Time for young talents to shine at Caley Thistle says midfielder
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RODDY MacGregor believes the time is ripe for Caley Thistle’s young talents to come of age.
The gifted 18-year-old has seen his team’s injury troubles mount early in the campaign, with striker Nikolay Todorov the latest victim with a nasty injury at Dunfermline.
Miles Storey and Aaron Doran also represent experienced absentees, while young Kai Kennedy, signed on loan from Rangers, was only expected to join the squad today after a spell of Covid-19 isolation. David Carson and Lewis Toshney are also recuperating.
Having started all three competitive matches to date alongside 19-year-old attacker Daniel Mackay, MacGregor – who can perform in wide and central attacking midfield roles – is being primed for the big breakthrough season.
Cameron Harper, Lewis Hyde and Ryan Fyffe are also challenging for places.
MacGregor admits it is time for all of the Inverness academy products – with the club since the age of eight – to justify the management’s faith in the club’s hour of need.
“Everyone always talks about how we have such a good crop of youngsters emerging here at Caley Thistle,” MacGregor said. “We need to really show that, I think, this year.
“We’ve all had a wee bit of a chance, but this is the kind of year where we need to stake a claim for the team and really look to push on.
“It is never good to see team-mates getting injured, but it kind of opens up a chance for the younger boys coming through. We just need to try to do as well as the older lads who are missing, do the best we can for the team and push on.
“It is always the way in football. If there’s a regular out, that can be the moment a younger boy takes his chance to make a real impact. We just need to do all we can to help the team get the results we need.”
MacGregor admits he is on a sharp learning curve as he adapts to starting matches more frequently.
“The first year I was involved with the first team, I don’t think I started a game. I was coming off the bench for 10 or 15 minutes at a time,” he said. “That can be valuable, but it is the games you start where you really pick up experience, settle into a game and do your thing.
“My aim is to be starting games more regularly and contributing as much as I can in a big season for the club. As younger players, we’ve all got that wee bit of extra experience now.
“Hopefully, we can prove valuable to the manager and help the more experienced lads around us.”
MacGregor felt the 3–1 defeat at Dunfermline swung on the Pars’ second goal after 78 minutes and was closer than it looked on paper. Caley Thistle opened up in search of a late equaliser and conceded a third.
“There are no easy games in this league, so we’ll treat Ayr United exactly the same. We’ll prepare the same and go out with the same attitude of trying to win the three points,” MacGregor said.
