WE’RE NOT THE UNDERDOGS
Virtanen full of confidence ahead of Inverness fixture
Miko Virtanen insists Hamilton Accies are ready to inflict a first defeat on Inverness this season when the Jags visit on Saturday.
The Highland side are undefeated with six wins and a draw from seven games, and sit 14 points above Accies at the top of the Championship table.
But former Aberdeen midfielder Virtanen insists they don’t see their visitors as ‘favourites’.
The 22-year-old Finn said: “Inverness might think they’re the favourites, but we’re going to go into the game confident, thinking we’re going to beat them.
“We’re not going into it thinking we’re the underdogs and let’s hope we get a result if they’re not on their best game.
“We’re going to go and play our game, work out how they’re going to play this week, and go from there.
“Inverness have started their season well so they will be coming into it with confidence, but I think we’re going into every game thinking we’re going to win, and that’s how we’re going to approach it.
“I don’t think we should ever go into a game thinking we should get a draw, or hoping to get a result – we’re always going to go in to win the game, so that’s our aim.
“We think we’ve got a good team, and more than enough to win the game, and that’s how we’re going to go with it.
“Whether they think they’re favourites or not, we’re not going to worry about that, we’re going to go with our own game and try and get the three points.”
Virtanen feels there’s not a lot wrong at Accies, but they need a break.
He said: “I thought we created a few good chances on Saturday against Dunfermline.
“I thought we did more than enough to get a goal, but it was important to get the clean sheet, to have something to build on for Saturday.
“At the Ayr United game we dominated for most of the game and then got countered twice and they scored twice – it was a bitter pill to take.
“There’s not much wrong.
“We’ve struggled to score a bit, but it’s not like we’ve not had chances –
Lewis Smith hit the post, Josh
Mullin had a great chance both against Dunfermline, and it’s things like that.
“When things aren’t going your way it just doesn’t – like, if we’ve started the season maybe a bit better, those chances go in, we win the game
2-0 and nobody’s questioning anything.
“I think there has been a bit of bad luck as well, because we do a lot of things right.
“It might not show on the scoreboard, but we’re confident in what we’re doing on the training ground and how we approach the games.
“It’s getting the breaks.
“It just needs one chance, a bit of luck, to get a goal and then all of a sudden that’s it, we’ve broken that duck and it’s onwards and upwards from there.”