David Carson hopes his new Caley Thistle team-mates can help him realise his ambition to play in the Scottish Premiership.
English midfielder Carson yesterday joined Caley Jags on a two-year deal from English non-league club Morpeth Town, who he helped gain promotion to the Northern League Premier Division this season.
The 23-year-old was previously with Blackburn Rovers, where he was under-23s captain, but caught the eye of Inverness boss John Robertson during a successful campaign with Morpeth in which he was named Northern League East player of the year, netting 14 goals.
Inverness face Dundee United in the second leg of their Premiership play-off semi final tie tonight, with the Highlanders looking to overturn a 1-0 deficit to reach next week’s final against either St Mirren or Hamilton Accies.
Although he is unable to play, Carson will be throwing his support behind his colleagues from the sidelines, and he said: “The manager sees me being able to play in the Premiership and the Championship.
“That was definitely a factor but it will change nothing in my eyes. We had the conversation and the club is in a great position going into this game. I believe the players can do it.
“I will be cheering the guys to get promoted, as I believe they can.
“Coming up here was an opportunity. I want to play games and enjoy my time up here.
“It was two weeks ago I heard a bit of interest. The club came and watched a few games and it was all positive, so the ball got rolling from there.
“I was hoping the deal would go through, so I’m very pleased to get it over the line. Everything fits in nicely and I can’t wait to get started.”
Although midfielder Liam Polworth is suspended against United following his first leg red card, Robertson is hopeful winger Tom Walsh will feature after returning to the squad following a hamstring injury.
Robertson is urging one final push from his side, and he said: “We know we’ve got to go down there and win. It becomes a knock-out for us.
“We’ll take great energy and confidence from our last cup tie down there.
“We have nothing to lose – we’ve got to go for it.
“United are 1-0 up. They’ll expect to go through. Their fans will expect them to go through. Their board will expect them to go through.
“They’ve made a lot of quality signings and put a lot of money into their initial budget and then augmented that in January.
“There’s a lot riding on it for them, but there’s a lot riding on it for us because we want to be in the Premiership. We’ve come so far, and want to take that final step.”