Paul Allan insists the Caley Thistle players are doing their best to try to block out the uncertainty over the club’s future.
The former Dunfermline Athletic midfielder, a summer signing for Duncan Ferguson’s League One side, opened the scoring in Saturday’s 2-2 SPFL Trust Trophy defeat at Championship hosts Livingston.
The Livi Lions sealed a 5-4 shoot-out victory to take their place in the quarter-finals, but there was plenty of pride about the way ICT performed.
That was especially so given that, unless a last-minute credible investor is secured before Wednesday night, Caley Jags will be forced to go into administration.
Jobs would be on the line throughout the club and a 15-point SPFL punishment would mean ninth-placed Inverness would face a fight to stay in the third tier of Scottish football.
Games are a welcome ‘distraction’
Allan explained how getting onto the park offers the team the chance to break away from the in-house worries.
He said: “There is a lot of speculation off the pitch at the minute, which everyone is aware of.
“As players, we trained as normal last week, and everyone has been focused on this game.
“That showed on the pitch, and everyone was focused. We did a decent job.
“We will just need to see what happens come the next couple of weeks. Hopefully we can kick on and do better in the league.
“Boys do talk about the situation. It is out there for everyone to see.
“But it isn’t spoken about too much. Everyone trains hard and prepares for the games.
“When the weekend comes, it is a good distraction to get away from it. We go out and enjoy playing football.”
‘Disappointed not to get through’
And the 24-year-old, who was a League One title winner with Dunfermline in 2023, was pleased to score against the Championship’s third-placed and unbeaten Lions.
He said:Â “I was delighted to get off the mark for Inverness.
“We knew Livi were a good side, but we did well in the first half especially. It was a good game.
“In the second half, we dropped off a bit and gave them a bit too much of the ball.
“We were happy enough with our performance but disappointed not to get through to the next round.”
Mission to start climbing League One
This Saturday, ICT host Annan Athletic, with the Galabankies one place and one point above them in the table.
Caley Thistle have won only once in their opening nine matches, drawn six times and lost twice.
Allan said:Â “We have not done as well in League One as we should have.
“Our performances have been decent enough, but we have not been scoring enough goals.
“Hopefully, everything goes well and in the next couple of weeks we can progress in the league and start climbing the table.”
Fit and ready after muscle injury
Saturday was Allan’s sixth appearance for ICT, with a muscle injury keeping him out not long after joining, but he added: “My fitness is totally fine now.
“After not having a proper pre-season, it was like a shock to the body when I came back in.
“Things were just a bit too quick to start with. I picked up a slight muscle injury, but I got rid of that and I feel totally fit.”
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