John Robertson admits Caley Thistle will head to Tynecastle for League Cup action tomorrow still deep in the throes of pre-season preparation.
After seven months without a competitive game, the Inverness manager is where he expected to be in terms of match readiness ahead of the Championship opener on October 17.
League Two Elgin City impressed to earn a draw and might have snatched victory at an empty, rain-battered Caledonian Stadium.
Despite weaknesses laid bare, Robertson described the match as a “perfect” level of test for his players.
That wasn’t the case seven days ago in a 7-3 win over the same opponents at Borough Briggs.
“That’s the kind of pre-season game you need,” said Robertson.
“They were hard to break down and were hitting us on the break. It was more of the test we expected.
“It showed there is still work to be done.”
Ahead of the trip to face promotion rivals Hearts, Robertson admitted: “We’re not 100% ready.
“We knew that would be the case.
“We knew our late start would leave us with some stuff to catch up on.
“We’ve already said we’re using the League Cup as part of our pre-season plan.
“While we still want to qualify for the League Cup campaign – we’re not writing it off – for us, October 17 is crucial. We have to be up and ready for the league because it is a shortened campaign.”
Rustiness was evident in the home ranks. There was plenty of intent in build-up play, but all too frequently moves broke down.
Elgin were always dangerous on the break.
There was concern for Caley Thistle as right-back Lewis Toshney limped off early on and, much later in the game, the influential James Keatings would follow him to the treatment table after what looked like muscle injuries.
Half-time changes saw Nikolay Todorov drawn back to centre-back where he performed comfortably, while Shane Sutherland came on in a right-sided attacking role.
Cameron Harper exited, with Robbie Deas moved to left-back.
Elgin grew in confidence after the break, and Kane Hester smashed a superbly taken opener high into the net from 10 yards after a cutback from Cameron.
Hester would go agonisingly close again after 64 minutes with a low driven strike almost brushing the outside of the post
Young Daniel Mackay added a touch of sharpness to home efforts after coming on with 25 minutes remaining and the leveller came after 69 minutes.
Miles Storey’s strike deflected for a corner and Keatings’s low delivery skidded into the six-yard box, where Todorov pounced to batter it home.
Elgin should have won it, but a brilliant Hester run and cross ended with Cameron fluffing his chance in front of goal.
