Aaron Doran celebrated his 350th Caley Thistle game with a goal – now he’s aiming for double figures.
The wide midfielder, who is in his testimonial season, steered home the winner for Inverness as they edged past Stirling Albion 3-2 in the Scottish Cup third round on Saturday.
The in-form League Two Binos, bossed by former Aberdeen skipper Darren Young, took the tie all the way, testing their Championship hosts right until the end.
It was Doran’s second-half deft finish which made the difference after Dale Carrick’s goals either side of strikes from Wallace Duffy and Max Ram, made it a difficult afternoon for the Highlanders, who had gone six matches without a win.
Irishman Doran, 31, who moved to Inverness from Blackburn Rovers 11 years ago, has bagged only two goals this season.
However, the 2015 Scottish Cup medal-winner opted to make a direct run into the box to get on the end of an assist from impressive winger Nathan Shaw and it paid off.
Change of tact paid off for Doran
Adding to his tally is high on his mind as he seeks to return to the clinical form he has shown in his time at ICT.
He said: “Over the last few games, I’ve had a few chances and haven’t taken them, so it was good that this time I made the run and scored.
“I want to be scoring more goals. A couple of years ago, pre-Covid, I was getting double-figures and that’s what I want to get back to.
“Getting this goal will hopefully give me more confidence.
“I want to provide assists for the strikers, Billy Mckay and George Oakley, but I need to be scoring too, as do all the midfielders and wingers. It’s a team effort.”
Pride at scoring in 350th ICT match
Doran explained how a change of option led to him scoring on what turned out to be an extra-special afternoon.
He said: “Usually when the winger, such as Nathan (Shaw) cuts in, I usually hang back and wait for a cut-back, but this time I decided to run in front of the centre half and luckily I got the touch for the winning goal – it was brilliant.
“It was a good win for us. It wasn’t the best performance, but we’re into the fourth-round and that’s the main thing.
66' | 3-2
GOALLLLLLL! We're ahead through Aaron Doran! pic.twitter.com/bV4wc9DlRx
— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) November 26, 2022
“I thought Stirling Albion played really well and put on a really good performance.
“To get the winner in my 350th game made it a good day all round. It’s something I’m proud of – it’s a big achievement personally.”
Doran keen to wait for big gunshot
Caley Thistle go into the fourth-round draw on Monday night following the Ayr United v Pollok game, which is live on BBC Scotland.
While the board might want an away money-spinning shot at Celtic or Rangers, Doran would prefer to advance further before facing a top-notch Premiership opponent.
He added: “We want to go as far as we can in the Scottish Cup, so maybe a winnable tie at this stage would be good then maybe get one of the bigger teams in the later rounds.
“We’ll take anyone really though. We just want to get wins on the board and play some good football.”
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