Inverness Athletic have potential to throw cat amongst pigeons in North Caledonian League
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JASON Golabek believes Inverness Athletic’s young side have the potential to trouble the North Caledonian League’s finest next year.
The Athletic manager, while unhappy at his team’s bottom of the table berthing entering the winter break, is convinced his team is heading in the right direction.
Having closed the 2021 series of matches with a home draw against Alness United, the Inverness men face the frustration of having to wait until mid-January to reboot their campaign after a free weekend on January 8.
They resume away to title challengers Invergordon before a tough test at home to Golspie.
February and March could offer a more obvious opportunity to build momentum against teams closer to them in the table, but Golabek stressed: “We’ll be looking to take points off teams at the top as well as those around about us.
“We’re certainly capable of competing against them. It is just about being able to manage the games better and defend against the top teams.
“It is just a wee bit more experience and learning.
“It is okay scoring goals, but it is all about knowing when to do the right things like stopping the opposition taking quick free kicks, quick throw-ins and being organised and ready for anything they throw at you.
“I’m obviously not happy at being bottom of the table, but in terms of the young squad I’ve got, they’re all good footballers. A lot of them are 18 or 19 years old and there’s not many over 22 or 23.
“It’s a fresh start and we’ll see what happens. We have a tough game against Invergordon when we come back. We’ll certainly be ready.”
The draw with Alness was a mostly poor spectacle, and not just because of fog enveloping play.
But the game erupted in the final six or seven minutes with Craig Morrison’s opener for Inverness swiftly wiped out by an Andy Maclean reply.
Golabek added: “We scored late and I thought we were heading into the winter break with a great win and three valuable points.
”It’s disappointing, but we were much better defensively and that’s something to build on after a hard-earned rest for the lads.”
