There was no doubt in my mind as I made my way to Caledonian Stadium yesterday afternoon that the first week of this new year was going to be hugely important for Caley Thistle.
If things went badly in the games against Cove Rangers and Arbroath that start off 2023 for Inverness then a fanbase that was getting increasingly disgruntled through December might decide they had had enough in January.
Young lads out on loan have been recalled and St Mirren winger Jay Henderson has headed north until the end of the season.
All played their part yesterday with the on-loan Buddie starting and impressing the home fans.
It will be interesting to see if anything else can be done to strengthen the squad this month.
I’m not building up my hopes too much as I expect there isn’t much in the ICT coffers to pay additional wages.
Mckay’s hat-trick takes pressure off Dodds
Anyway, what we got took everyone by surprise. Thirty minutes into the game, with Cove a goal up, nobody would have predicted what was about to happen.
There had been little between the teams up to then with Inverness looking to be lacking a cutting edge. However, two goals from set pieces and a penalty given for handball turned the game on its head.
The two-goal advantage allowed Caley Thistle to play without fear at the start of the second half and they were soon stretching away.
The pressure was getting to the Cove defence leading to two own goals that completely killed the game before Billy Mckay completed his hat-trick.
The result will do everybody associated with the club the power of good.
It was a much needed three points that will take some pressure off Billy Dodds, at least until Saturday when we go to play an Arbroath side that also had a great result yesterday.
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