Surviving in style is the dream for Vigurs
SURVIVAL Saturday’s arrival is heralded by the sound of chest beating, tub thumping and war cries that leave little room for subtle interpretation.
When the last clattering challenge has been made and the roars of defiance have faded, the scattergun scramble for a Premiership lifeline might — just might — have been settled by something easily overlooked in such trying circumstance.
‘If we’re going to get out of this, we’re going to do it by playing football,’ declared Iain Vigurs, the Inverness midfielder pluckily attempting to inject some common sense into a debate dominated by military metaphors and the repetition of macho mantras.
Vigurs is described by Caley Thistle boss Richie Foran as the perfect ‘big-game player’, the rookie manager explaining: ‘Iain is the kind of player you need in a situation like this, when your backs are against the wall.
‘He’s a big-game player. Talk about having brave and passionate lads — he’s all of that.
‘You need guys who are brave off the ball, winning tackles and headers, and brave players on the ball.
‘Iain is one of those. He’s a leader. He coaches on the park. He’s a clever, clever footballer — and he’s got that bit of nastiness and aggression in him, too.’
The ability and willingness to fight for every inch of territory will never be discounted by those in the middle of a relegation scrap.
Anyone who saw Inverness beat Dundee 2-0 at Dens on Wednesday night, however, would have been struck not just by Vigurs getting stuck in — but by the genuine ‘worldie’ of a pass he played for the visitors’ second goal.
‘That’s how we won the Dundee game — playing football,’ said the former Ross County and Motherwell midfielder.
‘If you play in the right way, at a tempo, of course you can win games playing football.’
The aim of all at Caley Thistle is to set a high tempo from the off, just as they did in going 2-0 up within the opening ten minutes at Dens Park. For reasons far beyond their own fixture.
‘If we start like we did in Dundee — and that’s our aim — then hopefully it filters through to Hamilton and their heads go down, not up,’ admitted Vigurs.
‘I’ve never been in this situation before. It’ll be a new one to me, but I’m looking forward to it.
‘It isn’t very often you get to play for something as big as this.
‘Obviously you want to be playing to win leagues, but staying up is just as important.
‘We’re all fired up for it and not one of the players, since the final whistle on Wednesday night, has said we’ll lose on Saturday.
‘Everyone believes we are going to win. We’re going to stay in the play-offs — and win them.’
That certainly sounds like fighting talk from the Caley Thistle boys, a team fired by both their own desire to claim a play-off spot and a realisation they’ve been handed a rare second chance by others.
Dingwall resident Vigurs actually ventured into the ‘enemy’ territory of Victoria Park to watch County help out their great rivals by beating Hamilton 3-2 on Tuesday night, providing Inverness with just the lift they needed ahead of their trip to Tayside.
Revealing how he felt absolutely compelled to be there in person, he admitted: ‘It was a little bit tense! It made it nervy for me at times, especially when Accies hit the post twice.
‘I thought the Ali Crawford one was in and that would have been a sucker-punch, right on half-time.
‘Thankfully, County got the win we needed. It was a huge boost because it ensured the boys were fired up to the maximum for Dundee.
‘Even though they were fired up for it already, to know Hamilton had been beaten and to give ourselves that chance, it really kicked it up a few notches for us.
‘That’s one of the reasons — not the only one — we managed to put on a display like that at Dens.
‘The County fans weren’t saying much during the game, but when I was walking out two fans said: “All the best” and “Hope you get out of it”. So it was all good feelings.
‘I was on a group chat with the rest of the boys, letting them know what was happening.
‘I said 2-1 County and then, straight away, 2-2. I was putting the boys through it. I was just delighted when the boy Jonathan Franks mis-hit that one for the winner!
‘I think we’ve shown over the last couple of weeks what we’re made of. We do have strong characters in there, mentally, and we need to show that again.
‘If we win, we’ve done all we can do. If Hamilton win, fair play to them. We’ll hold our hands up and say we weren’t good enough.
‘The table doesn’t lie. If we get relegated, we do — but we’re going to do it fighting.
‘I’m not surprised we’ve given ourselves this chance. We’ve left it late, I’ll give you that.’
“We all believe that we’ll win and stay up”