Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Practice ensured Caley Thistle did not pay the penalty, says manager John Robertson

Caley Thistle boss John Robertson
Caley Thistle boss John Robertson

John Robertson got the reward for putting his Caley Thistle players through their paces from 12 yards with a Scottish Cup triumph over Ross County.

After a pulsating tie finished 2-2 after extra-time, Inverness were the victors from the spot, netting all five penalties in a 5-4 triumph.

Caley Jags boss Robertson had players take penalties from 15 yards in training on Monday to hone their accuracy, with that practice paying off on Tuesday night.

The decisive moment came as Mark Ridgers denied Declan McManus from the spot, with Nathan Austin rolling home the decisive kick.

Robertson said: “We practiced penalties on Monday and went over it and had the players taking them from 15 yards out. If you can do that you can score from 12 yards. All five of them scored so maybe something is in that.

“People say penalties is a lottery but I think it’s a skill – maybe that’s the striker in me – it’s a test of bottle and we showed plenty of that. Mark Ridgers made a fantastic save for us and that’s what took us through.  He’s big, he’s 6ft 5in and if he goes the right way it’s a very small target. Thankfully for us he made a very good save.

“We felt we had the better of the game and the better chances. We were thinking
if we didn’t get bad luck against them then we wouldn’t get any at all. We have been horrendous at penalties this season, we have missed so many.”

Ross County co-manager Steven Ferguson.

His counterpart, County co-manager Steven Ferguson, acknowledged that Inverness have raised their game in the derbies this season and there was little else his side could have given to the cause.

He said: “Inverness have said themselves in the papers that they raise their game when they play against us – it seemed like they raised it again. Stuart Kettlewell and I felt our players raised our game as well and contributed to what was a really good cup tie, and I’m sure everybody who was watching would have enjoyed the two teams slugging it out.

“Unfortunately there has to be a loser and we have lost the game. Obviously we are disappointed to be knocked out of the cup, but I am also immensely proud of how the players went about creating such a good cup tie.”