Daniel MacKay has a double target with Caley Thistle after a year of ups and downs since joining Hibs.
The winger, 21, is back at Championship Inverness for a season-long loan after experiencing changes galore at the Edinburgh club since joining from ICT last summer on a four-year deal.
Signed by Jack Ross for the Leith side a year ago, he has since been managed by Shaun Maloney, then loaned out in January to Derek McInnes at Kilmarnock, who went on to win the Championship title.
He then returned to Hibs, with Maloney no longer in charge at Easter Road and new manager Lee Johnson rubber-stamped this 10-month loan switch back to club he made his debut for, aged 16.
Mackay stepped off the bench in Saturday’s 1-0 win at Kelty Hearts in ICT’s Premier Sports Cup opener and was not far off with a searing shot before George Oakley bagged the last-gasp winner.
On Tuesday night, the wide-attacker is out to gun down Premiership hosts Livingston, who also got off to a winning start in Group G with a 3-2 win at League 2 team Albion Rovers.
MacKay determined to kick on at ICT
Mackay is clearly ready to embrace this chance offered to him by ICT head coach Billy Dodds.
He said: “I’m delighted to be back in familiar surroundings and be back home in a sense.
“It’s also an opportunity for me to get back playing football again. It has been a year of ins and outs and not really playing and having injuries, but I am glad to be back.
“I want to just kick on and help this team achieve its ultimate goal of winning the league.”
Setting sights on regaining top levels
Mackay admits the past 12 months have been challenging. However, he isn’t allowing himself to dwell on disappointments.
He said: “It has been different. I enjoyed it, but there have also been parts I haven’t enjoyed. That’s football.
“It is good to get going again with Inverness. It has been difficult with four managers coming in. It’s hard to prove yourself when you’ve not been playing.
“Hopefully at Inverness I can get back to the levels I was at before, and even go beyond that, and hopefully I can put myself back in the mind of the manager at Hibs.”
And Mackay is giving himself a goals target for his time back north as he’ll be eager to get off the mark against Livi. He scored nine goals for Inverness in 2020-21.
He said: “I would hopefully be hitting double figures in terms of goals. I also want to be in a winning Inverness team every week.
“We want to build a winning mentality at this club again and get us back to where we want to be. That is the most important thing.”
Good core of squad at Inverness
Since swapping the Highland capital for the Scottish capital, Mackay believes the Caley Jags are looking the part, with the younger lads helping the club to the play-off final in May.
He said: “The club has ambitions and came very close (to promotion) last season before they unfortunately lost in the play-offs.
“With the team they have now and the development of players like Roddy MacGregor and Cammy Harper, as well as the experienced players like Sean Welsh and Danny Devine, there is a really good core of boys here.
“We need to take the opportunities and ensure any slump doesn’t last too long.”
Caley Thistle can unsettle Livi Lions
Having come through a testing tie away to League 1 newcomers Kelty, Mackay is confident the team has a chance to up their game further to trouble the Lions in West Lothian on Tuesday night.
He added: “Kelty sat in and didn’t cause us too much trouble going forward.
“We found a way to win and that will be important this season. We will need to find another way to win against Livingston.
“It will be tough as we know what Livi are traditionally like. I think we can cope with it and come away with a result.
“You always want to play against Premiership teams and you don’t need to fear anyone.
“You could see what happened in the play-off game against St Johnstone.
“The boys are not too far away from that standard.
“We want to give a good account of ourselves on Tuesday and try to pick up three points.”
Also in ICT’s section on Tuesday, League 1 champions Cove Rangers host Albion Rovers, while this weekend it’s Kelty v Albion Rovers while Inverness are the idle side.
Conversation