Inverness v Dundee United reaction

30 September 2012 13:29
Inverness boss Terry Butcher praised captain Richie Foran after he struck his fifth goal in four matches in Saturday's rout of Dundee United. The Caley skipper curled home a delightful opener before doubling the hosts' lead with the interval approaching courtesy of a clinical header at the back post. Caley Thistle then went on to record their first SPL triumph in eight attempts with second-half efforts by Andrew Shinnie and on-loan Arsenal forward Philip Roberts overwhelming a disappointing United. Inverness manager Butcher was delighted with the efforts of his players, in particular Foran, despite the pair having a minor disagreement during the game. "Richie Foran has been immense for me. He is the leader of the team," he said. "He did a team talk before the game and then he did one again at half-time as well. "We had a little set-to during the game, but I wind him up and he does the same to me. "I think it was because he didn't show his man down the line. He showed him inside, so we disagreed about that, but I think there's been loads of times that's happened in the past." Peter Houston apologised to United fans for his side's lacklustre display in the Highland Capital as the visitors slumped to a fifth SPL game without a victory. United have not won since August when overcoming rivals Dundee - a run of form which has also seen them fail to register a goal in their previous four league outings. Houston conceded confidence was not at its optimum for his struggling team, but told his players that only hard work will help to turn around United's ailing fortunes. "Just because you are low on confidence it doesn't mean that you don't close down your opponents, or look to win loose balls or tackles," he said. "We just never did that against Inverness. They won the scrap for the second ball. "We didn't keep playing like we had done in the opening 30 minutes. Suddenly, we started knocking long balls from back to front. "Apart from Gavin Gunning, who I felt did okay, this was a poor performance, although take nothing away from Inverness as they merited their victory. "What is worrying, however, is how we capitulated. We never threatened Caley Thistle's goal in the second half."

Source: team_talk