They may now have gone five fixtures without a win, but midfielder John Rankin reckons Dundee United will come good again soon after grinding out a result in the Highlands.
United rallied from an early setback to earn a 1-1 draw against Inverness on Sunday in a game which could certainly have gone either way.
Caley squandered a second half penalty while the visitors twice struck the woodwork, so a draw was deemed to be a fair reflection by both managers.
But, with a nine-point gap opening up between third-placed Aberdeen and United in fourth, Rankin knows how important it is for the Tangerines to keep the teams above them in their sights.
Only victories will achieve that, but the United midfielder believes the mix of youth and experience in the squad will help them overcome their recent sticky spell and return to the sort of form that saw them win six games on the bounce.
“I think the younger boys have probably learned more over the last three or four weeks than they probably did when we were on the run that we were on,” he said.
“It’s been good for them.
“It’s not good results-wise, which we need to address, but I’m positive once they come out of the other side and learn how to adapt to the conditions then we’ll kick on again. It’s just a matter of when.
“Hopefully they’ll get their hunger, confidence and desire back because as young boys you are up and down. I’ve been there myself and the older boys know what they are going through.
“As soon as we get a chance and we get ourselves back on a good run, they’ll be on great form and they will pull us back up that league. There’s no doubting the character in that dressing room.
“The boys are desperate to put a run together again and, although there are a lot of young boys in the squad, they know what they’ve got to go and do.
“I don’t think it’s so much to do with confidence, it’s just one of those things.
“It’s just a case of needing to roll the sleeves up and kick on, and I’m sure it will come for us. Hard work pays off in the end.”
Given the way Sunday’s game panned out, Rankin is viewing the away point as a positive.
“We’ll take the point and try to build on it,” he said.
“We had to grind it out and to be honest, it’s a dropped two points but it’s a point we’ll take. From the run we’ve been on, it’s probably a point gained.”
Sunday’s game was in doubt right up until around an hour before kick-off due to areas of the pitch being frozen, and Rankin admits the conditions have not suited the way United like to play their football.
It could very well be the same again this weekend when United travel back up the A9 to take on Ross County, but Rankin is just getting on with the task at hand.
“To be honest, I didn’t see the pitch at first,” he said of Sunday’s game. A few boys came into the dressing room and said the pitch was solid, so I chose not to look at it.
“When we came out, parts of the pitch were still frozen but as the game went on it did soften up and once you’ve made the journey you are wanting the game on.
“It probably didn’t allow us to play our normal style of football so we had to adapt, and to be honest I thought we adapted quite well in the way we went about our business.
“At this stage of the season you are not going to be able to play the pretty football we have been playing over the past few months. There’s nothing you can do.
“But I felt we dealt with it quite well and we didn’t try and play in areas where we shouldn’t have played.
“It was good to get a game and that’s two games now where we’ve picked up points against difficult teams and we’ll probably finish in the top six at the end of the season.
“If we can start building and put a wee run together like we did earlier in the season then we’ll certainly shoot back up.”