Caley Thistle manager John Robertson reckons teenager Roddy MacGregor could benefit from an enforced rest despite suffering a broken thumb.
Attacking midfielder MacGregor missed out Saturday’s 3-0 Championship loss to Dundee United, after picking up the injury in a 2-0 victory over Queen of the South last Tuesday.
Although Robertson is not predicting a lengthy absence, he feels the injury could inadvertently ease the burden on the 17-year-old after starting six of the last nine matches.
Robertson said: “We will probably lose Roddy for a week or two. He broke a thumb against Queen of the South, which is why he wasn’t involved on Saturday.
“We are waiting for the specialist to tell us we can get him into a lighter cast, so he can potentially play.
“I don’t think it will do any harm, because he has played seven or eight games. It may do him the world of good just to rest for a couple of games, and then he can come back into the frame again once we get his thumb fixed.”
With MacGregor likely to miss this weekend’s trip to Arbroath, Robertson insists winger Tom Walsh is ready to be unleashed from the start after coming off the bench in the last three matches.
Walsh had been sidelined since September 21 with a hamstring injury, and Robertson added: “We have resisted the temptation with Tom. We could have played him longer against Morton and Queen of the South, but we felt we had to manage him to get him right so we were not rushing him back.
“He will certainly come into contention to start on Saturday, which puts pressure on the likes of Mitch Curry, Aaron Doran and Miles Storey.
“Aaron’s form has been up and down, and wingers and forwards are like that. Their form can be patchy.
“What we need to do is get signs from training and games that somebody is looking sharper than somebody else.
“We have got good options. What we need is players to go and produce the goods.”
With Inverness slipping to fourth after recording one win from their last four league matches, Robertson says the coming two weeks will determine whether he needs to freshen up his side, adding: “Everybody knows they are under serious threat. We have been very loyal to a lot of players in certain positions because we feel they have deserved that.
“We have got to look at the aspect now that if somebody’s form dips, we have got the guys who have been waiting patiently and if they come in and do well they will stay in the team.
“We targeted a consistency of selection, and we will continue to do that until the Clyde game. After that it will be very much form that will dictate who plays in the games.”
