Scoring his first Caley Thistle goal paled into insignificance for defender Jake Davidson following their 2-1 opening day defeat against his old club Queen’s Park.
The 22-year-old right-back – who netted against Inverness for Queen’s in the same fixture’s 1-1 draw last season – headed home a late goal on Saturday.
But it wasn’t enough to prevent a home Championship loss against the Spiders.
Slack defensive play led to goals from Dom Thomas and Thomas Robson which set the Glasgow team on the road to victory in the Highlands. Davidson’s thumping goal, which went in off the crossbar, came too late.
Queen’s, who took their title push to the final night in May against Dundee, were worthy winners and ICT boss Billy Dodds slammed his team for more costly errors and a lack of energy all-round.
‘Performance wasn’t good enough’
This result follows Viaplay Cup losses against Dumbarton, Airdrieonians and Dundee, which saw them exit the competition at the group stages.
Davidson is one of the five new recruits this summer and he was gutted they fell short on matchday one.
He said: “It’s disappointing, especially losing at home in the first game of the season. We wanted to get points on the board.
“First and foremost, the performance wasn’t good enough. We need to start changing it soon.
“Personally, it was good to get on the scoresheet, but you’d rather do it in different circumstances.
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GOALLLLLLLL! JAKE DAVIDSON PULLS ONE BACK! pic.twitter.com/BGLfGVKJSY
— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) August 5, 2023
“We left ourselves too much to do, with the way we started and gifting Queen’s Park a goal.
“We conceded another early in the second half and it was backs against the wall.”
Young ICT defence under pressure
The departure of Robbie Deas to Premiership Kilmarnock in June left a big void at the back, while experienced centre-half Danny Devine is returning from injury.
It means Davidson was part of a back-line with 24-year-old Wallace Duffy, 21-year-old Cammy Harper and 21-year-old Zak Delaney.
Davidson said: “We’re a young back four. It’s no excuse for what’s been happening, but we have to just learn from it. Hopefully we can cut these (mistakes) out soon.”
Championship ‘brilliant for neutral’
Saturday sees ICT head to Ayr United, who lost 3-1 at Morton on Saturday, before they go to Airdrie on August 26. The newly-promoted Diamonds lost 2-1 at Dunfermline at the weekend.
Having come so close to winning the league with Queen’s Park last term, the full-back stressed they will be going all out to get a victory at Ayr to get their campaign up and running.
He added: “The Championship is such a tight league.
“You saw at Queen’s Park last season, had we won on the last day, we would have won the league, yet we ended up finishing third. Anything can happen in this league.
“For a neutral, it’s brilliant to watch because anyone can beat anyone. We’ll be going down to Ayr looking for the win.”
