Inverness Caledonian Thistle Women underperformed in 2021/22 Championship North season, claims manager Karen Mason
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For Karen Mason, the 2021/22 season will always be tinged with regret.
Pre-season expectations had been that Inverness Caledonian Thistle would be in the promotion mix, challenging for the Championship North title – and if not, a play-off spot at worst.
However, a struggle to get a settled team on the pitch every week and a disrupted fixture list proved costly as the Caley Jags finished fourth in the table, five points off East Fife in the play-off spot.
“We’ve definitely underperformed I would say,” ICT Women manager Mason explained.
“Our intention was to get promotion, or into the play-offs to give ourselves a fighting chance to get up.
“Those three games that we lost against East Fife were the main catalyst in our downfall.
“Them being our bogey team, it hasn’t really allowed us to progress any further, and we had slip-ups against Dryburgh as well that disappointed us.
“There have been some positives throughout the season, but overall we can’t really claim it as being a great success.”
Some of those positives came from individual performances.
The likes of Tina Kelly and Abbey Ross broke into the team an impressed enough to win end-of-season awards, with Mason hoping their development bodes well for the future of the club as a whole.
“If we get all the players available week in, week out, it’s a different ball game – but the way we are at the moment, work comes first,” Mason reasoned.
“That’s what pulls players out of training and games. I can’t really complain too much because at the end of the day football is a hobby.
“The players that we’ve brought up, like Tina and Abbey, have been absolutely phenomenal. They pushed themselves from fringe players to the first names on the teamsheet, so the positives are that we’re building a better squad.”
