John Robertson got the reward for putting his Caley Thistle players through their paces from 12 yards with a Scottish Cup triumph over Ross County.
After a pulsating tie finished 2-2 after extra-time, Inverness were the victors from the spot, netting all five penalties in a 5-4 triumph.
Caley Jags boss Robertson had players take penalties from 15 yards in training on Monday to hone their accuracy, with that practice paying off on Tuesday night.
The decisive moment came as Mark Ridgers denied Declan McManus from the spot, with Nathan Austin rolling home the decisive kick.
Robertson said: “We practiced penalties on Monday and went over it and had the players taking them from 15 yards out. If you can do that you can score from 12 yards. All five of them scored so maybe something is in that.
“People say penalties is a lottery but I think it’s a skill – maybe that’s the striker in me – it’s a test of bottle and we showed plenty of that. Mark Ridgers made a fantastic save for us and that’s what took us through. He’s big, he’s 6ft 5in and if he goes the right way it’s a very small target. Thankfully for us he made a very good save.
“We felt we had the better of the game and the better chances. We were thinking
if we didn’t get bad luck against them then we wouldn’t get any at all. We have been horrendous at penalties this season, we have missed so many.”
His counterpart, County co-manager Steven Ferguson, acknowledged that Inverness have raised their game in the derbies this season and there was little else his side could have given to the cause.
He said: “Inverness have said themselves in the papers that they raise their game when they play against us – it seemed like they raised it again. Stuart Kettlewell and I felt our players raised our game as well and contributed to what was a really good cup tie, and I’m sure everybody who was watching would have enjoyed the two teams slugging it out.
“Unfortunately there has to be a loser and we have lost the game. Obviously we are disappointed to be knocked out of the cup, but I am also immensely proud of how the players went about creating such a good cup tie.”