Caley Thistle forward Nikolay Todorov hopes his persistence will pay off in his pursuit of a regular starting slot for the Highlanders.
The Bulgarian capped his first start for Inverness by netting a stunning opener in Saturday’s 3-1 Tunnock’s Caramel Wafer Challenge Cup victory over Morton, although he spurned the chance to double that tally as he missed a second half penalty.
Inverness won comfortably in any case, with further goals from Aaron Doran and Miles Storey against a Ton side that earned a late consolation through John Sutton.
Although the summer signing from Falkirk had netted from the bench in three of his eight substitute appearances before Saturday, Todorov hopes his scoring intervention from the start caught the eye of manager John Robertson.
Todorov said: “The striker here (Jordan White) scored a few goals last season. I understand that. We are a team, but we all want to play.
“I’m happy to be here, happy to improve every day and work with the manager to learn from him.
“In training, it has been really competitive and the last few games show everybody is ready – everyone who comes off the bench and whoever starts. “Chances like this are there for the taking and hopefully I showed enough to start the next few games.
“I’m going to keep improving, working hard. The season has just started and we have targets to achieve.
“I’m happy to be part of the team.”
Todorov was left with mixed emotions after his spot kick was saved by Morton goalkeeper Sam Ramsbottom, with the 23-year-old adding: “It was a nice finish, I’m really happy about getting into the team and scoring.
“But I’m a bit disappointed I didn’t double up and finish the game off with a penalty.
“I’ll just learn from the mistake and move forward.”
Caley Jags have recovered from an opening day 4-1 loss to Dundee United by winning three of their last four games in all competitions, and Todorov feels his side have regained momentum.
He added: “We didn’t have the best start in the league but we’ve started to pick up.
“The team is through to the next round. It was tough playing Morton so soon after the league game which we won 5-0.
“We knew they would come and react to that.
“To get through with loads of changes in the team, we’re happy with that.”
