Duncan Ferguson believes Inverness Caley Thistle's ability showed in the end against Cowdenbeath in the Scottish Cup as ICT boss addresses captaincy situation
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Duncan Ferguson believes Inverness Caledonian Thistle's quality told in the end as they booked their place in the next round of the Scottish Cup with a 2-0 win over Cowdenbeath.
Ferguson had made seven changes to his starting line-up, but it was substitutes David Wotherspoon and Billy Mckay who fired the Caley Jags into the fourth round.
The Inverness manager admitted the Blue Brazil made things tough for his side, but says the level of talent ICT had at their disposal paid off.
"They're never easy matches," he admitted.
"We had a couple of chances in the first half that never quite went for us, their keeper made a good save and we had one off the bar which gets you thinking it might be a long day.
"We always had belief that we could break them down, and that's what happened – it doesn't matter if it's the first minute or the last, we managed to break them down in the end.
"In the first half the ball wasn't moving as quickly as we wanted it to move, but credit to Cowdenbeath, they kept their shape well which made it difficult for us to make that final pass.
"We put a bit of quality on the pitch and I think that told in the end.
"I think (all the players who came into the team) did well enough. We obviously wanted more from the first half performance – you always want to score to settle the nerves – but we always had belief that we would score in the end.
"Big Cillian (Sheridan) hasn't played for a long, long time. It's not easy, but he got a lot of minutes.
"Sean (Welsh) came back, and I kept him on for longer than I originally planned because he was so important for us and Cowdenbeath were causing us problems on the counter attack.
"Zak (Delaney) at left back did well enough as well, and Wallace (Duffy) too, so I made a lot of changes as I said I would because we needed to get them minutes and it paid off in the end."
Welsh's return to senior action for the first time since July in the League Cup group stage was a highlight of the match, but it was notable that he was not wearing the captain's armband.
"Sean hasn't been playing because he's been injured for the last four or five months," Ferguson explained.
"Billy Mckay will be the captain right now, with Danny as his vice-captain, just because Sean hasn't been playing.
"When Sean gets himself involved and back in the team for a little while, that will be reviewed.
"There are no problems, Sean is a great player and he was a soldier for me against Cowdenbeath. I was only going to play him for 60 but I ended up keeping him on for nearly the whole match.
"It shows what kind of condition the kid is in, because he has been off for a long time. He's a great professional and that showed today.
"We do weights and body fat, and Sean is a total professional. To go through that game against Cowdenbeath after only playing one bounce game and having a few days of training in four or five months, I was really impressed."
