Upbeat Foran says better times lie ahead for bottom side Inverness

Inverness captain Richie Foran believes the future is bright for the club after the international break signalled a possible end to a difficult start to the season.

Caley Thistle secured a 2-1 victory over St Mirren immediately before a rest period that allowed several players to recover from injuries.

Jonny Hayes, Lee Cox and Josh Meekings are all back in training, although none of them are expected to feature against St Johnstone today as Inverness look to get off the bottom of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.

Foran said: “It was a really good win against St Mirren but I thought the performance was even better, excellent. But we have been doing that all season. Unfortunately we haven’t been scoring the goals.

“Me and Greg [Tade] know we have to add that and hopefully we can do that sooner rather than later.

“We want to be jumping that table. We want to be getting nine points from the next three games and I’ll be very disappointed if we don’t get it.

“Nothing frightens me in this league. The Old Firm games have been tight games.

“The only thing that frightens me is us not performing, but we have been performing to a high standard.

“We got two goals against St Mirren and also looked solid at the back. Things are looking bright for the future, definitely.”

Foran added: “It’s a great boost to get Lee and Jonny back, they had great seasons last year. The competition is really, really high going into Saturday.

“People are going to be looking over their shoulders and that makes training better.

“We have got to have high-intensity training sessions.”

Foran is also feeling stronger personally after a rest, which was partly enforced after a viral infection hit the club last week. Only Aidan Chippendale remains sidelined for the Perth visit.

“I was struggling with three or four injuries and I have come back feeling really, really fresh,” the former Motherwell player said. “I haven’t felt like that for four or five weeks.”

Another lift for the club was manager Terry Butcher and assistant Maurice Malpas signing new two-year contracts last week.

“It’s a huge boost Maurice and the gaffer signing the contracts,” Foran said.

“People do start talking about contracts at clubs and when they’re up, so for them to get new contracts is a huge boost for all the boys.”

St Johnstone, whose manager Derek McInnes remains very much on the radar of Championship side Bristol City, welcome back Frazer Wright and Murray Davidson. Davidson (knee) and Wright (calf) have both recovered from injury but David Robertson has been ruled out with a hamstring strain.

Sam Parkin (ankle) and Sean Higgins (ligament strain) remain on the sidelines for the visit of the Highlanders.