Charlie Christie: Scottish Cup final will be a day for Inverness Caley Thistle to savour regardless of outcome against Celtic
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Tomorrow will see the eighth meeting between Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Glasgow Celtic in the Scottish Cup, and it promises to be another day to remember for the thousands of north fans making their way to the national stadium for that less than ideal 5.30pm kick-off.
The two clubs have had some epic encounters in the cup which all began with that night in February 2000 when I was lucky enough to have played in an incredible ICT victory on Celtic’s home turf which sent shock waves around the football world.
The following day’s headline ‘Super Caley Go Ballistic Celtic Are Atrocious’ is synonymous with that match and is still regarded as one of the finest ever written.
Our next encounter against the Glasgow giants followed three years later and again saw Inverness prevail thanks to a Dennis Wyness goal in front of over 6000 fans at the Caledonian Stadium.
It was another amazing night for north football and was even more special given that Celtic had just come off an incredible win of their own having defeated the mighty Liverpool at Anfield on their way to the UEFA Cup final.
Our third meeting in the national cup competition saw me as Inverness manager and was one of the most gut-wrenching games in which I have been involved.
Leading by a Graham Bayne goal and having been denied a second goal by an extremely tight offside decision we contrived to lose two goals in the last three minutes, and we were out.
Given the way we were playing at that time and the quality in the team I genuinely believed that, had we got through that tie, we would have had a genuine chance to go on and win the competition, but we would have to wait a few years for that.
Celtic repeated the feat in Inverness in the 2011 quarter final when a Joe Ledley double saw them win a hugely competitive match which was marred by some truly awful officiating.
Celtic went on to thump Aberdeen in the semis before being too strong for Motherwell in the Hampden final and rack up their 35th Scottish Cup win.
A third consecutive Scottish Cup loss followed in Inverness in 2012 but in 2015 we had the chance to even up the score as we were drawn against a Celtic side managed by Ronny Deila who were aiming for a second consecutive domestic treble.
Once again, our supporters were treated to a quite unforgettable match which saw emotions stretched to the limit as the balance of the semi final tilted one way then the other.
Lady luck was certainly on our side as we survived a "stonewall" penalty claim in the first half whilst we were already a goal down and 10 minutes into the second half a fast counter-attack saw Craig Gordon upend Marley Watkins and receive a red card for his challenge.
Greg Tansey made no mistake from the spot, and we all started believing again that it could be our day.
The winning goal three minutes prior to the end of extra time was something to behold and the celebrations that followed were quite unbelievable as we had achieved the unthinkable and the final and our first Scottish Cup win beckoned.
Our last Scottish Cup encounter in 2017 was one of our most forgettable as a Moussa Dembele inspired Celtic side trounced us 6-0 at Parkhead on their way to another treble and the quality in that Celtic team really was something special.
So tomorrow we have the chance to even up the scores yet again, but nobody is under any illusion how difficult the task will be.
Celtic have dominated Scottish football this year and a domestic treble is in their sights and manager Ange Postecoglou will be desperate to finish the season on a high.
He has made some changes in recent matches to their starting eleven resulting in them looking more vulnerable but last Saturday’s return to an almost full-strength side saw them thump Aberdeen and their high tempo/full press tactics will not be easy to contain.
Billy Dodds and his team will recognise their threat and will be fully aware of Celtic’s strengths, but Billy will also recognise the need for us to put our stamp on the match as early as possible.
For me it is imperative that we get through the first 10-15 minutes unscathed and that will hopefully give us a platform to build from.
Celtic’s inverted full backs can often give them a numerical advantage in the midfield area, and we need to try to keep them occupied in their defensive areas as much as possible.
Callum McGregor is still the man who makes them tick and it wouldn’t surprise me if Billy designates a player to occupy that area of the pitch in which Callum operates to stifle his influence.
The challenges are significant, but we have faced them before and prevailed and the beauty of football is that on any given day any team can come out on top.
We’ve done it before in 2000, 2003 and 2015 and there’s every chance we could do it again tomorrow.
Whatever transpires I hope that all our supporters have another day to savour – who would have thought we’d be back there so soon?
