TRAFFORD HAS UNITED IN SIGHTS AS CALEY CLOSE THE GAP

CHARLIE TRAFFORD says Inverness are setting their sights on runaway leaders Dundee United now that the Highlanders have a string of games at the Caledonian Stadium on the horizon. Saturday’s victory in Alloa saw John Robertson’s side leap to second place in the Championship, while Robbie Neilson’s men and Ayr United were left idle because of frozen pitches at Cappielow and Somerset Park respectively. Caley Thistle have given themselves a platform to kick on for a title tilt with three games out of four coming at home in December. And Trafford says the whole team is confident they can pick up a handsome haul of points during the festive period, starting with the visit of Ayr on Saturday. ‘Teams don’t like coming up to

Inverness,’ said the 27-year-old. ‘It’s cold and windy, so we have the chance to step on the gas and get a good run of games to carry into next year. ‘We are in second now, which has given us a lift and we have Ayr United coming up to us next. But we are ahead of them now and points on the board are what matter, even though we have played two games more. ‘We need to spread that gap even more and start chasing Dundee United. ‘If you can put five or six wins together in a row, it is mad how you can jump up the places in this league. ‘There are no easy games in the Championship and Alloa fought to the very end, even when they went down to ten men. ‘When we get the lead, we are a very solid team. We got the goals and we asked questions later.’ Caley broke the deadlock after 38 minutes when Coll Donaldson’s clearance was headed past goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald into his own net by Scott Taggart. Robertson’s side then got their second on the stroke of half-time when Miles Storey clipped the ball in to Jordan White, who laid it on for Aaron Doran to blast a high into the net from 18 yards. Trafford added: ‘It was a brilliant goal by Aaron (Doran) and Jordan White is a massive workhorse who gets assists, although he hasn’t got the goals he’d like. After that, we shut things down. We were here for the three points.’ The Wasps were reduced to ten men on the hour when Liam Dick was shown a straight red card by referee Greg Aitken for a high tackle on James Keatings. Peter Grant’s side remain second from bottom after their three-game unbeaten run came to an end. But winger Iain Flannigan said: ‘I thought we played well. We stuck at it and I thought it was a good performance. ‘It’s the third game in a week for us, although you would never have known it. ‘It was a frustrating afternoon considering how we played. If we play like that, we will win more games than we lose.’