Three takeaways from Inverness Caley Thistle's SPFL Trust Trophy defeat at Hamilton
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Inverness Caledonian Thistle's match yesterday had a very different feeling about it compared to most Saturday afternoons.
After announcing at the start of the week that the Caley Jags would be taking a mostly under-18s side to Hamilton Academical, there was definitely an element of having nothing to lose.
Caley Thistle would, as many people expected, go out of the competition thanks to a Sam Nixon own goal and Reegan Mimnaugh's strike, but it was far from a drubbing against the Accies. Here are three things to take away from the match courtesy of sports reporter Andrew Henderson, who was at the game.
Men against boys? Not quite
Word going round the press box before kick off in Hamilton was that the average age of the ICT line-up starting the match was just 17 – surely making it one of the club's youngest ever sides. Even as one of the older players in the side at 21, Ryan Barrett was playing in only his third senior game ever.
There were youngsters included by the visitors too, like 16-year-olds Gabe Forsyth and Ryan One and 17-year-old Chrissy McGinn, but do not be fooled into thinking it was an even playing field.
One already has 20 first team appearances under his belt, while McGinn was one of the most impressive players on the pitch young or old. Plus those teenagers were supplemented by established first team players like Michael Doyle, Matthew Shiels, Reegan Mimnaugh and Andy Winter.
With that in mind then, to say that there was not much between the team for large spells should be seen as a big compliment to the Caley Thistle players.
Inverness did not lack chances to score, with a lack of cool heads at times costing them through some rushed play in the final third and, yes, some lack of quality.
All things considered though, the feeling was positive after the full time whistle despite going out of the SPFL Trust Trophy, and with the scoreline never becoming too one-sided ICT can feel they did themselves justice.
Coach Ryan Esson's thoughts: "All-round, we're really happy. Obviously we would have liked to get into the next round, but their performance was good enough for me.
"Especially in the first half, we had a good few chances. We stuck to our gameplan, and we were unlucky. The first goal was unlucky – it takes a wee nick off Mark and spins off Sam into the back of the net.
"Hamilton put out a good, experienced side, but we did well. It was a bit daunting to start with, but we grew into the game and held our own for big parts of it."
Outflanking the Highlanders
Hamilton got most of their joy from wide positions. Both goals came from advances down the right-hand side, with first Lucas De Bolle getting to the byline and cutting the ball back into the middle, before Winter turned provider for Mimnaugh for the second.
One also impressed on the left, while as stated McGinn was a constant threat bursting forward from left back to cause Barrett plenty of problems.
Those moments proved to be the difference between the two teams, whether because of the experience of Winter or the tenacity of One and McGinn, and really was where the game was lost as far as Inverness were concerned.
Left back Matthew Strachan's thoughts: "We knew the boy Winter was quite fast, so I had to try and match my game to how he was going to play.
"The big difference was just their physicality to be honest, and the pace of the game was quicker than we were used to.
"We handled it though, and the boys were great."
Making a mark
Before the match, both Ryan Esson and goalkeeper Mark Ridgers spoke about the opportunity that those youngsters had been given, with a chance to impress for more involvement in the regular first team picture or even in a bid to win a full time contract for next season.
If there was anyone who stood out for ICT, then, it was Calum MacKay.
Esson revealed after the match that it was somewhat by design, with Caley Thistle's gamplan being to get him on the ball as much as possible to make the team tick going forward.
That said, he still had to make something happen with the ball at feet, and he was Caley Thistle's biggest threat throughout the 90 minutes.
MacKay has had a taste of first team football where he may well have been wishing he could have done more, but he is clearly the main man in the under-18s. If he can channel that when given his chance in the senior squad, and continue to develop, it is easy to see what he could bring to the side in years to come.
Ryan Esson's thoughts: "A couple of boys for me were definitely stand-outs. I thought wee Calum MacKay was excellent. I asked him to do something today, and I asked the whole team to revolve around him basically, and they did.
"They always looked for him, he took the ball the way I wanted and he was a real threat.
"They chances who was picking him up in the second half, they put a different player on him, which shows how well he did."
