Nikolay Todorov insists he only has something to prove to Caley Thistle when he faces former club Hearts at Tynecastle today.
Todorov previously spent two years with the Jambos, but spent the duration of the stint on loan at Cowdenbeath, Livingston and Queen of the South prior to being released in 2018.
The Bulgarian forward has enjoyed an excellent start to his second season with Inverness, netting three goals in his opening three league games.
The majority of Todorov’s 31 appearances last term came from the bench, with the 24-year-old making just five starts as an understudy to leading scorer Jordan White, who left to join Motherwell in the summer.
Boys battled to the end ! 💪👊🏼⚽️ https://t.co/7OvxKcvHTx
— Nikolay Todorov (@NNTodorov) October 31, 2020
Repaying Caley Jags manager John Robertson’s faith is the only factor on Todorov’s mind, insisting he bears Hearts no grudges.
Todorov said: “In football, there are not many players who spend 10 or 15 years at one club. At the moment I’m at Inverness – and I will defend the badge.
“I don’t feel I have something to prove to Hearts. I feel I need to prove something to my team, and at the moment I’m proving it with goals.
“I hope that continues for me. We have ambitions – and my target is to take the team to the Premiership.
“My feet are on the ground. We are working hard and we will see where it takes us, but I have nothing to prove to them.
“My target has always just been to improve as much as I can as a player all round. I think goals are something that you will score if the team is playing well. Sometimes strikers don’t score goals, but they bring a lot more to the game.
“The manager and the other coaches are just trying to improve me. My main target is to get as many games as I can, to help the team by scoring goals and playing well.
“I’m happy to score goals – that’s my job and it’s why I’m here. I’m even more happy we have been playing really well. It’s not just about the last game which we won, in the previous two games we played really well but just weren’t as clinical.”
Although today’s opponents are strong favourites for the Championship title, Todorov insists his side will make the trip to Edinburgh with no fear.
He added: “It’s a tough game. They have been described as the team that is going to walk the league, but everyone in this league is here for a reason. We have been playing well and we are going to give our all to see where it takes us in our league.
“With there being no crowd, at a ground where they normally get big crowds, that might affect them. We are going to have our best shot.”
Inverness will break from league action for a fortnight following today’s game, due to their upcoming two Betfred Cup fixtures against Raith Rovers and East Fife.
Caley Jags are aiming to have home supporters back for their next league fixture against Raith on November 21, with Todorov excited by the prospect.
He added: “It would be amazing. I don’t think football is the same without the fans. It would be really good to have our fans back, even in small numbers. Step-by-back it shows we can get back to a little bit of normality. I’m really happy about the news.
“I don’t think it makes a difference to the result but at home especially, when you need a little bit of a lift from the crowd it just helps you.
“When you are on the pitch you can’t really describe it but it’s a really good feeling. When you are playing at home it’s good to have the crowd behind your back.”
