Hughes facing dilemma over new faces
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JOHN Hughes conceded he has a decision to make on how best to utilise his budget for bringing in new players ahead of the start of the season.
No new faces have been added to Caley Thistle’s squad since they returned to begin pre-season training at the end of last month.
Hughes did take a look at trialist John-Christophe Ayina, but the players financial demands have put any move for the 23-year-old French forward on the backburner for now, although the Inverness manager could choose to re-visit this option in the future.
The possibility of further trialists coming in where mentioned by Hughes last week, but it currently seems unlikely there will be anyone added to the first-team squad that travels to Dudgeon Park tomorrow night (kick-off 7.30pm) for a friendly with Brora Rangers, who were crowned Highland League champions last season.
Hughes is keen to add to his squad, but insists he is facing a situation where he must decide how best to spend the funds available to him for fresh faces.
"I think there’s money for one, but the dilemma we have is if it’s just one then, for me, he has to play in the first-team," said Hughes.
"However, that one could turn into two, if it’s two younger players who want that opportunity to go and play first-team football and have perhaps got something to prove.
"It’s all about doing as best we can for the club, but I would like to think that we’re going to have one or two in over the next couple of weeks that’s for sure."
Hughes confirmed that defender Danny Devine will undergo a scan to assess the extent of the damage to his knee after he twisted it during the 5-0 friendly win over Forres Mechanics last week.
Richie Foran is continuing his rehabilitation programme as the club captain bids to recover from a knee operation he underwent towards the end of last season, but Ryan Christie and Greg Tansey are expected to be available tomorrow.
Forward Christie missed the 2-1 win over Elgin City on Saturday with a dead leg that forced him to come off against Forres, while midfielder Tansey had to be substituted not long after coming off the bench at Borough Briggs after feeling tightness in his calf. Josh Meekings will also be fine, despite sustaining another cut to his head.
Meanwhile, Aaron Doran maintains that he and his team-mates are looking to scale even greater heights in the forthcoming campaign as they bid to keep the Caley Thistle success story rolling on.
The winger has been part of a squad that has finished the past two season’s comfortably in the top six of the Scottish Premiership, while also making the Highland capital club’s first-ever national cup final and coming close to qualifying for Europe in that same period.
The aim now, according to Doran, is to better all that this season, claiming it would be viewed as a let down if Caley Thistle could not produce another top half of the table finish.
"I think we would [view it as a disappointment if the club finished outside the top six this season]," he said.
"Last season, we pushed on from what we achieved the season before that, so we want to do that again.
"We want to get this club as high as we can. It’s virtually the same squad here that we’ve had for the past two season’s, so we want to get to more cup finals and try to get into Europe.
"Over those last two season’s, I felt that we’ve deserved to get into Europe once, but unfortunately that didn’t happen, so that’s what we’re aiming for this season.
"We’re aiming to push on again and take this club to new heights."
Unbeaten in pre-season so far, Caley Thistle will look to extend that run to four matches at Brora’s expense tomorrow night, but Doran knows it is all about the bigger picture and that is to make sure Inverness are fully prepared for when the season starts at Hamilton Accies on Saturday 9th August, something he is confident they will be.
"We’re passing the ball really well and we’re getting into little pockets and playing one-two’s around people, so it’s nice to watch," he said.
"We now want to build on that. We want to play nice football building up to the final third, but then make that incisive pass, or cross, or even get in a shot at goal.
"That’s what we’ll try and do in the next few games, so hopefully by the start of the season we’ll have done well in the pre-season matches and we can show what we’re all about."
