IF Inverness Caledonian Thistle need to seek inspiration from beyond their close-knit community club following their alarming tumble to the foot of the Premiership then Ross Draper believes they should look no further than Saturday’s opponents, St Johnstone.

Both clubs would be described by others as unfashionable, and may very well revel in such a description, and both have to survive on a shoe-string budget not aided by the kinds of crowds that saw just 2549 dot themselves around McDiarmid Park. Both have been buoyed by historic Scottish Cup triumphs in recent seasons and have enjoyed European football.

However, currently, they are enjoying differing fortunes, at least in terms of league positions. Whilst Saints are fifth, and adrift of Aberdeen by just two points, a fourth consecutive defeat consigned Inverness to bottom of the table.

The worst defensive record in the top-flight is the issue quickly identified by manager Richie Foran as the one obvious to even those not working in rocket science and Draper, a midfielder converted to a centre-half, agrees. However, he believes there are more fundamental qualities missing from a squad normally so associated with spirit, determination and hard work.

“We are conceding a lot of goals,” Draper said of a season that has seen them ship 32 in 16 league matches. “We back the gaffer and he backs the players. Regardless of what he wants us to do and whoever plays we have to perform better than we are doing.

“You could pick any of the players to compete and expect us to work hard and earn respect, earn your money and the right to wear the shirt. We aren’t doing any of that at the minute.

“We know we have the quality to be up at the top end and be competing week-in, week-out, like St Johnstone. They get results, they are hard to play against and maybe we have to take a leaf out of their book. They are effective at what they do.”

Saints certainly proved effective with an excellent opening goal that set them on their way to a comfortable victory. Liam Craig fed possession to Steven MacLean 30 yards out and then made a dash for the box, where MacLean’s perceptive return pass picked him out perfectly. Craig applied the neat finish deserving of a superb move.

Inverness were not without their moments in attack but too often their passing play lacked such composure in the final third. Or, indeed, the kind of luck that brought the home side their second.

It came just moments after Caley Thistle had been reduced to 10 men following a second booking in the space of 60 seconds for skipper Gary Warren, who was deemed guilty of persistent fouling and then halting Danny Swanson’s dangerous run. When Swanson’s shot from the free-kick looked to have been unfortunately blocked by team-mate Murray Davidson, the midfielder showed great skill to swivel and drive past Owain Fon-Williams.

The third was another superbly-crafted goal. Craig’s pass down the left flank for Brian Easton was top-drawer and the overlapping full-back picked out Swanson, who speared in his 12th goal of the campaign from just inside the box.

A clean sheet, their first in over two months, raised a smile from Saints manager Tommy Wright and Davidson, back after five weeks out with an ankle injury, was instrumental in his protecting role in front of the back four.

“I don’t usually look at the league table but for once I did and everyone knew the importance of winning this game,” said Davidson. “There were four or five teams separated by three or four points. It is so tight that with a couple of wins you can be right up there beside Hearts and Aberdeen. With a couple of defeats you could be straight back down into the bottom six. It’s important to go on a wee run and try to stabilise our top-six position again.”