Dundee United will give Inverness Caley Thistle the utmost respect, despite the Highlanders being without an SPL win this season.
While the Tangerines hit a sticky patch after a promising start to the campaign, ICT have not got going at all.
As United were edging past Queen of the South in Dumfries in the Scottish Communities League Cup on Tuesday, Terry Butcher’s team were sneaking by Stenhousemuir on penalties to join them in the last eight of the cup.
They sit second-bottom in the table but Tannadice boss Peter Houston has promised they will not be underestimating ICT when they travel north on Saturday.
”I have watched Inverness a couple of times this season live and I maintain they are a decent side,” Houston said. ”You never get it easy against them and I am not expecting that to be any different this time.
“Even Celtic and Rangers have found out in the past how hard it is to actually go up there and win. Once again, Terry has had to rebuild his side after losing so many players. He has done a fantastic job.
”Richie Foran is a quality player and Andrew Shinnie just behind him is high in quality, so we will have to be really on our toes.
”We had to come from 2-0 down there to win 3-2 last season, when we had to show a lot of character.”
Houston is optimistic that, having come through a really tough test in the south of the country, they can build on it when they head north.
He said: ”You really can’t win playing against the lower-league clubs like Queen of the South. I think a lot of people thought there might have been a cup shock at Palmerston because of our recent league form.
”We had to hang on in the end but, having seen them, I am sure Queen of the South will end up winning the Second Division. The important thing is we got the reaction we were looking for after the Hearts defeat a few days earlier and kept another clean sheet.”
United defender Brian McLean picked up a knock in the 1-0 win over the Doonhamers but will be fit to face Inverness.