Caley Thistle winger Aaron Doran has returned to Inverness’ starting line-up and the Irishman is determined to remain there.
Doran, who had two knee operations in the space of two years, was handed his first start in 12 months in last Tuesday’s 1-1 Championship draw against Livingston, in which he netted the opening goal.
After keeping his place for Saturday’s 1-0 loss at St Mirren, Doran insists he is as hungry as ever as he targets another start in tonight’s home match against Falkirk.
Doran said: “It’s hard when I’ve just been training a lot, and coming on for 10 or 15 minutes here and there.
“I need to start, and I want to start, so we will see how it goes.
“My zest is still there. I want games, I want to be playing out there in front of the fans.
“It’s hard going into training every day knowing I’m not going to be playing at the weekend.
“It’s good to be back out there and scoring in front of the fans, though, and I’m happy.”
Doran has not seen out the full 90 minutes in either of the two matches he has started, having made just three previous substitute appearances this season.
The 26-year-old feels he needs time to build up his sharpness, as he aims to rediscover the form which made him a favourite with Inverness supporters following his move from Blackburn Rovers in 2011.
Doran added: “It’s good just to play games. Before Livingston, the last one I played was a friendly game against Ross County.
“It’s just good to be out there again. It’s certainly better than just training all week and not really playing.
“I’m happy I’ve got out there, scored a goal and I’ll keep trying to help the team. It has been tough with the weather we’ve been having. I haven’t had many minutes – even in friendly games. The Livingston game was the first 70 minutes I’ve had in a long while, and that’s what I need.
“I can only get sharper and fitter by playing games.”
Although he has predominantly watched from the sidelines this season, Doran feels confident he can slot into John Robertson’s Championship team as Caley Jags bid to move within three points of the play-offs with a victory against the Bairns this evening.
He said: “We know we can play some good football and that’s what we go out to do. We’re only concerned about ourselves. We don’t go anywhere to do anything other than to try and win. We go to attack. We play some nice football and try to get in behind teams and score goals.”