Jonny Hayes

By FOS Editor
November 30 2010

Terry Butcher has navigated his Inverness side into fourth in the SPL, can they stay there and head into European competition for the first time?

Butcher steered his side into the SPL with a great run of form in the second half of last season, overtaking long term leaders Dundee in the closing straight.

With their 2-2 draw at Celtic Park on Saturday they took their unbeaten away run to a calendar year, which also includes a draw at Ibrox last month.

How has Butcher done this? He has found that essential blend of experience and youth that any side needs, along with his ever reliable right hand man Maurice Malpas.

The experience is provided by long serving Inverness men Ross Tokely, Russell Duncan and Grant Munro who have been supplemented by the likes of Johnny Hayes and Adam Rooney.

It will be interesting to see how long they can keep this run going, given how effective SPL scouting programmes can be.

This was obviously on skipper Grant Munro’s mind after Saturday’s draw as he looked to dampen expectations slightly, "I think the way we're playing and the results we're getting - the top half of the table is a target.

"But, that could all change and you could ask me again in January when we could be on a losing streak.”