Captain Sean Welsh reckons knocking in-form Livingston out of the Scottish Cup in rampant style should provide the confidence for the team to kickstart their Premiership promotion push.
Welsh headed home his first goal since hitting the winner against Kilmarnock in December 2021, which came in the middle of two terrific long-range rockets from red-hot Billy Mckay as ICT stunned the Lions 3-0 in West Lothian on Saturday.
The well-deserved cup victory against the Premiership’s fourth-placed team takes the Championship side into Monday night’s quarter-final draw.
It extended the Highland club’s unbeaten run against Livi to six fixtures and was all the sweeter as the north side were handed a reprieve in the competition.
Queen’s Park were expelled from the cup after being found guilty of fielding an ineligible player in their recent 2-0 fourth-round win in Inverness.
Inverness will host improving basement side Hamilton in the league this Saturday, before facing the Accies again next Tuesday in a rearranged New Douglas Park showdown.
After Morton beat leaders Queen’s Park 3-2 on Saturday, ICT have slid to seventh position, but are just two points away from fourth-placed Ton.
Win at Livi showed ICT’s qualities
Welsh explained such an eye-opening win against quality opponents Livi is a reminder they have a capable squad aiming to go on the promotion charge.
He said: “It feels absolutely magnificent. We are absolutely delighted with that result.
“We just proved to ourselves we can mix it against good teams even from the league above.
“Livingston are a good side this season. They are doing really well in the Premiership, but we have to believe we’re a good side.
Into the Quarter Finals! 🏆🔴🔵
Thank you for your fantastic support this afternoon pic.twitter.com/4mbX4CKiuj
— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) February 11, 2023
“We’ve got good players. We’ve had a mixed season and there have been a few reasons for that, but, on our day, we have proved we can mix it with anyone.
“We have got to have belief that we can still have the ambition to go on and push for the league this year.
“Obviously, we’ve still got a bit to go, even if it’s through the play-offs again.
“We’ve got the ambition to still get there and winning at Livingston gives us more belief that we can do it.”
‘Great feeling’ after shocking Lions
Welsh, 32, says boss Billy Dodds spoke to the players about reaching the quarter-finals, encouraging them to take the occasion in.
He said: “The gaffer said at the end that days like this are what we’re in football for.
“We go out against Queen’s Park, but then we got a wee bit of luck and we have taken advantage of that. It feels great.
“We had to take advantage. If you get a second chance of anything in life, you have to try to take advantage the best you can. Thankfully, we managed to do that.
“We knew it was always going to be a difficult game. Livingston is a hard place to come to and they’ve been doing very well.
“We had to just go out and give the best possible account of ourselves. Thankfully we done that and got our rewards for it.”
Billy Mckay’s double was first class
Welsh, who said he’ll just “wait and see” what the quarter-final draws throws up, was delighted to see forward Billy Mckay hit a deadly double against Livi to take his season’s haul to 14 goals.
He added: “Hats off to Billy – it was two magnificent goals.
“The first one, he took a good touch and it opened up, and he smashed it into the top bin.
“His second one is a wonder goal – I didn’t actually expect him to hit it. I was behind it and, as soon as he hit it, I knew it was going in.
“Billy’s such a good striker and he’ll always score goals with the way he plays, and he showed his qualities again on Saturday.”
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