Caley Thistle head coach Billy Dodds felt his tired team had one eye on their Scottish Cup semi-final as they shared the spoils with Championship leaders Dundee.
The 1-1 draw at the Caledonian Stadium leaves ICT’s chances of reaching the top four in the balance as their focus now switches to Saturday’s Hampden showdown with League One Falkirk.
Inverness, who now cannot win the league, remain in third spot, two points ahead of Partick Thistle and three points ahead of Ayr United, who they host on the final night of the season on May 5.
ICT have played one more fixture than their rivals, and now face a sweat knowing they have to beat Ayr to have a chance of sealing a promotion play-off place.
Dundee moved one point clear of Queen’s Park at the summit and they have two matches remaining, with basement battlers Cove Rangers their visitors on Friday.
Lyall Cameron’s smart-thinking back-heel put Dundee ahead in the second half, but substitute Austin Samuels equalised with 15 minutes to go.
Saturday’s game was ICT’s sixth fixture of the month, with Saturday’s semi-final now topping the agenda.
Dodds: ‘We didn’t deserve to win’
And Dodds felt this match against the table-toppers was perhaps one high-intensity clash too many for his star performers, who have taken the club from seventh to third spot in recent weeks.
He said: “A win would have meant a draw would have been enough against Ayr, but I don’t think we deserved to win the game either.
“A draw was fair. Dundee edged it in the first half. I thought we maybe had one eye on the semi-final and we’ve also had a large volume of games this month.
“We looked a wee bit tired. Can we play this game and get through it?
“We found a way to get a draw. When we scored, we could have nicked it, but I thought a draw was fair.”
Dodds explained he’d been keeping the semi-final talk on the back-burner while the team were chasing crucial league points.
He added: “It’s human nature for the cup semi to be in the minds. What an opportunity and it is always there.
“It’s like the elephant in the room, but now I am really looking forward to the build-up.
“I have been dampening the flames to be honest. It was the right thing to do with the amount of games we’ve had. It would have taken the focus away from us trying to reach the play-offs.”
Squad strength delights ICT manager
Dodds was thrilled to see Samuels grab the vital goal from a cross set up by fellow sub Daniel MacKay.
The draw made it seven games unbeaten after six straight wins and Dodds believes the personnel switches made a difference.
He said: “The changes we made gave Dundee more of a problem defensively. It’s hard work for Billy Mckay up there with the amount of games he’s had. We ask him to still get about for 90 minutes and he did so with his goal the other night against Hamilton.
“When you get two speed merchants, people tend to deepen and our subs gave us the spark we needed.
“There was not many chances in the game but my subs made the difference.
“I have been saying that for a while. That’s all they can do, come on and do something. Daniel MacKay had a brilliant turn and cross and Austin was there to stick it away.
“Aaron (Doran) also gave us a wee lift. We’re a squad unit and we can see that.”
Bowyer felt Dundee blew chances
Dundee manager Gary Bowyer believed the match was there to be won and was disappointed not to have left with maximum points as they did earlier this season.
He said: “It was definitely one that got away. In the second half, we were really good until that last little bit in the final third, in the penalty box.
“Numerous times we got through and it was just the decision-making.
“We’ve not worked their goalkeeper enough. We had some wonderful opportunities.
“We scored a good goal, but the goal we conceded was a poor one with too many errors.
“The lads kept going and it ended a draw.”
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