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Caley Thistle ace Daniel MacKay has goals in mind for Partick Thistle showdown

Daniel MacKay (left) leaves Arbroath's Ricky Little behind.  Image: Roddy Scott/SNS Group
Daniel MacKay (left) leaves Arbroath's Ricky Little behind. Image: Roddy Scott/SNS Group

Daniel MacKay is gunning for goals with Caley Thistle as they seek to see off Partick Thistle to land their first Championship win since October.

The on-loan Hibs winger has only scored once in 19 appearances in all competitions since coming back to his hometown club from the capital in the summer on a season-long switch.

However, free from the knee injury which sidelined him for a spell, the determined 21-year-old is keen to hit the net more and add to the five assists he has contributed this term.

On Friday, seventh-placed Inverness travel to Partick, who are four points and two spots in front of them.

And MacKay, who set up Billy Mckay for October’s winner between the sides, aims to grab more goals.

When asked to assess his loan spell so far, he said: “Some games have been good, others haven’t been as good as I would like to be.

“I was joking with the gaffer (Billy Dodds) earlier, saying I would like to score more goals, but I’ve probably got the most assists I’ve ever had at this point in the season.

“I’ve been contributing in other ways, but I would like to score more goals. Hopefully, I’m just getting going.”

Injury halted my progress – MacKay

The knee injury suffered in a 1-0 home defeat by Hamilton in October kept him out for five weeks and he felt it came at a point when he was hitting the ground running.

He said: “I thought I was really getting into a good rhythm before I did my knee against Hamilton.

“That was unfortunate, and it obviously wasn’t a good time to get injured, but I just need to concentrate on myself and help the team as a whole.

“That’s what we need from everyone – not just myself. We’ve got to be better in the attacking third, that’s what we’ve got to do to win games, and hopefully we can do that this week.”

Focus is on climbing up the league

Back in August, Partick beat ICT 4-1 in a real off-night for the visitors.

Having taken just three single points from their last seven league matches, MacKay wants to come out on top of what he expects to be a close contest.

He added: “It’s obviously a massive game for us, and I think Partick will see it the same way.

“We’ve got one win over each other, so it will probably be an even game, but we’ve got to give ourselves the best opportunity to win.

“It has been a disappointing past few months, but we need to get past the circumstances (of so many injuries) now and get some points to start moving up the league.”

One magical moment could win it

One of MacKay’s assists was the cross which Billy Mckay tucked away against Partick two months ago and he felt that display, as a whole, was encouraging.

He said: “I thought that was one of our most complete performances of the season.

“We’ve struggled over the years against teams that have sat in, but we found a way to break them down that night.

“It will probably take a moment of quality like Billy’s finish that night to win on Friday, and hopefully we’ll be the ones on the right side of that.”

Younger brother impressing at ICT

MacKay’s brother Calum, 18, got a rare chance to start for the first-team when the forward played in the recent 2-0 SPFL Trust Trophy defeat at Hamilton.

The mainly 18-and-under squad played in that tie amid the club’s long-standing injury crisis and showed up well, emerging with a lot of credit.

MacKay explained how the experience of facing the Accies in what was only his second start has served his younger brother well.

Caley Thistle forward Calum MacKay gets in ahead of Hamilton opponent Matthew Shiels. Image: Craig Foy/SNS Group

He said: “I knew coming back up the road that Calum was signing (a contract) just before I came back.

“I told him he would probably hate seeing me every day, but it’s good to see how he’s getting on.

“I don’t see a lot of him with my football commitments, so that has been good, and he’s come on a lot with his confidence since the Hamilton game and training really well.

“I’m pleased with him, but it’s up to the gaffer, so hopefully he can kick on again now.”

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