Inverness CT 1 - 1 Dunfermline: McIntyre confident of top-flight survival after hard-fought draw

Jim McIntyre believes that if Dunfermline continue to show the same endeavour they did against Inverness then they will give themselves every chance of retaining their Clydesdale Bank Premier League status.

The Fife club’s manager watched his side end a run of three consecutive defeats, substitute Liam Buchanan’s penalty four minutes from time cancelling out Gregory Tade’s 33rd-minute opener for Inverness and leaving both sides settling for a draw.

Dunfermline had several chances to take all three points from the encounter, but the point was still enough to keep them off the bottom off the table at the expense of their Highland opponents.

Having not scored a goal and conceded ten in that three-game losing streak, McIntyre was happy with the effort of his players and is confident that if they can maintain their work ethic then his side can survive their first season back in Scotland’s top flight.

He said: “It was important that we stemmed the tide of recent bad results, so I was pleased with that and the attitude of the players was superb.

“You see them in training every day and they work hard day in, day out.

“There have probably been two performances this season that have not been acceptable, but in every game the boys have given everything and I can’t ask for anything more than that.

“Of course I want that little bit more quality at times, but if we continue to keep showing that kind of work rate then we’ll be fine.”

Not for the first time this season, Caley Thistle manager Terry Butcher was once again left to mull over another inconsistent performance in which his side shone in some spells, yet struggled in others. Despite this being their fourth home game without defeat, there were a few grumblings of discontent amongst the Inverness supporters after the final whistle, and Butcher can fully understand their frustrations.

He said: “The fans pay their money and they are entitled to their opinion. If I’d paid to watch that then I would have been very disappointed as well.

“We’ve had tantalising glimpses of what this team can do this season and, once again against Dunfermline, for periods of the match we were great.

“However, in others we weren’t so great and so it’s now about trying to put it all together for a full 90 minutes.”