Dundee look to get one over on ‘dangerous’ Inverness Caley Thistle

Josh McPake, left, has gone back to Rangers.

Dundee manager James McPake knows they won’t have it all their own way as they head north today to take on a “dangerous” Inverness side.

The teams have met twice already this season, with Dundee coming out on top in an early-season Betfred Cup group game, while they played out a 0-0 Championship draw at Dens Park back in August.

This afternoon, with the rest of the division out of action, the title challengers will be looking to close the gap on leaders Dundee United.

However, James insists he is only focused on his side and the task at hand as they look to stretch the margin between themselves in third and ICT in fourth to four points.

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“It doesn’t matter what league we’re in, it’s always a tough game when you play Inverness,” he said.

“They’re a decent side, we’ve already had two real tough games against them this season.

“I thought we were much better as a team in the Betfred Cup game and thought they edged it in the league draw.

“It’s always hard going up there but the pitch is normally good. Hopefully, the weather’s OK and we go up there and get a performance.

“It’s a hard venue but going through all the stadiums in my head they’re all the same going anywhere in this league.

“We know we need to roll our sleeves up and get right in there before we do anything in the game. I think they’re dangerous in all areas of the pitch. Two different Inverness sides have turned up against us.

“One of the times they were very direct, then, the next time, they got the ball down and played, getting their front three behind the striker on the ball.

“They were really impressive so they’ve got a lot of tools and a lot of strengths that can cause teams problems, as we’ve seen. It’s about us solving those problems and making use of what we’ve got in our squad to affect them.”

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Caley Jags boss John Robertson was forced to sit out their Challenge Cup win over Clyde last week with a virus. However, James feels that is irrelevant to his side’s preparations.

He added: “I only heard about it on Thursday. I don’t know how serious it is but it’s irrelevant to our preparations.

“The likelihood is we’ll go up there and they’ll come flying out the blocks. Their team’s looking alright. I’m not looking into that (Robertson illness) at all. It’s about us.”