I don't Know About The Opposition - But They Frighten Me!

Inverness are sitting in fourth place in the SPL and their manager, Terry Butcher, is only worried about just one team - his own.  The Highlanders have made an impressive start to their return to the top flight after the opening eight games. But, despite achieving fourth place, the Caley Thistle manager insists his side should have even more points on the board and says his players have to start believing in their own ability. He said: "There is no point looking at the table and saying we are fourth and happy with that. While we are delighted to be there, we feel that we've let points slip in the league this year and we could possibly have had more points. That's not being arrogant, it's being realistic looking at each match. If we can just hit a regular run of consistency, we will be fine. The lads are still learning about the SPL and I don't think until the first round of matches are gone that they will really realise there is nothing to fear here. We can enjoy the games, we can do well in the matches and if we work harder than the opposition we have a chance to do well. There is nothing to fear - the only team I fear is the one who played in the first half against St Johnstone and that's ourselves ."

Butcher says his players are well aware their efforts in the opening 45 minutes at the weekend simply were not good enough before they went on to claim a 1-1 draw in the second half. And he fully expects to see a much improved display from the outset when they head to Kilmarnock on Saturday. Butcher added: "The players were disappointed and frustrated with themselves on Saturday and there has been a bit of meanness in the training because I think they realise it was an opportunity that we let slip, particularly in the first half when we just didn't play at all. Thankfully, the players responded well in the second half and got going and could have won the game in the end. You can't afford to just play half a match or quarter a match and hope to get the three points, not at this level. We are looking at starting the game in a more positive frame of mind and the players have been focused on that and are very focused on what they have to do."