Patience pays off as Mackay given Caley Thistle chance
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Cammy Mackay has spoken of his delight that Inverness Caledonian Thistle kept faith with him last summer – and now he is looking to repay that by helping the club into the play-offs.
The 22-year-old shot-stopper did not feature at all last season as he played back-up to Mark Ridgers.
Despite that, he was kept at the club, and he made his first senior appearance for Caley Thistle in over two years in January when Ridgers was ruled out due to injury.
Mackay played three matches before Ridgers reclaimed his spot, but a dislocated finger picked up in last Saturday's Scottish Cup tie against Hearts has given Mackay another chance.
"Last season he went the whole year without being injured once, and now this is twice in a couple of months," Mackay said.
"I just need to keep focused, I played three games the last time and then he came back in.
"I had to keep focus just in case it happened again, and it did.
"I'm delighted that the manager kept his faith. I missed a bit of pre-season due to injury, then he put me out on loan to get some games.
"It was the best thing for me, to go out and straight away play again, then I came back here and I got a couple more games straight away because Mark was injured.
"We don't know how long Ridgers is going to be out for, so I need to keep working every day.
"You don't have too long to think about it with game after game.
"We found out on Sunday morning that Ridgers had done his finger, so I knew from then that I had to be focused on Tuesday, and then straight away again for today.
"We've not got anything secured yet, so we need to keep playing as best we can."
Mackay made his return to the starting line-up against Morton on Tuesday, where a win would have been enough to guarantee a top-four finish for ICT.
However, they were held to a 2-2 draw, a result that the young goalkeeper says was fair.
"The first 10 or 15 minutes, we took a wee bit to get going," he recalled.
"Then we got our goal, a fantastic goal, and then after we scored again we passed it brilliantly.
"We didn't quite get the other goal that we were looking for, and that let them back into the game, which we shouldn't have done but we did.
"The second half we were all over them, we played brilliantly, and we deserved a goal at the end."
Caley Thistle have another chance to secure a play-off spot this afternoon when they host title-chasing Dundee United.
This time, even a point would be good enough to extend the season.
And if they get there, Mackay is giving them a fighting chance of winning promotion back to the Premiership.
"I think we've got every chance, I don't see why not," Mackay insisted.
"Yes we have a small squad, but we've got a squad full of honest boys, boys who are ready to work hard every single day.
"As long as we can take what we do in training out into the game we've got every chance of going up."
