Butcher hoping for a warm welcome... off the pitch

Published on Tuesday 12 May 2009 22:51

INVERNESS manager Terry Butcher is relishing tonight's return to Motherwell but knows not to expect any favours from his old club.

Butcher spent four years at Fir Park as assistant manager to Eric Black before taking over the reigns himself, guiding the Steelmen into the top six in the Scottish Premier League and a League Cup final. The former England captain returns on football business for the first time tonight and expects a warm welcome off the pitch rather than on it in a match which could prove crucial to his side's Clydesdale Bank Premier League survival bid.

"I don't think we have anything to prove going down there," he said. "Myself, Maurice (Malpas], Richie Foran and Brian Kerr have all been involved at Fir Park and tasted success and great times there. But we're employed by Inverness now and we can go there and get a positive result. Hopefully, we will be welcomed back."

Butcher expects a tough time from Mark McGhee's men, who put St Mirren to the sword at the weekend. "They scored three goals on Saturday and by all accounts could have scored more," he said. "We know Motherwell have very good players, and if we let them play, we'll cause ourselves problems.

"Their players are facing the situation where the season's effectively over and are planning for next season – it would be nice for us to be in that position. On their day, they can turn any team over but I'm more concerned with what frame of mind my players are in and hope they're hungry for the three points."

Inverness are edging ever closer to safety but are still only four points ahead of bottom club Falkirk, with St Mirren and Kilmarnock sandwiched in between.

Caley Thistle face two trips in four days and Butcher is desperate to clinch safety as quickly as possible.

Butcher, whose side drew 1-1 with Hamilton on Sunday, said: "I believe we're in touching distance and that's why it was so frustrating to draw on Sunday. But we've played well of late and we know we're very close to being safe. Everybody wants to be safe, but it's tight.

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Butcher revealed his players felt hard done by at the weekend but insisted they cannot afford to feel sorry for themselves.

"I was speaking to a few of the players after Sunday, who were obviously disappointed with the fact we didn't get the two extra points," he said.

"Irrespective of how many points we got, it will be a case of going down to Motherwell and giving it our best. Richie Foran was saying there's no real pressure on us now with two away games. That instead lies with the home team and it's up to us to make sure we spoil their chances and frustrate them as much as possible."