Inverness manager Terry Butcher was ready to make changes to the side that lost to Ross County in the Highland derby last time out, leaving the players who featured in that match sweating about their involvement at the weekend.

He was pondering alterations to more than half of his team 24 hours before Airdrie's visit to the Highland Capital, only to change his mind the following day and give the same players who started at Victoria Park the chance to redeem themselves.

"I think I raised a few eyebrows with my team selection," he stated. "I was planning to make six changes the day before the game, but then I slept on it and decided not to make any.

"Everyone deserves a second chance in life, although I did say that if anyone wasn't doing it after five or 10 minutes then they'd be off! To be fair to the players, they knew what they had to do and they did it, so all credit to them.

"I think one or two were surprised, although Richie (Foran) wasn't as he had said to me on the Friday 'You're going to play the same team', so if we had lost, then I would have blamed him!

"However, I won't be letting him pick the team for the cup final, that's for sure - not that he picked the one for Airdrie of course."

Butcher's decision to offer his players another opportunity to make up for the defeat in Dingwall was proved correct as goals in either half from Dani Sanchez and Eric Odhiambo sealed a 2-0 triumph.

Odhiambo's goal in particular pleased Butcher, especially as the 20-year-old forward is only now coming back into the first-team set-up, having been out since the summer with a broken metatarsal.

The former Leicester City forward has had to endure an injury-plagued beginning to his Caley Thistle career since arriving in the Highland Capital at the end of January, but Butcher maintains the fact that so little has been seen of the player in terms of first-team action then it could well make him something of an unknown quantity in Division One.

"People will not know much about him as he was out with a couple of niggling injuries last season," he stated. "However, they will soon find out what he is all about because he's a special talent and he's hungry as well.

"He's worked very, very hard to get back into shape and he certainly gives me a lovely problem ahead of the cup final against Dundee in terms of selection."

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

Bookmark this

---