'Game too far' admission from Inverness Caley Thistle coach Wilson as injuries continue to mount in Highland capital
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Inverness Caledonian Thistle coach Barry Wilson says the 1–0 loss to Hamilton may have been a step too far for some of the club's struggling stars.
It seemed as though bad luck beset the Caley Jags before the match had even begun, as Wallace Duffy withdrew from the starting line-up after feeling a recurrence of an injury in the warm up.
That led to Max Ram getting his first Championship start for Inverness, although he struggled with cramp towards the end of the match.
Most seriously, though, Dan MacKay was carried off in the second half with what looks like a serious knee injury.
Adding to the equation seven players who were unavailable going into the contest with Hamilton, and others like Cameron Harper and Billy Mckay playing through the pain barrier, and the Caley Thistle squad appears to be at breaking point.
"We're disappointed obviously – it looked like a game too far for some of them, the injuries have caught up with us," Wilson said after the final whistle.
"We're not using that as an excuse at all, Hamilton started really well, but then we started getting into it and they scored when we were getting on top.
"The one thing we can throw at them is that we weren't creative enough. We can't say they lacked effort or work rate, we just lacked a wee bit of quality in the final third, and that made for a frustrating evening.
"We woke up this morning and we didn't have a team, we couldn't pick a team because two or three boys were having fitness tests. You can't work on anything in training, you've just got to get them back out and sometimes you're putting square pegs in round holes.
"We had three young lads on our bench, we put Sean Welsh there but he wasn't ready, so we were limited to how we could try and change the game.
"I can understand that the fans are frustrated, but we won five on the bounce before this. We've been up against the pump with injuries, the boys are working their tails off – yes the quality wasn't there, and I get why they're frustrated, but you're hoping that the fans will support us a wee bit more with a lot of kids out there."
With almost a full team of players now set to watch Saturday's match against Raith Rovers from the sidelines, questions could be raised as to why so many of Caley Thistle's squad are picking up injuries.
Wilson, though, says the coaching staff are doing everything they can to mitigate issues that might crop up.
"Dan MacKay has sprinted through and whatever's happened, his knee has locked," he reasoned.
"Roddy MacGregor tripped over a line last week and did his ankle, so it's not as if there's one recurring thing like thigh strains.
"It's not like that, these injuries are generally coming in games, which means it's more freakish than anything we're doing or not doing.
"Our new physio has come in and implemented prehabs, so the boys are doing stuff before training. We're doing everything we can, but we can't seem to get through a game right now without someone coming off with a bad injury."
