Daniel MacKay reckons a vocal backing can help roar Caley Thistle to three crucial Championship points against Hamilton Accies this weekend.
The on-loan Hibernian winger enjoyed Saturday’s thrilling 3-0 Scottish Cup fifth-round victory at top-flight Livingston.
After Inverness took expelled Queen’s Park’s place in the the cup, Daniel MacKay was in the thick of the play – linking up and passing superbly well with Nathan Shaw and two-goal star Billy Mckay in particular.
Inverness fans turned out in good numbers to the Tony Macaroni Arena and got right behind the team as they turned on the style with three second half goals to progress.
Sitting in seventh spot in the Championship, Billy Dodds’ side are just two points outside the top four ahead of two quick-fire league fixtures against John Rankins’ Accies on Saturday (home) and Tuesday (away).
MacKay, 21, knows economic pressures are putting pressure on people’s finances – but says the players are thriving off the fans who are turning up to cheer them on.
He said: “There was a really good crowd at Livingston, as you’d expect in the last 16 of the Scottish Cup.
“It was great to have the fans there and they do make a big difference. Maybe they don’t realise that at times.
“I know it’s hard with everything that’s going on outside the football world, when going to a game is the last of your priorities, but it really does make a huge difference to the boys.
“We seen that last season when we were pushing for the play-offs – what a difference the crowd made to us. It kept the boys going throughout those six games.
“When it reaches this stage of the season when you are going for promotion, they can be the helping hand to the team within a game. If they turn out in force, it will greatly benefit us.
“It’s now back to business in the league and that’s the most important thing.
“Yes, it’s great to get to the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup, but we’ve still got a league to try and win or at least to finish in a strong play-off position.
“We’re on a good run and, while some of the draws have been good draws, we have to get more wins to kick on and hopefully we can do that in these games against Hamilton.”
Strong start put pressure on Lions
MacKay felt the Scottish Cup victory in West Lothian last weekend was forged in a fast Caley Thistle start, following a 2-1 League Cup win at the same venue last August.
He said: “We got a bit of fortune by being let back into the cup and we took full advantage of it.
“It was a good game and probably the best we’ve played as a collective all season.
“Hopefully that provides the catalyst for us for the final push this season.
“Beating Livingston in the League Cup gave us a wee bit of confidence going into Saturday – we knew we could compete with them and that day we had a young team out.
“(Livi boss) David Martindale would have warned his players about us, so we knew they would come right at us. They scored three first half goals the previous week (in a 3-1 win) against Kilmarnock.
“They pressed Killie into mistakes and capitalised on that, but it was the other way round this time and we got after them early on and put in a team performance.
“Overall, I felt we deserved the win. Billy scored two fantastic goals and we had chances on the breakaway when we didn’t make the most of them in the first half. In the second half, more fell our way, which hasn’t happened much this season.”
MacKay keen to sink old pals Killie
ICT have drawn Premiership Kilmarnock at home in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup on the weekend of March 11 as a reward for knocking out Livi.
MacKay was snapped up on a loan move by Derek McInnes at Kilmarnock last season, and the winger played his part in Killie clinching the Championship title – but he’s determined to help the Highland side knock them out of the cup.
He added: “It’s a weird one for me, having been at Killie last year.
“I didn’t play as much as I wanted to, but I won the league there and that was a good experience.
“Inverness got the upper hand of Kilmarnock three times last season, so we just want to carry on that run and hopefully we can then have a Hampden semi-final to look forward to.
“That game, however, is still a long way away. There are a lot of games to play.
“We need to ensure we do the right things from now until that game and look forward to that opportunity when it comes.”
Conversation