Barry Wilson is fast being caught in the Caley Thistle all-time scoring charts by Billy Mckay – but the first-team coach is willing the striker on to beat him.
Former Northern Irish international Mckay netted the final goal in their 3-0 Championship victory over Arbroath last week, taking his tally for the season to 14 in all competitions.
Over 187 games, his strike also hauled him to within three goals of Wilson’s overall club amount of 83 goals in 353 appearances.
🔴🔵 The Caley Jags with a massive result!@billymckay22 bagging his 14th of the season 👏#cinchChamp | @ICTFC pic.twitter.com/lnUqdAGrDk
— SPFL (@spfl) March 14, 2022
Wilson though won’t be anything other than delighted for Mckay if he does go on to become the second-top scorer behind Dennis Wyness, who bagged 101.
Mckay three goals away from Wilson
He said: “Billy doesn’t score for three or four games and then he’ll go on a run, we are hopeful that will be the case.
“He is only three goals behind me. I hope Billy passes me on Saturday and we are celebrating.
“He is a huge player for us and when he is on fire, we are definitely a better side.”
Wilson, meanwhile, insists goalkeeper Cammy Mackay has earned his place in the Caley Thistle team – but stopped short of confirming whether he’ll face Raith Rovers.
The coach has been impressed as the 25-year-old has shone in goals when Mark Ridgers was sidelined with illness recently.
Mackay earning his place in side
Established number one Ridgers has been on the bench for the last two games, with Mackay rising to the challenge to extend his successive starts to four matches.
Wilson insists having two reliable shot-stoppers at the Championship club is a real boost to the coaches.
He said: “Cammy has been great and we couldn’t fault him for any of the goals he’s conceded. He has made big saves at crucial times.
“On Saturday, even though he wasn’t called upon too often, his distribution was good. He has worked so hard in training for so long and he deserves his chance.
“It’s great we have two such good goalkeepers. Cammy has pushed Mark hard for the last couple of years and Cammy got in and kept his place last week – I’m not giving away anything for Saturday.
“In training, they have both been fantastic.
“Mark is back after having a week or 10 days off. We did shooting with both keepers on Thursday and they were excellent, as they have been mostly all season.
“It’s a tough decision for us to leave one of them out because they have both shown they are top-class goalkeepers.”
MacGregor back on the training pitch
A thigh injury has kept talented midfielder Roddy MacGregor out since mid-January, but the good news for ICT fans is he’s on his way back.
Wilson explained how, alongside injured star Scott Allardice, the duo have been big misses in the past couple of months in particular.
He said: “Roddy is back on the training pitch, although not in full training yet. It is all about getting that quad strengthened. He’s getting there.
“We will rest him this weekend and hopefully get him back involved properly in training next week.
“He could hopefully just be a couple of weeks away. Roddy has been a big miss, especially at the same time as Scott Allardice.
“Those two were big players for us at the start of the season. We always went with the four, with Reece McAlear and Sean Welsh.
“But in the last six or seven weeks we have only had the two. It doesn’t allow for other factors, such as injuries or illness.”
Fourth-placed Inverness travel to Raith Rovers on Saturday, one point clear of their promotion play-off rivals with just seven games to go.
Partick Thistle, who have one match in hand, are in third position and hold a two-point lead over ICT.
