Samuels evolving into Caley’s lethal weapon

LEFT in the margins at Aberdeen, Austin Samuels is determined to be right in the heart of things in the Highlands. Caley Thistle’s January recruit from Wolves struggled to make a telling impact hugging the touchline at Pittodrie, with just three starts while on loan for six months last season. His permanent switch to Inverness at the start of the year brought a modest three goals in 18 games, but only now is the 21-year-old beginning to shine. Manager Billy Dodds said he was ‘excited’ by the young Englishman’s potential after his double helped sink Cove Rangers emphatically in Inverness. Samuels, in fact, credits Dodds for the advice and guidance that is making him a much more potent threat in front of goal by making darting runs into the danger area. After only six minutes against Cove on Saturday, he sneaked inside and timed his attacking run to perfection to meet Aaron Doran’s pass and slice open Jim McIntyre’s side. The curled finish was as composed as they come and hinted at more to come. Samuels was also in the right place at the right time to net the killer third goal after Robbie Leitch had sparked hope for Cove early in the second half with a reply to make it 2-1. Former England youth international Samuels said: ‘For my first goal, I was already on the way and their back line hadn’t dropped — I was surprised how much space I had. ‘It got stuck under my feet a bit but I was able to curl it around the goalkeeper and get it in the corner. ‘The second one was just an instinctive reaction when it’s coming at you that fast from Billy Mckay’s ball across. ‘The manager definitely sets me some targets and puts pressure on me to make sure I’m on it every day in training and games. ‘I know in a few games I’ve been hugging the goal-line too much and it wasn’t really working for me. That was the case at Aberdeen as well. ‘Sometimes you have to make movements off the ball and try different runs and I did more of that against Cove — and thankfully it paid off.’ Doran added the second after 31 minutes, racing in front of goal to divert a Daniel Mackay strike past visiting goalkeeper Kyle Gourlay at close range. Leitch’s reply on the rebound might have signalled a Cove revival. But the hosts reasserted control with Samuels’ second and he was also involved in the fourth goal as Gourlay rushed out to block at his feet and substitute Nathan Shaw tucked away the rebound.