Defence Of The Realm

21 December 2012 16:16
Helping on the goal front is welcome but the main job is to stop the oppostion scoring

Although Gary Warren would like to double his current goal tally before the season ends he knows his main priority is to contribute to a tight defence. The former Newport County defender joined Inverness Caley in the summer and scored his fourth goal for the Highlanders in last week's remarkable 4-4 draw with Dundee United at Tannadice. The game looked out of reach for the visitors when they were three down within eight minutes. Terry Butcher's men are the league's top scorerers with 38 goals and sit one point behind second-placed Motherwell. However, with the goals conceded column showing 32, one more than Saturday's opposition bottom side Dundee, Warren admitted his personal aim is to remind people why he was brought to Inverness by the former England stopper.He said: "As a defender you like to set yourself little targets over the course of a season. I think I have scored four this season and I am just hoping now that I could score another four after Christmas, that would be a good return for a centre-half. But at the moment I am just trying to do my bit as a defender and the most important thing for us is to keep as many clean sheets as we can. To concede three so early last Saturday was disappointing as a defender but coming back and scoring later helped out the team."

In light of Caley's form - they have lost one of their last 17 games - Warren is unsurprisingly confident of a win against a struggling side whom they beat 4-1 at Dens Park in October. He said: "Any team in this league is dangerous. But the way we are playing at the moment we are not going to fear anyone and we won't fear anyone so if you look at it, we should really come away with three points. But to do that we have to be on our game. We have to start the game well, better than we did last week. It was a tough game against Dundee down there, we started really well but they came into it and 2-1 up is always a tough scoreline. You really need to get that third goal to kill teams off and it was fortunate that we scored two. I don't think I have been too surprised with the way things have gone this season. In pre-season I knew the talent we had and the young players we had in the side. If you look at the likes of Andy Shinnie and Billy McKay, they are goal threats and if you pose a goal threat in any team you are going to be dangerous. I know a few players came in at the start of the season and it took a few games to gel and get to know each other's games but after those four or five games you started to see the best of the side."

Source: ScottishFitba

Source: FOOTYMAD