Austin Samuels is ready to put his injury struggles behind him and play his part for Caley Thistle in their promotion bid.
The Inverness striker has, over two spells, missed five months of this season due to fibula injuries.
However, since returning to the fold in February, the 22-year-old has added another six appearances to his tally to take him to 16 matches.
In Saturday’s 2-1 win at Morton, he played 80 minutes after coming off the bench to replace injured wide midfielder Jay Henderson, who is on loan from St Mirren.
Sixth-placed ICT, who face Falkirk on April 29 in the Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden, are hunting down a promotion play-off spot, chasing Partick Thistle, in fourth, who are six points ahead, but have played one match more.
Six league games remain for ICT, with Raith Rovers, who are one point below them, visiting before they host Arbroath on Tuesday.
Sharpening up for crunch run-in
Samuels, whose two goals against Thistle last season helped Inverness reach the Premiership play-off final, cannot wait to try and make a similar impact.
He said: “It was good to get on against Morton. It was the most minutes (in one match) I’ve had since I’ve come back from injury.
“It was great to have a good performance and get the win as well.
“It took me a bit of time to get back into the flow of things, having been out for quite a while.
“I feel like I’m getting there and the more I play, the greater the chance there is for me getting back to how I was before.
“There is a lot at stake. We’re getting closer to crunch time.
“Even if we don’t have the top performances, if we grind out results, that’s the most important thing right now.
“Saturday was never going to be a smooth-sailing game. It’s never pretty football when you go down there. We had to grind it out and luckily we got the victory.”
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Injury hit ahead of comeback match
Former Wolves player Samuels was on the brink of making a comeback against Morton in October. He explained how cruel luck at Cappielow put him out of action for longer.
He said: “I fractured my fibula twice this season. When I came back for the Morton game (in October) I did it again (in the warm-up) and made it worse and I was out for even longer.
“I was only meant to be out for six to eight weeks and it ended up being five months.”
Spirits high for Rovers’ trip north
Raith Rovers’ 2-1 midweek loss against Hamilton kept them one place below ICT, but forward Samuels says it’s now all about what they do as they look for their third win on the spin.
He added: “We just have to make sure we focus on what we’re doing and the results around us can take care of themselves.
“We’re confident going into the weekend and we should be confident going into every game because we’ve got good players and we’re a good team.
“We have got a lot of good, creative players in our side. It’s exciting.
“I like playing in this side and hopefully we can take our good form into the end of the season.”
Striker targets cheer for ICT fans
And Samuels, who was on loan at Aberdeen from Wolves in the early part of last season, says the ICT fans will hopefully have plenty to cheer in the last month or so.
He said: “We want to show what we can do by reaching the play-offs, as well as reaching the Scottish Cup final. After such a long season, it can still turn out to be a successful one for the club.
“The supporters have been really good all season. Even though it’s not been easy and we’ve been really up and down, they have stuck with us.
“Hopefully we can get these wins and we’re really grateful for their support.”
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