Monday.
He stressed: "We were disappointed at the goals we gave away. When you go to Parkhead especially, you don’t need to give Celtic any encouragement to score goals.
"Everyone needs to be on their game. It’s everyone’s responsibility. They were sloppy goals to concede and that’s unlike us.
"We had only conceded two goals in our first three games, so we had been defending well, so Saturday was very uncharacteristic of us to concede goals like that.
"It’s been back to the drawing board this week and looking at stopping attacks at their source, so we’ll move on and look for an improvement in our home game against Hamilton to kick-start our season."
