Inverness Caledonian Thistle boss reveals goalkeeper blasted team after defeat to Queen of the South
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
JOHN Robertson told how he let experienced goalkeeper Mark Ridgers take the floor in the heated aftermath of Wednesday night’s costly defeat to Queen of the South.
It proved a smash and grab raid from the Doonhamers who rode their luck to resist Caley Thistle’s first-half assault and then raised a stubborn, impenetrable wall of yellow away shirts after Nortei Nortey’s 63rd minute strike on the counter-attack.
What was meant to be a launchpad for recovery in the Championship for manager Robertson’s side proved another stalling setback, with the evening summed up by Nikolay Todorov’s fluffed header in front of goal late on.
For Ridgers, some of the frustration spilled into a dressing room tirade Robertson clearly felt was merited as he assessed the performance.
“Was it rustiness? Possibly. Was it a lack of match sharpness? Possibly. But we still should have won the game,” the manager said. “We made one mistake and got punished for it, the same as we did at Morton and Arbroath. Mark Ridgers had a wee pop at the team saying it’s happening too often, and he’s right.
“I would have been disappointed with a point, so I’m even more disappointed we didn’t get anything.”
In mitigation, Robertson did feel luck deserted his team at vital moments in the game.
“It was a tale of missed chances. I thought we played well in the first half and we controlled the game,” he said. “We created opportunities, including Miles Storey hitting the bar. In the first half we were in complete control and we said to the players to keep working away and not do anything silly – and then we did something silly for their goal.
“What Queens have been excellent at is their counter attacking.
“Even then, we needed to keep playing but the wee ricochets didn’t fall for us. There was wonderful play from Cameron Harper and he put the ball right on top of Todorov seven yards out. He’s got to score. That just summed up our night.”
