Caley Thistle head coach Billy Dodds is thrilled to see best friend Jim McIntyre back in Scottish football.
However, he’s determined to get one over his pal to reach the last 16 of the Premier Sports Cup.
Inverness host McIntyre’s Cove Rangers in the final Group F fixture on Saturday, knowing victory will take his team into the last 16 of the League Cup for the first time in six years.
🔜 This Saturday we have the chance to qualify from the League Cup Group Stage for the first time since 2016
🔴 🔵Get behind the team this Saturday! Avoid delays and get tickets in advance
Tickets available from https://t.co/6z5nBM5y24, the Club Shop is open 10am – 4pm tomorrow pic.twitter.com/8uqBuVS289
— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) July 21, 2022
Cove Rangers have already bowed out, with their 3-2 loss against Kelty Hearts on Tuesday, allied by other results 24 hours later, putting qualification beyond them.
ICT took care of Albion Rovers with a sweeping 4-0 scoreline on Tuesday, following on from 1-0 and 2-1 wins over League 2 champions Kelty Hearts and Premiership Livingston respectively.
McIntyre, who alongside Dodds, led Ross County to Scottish League Cup glory in 2016, is back in the game with Cove, replacing Paul Hartley this summer after he moved on to boss Hartlepool.
It ended a three-year spell out of football since he parted company with Dundee and Dodds will go from being his long-time assistant to being his dug-out rival on Saturday at the Caledonian Stadium.
Inverness need only one point to win Group F, but victory would put the seal on a seeding, meaning they avoid European entrants Celtic, Rangers, Hearts, Dundee United and Motherwell.
Call to Dodds led McIntyre to Cove…
Dodds revealed he and McIntyre were golfing in Spain during pre-season when he took the call which eventually led to the ex-Staggies boss landing the Cove job.
He said: “I talk to Jim most days. He is buzzing to be back and he’s delighted.
“The Cove job came out of the blue unexpectedly. I was sitting with him on holiday when he was contacted.
“We’re close and I am delighted he’s back in – he deserves it. I am sure he will do well.
“We were in Murcia and I was contacted for his number, and I said ‘he’s right beside me’.
“Before the pandemic, I think it was 12 years on the trot, we went out there.
“That just shows you how close we are. It’s been years – we played together at Dundee United.
“He’s one of my best pals in the game, but everybody knows that.
“We’ll take that professionalism on to the field. I speak to him most days, but in the run up to this game I won’t be speaking to him.”
Promotion would top County glory
Even though winning a national trophy alongside McIntyre remains his coaching high, Dodds insists he aims to go better than that by taking Caley Thistle back to the Premiership this season, having reached the play-off final in May.
He said: “I’m my own man now. I worked under Jim and gave him everything, and he knows that.
“It was a brilliant success, we were all in it together, there were no individuals.
“We worked hard and got our rewards, and it was brilliant, of course it was.
“If we win the title and get Inverness back into the Premiership, though, that will be my biggest achievement in coaching.
“I’ve had a few – I’ve been in play-offs, we got to the Scottish Cup final with Queen of the South under Gordon Chisholm, and we just missed out last year.
“I’ve had my fair share of success as a coach, but I want to go one better than we did last year and get this club into the Premiership.”
🔴 🔵 With three wins from our three matches in the Premier Sports Cup, we have one final group match against Cove Rangers this Saturday!
🎟️ Tickets for Saturday's match available now
Adults: £10, Concessions: £5, Under 12s: Free
Info👉 https://t.co/sfUj0bDh6w pic.twitter.com/lbYXfaPD9O
— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) July 21, 2022
Cove Rangers will be organised
And Dodds concedes there’s very little they will produce as managers this weekend that will throw the other as they hunt down three points.
He added: “Knowing Jim and the way he works, they will be organised and hard to beat and they have dangerous players.
“We have to be wary, not just in the league game coming up, but especially in this cup tie as we must take something.
“There might be one or two things either of us might throw in but in general we both know how one another operates.
“It is down to who performs best on the day. It is up to the players. Jim will have given his players organisation and that’s what I give my boys here.
“I hope I have the better players on the day to go on and win the game.”
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