Livewire Logan Chalmers thanked Caley Thistle head coach Billy Dodds for trusting him to deliver as he collected the Championship player of the month award for April.
Three goals last month for the attacker, who is on loan from Dundee United until the end of the season, helped ICT secure a third-placed Championship finish.
A fine, hard-fought 3-1 aggregate win against Partick Thistle last week took the Caley Jags into the Premiership play-off semi-final this week.
On Tuesday, they host Championship runners-up Arbroath before heading to Gayfield on Friday to seek to reach the final, which will almost certainly be against 11th-placed Premiership side St Johnstone.
For 22-year-old Chalmers, he was thrilled to score the top personal prize for his efforts last month.
And he explained the loan switch north in January from Tayside to Inverness has helped his confidence, largely thanks to the faith shown in him by ex-Scotland, Aberdeen, Dundee United and Rangers striker Dodds.
He said: “It’s a great award to pick up. I’ve been in good form over the last month, so I’m just looking to keep that going into the games coming up.
“Coming to Caley Thistle was just mainly about getting game-time, minutes under my belt, and trying to get my confidence back.
“Once I got the two late goals to grab a victory at the death against Raith Rovers, I gained a lot of confidence from that.
“I started to play my own game and I’ve added a few more goals since.
“All I’ve really needed is a manager that trusts and believes in me. The manager here has fully done that.
“He’s got me back to doing what I always knew I could do at a consistent level.”
Promotion was always Chalmers’ aim
Not only is Chalmers playing consistently well, he’s in the middle of a promotion push with his team-mates.
And he’s thrilled Inverness came through an 11-game run without a win in the winter to post eight wins from their last 10.
He added: “One of the main reasons I wanted to come here was to be involved in the race at the top of the table.
“At the time I arrived the aim was still to go and win the league.
“We went through a bit of a bad patch but picked it up at a vital time, and these are now the kind of games you really want to be playing in.”
Confident of getting past Arbroath
Ahead of Tuesday’s home clash with Dick Campbell’s popular Arbroath side, Chalmers says their form in meetings against their Angus rivals gives them reasons to be upbeat about their chances of progression.
He said: “Arbroath have had a really good season. Nobody can take that away from them.
“But we’re the only team that has beaten them at their home ground, while I was involved in the game up here where we beat them 3-0.
“We have to be confident. There’s no time to slip-up and give anything away here at our ground.
“We have to be on it from the start. That’s the mood in the camp right now – we will be.”
Dundee United thoughts on ice
Chalmers insists only when the final ball of his loan spell is kicked will he turn his focus back to all things Tangerine – or elsewhere.
He said: “I’ve had good feedback from Dundee United and what I could do better in games.
“The main focus right now is Inverness and, whatever happens at the end of the season, I’m still contracted to Dundee United.
“I’ve not even had that conversation yet, so the main focus is the play-offs and the games coming at us here.
“I put that to one side and concentrate on being an Inverness player for now.”
Chalmers’ positional game is better
ICT boss Billy Dodds, meanwhile, praised award-winner Chalmers for taking on his advice to add to his natural talent while on loan in the Highlands.
He said: “I have had some good chats with Logan and I feel it’s helped his game.
“I just want him to enjoy his football and I think he is. You can see the rewards he’s getting by the scoring goals and he is enjoying his game as well.
“It is a good place for him to be, but also a good place for us to have him here and in the frame of mind he’s in.
“I’m delighted he won player of the month – he’s been in good form.
“Logan will get better with experience. He has got the X-Factor and you see that with the type of goals he scored.
“I saw him many times when he played for Dundee United when I was working for the BBC and he’s a special talent.
“You need to coach him and talk to him properly. If you do that, you can get rewards from him.
“He has definitely improved his all-round game.
“I have explained to him about how my team operates and it’s pretty basic. But he has taken it all on board and I am really pleased for him.
“He has become a team player and I love that about him. It’s not just running about. It is positional to start with. It means he has to do less running, because he’s there early enough.
“I can’t give Logan the technical side of it, because he’s already got that, but I can advise him as a former forward where to position yourself in and out of possession. It’s working and that’s down to him.”
