Manager says relegation would mean disaster for Inverness Caledonian Thistle
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MANAGER Duncan Ferguson says everyone knows that relegation for Inverness Caledonian Thistle would mean disaster for the club.
Inverness head to face Hamilton Academical in the Championship play-off first leg at New Douglas Park tomorrow night.
The second leg will take place at the Caledonian Stadium on Saturday where the winner will play in the Championship next season and the loser will be condemned to League One football.
Inverness progressed to the Championship play-off final after seeing off a stubborn Montrose outfit 1-0 in the semi final second leg on Saturday.
Hamilton Academical beat Alloa Athletic 3-2 on Saturday to win their semi final 5-4 on aggregate to set up the Championship showdown.
Ferguson says everyone knows what is at stake for Inverness and are determined to be in the Championship next season, saying relegation would be a disaster for everyone involved.
Asked what relegation would mean for Inverness, Ferguson said: "It would be a disaster for everybody - for the community, for the fans, for the club, financially, for the players.
"People's jobs are on the line. It's critical we do our very best to stay in the Championship.
"The boys have been 100 per cent behind me and behind the club. We've lost just three games in our last 15 in all competitions, so we need to ensure we continue that consistency.
"We need to play better than we did against Montrose because Hamilton will be a tough task for us.
"We're ready - it is critical we stay in this division. We have to perform.”
Ferguson is expecting Hamilton Academical to be forward thinking than Montrose, but is confident that they will be able to handle anything that is thrown their way.
They will be more attacking, Hamilton will come at us a bit more. Expecting a good open game and one we are ready for.
It suits most teams, it is tough to break a team down, it is a good tactic, that is what Montrose did and it worked well and it is key to get the first goal. On Wednesday it will be more open.”
"Results determine where clubs are. Hamilton were relegated from the Championship last season and we're fighting to stay up this year.
"These are two big clubs. They are a full-time team, so it's probably expected they'd be in the Championship.
"It's two big clubs and hopefully we will come out on top.”
"I have got a great bunch of players. They have been excellent and worked their socks off.
"Some have had to play in different positions because we've had a horrendous injury record. Nobody is interested in that, and you have to deal with it and win games of football.
"We've managed to do that lately and we're on a good bit of form, even coming into these play-offs.
"We have two kept clean sheets back-to-back, so don't conceded a lot of goals, but we need to stick more in the net. “
