Caley Thistle midfielder Jordan Roberts aims to show he merits an extended stay in the Highlands by impressing in Inverness’ final three games of the campaign, starting with tonight’s match against Dundee United.
Roberts has been limited to just 11 appearances in an injury-ravaged debut campaign with the club, missing six months with a groin problem.
The 22-year-old played his first game in more than a month last weekend, making a goalscoring return in Caley Jags’ 4-1 victory against Partick Thistle.
The Highlanders have the option to extend Roberts’ contract by a further 12 months and the Englishman is determined to prove he can play a part for the club next season.
Roberts said: “I’m happy to be back out there playing. I’m going to carry on working hard and, hopefully, I’ll sign another year here.
“First of all I need to train hard, do what I can on the pitch and go from there.
“Nothing is sorted yet but my job is to play football and show the supporters and the manager what I can do.
“It’s the club’s option whether they choose to sign me or not but I will do what I can on the pitch and that’s all I can do, really.
“They are big games for me. I’ll put my all into each game I play and see where we go from there. But it’s good to be around the lads and good to be back playing. Hopefully, I can carry that on for the last three games.”
Roberts claims his injury problems since joining from English National League side Aldershot Town have not dampened his enthusiasm to remain in the Highlands and he added: “It was frustrating at the start, being injured for the first six months, but when I came back I enjoyed it.
“I even enjoyed it when I was injured – just being around the lads. There’s a good atmosphere and a good bunch of lads.
“There were no tough times in there, really, apart from watching on every Saturday which was quite frustrating. But that’s football and I just had to get on with it and do what I could when I came back.”
Inverness are aiming to pile further misery on a United side relegated to the Championship courtesy of a 2-1 defeat by rivals Dundee on Monday, which resulted in the sacking of manager Mixu Paatelainen later in the week.
Roberts is intent on replicating last weekend’s display against the Jags, and added: “The lads focus on what we do. We don’t really focus on the other teams too much.
“We’ll just go out there like we did on Saturday against Partick and we’ll show what we can do.
“We won’t take our foot off the pedal. We’ll just carry on scoring goals and playing well as a team and hopefully that will reflect when the supporters watch it.”
