Defender Max Ram is relishing the rough and tumble of the Championship as he targets a weekend win for Caley Thistle against visitors Raith Rovers.
The 21-year-old summer signing from Wycombe Wanderers was pitched in for his first league start on Tuesday as ICT slid to a 1-0 defeat to Hamilton, ending a five-fixture winning surge.
Ram was named as a substitute, but an injury to Wallace Duffy in the warm-up saw him drafted in from the first whistle.
League is tough and high standard
The centre-half was on loan at National League South side Hungerford Town last term and he feels that was ideal in terms of getting him ready for life in Scotland’s second-tier.
He said: “Some people undermine the league back down the road, and now I’ve experienced it myself it’s a lot better than I thought.
“It’s a tough league, when I was on loan last year it was really physical and this is the same.
“I’m used to that, it’s good, and we’re in a good position as a team.”
‘Sloppy goal’ earned Accies victory
Tuesday’s match was decided by one slick move, which ended with Andy Winter winning the points to lift Hamilton off the foot of the table, denying ICT outright leadership ahead of Partick Thistle.
Ram admits it was a sore one to take, but insists the players are ready to make up for it against seventh-placed Raith this weekend.
He said: “You can’t afford any lapses in concentration or anything like that.
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“It was a sloppy goal to concede, but these things can happen.
“Hamilton had a game-plan, they wanted to hit us at any opportunity and that’s what they did unfortunately.
“Hopefully we can put it right at the weekend.”
Caley Thistle eager to strike back
Leicester-born Ram explained the injury-hit side took the defeat on the chin and the focus is now on returning to winning ways.
He added: “I wouldn’t say it was a big blow (not to go top), but obviously you need to get points against teams down at the bottom.
“We’ve just got to keep pushing and keep going the way we were going before.
“We can’t win every game, you’re going to lose at times, but it’s how you bounce back from that and hopefully we can do that at the weekend.
“They’re a team that are scrapping down there, they put bodies on the line to defend, so it’s always going to be a hard team against teams like that.
“We were confident going into it. We had won five on the bounce, it was just a bad day at the office but we’re determined to bounce back at the weekend and put things right.”
Injury on debut was setback for Ram
Ram has had to be patient, with his debut in the 1-0 Premier Sports Cup win at Kelty Hearts lasting just 14 minutes before injury struck and he was taken off.
That made the chance to be involved against Accies one to relish.
He said: “It’s not been the best of starts.
“Coming up here I wanted to get going straight away, but it was unfortunate that it happened.
“I did my rehab and got back as quickly as I can, and on Tuesday I got my first 90 minutes which was good. It was nice to be back out there on the pitch.”
Being sidelined so soon after moving north was eased by the backing of his new team-mates.
Ram said: “The boys couldn’t have been any better to be honest.
“They’re very inclusive, and it’s a well-bonded team. Everyone gets on with each other.
“They’ve been brilliant with me to be fair.”
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