Wallace Duffy relishes the friendly rivalry he has with team-mate David Carson as he seeks to secure the right-back slot at Caley Thistle.
The 22-year-old former Celtic and St Johnstone player has been finding his feet in the Scottish Championship this season and has more often than not taken over for Carson with the Englishman taking time out after a bereavement.
Carson’s last game for the club was a 2-1 home win over Queen of the South in late September and he will be in the frame to return soon.
Carson was signed as a midfielder in 2019, but after filling in the right side of defence, he excelled and became an impressive regular in that position.
Duffy ‘feeling fitter and stronger’
Duffy, who made his eight appearance in Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Ayr United, explained head coach Billy Dodds has been a great help by easing him into the action and he hopes week by week he’s showing he can cut it in the team.
He said: “It has been tough. I had injuries at the start of the season, which set me back then the argument is you need to try and get game time, but you can’t get chucked into games either.
“Every week the gaffer has been talking to me, trying to ease me in. Last week (against Partick Thistle), I felt great, while on Saturday it wasn’t ideal in those conditions. I am just trying to get minutes in. I am feeling much fitter and stronger than I did weeks ago.
“Dave and I get on brilliantly. We are both training and playing for a jersey – it’s just unfortunate that it’s for the same one. I do hope he’s back soon because he’s massive for this team.
“I am sure the fans will agree he’s one of the star players, so I’ve got to just keep playing well and hopefully I can retain my number two jersey.”
Second half dip in performance
The wind and lashing rain at Somerset Park made life tough for both teams as goals for Sean Welsh and Michael Gardyne came either side of a reply from Joe Chalmers.
A 2-1 interval advantage for ICT failed to be built upon and a 53 minute equaliser from Paddy Reading earned the Honest Men a point.
Had ICT held on for the win, they’d have replaced Kilmarnock at the top of the Championship after Partick Thistle’s 1-0 win at Rugby Park.
It means the Caley Jags stay second, but move to within one point of Killie.
Duffy reckons they didn’t deal with Ayr’s second goal when they really needed cool heads amid the storms.
He added: “It was strange. We played better with the wind against us and I think the same happened with Ayr.
“It was night and day between the first half and second half. We were miles off it in the second half.
“At minimum, we have to see the game out and win it 2-1. When we conceded so early in the second half, we seemed to go gung-ho and forced it, which played into Ayr’s hands.”
Pars at home follows tough run
ICT return home on Saturday against basement side Dunfermline Athletic and Duffy hopes it also means a return to winning ways.
He said: “We’ve had a tricky run of late against some good teams, like Raith Rovers and Partick Thistle, who are up there and it’s never easy down at Ayr. We lost to Arbroath, which was the disappointing one for us.
“They are flying, but at home we’ve got to be winning those games. It will be good to get back to the Caledonian Stadium this weekend and hopefully we can kick on.”
