Aberdeen prospect Alfie Stewart feeling the benefit of ‘brilliant’ loan spell at Inverness Caley Thistle in League One
Aberdeen prospect Alfie Stewart believes his loan spell at Inverness Caledonian Thistle has been brilliant for his development.
The 18-year-old has been a regular fixture in the Caley Thistle starting line-up ever since moving to the Highland capital in a double loan deal alongside striker Alfie Bavidge.
In that time he has scored twice, on each occasion against Alloa Athletic, in January’s 2-1 win and last Saturday’s 1-1 draw.
Having spent the second half of last season on loan at Peterhead, it has been a step up for Stewart, but he says he has already noticed an improvement in his game from featuring at a higher level.
“I’ve loved it up here under the gaffer,” Stewart said.
“There’s not a bad guy in the group, it’s a really gelled group in training and the gaffer has been nothing but supportive of me.
“He knows the player I am and what I’m capable of, so I want to repay him with goals and helping the team well.
“I know what I can do with the ball, so coming out on loan for me was more about learning off the ball, how to use my body against men.
“I only had six months on loan last season, but here I’m in a team that’s keeping the ball which suits me. I want to create stuff, and this team has been brilliant for me.
“For me personally, I just want to be the best I can, improve while I’m here and put myself in the best position I can going back to Aberdeen in the summer.
“I want to get goals and help Inverness in any way I can for the next six games, and hopefully we can all party at the end of the season.”
Stewart’s goal at the weekend came from a well-worked move that eventually saw Billy Mckay force the ball through to Stewart to finish in plenty of space inside Alloa’s box.
He could have made it two from a similar situation early in the second half, only to see his effort crash back off the post.
The teenager says that ICT worked on creating those opportunities throughout the week, having identified a tendency in Alloa’s defence not to tuck full backs into central areas.
“The gaffer was massive on creating that space during the week, their right back doesn’t usually come in so James (Nolan) was told to go around me,” Stewart explained.
“My game is all about getting on the ball and creating, and obviously that happened for me with getting the goal.
“I saw the ball coming to me in the second half, and I tried to squeeze it in but I hit the post. I feel like I should have scored it to be honest.
“In the first half we created chances, but we need to go for the second goal to finish the game earlier on.
“The standard in training has been top, and it’s a really good group of boys who always want to do better.
Next up for Inverness is a long journey south to Queen of the South, knowing that every point remains crucial to first secure their League One status and then try and catch the sides sitting above them in the table.
Stewart believes ICT’s squad are all singularly focused on the task at hand – even if the amount of travel required has been part of his learning curve since moving to Inverness.
“We know the situation the club is in, and it’s not nice but we’re totally focused on catching the team above us,” he added.
“We don’t want to look behind. We obviously want to create as big of a gap as we possibly can, but as a team we’re focused on looking up the way.
“We’ve had a fair few of these big journeys, but I was never used to them until I came up here.
“The boys watch movies or play Wolf, so I enjoy it. The music goes on, you get to chat with the boys, so it’s good.
“Generally, obviously at Aberdeen I was living at home, but coming up here I feel more independent now.
“I’m learning how to treat my body right, and the sports scientist here has helped me massively. I just can’t be stupid living by myself and order takeaways every night. It was tempting at first, but I’m good now and getting in the kitchen.”