Mason playing waiting game with Inverness Caledonian Thistle Women to gauge reaction after free weekend in Championship North
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Inverness Caledonian Thistle Women manager Karen Mason is not sure how not having a match last weekend will affect her side ahead of today's fixture against Buchan.
After Cove Rangers and Kelty Hearts pulled out of the Championship North, matches have been cancelled each week and last time it was Caley Thistle's turn to sit out.
They return to action at Canal Park against a team who picked up three points last Sunday, beating Westdyke 3–1, so though Mason hopes the extra training her side did will pay off, there is always the chance they have conceded momentum instead.
"It was bad in that we couldn't keep our momentum going, but it was good that we got the squad together and had a bounce game," she reasoned.
"That allowed us to see more options that we could play with, because my starting 11 isn't cemented as yet.
"It gave others the opportunity to show me what they can do in a game situation.
"There were pros and cons to it, because we didn't have to travel either, so it was handy that everyone could get 90 minutes and stay local, that was a bonus."
ICT picked up a win against Westdyke themselves on the opening day of the season, winning 5–1 thanks in large part to four goals from returning attacker Lorna Macrae.
However, although Macrae – along with fellow forwards Mary Macleod and Kayleigh Mackenzie – misses out this afternoon, Mason believes her side still has plenty of reason to be confident.
"It's a home game, and we tend to play well in Inverness, hopefully we will do the same this week," she said.
"I think confidence will be high, especially after that first performance, but we know not to take any team lightly.
"We need to make sure we produce our best, what we're looking for this season is consistency – not just playing well here or there. That's obviously part and parcel of achieving our target of promotion.
"Going by Buchan's squad list and the names that are there, it doesn't look like they have many new faces, but what they can produce one Sunday might be completely different to what shows up the next Sunday.
"It doesn't look like they have too many new signings, it may well be that they have promoted more from youth to their first team, so I'm really not entirely sure who we'll face come kick off."
Mason's uncertainty is not limited solely to Buchan.
With different Covid-19 restrictions coming into effect in local authority areas across the country tomorrow, every squad in the league will potentially be affected.
Although the league is regionalised into north and south divisions, ICT still have trips to Aberdeen, Dundee and Fife on their calendar.
"With this new tier system coming into effect as well, that could affect the areas we play in," Mason added.
"It could be that some people go into isolation and they can't play, but the league are being quite flexible in the sense that if a team can't put enough players out then they will look to rearrange the game.
"There's a lot more leniency in that this year, just to make sure the games get played.
"It could be that a team has a totally different squad from one week to the next, but that's just something we'll have to contend with for a while."
