Butcher: March on!
A tussle for the ball between St Johnstone's Murray Davidson and Caley Thistle's Lee Cox during Saturday's game, in which Inverness got their first league win for almost three months.
CALEY Thistle’s next goal is to exceed the 37 points they got when they were relegated from the SPL two seasons ago, according to boss Terry Butcher.
But with seven games to go until the SPL split, the ICT boss isn’t setting any particular target for what they need to do to achieve a place in the top six.
With a trip to Hibs on the cards this Saturday, Butcher is hoping his side can press on and maintain their challenge for a place among the league elite.
He said: “Our target is to win as many games as possible and pick up as many points as we can.
“It’s amazing how long it took us to get to 30 points but now we’re zooming through the 30s. Thirty was the target for us and it’s nice to get there, but if we can crack on after that we’ll be there or thereabouts at the split.
“Obviously 37 points haunts us, as we went down with 37 two years ago, so it would be good to get past there as quickly as we can.”
Saturday’s visit to Easter Road to face a rapidly improving Hibs side is one that Butcher is relishing.
He said: “We got a 1-1 draw down there last time, which was part of the good run we had last year. We’ve got good memories of Easter Road, as our memories are of not losing the game there, scoring and playing pretty well.”
Butcher admitted that Hibs could prove to be a difficult test for his side. They seem to have recovered from the horrendous run of results they had before Christmas which raised the spectre of relegation for the Edinburgh side.
The Caley Thistle boss said: “They have climbed up the table a bit and the threat of relegation, that’s been extinguished for the time being at least, but they’re still looking to consolidate and build.
“They have brought a few players into the team and their goal will be to continue the progress they’ve been making.
“But we’ve got our own agenda, as we’re looking to consolidate our place in the top six.
“We are in a good little run at the moment as we’ve gone three matches without defeat and we want to build on that.”
Butcher knows one player Caley Thistle will have to counter on Saturday is Hibs’ top scorer Derek Riordan, but warned that the side can’t just focus on him.
He stated: “Derek Riordan is their main threat. He scored against us before at Easter Road and he also missed a penalty. He’s also their top scorer, so he will be a big threat for us.
“But we like to think we’ve got our own way of playing and we can counteract whatever Hibs throw at us.”
Saturday’s game is just the start of a run of matches which Butcher is really looking forward to.
He said: “We’ve got a terrific month coming up. We’ve got Dundee United at home on Tuesday and then Motherwell are coming up here. Then we’ve got the Old Firm cup tie and then we play Dundee United again.
“Those are terrific fixtures coming up. It’s a great spell of games for us which will help us see just where we’re going to finish.”
