Inverness Caley Thistle midfielder Scott Allardice determined to kickstart consistent winning run against Motherwell in Premier Sports Cup second round after back-to-back Championship defeats
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Scott Allardice says Inverness Caledonian Thistle are determined to overcome the odds and surprise Motherwell in the Premier Sports Cup.
The Caley Jags go on the road to higher tier opposition on Wednesday in the second round of the first cup competition of the season, knowing that Motherwell will be the favourites to advance.
They have experienced an up-tick in fortune since Steven Hammell was appointed manager, and sit fifth in the top flight.
Inverness, meanwhile, have suffered two disappointing defeats in-a-row to Partick Thistle and Morton.
Allardice, though, is confident that ICT can compete with Premiership teams and wants to prove as much this week.
"Looking at the Livingston game in the League Cup, Ross County in the Scottish Cup a few years ago and St Mirren, we always compete and do well against Premiership sides," he reasoned.
"We know we're capable of that. The frustrating thing right now is we're not showing it, so we'll need to be at it on Wednesday but we're going there to win the game.
"Outside the club, people might be writing us off. That's fair enough, we're a Championship team for a reason and they're a Premiership side, but we want to win the league this year.
"At the minute we're not doing enough – first and foremost I'm not doing enough myself – but we want to be playing top flight teams and we're looking forward to playing a Premiership team again.
"When games are more open and teams are trying to attack us, it suits us. A lot of our home games in the league, like Morton, are about us breaking teams down which is a very hard things to do.
READ MORE: Three takeaways from Caley Thistle's defeat to Morton
"The top teams do it so well at a higher level, and we maybe need to show two sides of our game. Away from home things might be a bit scrappy, but when we're at home and teams are sitting in we need to break them down.
"Premiership teams might be a bit more expansive, they might have a bit more of the ball and then we can look to break on them and play in more space."
Finding consistency
Although Inverness have been on the wrong end of back-to-back results, it is still early days in the 2022/23 season.
This time last year the Caley Jags were top of the Championship table with a perfect record, only for a dismal winter run to scupper their chances of winning the title.
They know exactly how quickly things can turn around, and Allardice is confident the winning feeling will return to ICT before too long.
"We know when we click we're good, but when we're maybe not playing as well we need to find a way to win," he said.
"It can't be so up and down – last year was the same even with the experience in the team.
"It's easy to look at the boys on the side. It was the same last year, you can always look at the boys out of the team and say that's what we need to turn things around.
"It's up to us to do it on the park, so we just need to get on with it, find that balance and grind it out somehow when we're not doing well.
"You can come out of the dip and look strong again, so it's about finding that win.
"Losing two games on the trot isn't good enough for a team that wants to go and win the league, but there are 31 games left. That's the perspective we need.
"We know we need to get a win sooner rather than later, but it's not the business end of the season yet. We've got time to turn it around, we just need to find that win."
