Inverness Caley Thistle aim for one of their famous late-season Scottish league charges to the finish line in fight for William Hill League One survival
Scott Kellacher aims to muster one of Caley Thistle’s famous late-season charges to the finishing line with 12 games remaining in League One.
The longstanding club servant knows better than most there is a great tradition of strong runs in the latter part of the season, most memorably in John Robertson and Terry Butcher’s title-winning sides of 2004 and 2010.
With a view to that, Kellacher is placing all of Caley Thistle’s least experienced squad members on emergency stand-by for the remainder of the survival fight.
The Caley Thistle head coach believes he could need to call on every one of the lesser-used squad members in the remaining dozen League One games.
That sequence begins tomorrow as ex-Celtic midfielder Charlie Mulgrew’s Kelty Hearts side play host to Inverness.
A 3-0 defeat to Arbroath and then postponement of last weekend’s Stenhousemuir visit has left the Highlanders five points behind eighth-place Annan, but with a game in hand.
“A strong run-in is something the club has done in previous years. We have always had a good tradition of that,” Kellacher reflected.
“I was thinking about it over the last week, and that’s exactly what we will be trying to do. We have a really good group of players that are hungry for it.”
The importance of fringe players was emphasised in how they were prioritised for game time in a bounce match against Nairn County in midweek
“It’s important because I know they are all going to play a part coming into the last 12 games,” the manager said.
“We will ask them to come in and play. It is important to keep them fresh and give them gametime.
“We might need to bleed one or two carefully into the side here or there, to give them action but you can’t make wholesale changes.
“We know in football how quickly it can change, and I wouldn’t want to put that on them. We’ve got to know when the time is right.
“It’s why I have organised friendlies for them so that when they do come in, they are not coming rusty and cold.
“Calum MacLeod and Robbie Thompson came on against Arbroath, and the two of them did great, albeit we were already getting beaten 3-0.
“They start planting seeds in terms of pushing other boys in the team. That’s what we want – we want them to push and kick on.”
Caley Jags have drawn both matches against Kelty so far, where new manager Mulgrew, appointed in mid-January, is still chasing his first win.
“I’ve watched their two games and I know how Charlie Mulgrew wants to play, building from the back,” Kellacher said.
“He’ll be trying to get his ideas across and he’ll be desperate to get that first win. We know it is going to be a hard game.
“Both teams will be desperate to get back to winning ways, so it is set up for a good game.”
