Head coach Billy Dodds admits clinical Morton taught Caley Thistle a lethal lesson in ruthlessness in Friday’s 4-0 Championship rout at Cappielow.
An error from goalkeeper Mark Ridgers handed Morton the lead when Robbie Muirheads’s shot bounced over the line.
Grant Gillespie buried the follow-up to his saved penalty soon after then a David Carson own goal had ICT three down by the interval.
A well-worked fourth goal in the second half from Cameron Blues made it a miserable night for the Highlanders in Inverclyde in front of the BBC Scotland cameras.
Morton had ruthless edge, ICT didn’t
Dejected Dodds, encouraged by some of the possession held by his team, tipped his cap to Dougie Imrie’s side, who are now five matches unbeaten with four successive clean sheets.
Dodds said: “The pitch was great and I felt it was a high-tempo game.
“At times, we kept possession well. We just didn’t have a cutting edge.
“Morton were 3-0 up at half-time, so I knew we’d have more of the ball in the second half. It was up to us to break them down.
“Morton showed with their fourth goal how to find a killer pass and how to finish. That was the story of the game.
“They were also good defensively and got their head on a lot of things, which we didn’t and they finished when they got their chances. They were good, we were poor.
“It was one of those games where we were really poor at both ends. If games like that, you’re never going to win.”
Confidence needs to rise after defeat
Arbroath are the visitors this Saturday and it might lead to a return for forward Austin Samuels, who made the bench after being out since September.
Seven players remain sidelined and Dodds feels, although heads will initially be down, they’ve enough within the group to summon a fresh response as they did when they recently won five on the spin.
He said: “I hope the injury crisis is not in the players’ minds. I said before the game I don’t want to make injuries an excuse.
“You can see we’re not a bad team. We pass the ball and keep it. Our movement was good on Friday.
“Our confidence will be knocked a bit – that’s what happens.
“However, Partick Thistle beat us 4-1 earlier in the season. It was 4-0 until the dying seconds when we scored a consolation goal, so we will regroup again – we’re capable of that.
“After Morton beat us 1-0 in August, we regrouped and went on a good run, so we are capable but we need to be better at both ends of the park.
“We’ve been solid defensively overall this season and been good at taking the odd chance that comes our way. We can certainly improve as that wasn’t good enough at Morton.”
Championship is brutally good
After the weekend’s play, ICT are fourth in the table, three points behind Ayr United, but level on 21 points with Morton and Queen’s Park.
In an ultra-competitive division, Caley Thistle are one point ahead of Partick Thistle and two ahead of Dundee and Raith Rovers. There are only five points between first and seventh position.
Dodds knows the second-tier is full of surprises and that means Inverness are just as likely to rise as rapidly as they fell on Friday.
He added: “I’ve been saying it long enough, the Championship is brutal, but in a good way.
“Any run you put together will propel you up the league. Likewise, if you lose a few then you will be looking over your shoulder.
“We have got a good set of players and we will bounce back, but we must be better than we were on Friday.
“I know possession doesn’t win you games, but there were periods where I was quite enjoying watching us play, then suddenly Morton broke forward and scored.
“Morton were ruthless, while we were a bit powderpuff in the offensive areas and we were as bad as you can be defensively.”
ICTFC HT Sub: Cameron MacKay on, Mark Ridgers off
— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) October 28, 2022
Dodds brought on goalkeeper Cammy Mackay at half-time to replace Ridgers and confirmed at full-time the switch was not due to injury.
It was a real off-night for the ICT number one in horrible conditions, but Mackay will expect to play against Arbroath on Saturday.
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