It all happened due to their injury crisis – but Caley Thistle’s under-18s learned plenty from playing in Saturday’s SPFL Trust Trophy 2-0 defeat at Hamilton.
An early own goal and a Reegan Mimnaugh close-range effort earned Accies a place in the quarter-finals, but the nine teenagers lining up for ICT walked off with their heads held high.
Of course, nine first-team stars are sidelined with injury, mostly not due back any time soon.
That meant the Highlanders decided to give the remainder of their first-team players the weekend off from action to prepare for a return to Championship action back at Hamilton this coming Saturday.
They announced last week, they would play mostly under-18s in this fourth-round tie.
In all, 14 academy graduates were in the squad and all of them got game time, either from the off or from the bench.
Mixtures of youth and experience
A seven-match winless league run means Inverness are now mid-table, with Hamilton at the foot of the division and opting to field a side with a mixture of youth and experience for this clash.
Under-18s coach Ryan Esson, who is sure he and the youngsters will have gained valuable lessons from this 90 minutes, sees the benefit of clubs using the Challenge Cup, as it is better known, to shake up their teams to benefit the younger lads.
He said: “We should have more competitions like this where you can develop your players whereby teams put some experienced players out alongside the young boys.
“They will gain experience by playing with experienced boys and also playing against them.
“You can see sometimes the boys with experience get themselves into good positions that are slightly different from those players who maybe lack experience.”
Positive response after early goal
Esson was thrilled by how the nine teens, along with goalkeeper Mark Ridgers and recently-recruited right-back Ryan Barratt, never let their heads go down after Hamilton went 1-0 up inside three minutes.
He said: “All in all, it was a good day. Hamilton were very good and they put out a decent side with experience. It was a bit daunting to begin with, but we grew into the game and I thought we held our own for big parts of it until we tired after 60 minutes.
“We reacted really well to losing the early goal and we could have gone under, but we actually got together and grew into the game.”
Own goal gives Accies breakthrough
It was a bitterly cold afternoon at Hamilton, but 488 fans, including a bus-load and more ICT supporters, were entertained by the efforts of both sets of players.
Bad luck blighted ICT as Hamilton took the early lead. On-loan Newcastle starlet Lucas De Bolle drove a powerful cross into the area, which Ridgers unluckily directed into the path of Sam Nixon, who saw the ball spin agonisingly over the line.
It was the start of nightmares, but the mainly young group encouraged one another to react positively.
Keith Bray was first to test home goalkeeper Jamie Smith as his stooping header, from a Duncan Proudfoot assist, was superbly kept out.
Then Calum MacKay, the younger brother of Hibs loanee Dan MacKay, was not far off with a shot after Aaron Nicolson lined him up.
Hamilton reminded everyone they were still a threat and Ridgers saved a shot from Jean Pierre Tiehi before 16-year-old livewire Ryan One curled a shot just wide.
Andy Winter then whizzed a drive wide of target before Aaron Nicolson, from a MacKay corner, shot a foot or so past the right post.
Inverness were putting in so much to this tie, but found themselves down 2-0 on 34 minutes when first-team midfielder Mimnaugh calmly tucked away a pass across the goal by Andy Winter.
Keeper Smith kept ICT kids at bay
Hamilton keeper Smith was earning his clean sheet as he saved from Nicolson and MacKay, as ICT pressed for a way back.
An offside Jean Pierre Tiehi goal denied Accies a third before the break then Ridgers dived to from Gabe Forsyth’s 25-yarder.
The pace and intensity dropped in the second half, but Accies’ key threat, One came closest to netting another when he was denied by Ridgers, who later kept out a free-kick from Gabe Forsyth.
Young keeper Danny Gillan, who replaced Ridgers late on, also saved from One in stoppage-time as ICT stood up to what also ended a mainly youth-packed Accies team.
HAMILTON (4-2-3-1) – Smith 6, Doyle 6, Shiels 6, Tiehi 6 (Black 84), Mimnaugh 7 (Latona 66), Winter 6 (Morgan 84), De Bolle 6 (Newbury 71), Owens 6, McGinn 6, One 7, Forsyth 6. Subs not used – Fulton (GK), O’Reilly, Ryan, Zanatta, Smith.
CALEY THISTLE (4-4-2) – Ridgers 6 (Gillan 87), Barrett 6 (Alistair Nixon 72), Strachan 6, Sam Nixon 6, Walker 6 (MacDougall 84), Carnihan 6, Proudfoot 7 (Calum MacLeod 72), Bray 6, Nicolson 7 (Mackie 84), Calum MacKay 7, Bain 6.
Referee – Duncan Williams.
Attendance – 488.
Man of the match – Ryan One.