Goalkeeper Dean Brill is ready for action after playing the role of helpless spectator for the past month with Caley Thistle.
The Englishman has been absent since January 24 due to a knee injury when he landed awkwardly in his side’s match at Kilmarnock.
The process of watching from the sidelines has been an arduous one and Brill said: “It’s the first injury I’ve suffered in eight years and it’s the first time I’ve had to miss games. It’s been horrible as I don’t enjoy watching the games at all and I’d much rather be out there.
“Seeing the game from a different point of view might help me when I get back in the team, but it has felt like an out of body experience.
“It was innocuous as I jumped to take a cross. There was no challenge, nothing, and it was a case of the body doing what it wanted to. Maybe I was due a little service, an MOT or something.”
Brill’s availability comes at the perfect time for Caley Jags as they chase a top three finish and a place in the Scottish Cup final.
Raith Rovers visit Inverness on Saturday in the quarter-final and having played in the League Cup final against Aberdeen last season, Brill is eager to go one better and win silverware with the Highlanders.
He said: “Getting to the League Cup final and being so close to winning it has given us a taste for it.
“With the league being so close in terms of points the cup has become a nice distraction. It’s strange as cup ties have a completely different feel to them.
“We’re in the quarter-finals which is good for the club and having a home tie is good for us and our supporters.
“We know if we win we will be playing at Hampden as we didn’t get to experience that last year. The League Cup final was at Parkhead, which was great, but we want to play at the national stadium.”
Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Motherwell was Inverness’ first loss of 2015. The defeat was a disappointing one but with Aberdeen, Hamilton and Dundee United also losing it’s as you were in the Scottish Premiership in the chase for Europe.
The Caley Jags goalkeeper said: “We’ve worked so hard in the first part of the season to put ourselves in this position and we can almost see the finish line which makes the hard work we’ve put in feel worthwhile.
“There’s so much to play for in the league and the Scottish Cup and it’s exciting. The excitement is brewing as we all wonder what is going to happen.
“Raith Rovers will be a very tough game though. We’ve played them in pre-season in the two years I’ve been here and they have both been really hard games.
“It’s strange for us to be the big dogs and they will want to make it through to the semi-final as well.”