Skipper Sean Welsh hailed his Caley Thistle team-mates for refusing to accept defeat in Arbroath and line up a Premiership play-off final shot at St Johnstone.
Referee Willie Collum was in the firing line for questionable decisions when sending off Danny Devine in the second half and Wallace Duffy in extra-time with the Championship rivals locked at 0-0 in the Gayfield semi showdown.
An injury to Shane Sutherland in the closing 10 minutes of normal time added to the task as ICT were not allowed to make a substitution until extra-time due to their three stoppages for changes already.
Patched up and battling on against Dick Campbell’s part-time warriors, the key moments of the penalty shoot-out were Inverness keeper Mark Ridgers saving from Arbroath legend Bobby Linn and Kirk Broadfoot slamming home the winner for a 5-3 shoot-out triumph.
Welsh almost speechless after drama
St Johnstone, the Premiership’s 11th-placed finishers, head to Inverness this Friday for the play-off final first leg before becoming the hosts for its conclusion next Monday.
Midfielder Welsh, who led his team through adversity, praised the players for winning through.
He said: “Words can’t describe how we feel. The place is absolutely buzzing. We had to dig in and give everything we’ve got there. The feeling at the end was just unbelievable.
“It just felt like everything conspired against us. We just dug in there as much as we could. We gave everything we had in the tank.
“We’ve had a hard shift in these playoffs, but you saw at the end in Arbroath that the boys were dead on the feet. But we just thought: ‘let’s get to penalties and anything can happen.’ Thankfully it’s gone our way.
“You couldn’t write it, we lost Shane through injury and then Wallace got sent off in extra time after losing Danny. It just took every ounce of effort we had and thankfully we won it on penalties.”
Reaching shoot-out was ICT’s goal
Arbroath threw everything at ICT as Devine, Sutherland and Duffy all bowed out and Welsh explained reaching the shoot-outs by any manner of means was all they considered.
He said: “We were just running and running and thinking: ‘please, let’s just get to penalties’. That was the best we could have hoped for in the end.
“We were hanging on, but we got to penalties. Big Mark saves one and Broad sticks the winner away. What a feeling.
“We’ve got the spirit. We’ve shown that all season. When we’ve gone behind in games, we’ve had the spirit to come back and win them.
“We’ve got an honest group of boys in there and they give everything for the club. I’m just delighted we got there in the end.”
Ridgers saved from Arbroath’s Linn
With a smile on his face, Welsh was thrilled to talk about Ridgers’ role as he denied Linn to line up Broadfoot for his spot-kick clincher, but had sympathy for the Arbroath ace.
He added: “I can’t say I’ve seen Ridgers save too many penalties in my time at Inverness. The last time was when we beat Ross County in the Scottish Cup in my first year.
“I’m just delighted the big man managed to save one.
“My heart goes out to Bobby Linn. It’s horrible – no one wants to lose penalties, but someone has to miss one and I’m just delighted it was them and not us.”
After watching Broadfoot step up with all eyes on him, Welsh said: “My heart was in my mouth, I was just desperate for it to go in. Seeing the goalie diving and it go… I’m just delighted.”
Devine red card left Inverness baffled
On the red card for Devine for a last-man challenge which caused so much ICT fury, Welsh said: “It’s hard for me to say. I don’t know what the big man (Danny Devine) can do for the first one.
“The boy wins the header; I don’t know what Willie wants him to do.
“But we just gave everything and it galvanised us. I was just delighted at the end that we managed to get there.”