Zak Delaney believes he will only grow stronger by going through the difficult times with Caley Thistle.
Inverness will be seeking to end an eight-match sequence without a victory when they make the trip to Raith Rovers on Championship duty this weekend.
Billy Dodds’ men suffered a 4-2 defeat to Arbroath in the SPFL Trust Trophy last Saturday, which leaves them to focus solely on the league until they enter the Scottish Cup in November.
Irishman Delaney has been a regular in the Caley Jags team since joining from West Brom last summer, with the move to the Highlands affording him his most sustained spell of senior football in his career thus far.
Defender Delaney feels experiencing tough spells is part of his development.
He said: “I think I played nearly 40 games last year.
“To do that in my first year, I was buzzing.
“Coming up, everyone around me was only thinking I would be in and out with 20 games maximum, so I was happy.
“There were a lot of ups and downs. That’s the thing I have been trying to get my head around and do a bit better.
“There are a lot of downs in football, like you see right now.
“You are not always going to be flying
“I think those experiences of the tough times as well as the good times are definitely going to benefit me as a player, as I’m only 21.
“I can look back and stuff like that and say ‘that happened, but this is what we did to get out of it.’
“The coaches and the boys around me are great, so I have really enjoyed it.”
Inverness aiming to kick start Championship campaign
Inverness’ only win of the campaign came on July 15, when they defeated League Two side Bonnyrigg Rose in their opening Viaplay Cup group fixture.
Caley Jags are bottom of the Championship table, with only a point from their opening four fixtures.
Delaney feels getting the elusive first victory of the league campaign can kick start a revival.
He added: “When you haven’t got three points for a while, it gets on your mind a bit.
“Once you get that first three points everything changes for you, so hopefully that’s going to happen.
“Last year it happened, and we still have a lot of boys here from that.
“The same thing happened the year before when I wasn’t here, but the boys pulled out of it and ended really strong.
“I don’t think it’s only us it happens to, it happens to teams in every league. They go through slumps, and then they go through hot patches.
“Hopefully we can pick up a few wins and be flying for the rest of the year.
“Because it’s at the start, there’s more focus on it.
“Within ourselves we know what we are capable of and we just need to go and show it now.”
Raith have shown vast improvement from last season and are only behind league leaders Dundee United on goal difference.
Delaney is relishing the challenge of trying to end the Fifers’ unbeaten start, adding: “Every player wants to play in the bigger games against the best teams.
“They are going to be one of the better teams in the league this season, they are up at the top for a reason.
“Caley Thistle always have a good record against Raith, and we did well against them last year.
“Hopefully we can do the same.”
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