Ryan Esson is challenging double-century keeper Mark Ridgers to aim for a new Caley Thistle shut-out record this season.
Experienced shot-stopper Ridgers, 31, reached the 200 appearance-mark in Saturday’s 1-1 Championship opener against Queen’s Park.
That milestone came just a few months after he broke the club’s shut-out tally of 68 set by Mark Brown in the 1-0 promotion play-off quarter-final win against Partick Thistle.
Goalkeeping, under-18s, and first-team coach Esson applauds Ridgers for passing another magic number.
Esson won the Scottish Cup with ICT in 2015 and helped guide the side to a third-place top-flight finish and secure a Europa League tie against Romanians Astra Giurgiu.
Now he wants Inverness-born Ridgers, who joined the club in 2017, to try and beat his club peak tally of 22 shut-outs in a single season, which Esson achieved when they won promotion back to the top-flight in 2009/10.
That was matched in 2013/14 by Dean Brill, with both men achieving this over 45 appearances.
Brown notched 20 single-season blanks against opponents in 2003/04 over 47 outings.
Esson said: “To reach 200 games is a great achievement for Mark, all credit to him.
“His next target is to try and beat the record number of clean sheets in a season. I managed 22 in all competitions in the year we were promoted (2009/10).
“I got 18 in the league and it was in the second half of the season we got most of those clean sheets when we went 22 games unbeaten.
“During that 22-game run, I had 14 clean sheets and we won the league title with two games to spare.
“Mark had come close (he got 19 clean sheets in 2017/18). To be fair, I want the record to be beaten, because it means we will be doing well.
Congratulations to @ICTFC keeper @MarkRidgers on making his 200th appearance for the club 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
…its catching pic.twitter.com/bLC6Q5nJWv
— Behalt Goalkeeping (@BehaltKeeps) July 31, 2022
“Sometimes, people have egos about records, but I really don’t. I want people to achieve what they can in football because I know how difficult it can be to reach those levels.
“If Mark achieves these kind of numbers, we will be there or thereabouts.”
Mackay keeping Ridgers on his toes
Esson is confident the improvement of fellow keeper Cammy Mackay, who had a strong and impressive run in the first team last term, is the key reason for Ridgers’ consistency.
He said: “Top goalkeepers, such as Gianluigi Buffon and Petr Čech, carried on for many years and I could have carried on a few years more in all honesty.
“However, you don’t want to block pathways for anybody and sometimes you have to give a younger keeper the chance.
“Mark has improved because he has Cammy Mackay competing for a place in the team with him.
“I don’t think Mark has improved because of his age – it’s because he has to fight for his place.
“Yes, he’s played a lot of games and you tend to learn the more you play, but he knows he cannot let his standards slip.
“We saw last year what Cammy can do, he was terrific when he came into the team.”
No one writing Arbroath off – Esson
This Saturday, ICT look to post their first league win of the new season when they go to 2021/22 runners-up Arbroath, who the Caley Jags beat on penalties in the promotion play-off semis before losing to St Johnstone.
Esson is sure Dick Campbell’s side, who finished one place above ICT, will be in the title shake-up again and that’s why Inverness are targeting maximum points at Gayfield.
He added: “Arbroath are not going away any time soon. Folk wrote them off but they have started this season flying.
“We know what we must do and I am sure Arbroath will be one of the favourites to go up after what they did last season.
“They have kept the nucleus of their squad, which is important.
“However, we also have to go for three points. If we want to achieve what we’re aiming for, we need to be taking the minimum of a point, but ultimately three points because they will be a rival.”
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