Tonight’s Championship play-off final second leg against Hamilton Accies is more important than last year’s Scottish Cup final against Celtic for Caley Thistle.
That’s my take on the crunch encounter for Duncan Ferguson’s side as they seek to overturn a 2-1 deficit against their League One opponents.
The 5.30pm showdown at the Caledonian Stadium really does fall into the must-win category for ICT. Anything less means they will be sent into League One from August.
It has been 25 years since the Caley Jags were at that level. They were on the rise then, under manager Steve Paterson as an up-and-coming five-year-old club.
They were promoted into what we now call the Championship – the level the club have been competing at since 2017.
Of course, Inverness have also had two decent spells in Scotland’s top-flight before relegation eight years ago.
Everything to gain in cup final
Twelve months ago, Billy Dodds was readying his squad for a crack at eventual treble-winners Celtic at Hampden. Now, the club is desperate to avoid League One football at all costs.
The Scottish Cup final was about a day out at Hampden. A chance to dream of another cup upset over the Hoops, but they had everything to gain as they sought to lift the famous old silverware for a second time having done so under John Hughes in 2015.
A 3-1 defeat hurt, of course, but there was pride at being on that stage. What a difference a year makes.
Injuries hampered Inverness again
One point from their opening six league fixtures led to Dodds being sacked and replaced by ex-Everton caretaker coach Ferguson in September. They’ve been playing catch-up ever since.
Dodds came close to promotion to the Premiership in 2022 when they lost the play-off final against St Johnstone.
Injuries were a weekly challenge for Dodds and Ferguson, this year especially, has been also hampered by the loss of key men such as Nathan Shaw, Charlie Gilmour, Aaron Doran, Roddy MacGregor and January loan signings Jeremiah Chilokoa-Mullen and Sean McAllister. Even for tonight’s game, Danny Devine will miss out due to an ankle injury picked up in the first leg.
Lack of goals remains a real concern
It’s been a painful downward spiral, yet Caley Thistle almost stayed up automatically. They were one point behind Queen’s Park and three points adrift of mid-table Morton.
Inverness also had the second best defence after champions Dundee United and, despite being ninth, had a positive goal difference.
They should not be in this position, but a real lack of cutting edge all season has cost them. With just 41 goals, only relegated Arbroath scored fewer.
Under Ferguson, the Caley Jags gathered 41 points over 30 league matches. Their overall 42-point tally would have kept them up any other season bar 2008-2009 when Airdrie went down after losing to Ayr in the play-offs.
Inverness squeezed past Montrose 1-0 in the play-off semis, but they have a tougher task now to see off a Hamilton side with only one loss in their last 14 games overall.
Goal-shy ICT might have to rely on their strong defence to get them through. Back-to-back clean sheets before Wednesday offers them hope. If Accies score, they’ll need two goals and perhaps extra-time or penalties.
One of the biggest ICT games yet…
If Inverness win this play-off, the result will mean much more than even winning the Scottish Cup might have meant.
There has been talk of the potential of part-time football should League One beckon. Jobs cuts on and off the park would be inevitable too.
Success in football can be savoured and remembered for decades.
Failure can be remembered too, but with damaging consequences, that’s why this game really is a must-win.
Ferguson hopes a large and vocal crowd will get right behind his side as they chase one of this 30-year-old club’s biggest results yet.
