A change has been as good as a rest for Caley Thistle midfielder Ryan Christie.
While his team-mates enjoyed the chance to recharge the batteries during the international break, Christie played in Budapest with the Scotland under-21s, setting up Aberdeen attacker Lawrence Shankland for one of the goals in a fine 2-1 win for the young Scots.
But it was the chance to mix with his peers which has energised Christie and inspired him to ensure he maximises his potential.
Christie said: “The Scotland trip was great. The under-21 squad is a good group of players and I really enjoyed Danny Lennon’s training. He wanted us to play a positive style and it was similar to what we play here, so I fitted in well.
“It’s always good to train with a different group of players and I was asking Ryan Gauld about his training in Portugal which was a bit of an eye-opener.
“To see how well he has done over there, where he has completely fitted in, is great. Scottish young players going abroad was completely unheard of before him and to see him fitting in is a great inspiration for us all.”
Following his international exploits, Christie returns to domestic duties with his Caley Thistle team hoping to get back to winning ways.
Inverness have drawn two and lost two of their last four league matches and Christie is frustrated at squandering chances to strengthen the push for Europe.
He said: “A lot of teams say the breaks have helped them and maybe they came at the wrong time for us when we look back.
“The biggest disappointment for us has been the fact Dundee United have slipped up at the same time as us. Had we won a couple of those games we would have stretched away from them.
“We’ve got nine games left and we’re in a mini-league at the top of the table. It’s up to us to pull away and ensure we finish in the top three.”
Caley Jags face a season-defining month as they try to secure a top-three finish and a place in the Scottish Cup final and Christie insists the experience gained of reaching the League Cup final last year will aid the club’s cause this term.
He said: “We’ve learned a lot from reaching the cup final last season and it will help us balance the league and cup games better this time.
“We’ve got a tough run of games and, while we are looking forward to the cup semi-final, whatever happens we have to be back to work straight away and have our minds focused on the league again.”
Inverness host Dundee at Caledonian Stadium today and Christie hopes his team-mates can show their true quality against Paul Hartley’s side.
He said: “It was really tough trying to break them down here at the start of the season and it ended 0-0. We scraped a 2-1 win there when we played poorly and we want to put that right in this game.”