Elgin City manager Gavin Price insists rising star Lewis Nicolson can kick on with Caley Thistle following his successful spell at Borough Briggs.
The 18-year-old full-back was on loan at the League Two club from August until the New Year where he impressed Price, stacking up 13 appearances for the Black and Whites.
On Saturday, he headed home ICT’s final goal in their 4-1 Championship rout at Arbroath as the Highlanders draft in reinforcements amid their ongoing injury crisis.
Elgin were keen to keep Nicolson
Price didn’t want to let Nicolson leave, but hopes the smooth transition will lead to future loan moves which again work for all parties.
He said: “Lewis did very well at Elgin. He’s a big, strong left-back, who has a big career ahead of him if he applies himself well.
“I am sure he will because he’s a good lad. We will wait and see what happens with that.
“Inverness have obviously have had plenty of injuries over the past two or three months and they needed him back early.
“We didn’t want to stand in the way of that because, in the future, we’d like to take Inverness players on loan and maintain that relationship.”
Cruickshank stepping up the levels
Last week, Nairn County boss, and Price’s former Borough Briggs’ assistant, Steven Mackay took young forward Aidan Cruickshank on loan until the end of the season.
The 17-year-old spent the first half of this season at Strathspey Thistle, but a switch on to Nairn was deemed the right next move for the young gun.
Price said: “Aidan is still a young boy and he needs to learn the game. He’s certainly got ability and has got a good physical stature about him, which can be useful.
“He has had a good half-season at Strathspey Thistle where he has developed.
“We felt he now needed to go up to a slightly higher standard of team to challenge him a wee bit more to learn a bit more about the game.
“We have talked to him about what he needs to improve on.
“Steven Mackay has got a similar view to myself about that in relation to Aidan and I know Steven is someone who will help Aidan progress further in the second half of the season.”
Forging relationships with Nairn
Mackay has said he wants to bolster links between Nairn and Elgin in terms of player moves such as this.
And Price is open to that suggestion. He added: “I like Steven’s manner as a manager and coach. I know he will develop players really well. We will keep in contact about players’ progress.
“It’s not solely Nairn County who we will work with in that regard, but there is a relationship is a strong one already.”
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