WILL CLARK: Do Inverness Caley Thistle and Ross County face a double downer?
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WHATEVER side of the Kessock Bridge you’re on, the second half of the football season is one of concern for both Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Ross County.
Caley Thistle have been sucked back into the relegation fight again when they missed the opportunity to move seven points clear of Queen’s Park in ninth.
Despite a dominant performance on Saturday, Dominic Thomas scored the only goal of the game to give the Spiders’ a 1-0 victory and move them within one point of Inverness in seventh with a game in hand.
Dunfermline dropped to eighth after being hammered 5-0 at home to Morton, but have two games in hand on Inverness while level on points.
Meanwhile, Ross County haven’t won in their last seven matches in the Premiership and are in 11th place, three points behind Motherwell and six ahead of Livingston at the bottom.
After Ross County’s 1-0 defeat against St Johnstone on Saturday, the Staggies face another clash against relegation threatened rivals Motherwell at Fir Park on Tuesday night.
Another defeat, and if other results don’t go their way, could see Ross County six points from safety.
There are still a lot of games to be played before the end of the regular season.
But given current form, there is a lot to be concerned if both Inverness and Ross County will avoid relegation from their respective divisions this season.
The Caledonian Stadium can’t be described as a fortress for Inverness this season, with them only recording two victories in the league at home.
However, good away form in recent matches has ensured Inverness are still out of the relegation zone.
A 3-1 win at Ayr United and a 3-2 victory against title chasing Raith Rovers has given Inverness hope they can remain in the Championship next season.
Manager Duncan Ferguson has brought in reinforcements, bringing in six players on loan, with defender Remi Savage signed permanently from Newcastle United.
However, they have lost defender David Carson, who after five years at Inverness, left to join Livingston in the Premiership. Former captain Sean Welsh also left to join Queen’s Park.
Zak Delaney left to join Arbroath and Jake Davidson was sent on loan to Hamilton Academical.
Inverness remain out of the relegation zone, but they have to improve the home form to ensure it is not a nervous end to the campaign.
Ross County have used up their full quota of loans to boost their squad in their fight against relegation.
Ensuring Yan Dhanda remains at Ross County until the end of the season before heading off to Hearts is a boost too.
However, Kyle Turner going on loan to Raith Rovers was a bit of a head scratcher considering his form at the start of the campaign.
After a decent performance against Celtic in a 1-0 defeat when they were unfortunate not to pick a up a point, failing to beat Livingston, conceding the lead twice in a 2-2 draw, before losing 1-0 to St Johnstone, were missed opportunities for Ross County to get out of the relegation zone.
Unable to get victories against teams also in the relegation zone in an extreme concern for fans in Dingwall.
As things stand, Livingston are still favourite to finish bottom. But Ross County might have to prepare for another play-off battle to keep their place in the top flight.
