Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Competition for places is ideal for boss Billy Dodds as Caley Thistle leave Kelty Hearts with cup points

Caley Thistle striker Billy Mckay wins this header but it comes back off the post.
Caley Thistle striker Billy Mckay wins this header but it comes back off the post.

Competition for Caley Thistle jerseys was as hot as the sunshine in Kelty on Saturday – and that was just what head coach Billy Dodds wanted.

A 1-0 victory at New Central Park was hard-earned to ensure ICT began their Premier Sports Cup campaign with three points ahead of Tuesday’s trip to Premiership hosts Livingston, who won 3-2 at Albion Rovers.

George Oakley, who played for the Inverness side from 2017-2019, has been to Hamilton, OFC Pirin Blagoevgrad in Bulgaria, Kilmarnock and Woking since then.

But last week, the powerful Englishman signed a two-year deal to come ‘home’, while former ICT youth star, winger Daniel Mackay made a surprise loan return to Inverness on Friday on a season-long loan from Hibernian.

Caley Thistle players celebrate with match-winner George Oakley, far right.  Picture – Steven Brown

They joined new summer recruits, defenders Max Ram and Zach Delaney, and wingers Steven Boyd and Nathan Shaw in signing for the Championship club.

All six featured at some stage in Saturday’s 1-0 win against League 2 champions Kelty, but it was Oakley who had the final say with his ice-cool finish in the searing Fife heat.

Injury blow for central defender Ram

Centre-half Ram was only on the pitch for 15 minutes when a thigh pull saw him replaced by impressive Delaney, whose first act was to clear an Alfredo Agyeman effort off the goal-line.

Midfield dynamo Roddy MacGregor was the closest for ICT to opening the scoring in the first 45 minutes, but his low drive flashed just wide after Delaney teed him up.

Inverness keeper Mark Ridgers worked hard for this clean sheet, with a first half save from Lewis Martin, just signed from Dunfermline, followed by second half stops to deny Thomas Reilly twice.

After that, ICT seemed to step it up and created the best of the remaining chances.

Caley Thistle’s David Carson, left, challenges Kelty Hearts’ Jamie Barjonas.

A long-ranger from Aaron Doran was superbly tipped over by keeper Darren Jamieson just before Billy Mckay’s fine glancing header bounced off the post.

Daniel Mackay, who replaced Doran on 63 minutes, was not far off with a swerver from outside the box then Billy Mckay had an effort cleared off the line when he connected with a Cammy Harper corner.

With a shoot-out just two minutes away, Billy Mckay became the provider when his pass found Oakley, who raced through before burying the ball past Jamieson for the deciding goal.

Dodds believes the signing of Daniel Mackay, on loan from the club he joined a year ago on a four-year deal, can revive the 21-year-old’s footballing fortunes.

Plenty of quality options delight boss

But he’s also delighted to have quality options from back to front as they seek to qualify for the knockouts for the first time since 2016.

He said: “We have good options. I wanted competition for places and I had that, even before we got Danny.

“I know if I can get Danny back to the way he was at this club, he will be a big asset to us.

“We also saw Steven Boyd and Nathan Shaw look good and Aaron Doran, who makes some great, intelligent runs. I wanted Aaron to be more ruthless. I asked that of him at half-time then he hit a great shot in the second half.

Caley Thistle striker Billy Mckay goes for goal.

“We have good competition out wide, good competition in midfield and up front, the back and with the keepers.”

Hard-fought win enjoyed by ICT fans

Although there were two leagues between Kelty and Caley Thistle last year, this was a tough tie well negotiated.

Kelty, whose boss John Potter was in charge for the first time in a competitive game since replacing title-winning manager Kevin Thomson, had not lost a fixture in their last 13, apart from in pre-season.

Even then, that was just 1-0 against Partick Thistle, while they held fellow Championship side Raith Rovers last week too.

The late drama delivered by Oakley was lapped up in great measure by the Caley Jags fans who seemed to outnumber the Maroons within the 601 crowd.

This was the first meeting between these clubs, with Kelty posting back-to-back promotions after coming up from the Lowland League two years ago.

After taking on Livingston in West Lothian on Tuesday, ICT are the idle side in the section this weekend.

They return to action on Tuesday, July 19, at home to League 2 visitors Albion Rovers before hosting their Championship opponents Cove Rangers on Saturday, July 23.

KELTY HEARTS (4-3-3) – Jamieson 6, Peggie 6, O’Ware 6, Martin 6, Forster 6, Reilly 7, Barjonas 7, Higginbotham 6, Tidser 6 (Owens 80), McNab 6, Agyeman 6 (Strang 75). Subs not used – Campbell (GK), Hill, Brown, Cameron, Campbell.

CALEY THISTLE (4–3-3) – Ridgers 7, Harper 6, Deas 6, Carson 6, Mckay 7, Doran 6 (Daniel Mackay 63), MacGregor 6, Ram 3 (Delaney 15), Allardice 6, Samuels 6 (Shaw 79), Boyd 6 (Oakley 79). Subs not used – Cammy Mackay (GK), Hyde.

Referee – Barry Cook.

Attendance – 601.

Man of the match –Billy Mckay.

Conversation