Caley Thistle’s record scorer Billy Mckay hopes the Championship club manages to secure David Wotherspoon on a contract beyond next month.
Mckay scored his 106th ICT goal in Saturday’s agonising 2-1 home defeat against Raith Rovers, having been teed up for his header by ex-St Johnstone star David Wotherspoon.
Last week, the duo stepped off the bench to get the goals in the 2-0 Scottish Cup third-round victory over Lowland League opponents Cowdenbeath.
If Inverness are to have any form of success this season, Mckay, 35, and 33-year-old Wotherspoon could be crucial.
61' | 1-0
GOALLLLLLLLL! BILLY MCKAY OPENS THE SCORING! pic.twitter.com/nvAvx4G6G0
— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) December 2, 2023
Free agent Wotherspoon was snapped up as Duncan Ferguson’s first signing in October and has been a smash hit with three goals in six games.
However, both parties only agreed a deal until January and his form will no doubt have captured the attention of other clubs.
Last week, Ferguson revealed he’s already told the board he wants Wotherspoon signed on a longer contract.
Wotherspoon has hit ground running
Mckay, who has three goals in his last four fixtures and six overall this term, is hopeful a deal can be done.
He said: “David has provided goals and assists since he’s come in. He has hit the ground running straight away.
“He’s a quality player. I have played against him a lot of times, so I knew that. He’s probably playing in a different position, playing more centrally, and I have linked up really well with him.
“He put a great ball in on Saturday, and I managed to get on the end of it.
“Hopefully he stays. I feel like I have drummed up a good partnership with him.
“If I’m not scoring, he’s been scoring, so hopefully he stays. I know he’s enjoying it, so hopefully he can sign on at least until the end of the season.”
‘We have got to score more goals’
Mckay’s fine headed goal just after the hour mark had ICT on course for victory, but a fine Lewis Vaughan strike on 86 minutes was followed with a clinching Jamie Gullan penalty in stoppage-time to seal a 2-1 Raith victory.
It moved Rovers to within one point of leaders Dundee United and keeps ICT seventh ahead of their weekend trip to Hampden to tackle Queen’s Park.
Mckay felt Inverness blew the chance of landing a big result by failing to finish the Fifers off.
He said: “We have got to score more goals, but we also have to try and see games out better. There have been a few times when we’ve been hanging on at the end.
“We have to find a way whereby, if we don’t find that second goal, we have to see games out better.
“There have been steady improvements since the manager came in. We were going to get beat at some point and we’re disappointed, but from Saturday, we have three games in a week (against Queen’s Park, Morton then Arbroath), so that’s massive. We will go into them with confidence and hopefully get back to winning ways.”
‘Poorest display since gaffer arrived’
Former Northern Ireland international Mckay felt, overall, Inverness were far from their best and it ended their seven-game unbeaten run under Ferguson.
He added: “In the first half, we were at our poorest since the gaffer came in. I don’t think we showed what we could do, although we defended our box quite well, held in there and went in at the break at 0-0.
“For us having been as poor as we were and still in the game was good.
“We came out really well in the second half and we were the better team for the majority of the second half.
“We went 1-0 up and had two or three chances to get the second goal to kill the game off.
“In the last 10 minutes, Raith had a bit of pressure, but I don’t think they had a clear shot until they scored and then they got the penalty.
“We’re disappointed. We can play better from the start and, if we’d taken our chances at 1-0, it could have been a different story.”
