Liam Polworth urges Caley Thistle to quickly raise their standards
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
LIAM Polworth is calling on his Caley Thistle team-mates to quickly find their winning form – even it comes in the Irn-Bru Cup.
The 22-year-old midfielder was disappointed that Saturday’s goalless draw against Queen of the South saw ICT slip into the relegation play-off spot in the Scottish Championship.
The Highlanders have won just one league fixture this season – at rock-bottom Brechin City – and they already find themselves 13 points behind leaders St Mirren.
Inverness-born Polworth knows they have to click soon and Saturday’s cup tie at home to League Two visitors Peterhead might be the game they need to turn around their fortunes, with league trips to Falkirk and Dundee United following that.
“We were disappointed to have drawn at the weekend but not conceding gives us something to build upon,” he said.
“We need to get a win soon as winning breeds confidence and we’ll look forward to the Peterhead game now.
“We’re still in the Irn-Bru Cup and we’ll be going for it. Peterhead will be tough opponents and any team can beat any other on any day, but we’ll be looking to get the win and reach the next round. We can then take that into the Falkirk game.”
Polworth, who has represented Scotland at three age levels, including under-21, has made more than 100 appearances for his home city club and he accepts that, even at this reasonably early stage, Caley Thistle face a struggle to join the chase for promotion back to the Premiership.
“It’s hard to tell eight games into the season how things will pan out,” he said.
“But we are already a fair bit off the pace and we need to get wins on the board. Getting the clean sheet was a boost for us and hopefully we can build on that.”
Polworth, who has made 13 appearances this season, scoring goals against St Mirren and Aberdeen under-20s, admitted: “Our attacking play let us down badly against Queen of the South. It was the opposite of how it’s been going for us this season where we have been scoring goals, but also conceding. We didn’t even have a shot on target and we know we are better than that.”
“Both teams matched up throughout the game, although I know it would not have been a great game to watch.”
Polworth was pleased to see – when it mattered most – goalkeeper Owain Fon Williams keeping out a lively Queens attack, which earned the Welsh international the man of the match award.
“We all know the quality of Owain and he showed that with important saves in what was only his second game back for us. That was important and help us get the point,” said Polworth.
