Caley Thistle assistant manager Russell Latapy has praised Marley Watkins for putting his own stamp on the centre forward’s position.
Watkins has led the line in the absence of a senior attacker since leading scorer Billy Mckay’s £150,000 move to Wigan Athletic, scoring twice in the last three games.
While acknowledging Mckay has been a big miss, Latapy has been delighted with the attributes Watkins has brought to the forward line.
Ahead of today’s Scottish Premiership match against Kilmarnock, Latapy said: “I cannot say enough about Billy. He was a pleasure to work with and he was scoring 15 to 20 goals a season. It’s really difficult to replace that.
“But we put another player in and he brings different attributes and quality to the position.
“Marley is not as goal-savvy as Billy and it’s a new position for him, but he’s quick and strong. He’s playing the position the way he wants to play it. He’s creating a couple of chances, the players are creating for him, and he’s scoring a few goals.
“The football is working and the boys are understanding it.”
Caretaker Gary Locke will take charge of Killie following the departure of Allan Johnston this month.
During his time with Hibernian, Latapy came up against former Hearts player Locke in Edinburgh derbies more than a decade ago and the Trinidadian knows he is up against a fiery competitor.
Latapy added: “I played against Gary a couple of times and he was always a really competitive person and player.
“I’m sure that’s the way his teams are going to be and that’s what we expect. They’re going to work for everything and we need to match that kind of attitude.
“If we can do that, with the bit of quality we have, it should be interesting. We are two victories away from last season’s points tally, with 12 games to go.
“We’re happy with the way the season is going, we just want to kick on and keep playing the way we’re playing. Hopefully that gives us the points.”