Caley Thistle captain Sean Welsh is urging the club’s younger players to prove they’re as good as anyone in the chase for the Championship title.
The experienced midfielder has been a league winner with Partick Thistle when youth was the name of the game at Firhill in 2012/13.
Defender Matthew Strachan, 17, with midfielders Keith Bray, 17, and Calum MacKay, 18, have broken into the Inverness first-team amid the club’s injury crisis.
MacKay has made two first-team appearances, one from the start, with Strachan coming off the bench twice over the last 10 days.
Five of ICT’s sidelined stars – Roddy MacGregor, 20, Dan MacKay, 21, Austin Samuels, 21, Robbie Deas, 22, Wallace Duffy, 23 – also fall into the young category.
Welsh, who returned as a sub from a knee injury in last week’s 1-1 draw with Raith Rovers, was part of Partick Thistle side which won the Championship title a decade ago with many capable starlets.
Young Jags proved to be title winners
Ahead of Friday’s trip to Morton, the skipper sees no reason why Inverness cannot follow that blueprint.
The 32-year-old said: “I remember when I won the league at Partick, we had a squad with an average age of 22 or 23. We were mostly just young boys.
“We were fighting for the title against a really experienced Morton team and people at the time were saying youth doesn’t win anything. But we proved them wrong at the time.
“I know, first hand, it can be done with a young squad and it gives people chances to stake a claim to make it in the team.
“It is up to the young boys to kick on and for us more experienced players to try to help them at the same time.”
🔜 This week we're away from home as we face Morton at Cappielow on Friday night, with the match been shown live on BBC Scotland
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— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) October 25, 2022
Anyone has a chance to win league
Only three points split first-placed Ayr and ICT with sixth-placed Dundee and Morton.
Welsh has told his team-mates, after reaching last season’s play-off final, automatic promotion is up for grabs.
He said: “I’ve told the boys anyone has a chance, and this is probably our best chance to win this league given how tight it is. Anyone who can put a run together can pull away from the pack.
“I’ve just tried to remind the boys that, if we can do that, we have a right good chance this year.”
‘Never seen injury crisis like this’
Up to nine first-team players, including Scott Allardice, Danny Devine and Roddy MacGregor are out through injury for the trip to Cappielow.
And Welsh admits the sheer number of players out of action is a concern.
He said: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen an injury crisis like it.
“It seems like every time we play, we lose another player.
“We’ve just got to deal with that the best we can. The squad is very thin at the moment and I’m just coming back from injury, looking to help where I can.
“We’ve just got to try to keep going and pray we don’t get any more injuries.”
Knee blow became ‘significant’ injury
Welsh explained months on the sidelines was a blow from nowhere as he was gearing up for the new campaign in the summer.
He added: “I just had a little groin strain in pre-season, but then I picked up the knee injury which came from nowhere really.
“It was quite a significant injury to my knee, so I needed surgery having not foreseen that I’d be out for this length of time.
“Looking at it now, I never really took much part in pre-season because of the groin injury.
“I’ve not really been able to do any work since the end of last season.
“It has been frustrating. Injuries are never nice, but with a long period of time like this it is hard to take.
“You just have to keep your head down and work through it. It is part of football, unfortunately, and I know that too well.
“I’m not saying by any stretch of the imagination that I’m fully back. I’ve still got a bit to go on the journey to where I want to be, but I’m getting there.”
Skipper expects battle at Cappielow
Morton, bolstered this week by the capture of ex-Celtic and Hibs defender Efe Ambrose, have the chance to join ICT on 21 points after going on a four-match unbeaten run.
Welsh expects a challenging 90 minutes, but – with only one loss in seven games – Inverness are ready.
He said: “Morton’s ground is always a difficult place to go, but we just need to be ready for it.
“They’re doing well – they’ve had a couple of good results recently.
“They’re always good at home and you know it will be a battle. They make it hard for any team coming there.
“We’ll go down with a positive mindset. They’ve picked up some good results recently, so they will be up for it and feeling positive as well. We’ll need to be ready.”
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