Adam Mackinnon reckons the arrival of two Aberdeen starlets to Caley Thistle can allow him to flourish further as a player.
The 21-year-old former Ross County midfielder is enjoying an impressive season with the Caley Jags with three goals in 22 appearances.
His side will be without a game this weekend after Saturday’s trip to eighth-placed Annan Athletic was called off after Galabank failed a Friday pitch inspection.
The fixture has been rescheduled for next Saturday (January 18).
Administration-hit Inverness brought in 18-year-olds, striker Alfie Bavidge and midfielder Alfie Stewart on loan from Aberdeen, ahead of last weekend’s 2-0 home win against Dumbarton with with Bavidge netting on his ICT debut.
Bavidge had been on loan with Championship promotion-chasers Ayr United, having been at League One Kelty Hearts last season.
‘You can tell quality’ of Dons pairing
Mackinnon, who was a loanee at Montrose from Ross County during the 2023-24 campaign, is enjoying having the Dons teenagers as team-mates until May.
He said: “You can tell they’ve got quality from coming through at Aberdeen, and they have settled in well. Hopefully they can do well for us.
“It is a learning curve for me, and there are things that the gaffer wants me to do that I probably wasn’t doing as much when I first came in.
“You’ll get that everywhere you go. Different people see different things, so I suppose it’s just about adding to my game and improving as a player.”
Looking to add to his goal tally
Mackinnon was pleased to play his part in last week’s crucial win against Dumbarton, having been involved in the build-up for the goals scored by Bavidge and Charlie Gilmour.
He said: “I need to add more goals and assists to my game, so it was good to be involved with both of the goals last week.
“Having joined the club, it’s different to going out on loan, but I’ve loved every minute.
“Hopefully I can continue to play in every game if I can keep up my level of performances.”
Mackinnon seeking more killer goals
While Mackinnon has been impressed by Caley Thistle coming from behind to record wins against Cove Rangers and Montrose this term, he wants a cutting edge when they get their noses in front.
He added: “One of the big things this season for us, when we’ve gone ahead, we haven’t really killed games off.
“We need to get that one or two goal lead, but we need to be a bit more relentless too.
“There have been two or three games where we’ve won in the last minute of the game, and that shows the belief that we have to keep going until the end.”
The League One match between Cove and Montrose at Balmoral Stadium was also among the SPFL games to be called off following Friday pitch inspections.
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