Lewis Hyde believes seeing young Caley Thistle stars make the first-team cut has been an inspiration for many talented teenagers.
Now 20 years old, the midfielder is looking increasingly like a figure beyond his age in a team low on numbers due to injuries right now.
Nine regular players, including midfielders Scott Allardice, Dan MacKay and Roddy MacGregor, are sidelined, but the team have still made it to the top of the Championship.
Hyde came through the Inverness youth ranks with Cammy Harper, MacGregor and Dan MacKay, who is back at the club on loan from Hibs.
And he’s thrilled to see new youngsters make a breakthrough amid the injury crisis.
Dan MacKay’s brother Calum, 18, who is also a midfielder, has made a couple of appearances for the senior side, while two late appearances for 18-year-old defender Matthew Strachan this week have been noted.
Strachan came on late and was praised by boss Billy Dodds after last Tuesday’s 1-0 defeat against Hamilton.
He replaced weekend scorer Robbie Deas late on in the 1-1 draw against Raith Rovers and made a telling interception to help secure that table-topping point.
And another 18-year-old midfielder, Keith Bray, has been named, but not used, in the past week as a sub.
Hyde, who has gained loan experience at Fort William and Rothes, made 13 ICT appearances last season and he’s likely to match that tally against Morton in the Championship this Friday.
Shining stars can inspire ICT youths
He feels seeing Scotland, Bournemouth and ex-Celtic star Ryan Christie as well as his own age group’s Dan MacKay and MacGregor prove their class at the top has been inspirational.
He said: “I’ve known Cammy Harper, Dan MacKay and Roddy MacGregor since we were young.
“Individually, we’ve worked hard to get here, but it’s the club’s youth system which has brought us through the whole way.
“Once you become full-time, that’s only half of it. It’s then up to us and it’s amazing the path the boys have taken to reach the first-team.
“There are always one or two who get the chance, such as Ryan Christie and Dan MacKay did.
“When you are young, you look at those examples and think you have a chance to kick on.”
Squad digging deep to cover injuries
Hyde knows the current injury scale is challenging, but he believes the squad are united in their efforts to keep the side competitive, despite so many first picks out.
He said: “We always seem to have injuries within the past couple of seasons, but we always seem to dig in when required.
“If you’re not playing one week, everyone knows you can be in the next week. Everyone has the attitude to just keep at it consistently.”
Caley Thistle ‘buzzing’ as they go top
With Raith Rovers pressing hard for a late winner, ICT stood firm on Saturday to earn the draw to place them one point ahead of Partick Thistle and Queen’s Park following the latter’s 4-0 win at Firhill.
Hyde, who described Strachan’s late impact as “excellent”, admits the 1-1 outcome was a huge result for the Highlanders.
He added: “That’s a massive point for us, which takes us top of the table. We just kept holding on and the boys are buzzing.”
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