Caley Thistle have appealed to the SPFL to allow them to bring back loanees from Highland League clubs as their injury crisis deepens.
Ahead of Saturday’s home showdown against Championship pace-setters Ayr United, first-team coach Barry Wilson confirmed they could have as many as 10 outfield players sidelined through injury.
Full-back Zak Delaney is facing a race against time to be fit following a hamstring injury suffered in last week’s 2-1 defeat at Queen’s Park – which left the side six points off top spot after five straight winless games.
With schoolboys filling the bench right now, Inverness have reluctantly asked league chiefs to give the green light to recall players who are gaining loan experience in the HFL, so they at least have more youngsters to select from.
Goalkeeper Lewis Munro, 17, is at Nairn County, full-back Aly Riddle, 18, and midfielder Robbie Thompson, 18, are with Clach, 17-year-old midfielder Harry Hennem is at Wick Academy, and 17-year-old forward Ethan Cairns is at Forres Mechanics.
It is not known at this stage who ICT will seek to recall, with the club simply waiting for permission to make such moves.
It is understood left-back Lewis Nicolson, who is on loan at League Two club Elgin City, cannot be recalled as an early release cannot happen between two SPFL clubs.
Waiting game to recall loan players
Premiership club St Mirren were allowed by the SPFL to recall loanees during the pandemic when player numbers dipped dramatically.
And Wilson explained the severity of the worsening crisis leaves Inverness little choice but to appeal for assistance.
He said: “The biggest thing for us right now is the injury list – we don’t need to go on about it, but it is a massive concern.
“We’ve applied to the Scottish League to see if they will let us take our loan players back from the Highland League. We’ve asked for special dispensation.
“We’re waiting to hear whether that’s successful or not.
“These are young boys.
“At the minute we’ve got zero options. That’s not an excuse, it’s fact.
“We’ve got 10 outfield players out – 10 players that would be considered regulars without being disrespectful to the boys that are playing.
“I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s not little niggles, it’s serious injuries.”
When asked whether a precedent had been set, allowing them hope of assistance, Wilson said: “It was during Covid, but St Mirren got special dispensation to do that.
“Although the circumstances are slightly different, we’re hoping the result is the same.”
Schoolkids on the Inverness bench
Last week, defender Aaron Nicolson, 17, made his first-team debut from the bench when he replaced Delaney against Queen’s Park.
The substitutes on the bench also included defender Matthew Strachan, 17, and midfielder Calum MacKay, 18.
And Wilson said the need for more options is there for all to see.
He added: “We just have schoolboys. Last week, we had Aaron Nicolson who got 10 or 15 minutes, and we might have two more out this week.
“That leaves you with myself, (assistant manager) Scott Kellacher and (goalkeeping coach) Ryan Esson. It’s that bad unfortunately.
“We’ll get a team out on the pitch that will give 100%.”
Bad luck as ICT injuries stack up
Wilson said the coaching staff have studied reasons as to why the casualty list is so long and pure bad luck is the over-riding factor.
He added: “Every single one of them is in-game – it’s not as if we’re not looking at what we’re doing in training.
“But we’ve been mixing it up, but we need to balance that carefully. We’ve managed to get through the week without any injuries, which is about all we can hope for at the minute.
“It’s a spell of bad luck. We’ve looked at it and analysed training, the same as we did last year under Billy.
“Every injury has happened in a game, so you can’t legislate for that.
“You can’t legislate for Roddy MacGregor at Cove, or Dan MacKay.
“We’re hopeful that maybe one of the two that we got last week may be back.
“That’s being hopeful. If there’s no-one else coming back because they’re longer term, that’s what we’ve got.”
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