Preview: St Mirren v Inverness CT: Terry Butcher focused on ‘big month’ in bid to escape foot of table

His side’s narrow 2-1 defeat at Hearts last week was their tenth loss of the season and kept them at the foot of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League. Butcher wants his team to stop the rot and make the start of next week bearable.

“We are just fed up with the situation,” said the former England international. “Every Monday we come in and it’s the same old feeling. We want out of that rut and away from those emotions, back to the positive ones against Kilmarnock, twice, and St Mirren, who we play [today]. I don’t think it is particularly complicated at all.

“We have to work harder on the training ground and on the pitch. That is something they want to put into practise, starting against St Mirren. Everyone has to look at themselves and say ‘I have to give more.’”

Butcher has targeted December and January as the period for turning Caley’s season around.

He said: “We have five games this month and we want it to be a big month.

“We also have a few home games in January so we want those two months to be really special for us and we want a good haul of points. What we have done is not good enough so we have to roll up our sleeves and make sure it is good enough in the next two months, starting on Saturday.”

Meanwhile, St Mirren manager Danny Lennon is relishing the opportunity for his players to atone for two of their biggest disappointments of a positive season so far.

Lennon’s men were hammered 5-0 at Celtic Park last weekend despite travelling to Glasgow in the top half of the table – and full of confidence from their recent draw at Ibrox.

However, they are bidding use home advantage to bounce back against Inverness and also avenge their 2-1 defeat in the Highlands in October.

Lennon said: “You go over one or two things and take positives out the game while analysing where you went wrong. That’s only as a development tool, it’s not anything to do with criticism. You don’t have to tell me or Marc McAusland that he’s made an error. What I love about it is the way people bounce back from that and cash in on the experience of that mistake. I was delighted, Marc McAusland never hid in the game, he still wanted to go and do the right things that he does every single week.

“Marc made a big error last week but he has been an absolute rock with us in terms of coming in and what he has had to deal with, on and off the pitch. Being a St Mirren fan, this club means the world to him. He has been a revelation for us in his consistency since he came in when Darren McGregor went out.”

St Mirren failed to produce the passing game they have been noted for this season when they lost at Inverness. Lennon said: “Take nothing away from Inverness, but we have a lot more to offer. We had a bad day and we are looking to reverse the tables. We want to bounce back from a very bad result last week.”