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Boss says bad habits cost Inverness Caledonian Thistle victory


By Andrew Henderson

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Billy Dodds was left frustrated by bad habits he could see in Caley Thistle’s performance against Queen’s Park that he felt cost them a win.

Picture - Ken Macpherson. Inverness CT(1) v Queen’s Park(1). 30.07.22. ICT’s Billy McKay celebrates his goal.
Picture - Ken Macpherson. Inverness CT(1) v Queen’s Park(1). 30.07.22. ICT’s Billy McKay celebrates his goal.

Jake Davidson was allowed to run through almost the entire Inverness team to open the scoring, although Mark Ridgers will feel he should have done better.

Just before half time, though, Billy Mckay smashed home an equaliser, and the deadlock between the sides could not be broken after the restart.

On one hand, it was a solid result against a team that looked more than capable of winning the game.

On the other, title hopefuls ICT dropped points at home against a newly-promoted side.

As far as Dodds was concerned, a draw was a fair result last Saturday because of mistakes Inverness made that allowed their visitors regular sights of goal.

“They were the best team in the first half, we were the better team in the second, so a draw was fair,” Caley Jags head coach Dodds explained.

“I told them to get into better habits – it’s as if they thought we were just going to turn up and win the game.

“We needed to focus when we were attacking, because they were booting the ball clear and picking the ball up, getting at us and going through us.

“I’m trying to get them engaged – and it wasn’t just the centre halves, but defensively we didn’t do the right things at times.

“They did us on the counter because we made bad decisions – we gave the ball away, got dragged in and they were through.

“We let their right back walk through us, so that’s down to those habits before we get to Mark Ridgers (for Queen’s Park’s goal).

“I knew it was going to be tough, everyone has energy and they’re all looking forward to it, I just thought we should have handled it better.”

There was also cause for optimism off the pitch for ICT last week as clips surfaced of Tom Walsh and Shane Sutherland making progress in their recoveries from long-term injuries – and Dodds is pleased with how both are coming along.

“I wouldn’t say they’re hugely ahead of schedule, but you want your long-term injuries to be straightforward and go well,” he said.

“They’re in a great place, and they’re both happy, which is really good.

“They look strong, they look as if the injuries are getting stronger as well and healing, and they’re doing their rehab.

“They both look in a good place, so that’s good.”


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