IT is becoming clear that Inverness Caledonian Thistle's geographic position is a compelling reason for their success as they sit in third place in the Premiership and prepare for a William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final against either Celtic or Dundee United.
Ross Draper, a powerful presence in their midfield, certainly believes in such a possibility and points to the close proximity of his team-mates in the Highland capital and their resultant off-field friendships as garnering a togetherness which has brought its rewards.
No sooner had they disposed of Raith Rovers in a one-sided cup quarter-final on Tuesday night, for example, than they were discussing the activities they would pursue in the two days John Hughes, their manager, told them to take off from training.
So, a hotel in Aviemore was their gathering point yesterday as they enjoyed the camaraderie engendered by a day in from of a giant TV set to watch the aces from Cheltenham while there have been other clique-free events, ranging from paint-balling to golf.
It's a far cry from football as he knew it 400 miles away at Macclesfield Town, from where Terry Butcher, Hughes's predecessor, took him north.
"We just like to do these things," said Draper. "It's all about team bonding and that help creates the spirit. I'm not sure how much other teams do it.
"I know a Christmas do is standard and we've been to Dublin and Belfast in the last couple of years.
"We enjoy getting away with each other and nobody doesn't attend.
"At most clubs you get someone who says 'ach, I'm not going' and there's cliques and groups, but not at Inverness.
"I think it's got to be like that because of the location of the club and we all live five minutes from each other.
"But we like our off-the-field stuff and it makes us work twice as hard for each other on the field.
"Richie Foran is the man who organised all the events. He's twitchy just now because he's out of action through injury but he likes to set everything up for the boys.
"He's Mr Inverness and knows a lot of people and when we went to Dublin he sorted all of that out.
"He's the main man. Skipper of the club and missed by all the boys, so it's nice for him to be involved in the social events."
Draper, a fans favourite at the Tulloch Caledonian Thistle Stadium and a consistently-good performer, is unconcerned over whether it is Celtic or their opponents in their quarter-final replay whom they face in the next round of the competition, brought about by Danny Devine's solitary goal against Raith.
"It's been an aim from the start of the season to get to a final," added the 26-year-old from Wolverhampton.
"We got a taste of it last year in the League Cup final but couldn't finish it off with a win over Aberdeen.
"We wanted to come back and do it all again so while we wanted to finish in the top six it was in the back of our minds to try and go and have a good cup run.
"It's a fantastic achievement for a bunch of boys who deserve it.
"It's great to work with a well-grounded bunch of boys and I'm delighted for all of them and hopefully we can go one step further."
Share