Inverness Caley Thistle Women manager Karen Mason switches focus away from promotion bid ahead of Rossvale visit to Highland capital
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With Caley Thistle Women manager Karen Mason admitting any chance of promotion was blown with last weekend’s 3–0 defeat to Ayr United, her priority has now become establishing themselves in the division.
Pre-season hopes – rather than expectation – had the Caley Jags near the top of the table competing for a place in the SWPL Two.
However, reality has not panned out that way. Disappointing performances just when things looked like clicking have seen a gap open up between Inverness and the front three.
Mason was so frustrated with last weekend’s display, in fact, she refused to rule out a battle to avoid finishing bottom of the table.
“We showed again that we’re nowhere near ready to be competing at the top level,” she reasoned.
“If you can’t bring performances week in and week out, you can’t expect to be in with a chance of promotion at all.
“That’s our downfall, and I don’t think the girls wanted it enough last week which is even more disappointing.
“I’m not going to say we’re aiming to survive, but it could well be that we just have to look to take enough points to try and maintain our position in the league.
“We would like to be in the top half if anything, but we have to take it week to week.
“If we look beyond that, it scares the girls off and pressure gets to them. The aim is just to stay in the top half. It’s whether we’re able to stay in this league, and trying to find out if they want it.
“Looking at the game against Ayr, you wouldn’t have thought half of them wanted to play for the badge. That’s the bit that probably hurts us the most, that’s the most frustrating and disappointing thing.”
Sunday sees Rossvale return to Millburn Academy after losing 5–4 to ICT on the opening day of the season, and Mason wants to see more of that same desire.
“I would like to see the fight we showed in that first game, but I wouldn’t want to concede another four goals in the manner we did,” Mason added.
“We haven’t been firing on enough cylinders defensively or in attack to be able to put a scoreline like that together, so there’s going to have to be big improvements and an immediate response.”
Team news
Inverness Caledonian Thistle Women’s squad will be bolstered by the return of Alex Andrews ahead of this weekend’s Scottish Women’s Championship match against Rossvale.
It is a timely boost for manager Karen Mason, who wondered after last week’s defeat to Ayr United if some players were taking their spots in the starting 11 for granted.
However, Peigi Barker will drop out of the squad, while Megan McCarthy and club captain Kirsty Deans remain unavailable.
A lack of options has been an issue for the Caley Jags throughout the campaign so far, with some away matches seeing the team only name one or two substitutes on the bench.
Mason does, though, have options in Caley Thistle’s youth set up should she choose to use them.
The likes of Iona MacArthur and Millie Carr have already broken into the first team this season, and more will be champing at the bit for an opportunity in the senior side after winning the Kim Little Under-18 North league.
With the youth season now finished, there is no conflict between the squads so Mason is free to call up anyone she feels may be ready for senior action.
After the morale hit of last Sunday’s defeat, this week could prove to be an opportune time to blood some new faces to inject some fresh energy into the squad going into the second half of the Championship season.
