FEAR CAN MOTIVATE CALEY, SAYS FORAN
A DRAW in the Highlands is all that stands between Celtic and a perfect domestic record, but Inverness manager Richie Foran will instead focus on the 6-0 thrashing the champions inflicted on his team last month as he tries to steel his players for tonight’s clash. Foran insists a healthy dose of fear will stand his players in good stead as they welcome Brendan Rodgers’ men. Trepidation, rather than blind terror, will be a positive emotion in the Irishman’s eyes as his players strive for a repeat of their opening result of the season against Celtic. Back in September, a 2-2 draw in Inverness brought what has proven the only chink in the armour domestically this campaign for Rodgers’ all-conquering side. Foran, who views anything taken tonight as a bonus after a draw at Tynecastle and victory over Rangers, said: ‘If Celtic are still annoyed by the 2-2 draw up here, it’s definitely a bad thing — I’m hoping they’ve forgotten about it! ‘They beat us 6-0 down at their ground in the Scottish Cup, so hopefully they’ll be thinking about that. ‘I don’t think Celtic are a team we want to annoy or upset, but it’s 11 men against 11 men out there. Let’s hope it’s a horrible evening, the wind and snow comes and the park is poor. ‘That’s what we need when we’re playing against a calibre of players like that. We need our boys working their socks off and cutting out little errors, matching runners all the time. ‘Celtic, the way they’re going at the moment, it doesn’t even need to be a half-chance and they’re finishing it. If they go ahead, they can build on that and really punish teams. ‘We’ll work on the fear of not getting the thumping which we did down there, when they put six by us. ‘That’s always the worry and that’s what should make our lads work extremely hard to stop Celtic getting chances.’