Caley Thistle winger Daniel Mackay says his loan spell at Elgin City did him the world of good to prepare him for Championship football
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Daniel Mackay feels his loan spell at Elgin City last season has set him up perfectly for a run in the Inverness Caledonian Thistle side this season.
The 19-year-old has started every match that Caley Thistle have played so far, having returned to the club after spending the 2019/20 campaign at Borough Briggs.
A temporary move to Elgin City took the teenager by surprise, but after a troublesome spell with injury in the Highland captial he realises that it was the best thing for his development to play week in, week out.
"I really enjoyed it at Elgin, playing men's football all the time, it was such a big difference from sitting on a physio's bed all year," he recalled.
"I was a bit surprised at going out on loan, but it's done me the world of good to be honest.
"I can only thank John Robertson and Gavin Price for what they did for me, giving me the chance to go and play games and go and express myself.
"There were things that I maybe wouldn't have experienced if I hadn't gone to Elgin, I might not have played much at Inverness but I played nearly 30 games and it's the best thing I could have done."
Initially, the move was only supposed to be for the first half of last season for Mackay to register minutes on the pitch before returning to ICT to compete for a spot in the team.
However, his progress was so evident to the coaching team in Inverness that it was decided he would be better off completing the campaign with Elgin.
Mackay even had a chance to prove himself against his parent club, as he turned out against them for Elgin in a friendly match just before a decision was due on his future at the end of 2019.
So he now credits his spell in League Two with rebuilding his confidence and preparing him for the rigours that lay ahead when he returned to the Championship.
"We played a Caley Thistle team of guys that hadn't been playing much on a Tuesday night – it was a horrible night – but I played really well with Shane Sutherland and that's when Shane got signed," Mackay explained.
"I spoke to the gaffer that weekend because my loan finished the next Monday, and he said to me that I was doing really well but he thought it would be good for my development to keep playing.
"He was happy to see me back to what he knew I was, so he decided to keep me out on loan and playing games because that was the best thing for me, and I totally agreed.
"I would rather be playing games all the time and getting better than just training.
"From January through to March was probably the best I had trained for a long time – I felt good about myself, I got into a good rhythm, and the gaffer kept coming up to me in training saying I was doing really well.
"I had helped myself, and I was getting back to where I once was or maybe even better.
"When the season got cut short, I didn't think it would be as long as it would before we were playing again, but always in the back of my head I thought I would be ready to go when we returned, and the gaffer knows that too."
