Three takeaways from Inverness Caley Thistle's victory on the road at Dundee as Highland outfit moves within three points of Scottish Championship summit
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Inverness Caledonian Thistle made it back-to-back wins in the Championship when they beat Dundee 3–2 at Dens Park.
It was an important result for the Caley Jags in a number of ways, with Inverness keeping tabs on the top of the table and also seeing confidence continuing to grow after a patchy start to the league campaign.
Things were not totally plain-sailing in the city of discovery though, so here are three things to take away from Caley Thistle's eventual triumph.
Set-piece challenges
Dundee showed they were more than capable of troubling the Inverness defence early on yesterday afternoon, but one of the notable things about them was the danger they posed at corners.
On multiple occasions Mark Ridgers was either blocked off by a crowd of players in the six-yard box completely, or just enough to stop him coming out to deal with the cross into the box.
The challenge facing them became abundantly clear when Ryan Sweeney's header found a way into Ridgers' net in the first half, and it was shown again when Dundee equalised in the second at the second phase of a corner kick.
How Inverness deal with this in future games will be interesting, as this is exactly the kind of thing opposition scouts will pick up on and try to use to their advantage. Maybe it was just Dundee's particular threats causing issues, maybe it was disorganisation in the ICT backline, but either way Caley Thistle cannot afford for it to become a persistent weakness.
Mark Ridgers' thoughts: "They're big boys, and it was obviously something they wanted to do – they crowded around me and made it difficult for me to get through people to the ball.
"It's easy to say I should come through bodies, but I can't give away penalties, so we have to deal with it.
"After the first goal we managed to sort it out to give me a little bit of space, and the boys did the rest by getting them away and cleared."
A central impact
Cameron Harper stole the headlines with his two goals, but that was not the full story of his performance at Dens Park.
Yes, his finishes were fantastic – the first one especially in this reporter's eyes – but it was also remarkable how comfortable he looked in the middle of the park.
Lining up in central midfield alongside Scott Allardice, it was a new starting role for the 20-year-old, who has previously featured at wing back and on the left side of attack.
However, he barely put a foot wrong all game in a man of the match performance despite his relative inexperience in the role, and Harper has shown he can be a viable alternative when Billy Dodds needs him there.
Billy Dodds thoughts: "I'm delighted for him. He's got a great football brain, and a great left foot – as we saw.
"He's technically gifted and he has so much energy. I think he showed that, and nobody is happier about it than me.
"It's not just getting the goals, he went in to central midfield and looked so natural. With the injuries we had I needed to find someone to play there, and he's done it brilliantly."
Another injury concern
Austin Samuels had returned to the squad ahead of schedule after a groin issue that has kept him out since the Morton game at the end of last month.
His comeback was short-lived, though, as he came off in the 40th minute with another injury against Dundee.
Inverness have had a spate of injuries to start the season, although there was further good news for Dodds ahead of the trip to Dens Park as both Aaron Doran and Max Ram were fit enough for the bench too.
We have already seen the side's form be affected by missing personnel this season, though, so thoughts of wrapping players in cotton wool may already have crossed the minds of Dodds and his coaching staff to ensure the positive momentum they have built up in September keeps building.
Dodds on Samuels' status: "He's got something with his shin. He said he felt a wee muscle twinge, but that's all I know just now.
"It's a different injury – it was his groin before. This time he has felt something in his shin."
