Enjoying a tantalising taste of Austin’s powers

So it looks like Caley Thistle will spend another season in the Championship after a dramatic game at the Caledonian Stadium saw Dunfermline equalise late in stoppage time.

It was cruel on the home team but perhaps, to a certain extent, they were their own worst enemies: wasting too much time towards the end and not simply keeping possession late in the game in places where the Pars were no danger.

From the off, it was clearly a game that meant a lot to both sides and it was hard to take your eyes off it.

Nathan Austin caused the Dunfermline defence all sorts of problems.

It was by far his best performance in a Caley Thistle shirt, causing panic every time he got the ball and scoring a stunning goal early in the second half.

We’ve seen nothing like that from him since he arrived at the club but I would love to see a lot more in the future. We missed him when he had to go off.

There are a number of players who are out of contract at the end of the season and apparently Saturday’s opponents have their eyes set on Iain Vigurs. We’ll see what happens with that one. Others may have drawn attention to themselves in this recent good run and Inverness may face competition for their signatures.

That’s disappointing but we are well used to that in Inverness. It has been an annual event for years.

If we can keep this squad largely intact and find the consistency we have lacked this term then there is no reason why we can not put in a stronger challenge next season as we have shown recently that when we are in the mood we can compete with anyone in this league.