Aberdeen 0 - 1 Inverness CT: Goal hero Tade eyeing another seventh-place finish for Caley

The Highlanders can leapfrog St Mirren and Aberdeen and move up to eighth if they beat St Johnstone on Wednesday. “There’s nothing in it and there are still a lot of points to play for,” Tade said. “We will be playing against the teams who are in the bottom six when it splits and the aim is to get as high as possible. The ambition was to finish in the top six but unfortunately that is away now. That is why I’m not smiling, as the target has not been reached. We will do everything we can to finish seventh and then everybody will be happy. That would show the club is very consistent as we finished seventh last year which is a good achievement for a club like Inverness.”

Tade scored the only goal of the match after ten minutes as he tapped in following good work by Billy McKay. Caley had to see the game out the hard way as Josh Meekings was sent off for a second booking just before the hour. But the visitors could have made sure of the win late on, only for Tade to pass up a glorious opportunity. The former Raith Rovers player added: “I’m going to concentrate on the one I missed and work in training to get that right as that is the one that could have killed the game and relieved the team from the pressure. My job is to score and not just to score one but miss two or three chances. I need to rectify that but obviously I’m happy that I scored. It just could have been better.”

Praised by his manager Terry Butcher for his hard work, Tade added: “I am known for never giving up and running all day and that is my small contribution to the team effort. If I wasn’t doing that I wouldn’t be doing my job and I would never forgive myself if we never came back with the three points.”

Meanwhile Aberdeen winger Peter Pawlett hopes to push his way into the starting XI in time for the Dons’ biggest match of the season against Hibernian in the Scottish Cup semi-final on 14 April. The 21-year-old, who has only started seven times this season, looked lively after replacing Kari Arnason at the interval against Caley. “There are places up for grabs, the manager has said that,” he said. “As an individual you just have to work hard and get yourself in the team. Obviously I want to start every game. The manager is the one who picks the team and I respect his decision but as an individual I want to play.”

Aberdeen’s lingering top-six hopes were officially ended by the defeat and Pawlett added: “It was just an off day. We couldn’t create an opening and Inverness made it difficult for us. I think they were playing five at the back at one stage so it was tough to break them down.”