Billy Dodds insists Caley Thistle’s returning senior pros should follow the lead of the under-18s when they chase three Championship points at Hamilton this weekend.
Due to the club’s ongoing injury crisis, Ryan Esson’s young group, ably supported by first-team goalkeeper Mark Ridgers and defender Ryan Barrett, lost 2-0 at Accies in a SPFL Trust Trophy tie last week.
However, they took the match to their hosts and created several chances, but could not quite find a way through.
This time, the senior pros who have been playing weekly will return to the fold as sixth-placed ICT hunt down their first league points for two months against John Rankin’s basement opponents.
The Highlanders felt they had no option but to pitch the kids in to allow their weary players a rest before returning to league business this Saturday.
Dodds, who watched on from the New Douglas Park Stand, was impressed by the teenagers’ display.
And he stressed that if his regular team replicate the hard graft shown by the kids then they will have a chance of winning for the first time in the league since October 15.
Work ethic was ‘magnificent’ – boss
He said: “I was sitting up there willing them to do well.
“I left Ryan Esson to get on with it, because he’s a good coach, and they worked their socks off.
“I know we’ve got hardened pros, but we need to have the same work ethic as our under-18s did, because they were magnificent.
“They could have scored a couple of goals, so that shows you what hard work can do, and that’s our starting point this week.
“Going in, it would have been easy to fear the worst, but seeing them they nearly got a couple of goals.
“If we can put in the same sort of performance, I’ll be happy, because we’ll be capable of winning the game.
“We’ll need a huge effort, and it’s a game we need three points in.”
Starlets impressed head coach Dodds
Dodds explained some of the U18s have given him something to think about as they press their case for more first-team minutes.
He added: “Preferably I would like every young lad to get their moment at the right time, and I don’t think that’s been the case lately.
“A few who played in that game showed that they belong, and they really want to grasp their chance to be a professional footballer.
“They all handled it really well, but a couple in particular showed that they really believed they could be here, which is a good thing.”
One or two players – who Dodds didn’t name – could be in contention for a return ahead of Inverness’ league trip to Hamilton, with striker Billy Mckay on the way back from a calf strain and expected to be one of them.
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