 Manager Richie Foran plans to put out the same squad which lost narrowly at Ibrox when they welcome Motherwell tonight. He praised his men after they pushed Rangers close on Saturday and was relieved to see them come through the loss without suffering any fresh casualties. Only long-term absentees Lewis Horner (knee), David Raven (knee) and Kevin McNaughton (Achilles) are unavailable for the Scottish Premiership game against the Steelmen. Foran says Inverness would have happily given up their Christmas dinner if it would have allowed them to wipe out memories of their Ibrox disappointment. While proud of Saturday's display, the Caley Thistle manager was perturbed as they went down to a narrow 1-0 defeat. He now hopes to take his frustration out on Motherwell when they welcome Mark McGhee's side to the Highlands. Foran insists his team will have shaken off a setback which has left them propping up the rest of the table. In fact, he reckons his fired-up troops would have preferred to have gone back into action just as the rest of the country was tucking into their turkey.Foran said: "The players and I wished the Motherwell game was on Christmas Day. We can't wait for it. I was down after the game and so were the players. But all we needed was a couple of hours to clear our heads and now we are good to go again. We performed so well at Ibrox and I want more of the same. I know if we play like that, we will win most games. We just need that little bit of quality at the end." Motherwell captainKeith Lasley is a major doubt for tonight's game after picking up a shoulder injury in the 3-1 defeat by Aberdeen last Friday night. Carl McHugh is back in contention after being out with concussion since August while Joe Chalmers (groin), Kieran Kennedy (hip), Jacob Blyth (thigh) and Ross MacLean (broken toe) are still out. Motherwell lost 3-0 at home to Inverness in October and manager McGhee is expecting another tough game. The Scotland assistant manager said: "We always struggle to play against Inverness because of their shape, the way they play, they are a good team and physically they are a good size. We should have no fears matching Inverness physically because we have become a team that is robust and can scrap our way out if it. But Inverness mix it up. They have that physical challenge but they have players who can score goals, a threat from set-plays and if you go behind against them you can find it very difficult." |
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