Caley Thistle have on-loan Dundee United goalkeeper Jack Newman back to compete for a place with in-form team-mate Musa Dibaga.
Manager Duncan Ferguson confirmed that Newman, who has been out for a month with a knee injury, is back with the Highlanders in time to be considered for Saturday’s League One trip to joint leaders Alloa Athletic.
Fellow summer signing, former Bo’ness United shot-stopper, Dibaga has kept three successive clean sheets including in Saturday’s 3-0 SPFL Trust Trophy win over League Two visitors Stirling Albion to secure a last-16 tie at Championship Livingston next month.
Ferguson is delighted to welcome former Scotland under-21 keeper Newman back to the fold, but says he will listen to keeper coach Stuart Garden on whether he will challenge for a place against the Wasps.
He said: “Jack is back in the squad after an injection. He feels not too bad and trained for the first time this morning (Thursday).
“Musa has come in and done fantastically well. It looks like we have two really good goalkeepers on the books, and a young one (Szymon Rebilas) backing them up.
“It is a good headache for the goalkeeping coach – I’ll leave it to him.”
Mixed team news for Inverness
Midfielders Keith Bray and Luis Longstaff also return from hip flexor and thigh injuries, but fellow midfielders Paul Allan (thigh) and Charlie Gilmour (concussion) and defender Flynn Duffy (punctured lung and broken ribs) remain sidelined.
Alloa are unbeaten in the league this season and are tucked behind Kelty Hearts and Stenhousemuir on nine points at the top of the division.
However, the recent 1-0 victory over Queen of the South moved ICT to fifth place and they are just three points adrift of the leading trio.
Alloa, boosted by their 3-1 SPFL Trust Trophy win at Championship Partick Thistle last week, will be tough opponents.
But Ferguson hopes putting three goals past Stirling will lift confidence in attack to add to their resolute defending.
He said: “We’ve lost one game in the league through a penalty that should never have been given (at Annan).
“We managed to get over the line in the last league game and we’re happy with that.
“Now we’ve got to go on and we have a really difficult game down at Alloa where we need to try and get a result.
“It is away from home and on a plastic pitch, with Alloa coming off the back of a great result.
“It is not going to be easy, but we have managed to get one or two players back from injury, which will help us a bit.
“Scoring goals has been a wee bit difficult for us, probably for the last six months.
“But we have certainly kept a lot of good clean sheets and defensively we have been fantastic for the past year, I’d say.
“Getting three goals in the last game, although it was in the cup, gives us a wee bit of extra confidence.
“As I always say, sticking the ball in the net is the hardest part of football. We managed to do it in the last game and hopefully we can go down to Alloa and get a positive result.”
Versatility offers tactical options
Ferguson reckons the versatile nature of some of his players can help them game by game and it allows him to explore different tactical options.
He added: “The adaptability (in the team) is good. We’ve changed our tactical set-up and gone from three centre-backs to two. I’ve changed it in-game as well.
“We’ve played players in different positions as we try to come up with solutions as I have to do as manager to get results.
“Players like Adam Mackinnon have been adaptable. I played him on the side in the last game and he played well in the pocket after that, scoring a goal.
“It is good to have that adaptability.”
Young lads are ‘growing up quickly’
Ferguson’s young charges are learning to cope with the challenges in League One and the boss believes they’re maturing as they go.
He said: “I think they have had to grow up fast. They are in with the men now, coming from youth football a lot of them.
“Physically and mentally, that’s demanding on young players.
“They are getting their chance, aren’t they? And it is good to see they are growing up very quickly.”
With continued uncertainty around the club’s finances, Inverness have been unable to attract a free-agent striker, despite having one on trial last week.
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