Inverness manager Richie Foran last night piled the pressure on relegation rivals Hamilton Academical after his team earned themselves a lifeline with a crucial win at Dundee.
Goals inside the first 10 minutes from Billy McKay and Alex Fisher were enough for Foran’s men to close the gap on eleventh-placed Accies to just a single point, and Foran insists that all the pressure is now on Martin Canning’s men ahead of the final day.
“All the pressure that was on our shoulders goes straight to the Hamilton players,” Foran said. “We can now go and enjoy Saturday with the same determination, same work rate.
“It’s huge. I saw a real determination in the players this week. A real focus. You want your key players performing and they certainly did today.
“It was all or nothing. And I believe we’ve got big game players. I won’t name individuals but we’ve got big, big game players,
“I saw the determination not to lose in their eyes, in the way they’ve gone about their business.
“It's out of our hands but we’ve given ourselves a chance. We’ve handled the occasion tonight. Can Hamilton handle the occasion on Saturday?”
Inverness now face a home match against Motherwell on Saturday, but they will also be relying on last night’s opponents doing them a favour as they travel south to Lanarkshire.
But Foran has thrown down the gauntlet to Hamilton and questioned whether they will be able to handle the pressure of the occasion.
“It would be some story if we stayed up,” he said. “It’s now an exciting game to look forward to and, if we perform like that, we can come out on top.
“Motherwell won’t be taking their foot off the gas, but we will look forward to it. We will be ready to go come Saturday.
“It now puts massive pressure on Hamilton. It is a big game for them on Saturday. I saw a lot of good play from Dundee tonight. They will be going to Hamilton to be professional.
“It was important to get that result for the supporters. It is a massive game on Saturday and one we look forward to."
Dundee boss Neil McCann has given his counterpart at Inverness further cause for optimism by demanding a reaction from his players at the weekend.
He said: "I'm delighted we have retained our Premiership status but that performance is not good enough. We lost two sloppy goals early on. It rattled us and affected the crowd and the mindset.
"I'm disappointed they've allowed themselves that kind of performance. I'm so proud of them over the last few weeks. We had been very good in a precarious position and I can't speak highly enough of them.
"But I am disappointed with that. We didn't deserve to win the game. The two early goals just rocked us and the boys are gutted.
"Nobody is celebrating the fact we are safe and cracking open champagne. The players are hurting and I'm hurting - but you'll see a difference on Saturday."
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