Lady Luck deserted Caley Thistle says Robertson
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Lady luck deserted Inverness Caledonian Thistle said manager John Robertson after his side lost in the Scottish Cup semi final against Hearts.
Joe Chalmers saw his free kick produce a wonder save from Zdenek Zlamal and Jamie McCart saw a goal ruled out for being in an offside position which the ICT boss said was the wrong call.
He said Hearts midfielder Jake Mulraney played the ball back to McCart in a slide tackle which put the defender onside.
Robertson said the best team won on Saturday, but had Inverness equalised from one of those two chances, he felt the game was there for the taking.
"Chalmers' free kick was incredible and the save from Zlamal was as good as i’ve seen all season,” he said.
“If we scored then I think it would have rocked Hearts, it would get us right back in it and it would give us a huge lift.
"Jamie McCart was offside but it is Jake Mulraney who plays the pass and that is where you’re hoping the officials pick that up.
"You hope one of the officials behind the goal sees that.
"If we get one of those bits of the rub of the green to go your way then all of a sudden it is a different match.
"Hearts score another set play and that is that.
"Can we deny the best team won? No.
“But we need that rub of green and had we got one of those it could have been a different game, lady luck deserted us.”
Robertson was pleased with his team’s first half performance to keep the score at 0-0 but said it was vital they were still level after an hour to have had a chance.
But he credited the players response in the search for an equaliser after going 1-0 down.
"For the first 45 minutes we did the job that we needed to do to keep Hearts quiet and they were booed off at half time.
“That was the reaction that we were looking for.
“For the next 15 minutes if we could have kept the crowd quiet and get to the hour level then we could have had an opportunity as that is where Hearts start to get edgy.
“They get the goal at the set play and it becomes difficult.
“But we produced our best spell of the match for the next 10 to 15 minutes we got the ball down and played.
“But the luck you need for a Championship team to beat a Premiership team is what killed us.
“We came with real belief we could cause an upset.
“But for a fingertip save and a marginal call we could have been right in the game.”
