Josh Meekings to be back for Caley Thistle's league opener at Partick Thistle
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After missing all of the Betfred Cup games with a knee injury, Meekings had an injection in his knee yesterday to drain fluid and will be available for selection at Firhill.
He has not featured since the pre-season friendly at Nairn County and has since seen his place at centre-back taken by new signing Kevin McNaughton.
Meekings and Aaron Doran have been the only players to give Foran any injury problems during his short time as manager, with both now ready for a first-team return.
Doran was on the bench on Saturday against Arbroath, with Foran admitting he was still some way off featuring but will be closer after a few more training sessions.
But Meekings, who is comfortably one of the most impressive defenders in the Premiership, is ready to make his comeback.
"He's had a bit of fluid drained from his knee and he's good to go," said Foran. "He's done a bit of jogging with the physio and took part in full training.
"Josh has been fantastic for us. He's very good on the ball, reads the game well and his pace gets us out of trouble. It'll be a battle for him to get back in the team but he's great to have back around the place - you can tell he's missing it."
Meekings was a spectator for the crushing 7-0 win over Arbroath on Saturday which sealed the Caley Jags' progression to the last 16 of the Betfred Cup.
Sunday's draw confirmed a trip to face Ross County's conquerors Alloa at The Indodrill Stadium would await them next Tuesday, with Jack Ross's side the surprise package of the group stages.
Alloa won all four of their group games and went through as one of the top eight seeds, along with the four Premiership sides entering the competition after their European engagements.
Foran had hoped for a home draw and sees the recently-relegated League One side as anything but a soft touch.
"It's a tough place to go and by no means will we underestimate Alloa," he said. "They've already beaten a really good Premiership side and we know they'll be full of confidence.
"It would have made life easier had we got a home draw - they've only conceded two goals, which is less than we did in the group stage.
"Brian (Rice) has watched them once or twice. They've brought in Jim Goodwin from St Mirren who will add experience to the squad and have got some dangerous players across the park.
"But that doesn't mean I'm under-estimating my players. We went to Dunfermline and scored five and to go to Cowdenbeath and win was a fantastic result for us."
The Caley Jags will resume their League Cup challenge on Tuesday next week at 7.30pm, but first the Challenge Cup comes to the Highland capital tonight.
Duncan Shearer's Development side will host Arbroath, who make their second trip to Inverness in three days. The benefit for the younger players of being able to scout their opposition early is not lost on Foran.
"We've done a bit of shape with them and Duncan in training and looked at ways we can get the win tonight," he added. "Arbroath will have a couple of players back and our boys have to be able to handle what is going to be a physical game.
"It's one of the most important games the young lads will play in. It's at our home ground so hopefully we get some fans down to support them.
"I've been really impressed with three or four of the young lads we had with the first team in pre-season. Two or three could go on to earn professional contracts while some could end up in the Highland League. But they'll get all the training and advice they need to improve themselves over the season."
