Dundee’s Kevin Holt is hoping to halt his Highland hoodoo and finally win against Inverness this afternoon.
The 23-year-old never played Caley when he was with Queen of the South but he is yet to sample a victory against them since joining the Dark Blues two summers ago.
That is something he hopes to change today as Dundee look to bounce back strongly after last week’s late heartbreak against Rangers, with the players knowing that a win over Richie Foran’s side will lift them off the bottom of the Premiership table.
Holt said: “I have never beaten them and that has been over the last two seasons.
“We have had a couple of 1-1s and a few defeats and performances that haven’t been great up there.
“We will be looking to turn things around this weekend.
“It happens in football where you have those games and teams.
“Whenever we play Inverness we seem to be off our game and I don’t know why that is.
“There were a few games we should have won last season but didn’t.
“We will be looking to break that duck on Saturday.
“We are bottom of the league at the moment but Ross County winning last week shows how you can rocket up the league.
“We could jump four or five places if we win and other results go for us.
“There is definitely an incentive to stay with the pack and to get off the bottom. It would also take the pressure off us.”
Holt’s manager Paull Hartley has already identified the next three games against Inverness, Kilmarnock and Ross County as being pivotal to the Dark Blues’ season and that is a sentiment echoed by the player himself.
He added: “We will be playing teams round about us and there are a couple of games at home against Inverness and Ross County.
“They are games we will be looking to win. We are coming into the period around Christmas where you have to be dogged and pick up points because the table starts to sort itself out.
“Gaps can open up and we want to be up the table. You don’t want to be going to places when it is cold, freezing and snowing needing points.
“You try to win every week but it is a lot better when you are looking up rather than down.”
Despite last week’s stoppage-time defeat against Rangers at Ibrox, Holt insists the mood in the Dundee camp is still buoyant following two earlier wins against Motherwell and Hamilton.
He said: “We were on a bit of a bad run up to the Hamilton game but since then we have turned the corner a wee bit.
“A draw at Ibrox would have capped that off and kept the unbeaten run going.
“So it was disappointing to lose that last-minute goal but I think we were happy enough with the way we played and we will go into the Inverness game full of confidence.
“It was a bit of a downer with the last-minute goal but everybody has been fine in training.
“We are still in high spirits and looking forward to the Inverness game.”
This is Holt’s second season playing in the top tier of Scottish football and he admits he is still finding his feet at this level.
He added: “You get some players like Greg Stewart who come up and hit the ground running but for the majority of players, it takes a little time to bed in.
“It is up a big step up and I am finding my feet now a bit more.
“I was part-time for my first year at under-19s with Queens but since then I have been full-time.
“I had a job with the bank but when the full-time offer came I was quick to take it.”
