Caley Thistle midfielder Greg Tansey says the reaction to Inverness’ Scottish Cup semi-final win against Celtic gives his side all the incentive they need to capture the silverware on May 30.
John Hughes’ players came from a goal down to secure a cup final berth against Falkirk with an impressive 3-2 win against the Hoops last month.
The game was shrouded in controversy after Caley Jags defender Josh Meekings’ handball from Leigh Griffiths’ header went unpenalised by referee Steven McLean, at a time when Celtic led 1-0.
The result ended Celtic’s hopes of securing a domestic treble in manager Ronny Deila’s first season at Parkhead and Tansey reckons many Hoops supporters will be hoping for a Bairns victory at Hampden Park.
Inverness face Celtic in their final league game of the season on Sunday and Tansey is using the backlash from their previous meeting as motivation for his efforts to silence Hoops supporters twice in the space of a week.
Tansey said: “After what happened in the semi-final, we are sort of playing on the fact that a lot of folk really don’t want us to win.
“There are a lot of Celtic supporters who don’t want us to win – that’s natural.
“We’d rather play on that than think we’re favourites. We’d rather send them away unhappy.
“Going in as favourites is unusual for us, it’s something we’re not used to, so I doubt we’ll be thinking like that.
“We don’t look at ourselves as being favourites. Falkirk are a good side. They’ve done well against Rangers this season when they’ve played them.
“It’s very good for the club. It’s very good that all the supporters are getting behind us.
“There are a few posters around town but we are trying to take ourselves away from that really.
“We’ve got a game against Celtic on Sunday, so the lads are pretty much looking at that. We can’t really look too far ahead in football.”
Tansey is in his second spell with Caley Jags, having returned from a spell with English side Stevenage in January 2014, just 18 months after leaving.
Next week’s encounter with Falkirk is Caley Jags’ second cup final in the space of just 14 months after last season’s League Cup defeat by Aberdeen.
With Inverness having secured European football for the first time through finishing third in the league, Tansey believes big progress has been made since his first stint.
The 26-year-old added: “When I first came there were a lot of new players and it really took us time to gel. It was quite a hard season for the club.
“But since I’ve come back, from the first moment I walked in the door I could tell the club had gone up a couple of levels.
“I felt it was the right time to come back. The last 18 months has been a joy and we’ve really kicked on.”