Catch-up Caley Thistle challenged to get back into contention

Without a match so far in 2021 both the Caley Thistle manager and his players are eager for the go-ahead when Alloa head to the Highland this weekend.

Back in December it ended in a 2-1 loss at Recreation Park, but that marked the Wasps last league victory.

ICT boss John Robertson believes with games in-hand, and the chance to get into contention, his players could push up the table from their current position of seventh.

"We're desperate to get going again, we've not had a game since the 28th of December

"Obviously it's from no fault of our own for a variety of reasons, waterlogged pitch, frozen pitch or Covid"

John Robertson's side have now seen matches with Morton, Arbroath, Queen of the South and Raith Rovers postponed, with also their Scottish Cup tie a victim of the weather, but Robbo remains hopeful of the Alloa game getting the nod.

"We'll have the covers on the pitch and it's very much a case of just hoping the game goes ahead and Alloa get up the road safely"

Despite the lack of activity on a matchday, he has also been keen to stress that there's been no let-up in the day-to-day work.

"Training has been intense, it's not dropped off, we've picked up a few minor knocks along the way - but the players are just raring to go"

"Some of the call-offs have been quite late, the players have their game-head on, they're ready to go

"The Raith game was pretty late, maybe 5:15pm - 5:30pm, so it was a wasted training day

"Now with the need to catch up, such is the pressure from the league, we now face midweek games for 3-4 weeks"

That said, with that run of upcoming fixtures, Robertson believes it could be the spur for a push up the Championship, having sat back and seen several other rivals mount a challenge on pre-season favourites Hearts.

"It's going to be an intense period, but if you look at the teams all over, there's been little pockets of spells

"Hearts have been very consistent at the top, Dunfermline have started very well, but a few draws have maybe slowed them down a little bit

"Dundee have recently put an impressive run together, Raith and Ayr were strong starters, Queen of the South have had a run

"We need to pick up a similar run of form, and it could all pick up very quickly

"With those games to play, we could shoot up the league into an area where we're in a challenging position"

• inverness
• Inverness CT
• Caley Thistle
• Championship
• Scottish football