Liverpool’s stunning comeback against Barcelona is a timely reminder Caley Thistle cannot show any complacency against Ayr United on Saturday, according to striker Jordan White.
Inverness are in command of their Premiership play-off quarter final tie against Ayr after returning from Somerset Park with a 3-1 victory on Tuesday night. Inverness host the Honest Men in Saturday’s return leg, with Dundee United lying in wait next week if they can retain their lead.
White, who netted twice in his side’s victory, was part of a Caley Jags dressing room that discovered Liverpool had staged a remarkable turnaround at Anfield on the same night, with their 4-0 victory offsetting a three-goal first leg deficit to secure a place in the Champions League final in Madrid next month.
The 27-year-old expects Ian McCall’s team to take inspiration from the Reds’ exploits, and he said: “We went to their place with confidence and now we have a two-goal advantage but we’re not being complacent. We still have a job to do because Ayr are a good team and they showed that in the second half, especially after they pulled a goal back.
“They had a 10-15 minute spell where they made things difficult for us so it was good that we were able to get our third.
“But we’re not there yet and if we were to start thinking that this tie is over then we’ll create problems for ourselves. You only need to look at the Liverpool v Barcelona score on Tuesday night to see what can happen so we’ll need to put in another performance on Saturday.
“However, I think that the third goal was important for us because they’d built up a fair head of steam in pulling it back to 2-1 but putting away that penalty took the sting out of it a little.
“A two-goal advantage is great – even though away goals don’t count double, so 3-1 isn’t any different from 2-0.”
White, who leads Caley Jags’ goalscoring charts following his move from English National League side Barrow last summer, hopes to carry on his good play-off fortune by helping John Robertson’s men reach the Premiership.
He added: “I won promotion from League 2 with Stirling Albion when we came through the play-offs so I’m hoping that history repeats itself. I’ve got 16 goals for the season now and I’m delighted to have got on the scoresheet when it mattered.
“The main thing, though, was that we got the victory at Somerset Park and now we need to back that up with another one.”
