Terry Butcher believes his Inverness players can handle the pressure of a relegation dogfight - because they have been doing it for the past five months.

The Highlanders take on bogey team Hamilton in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League on Sunday knowing three points will edge them one step closer to survival.

Caley boss Butcher said: "There's been pressure on the players since January when I came in but the guys are used to that by now.

"Playing on the Sunday could provide us with us with an advantage knowing if we can get all three points, it could us one step closer to survival."

Butcher revealed spirits are high at the club following last weekend's 2-1 win at St Mirren.

He said: "The guys were euphoric and bubbly as soon as they came off the park on Saturday.

"Then when we got in to the changing room and heard the news Falkirk had won, it brought us back down to earth.

"But we still won the game and the players have every right to be confident and buoyant from the way we played down in Paisley.

"They're a hardy bunch and we've maybe not had a lot of consistency in my time here, but in our last four games, we've only lost once at Aberdeen, who are a top-six side.

"Seven points from 12 isn't bad and is the kind of form we'd like to take into the last four games of the season.

"We've played some good football at times and have a good belief and hunger about us."

Hamilton will look to PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year James McCarthy to inspire them to another win after his man-of-the-match performance against Kilmarnock last time out.

But there may not be many more such displays from the 18-year-old in an Accies jersey after the first of what is expected to be many bids for him in the coming months.

Despite turning down a reported £500,00 offer from Portsmouth, Hamilton will struggle to hold onto McCarthy if the price is right.

In the past, a guarantee of first-team football at such a young age has been enough to keep him at New Douglas Park.

And he will be well aware joining a bigger club could result in him being left to rot in the reserves or being farmed out to a smaller team.

Reid, who has been mentor as well as manager to McCarthy, would welcome an agreement with whichever club the player joins giving Hamilton first refusal on any loan move.

He said: "I think there's so many options and roads we could go down but that would be a decent option for the club, if young James wanted that as well.

"So, until he decides whether he wants to go and we sit down as a club and decide exactly how things can pan out, I can't answer that."