Caley Thistle forward will be out for number of weeks
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Inverness Caledonian Thistle manager John Robertson has confirmed that forward Miles Storey will miss the opening weeks of the Championship season with a hamstring injury.
The 26-year-old was forced off after injuring his hamstring early on in the Betfred Cup group match against Cowdenbeath on Tuesday and although it was hoped the knock was not overly serious, Storey will have to sit out the next few matches.
There was some good news midweek for Robertson though as Kevin McHattie, Danny Devine and James Vincent all returned from injury to play some part and build their fitness up ahead of the league campaign.
First up for Caley Thistle is Dunfermline Athletic at East End Park tomorrow as Scotland’s second tier kicks off a truncated season.
Teams in the Championship will only play 27 games this year, nine fewer than the usual total of 36, so Robertson believes it is all the more important to get off to a strong start.
“It’s important for all teams if they can to get off to as fast a start as they can,” he insisted.
“With nine less games to play, it’s more advantageous to get off to a good start, but unfortunately not everybody can do that.
“The league dictates that three or four teams will get off to a really good start, and three or four teams will get off to a poor start.
“In this league it’s amazing how if you can put together five or six wins you rocket up the table, and that’s where you want to be.
“It’s important for every single team to get three points on the board as quickly as possible to give you a springboard to move up the league and move forward.”
The intensity levels have been high for Caley Thistle so far in Betfred Cup games and pre-season friendlies.
Perhaps that is best exemplified by a 7–3 win at Elgin City last month, but after such a long wait for competitive action and with no fans in grounds, the levels may not drop as fans might expect from now on.
“With everybody coming back, the players are just so happy to be playing,” Robertson said.
“The intensity levels in the league cup were really high, the matches against Hearts and Cowdenbeath were played at a frantic pace, so I don’t expect that to change.
“In the past when you played friendlies, or closed-door games, they were always at 100 miles an hour.
“With no fans in, it’s like basketball at times – one team attacks, then the other team attacks, and there’s no let up – and with everybody so desperate to get points on the board we fully expect the intensity level to stay high.”
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