Shane Sutherland admits Caley Thistle have fallen short in cups – after losing three penalty shoot-outs this season.
The striker, who was a menace to Morton on Tuesday, was gutted as the Highlanders crashed out of the Scottish Cup on penalties in their third-round replay at Cappielow.
It came just a week after a shaken-up ICT side lost to Raith Rovers in the SPFL Trust Trophy quarter-finals in the same manner, having lost to Stirling Albion in the group stages of the Premier Sports Cup away back in July from the spot.
‘No excuse’ for poor performance
Losing to managerless Morton after a 1-1 draw over 90 minutes was a sore one to take for the Inverness side which returned to the top of the Championship on Friday with a 1-0 victory over Kilmarnock.
🗣️ Head Coach Billy Dodds gives his thoughts following tonight's Scottish Cup tie against Morton
Full Interview👉 https://t.co/ZO6U5ifois pic.twitter.com/81GqBX0XTg
— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) December 7, 2021
The forward felt the players didn’t reach the standards they and head coach Billy Dodds have set and paid the price against hard-working Ton.
He said: “In the cups, we have let ourselves down, but we are top of the league and that’s the positive whereby we can look forward to the rest of the season.
“It will be the full focus on the league, although that’s no excuse. We let ourselves down on Tuesday and we lost it and we will take it on the chin.
“The result was not through lack of effort. None of the boys will say they didn’t try. It was just one of those nights when it wasn’t coming off for every single one of us. No one could say they had a good game.
“It’s disappointing because this has happened too often in the cups. You look at the League Cup when we lost at Cove for example, but we have also lost three penalty shoot-outs.
“Yes, they can be a lottery. Danny (Devine) missed one of Tuesday, I missed the one against Raith Rovers. It is what it is. You pick your spot and if the goalkeeper goes the right way, he has a chance of saving it.”
Missed chance of a Scottish Cup run
Experienced frontman Sutherland went close to scoring on Tuesday, but also again displayed great vision with deft passes at times, but it was all in vain as Morton earned a trip to Premiership Motherwell next month.
Sutherland believes ICT had the chance for the 2015 Scottish Cup winners to go on another trophy drive.
FT | 1-1 (5-4)
We are through to the next round where we will face Motherwell away from home. pic.twitter.com/oY2HqgbpIu
— Greenock Morton (@Morton_FC) December 7, 2021
He added: “It was a tough night for a game of football. But, on the night, with the standards we set ourselves and the manager wants from us, we probably let ourselves down a little bit.
“Over 90 minutes, we didn’t lose the game, although we lost on penalties. There are not many positives to take from the tie. We are out of the cup when we wanted a cup run.”
Tie could’ve been won in 90 minutes
Robbie Muirhead’s goal just before the break was wiped out early in the second half by a header from Danny Devine.
Sutherland felt both sides had enough opportunities to wrap the tie up before it went straight to penalties, as replays at this point now do.
He added: “It was a great ball in from Aaron and Danny Devine got a flick on it for our goal. We had plenty of time to get the winner, but we never quite managed it. We had a couple of chances. The keeper made a good save from Aaron and I had a header which just hit him.
“Overall, though, given the chances we had, we could have won the game, but they also had chances, so we could have lost it too (in 90 minutes).”
ICT won’t be in dark on Saturday
Caley Thistle, who are one point clear of Raith Rovers at the top of the Championship, are back at Cappielow this Saturday, knowing a win will keep them there.
Dodds slammed the low standard of facilities his players endured at the Greenock venue on Tuesday night when lighting and heating faltering in freezing portable units.
Sutherland expects a tough afternoon lies in store, but hopes overall, the experience is a more fruitful one for the visitors this weekend.
He added: “It will be another tough one down there. I know the manager had his say about the facilities we’d been given. I won’t go further into that, but I think it’s unacceptable.
“Maybe something will change for Saturday. We should at least be able to see our team-mates in daylight.
“There are still no excuses. We will get on with it. That’s not why we lost. We lost because we didn’t acquit ourselves on the pitch and we know we can do better in the way the manager wants.”
With ICT at Morton, second-placed Raith Rovers host third-placed Kilmarnock.
Captain Sean Welsh faces injury wait
Dodds, meanwhile, had to take injured skipper Sean Welsh off after 29 minutes, when he was replaced by Tom Walsh.
Speaking after the tie, he said the captain will be assessed, adding: ““We will need to wait and see, the ball hit his foot and bent it so we will see where we are.
“Hopefully he makes a quick recovery, but it was disappointing to take him off.”