John Robertson does not believe home advantage will give Caley Thistle the edge in their Scottish Cup fourth-round replay with Dundee.
The two sides will meet again at the Caledonian Stadium on January 30 after George Oakley’s late leveller on Saturday and Robertson expects a repeat of the tight-natured contest that played out at Dens Park.
Championship Inverness were certainly not overawed by their Premiership opponents and created enough chances in the first half to put the tie out of sight.
They weathered the storm but two goals in 15 minutes looked to have swung the tie away from them. Oakley’s heroics ensured Caley Jags are still in the competition and manager Robertson is relishing doing it all again next week.
He said: “We could have won the game with our first-half chances and you don’t often get two bites of the cherry. We’re not favourites but we’re still in the cup. It’ll be a tight game – both teams have got the ability to hurt each other. It’s good for our fans and good for the club and there wasn’t much between the two sides, which is a huge compliment to our players.”
There was credit, too, for Oakley, who is grasping the opportunity as Caley Thistle’s main man in attack.
Robertson said: “We’ve said to George about learning the game. He’s a handful and took his goal well. He’s got an opportunity and if he learns the game – he’s only 20 – he can take it here.
“We’ve got six forwards and could easily have picked any of them. We’ve got firepower and got defenders who can defend. We’ll be a bit light in midfield but we’ve got a squad where whoever starts can do a job.
“Strikers will miss chances. It was just a lack of conviction with his shot at the end of the first half and George didn’t catch it as well as he would have liked. The pleasing aspect is he’s gone back in, got involved and got the equaliser.”
Charlie Trafford had to be taken off 10 minutes into the second half and will be assessed this week, while Liam Polworth – who replaced the Canada international – had been ill during the week.
Robertson added: “Charlie got a whack in the face and has a big bruise under his eye. It might be a fractured cheekbone, we’ll have to wait and see.”