Winning coach Barry Wilson praised his players for holding their nerve and playing their way to a thrilling 4-2 victory SPFL Trust Trophy win at Elgin City.
The first-team coach was relieved to see Billy Mckay’s double before half-time cancel out Elgin goals from on-loan Ross County defender Tom Grivosti and Brian Cameron.
Mckay completed his treble in the second half for the Championship leaders before Lewis Jamieson, who is on loan from Premiership team St Mirren, took the tie beyond the reach of their impressive part-time League Two hosts.
Wilson, who bossed Elgin in 2014, admitted he feared a repeat of last week when they lost two first half goals in a 2-1 league loss at Hamilton, but was delighted with the response as ICT set up a last eight showdown with Raith Rovers, the team they jointly hold the trophy with.
He said: “We actually played a lot of good stuff in the first half, but it was two bad mistakes and we were 2-0 down.
“We thought ‘here we go again’ – it’s Hamilton all over again – but we felt we were playing well enough, and at a good tempo, that chances would come.
Late first half double was ‘bonus’
“Obviously, getting the first one back was huge. We knew we needed to get one back before the break. To get two in two minutes was a bonus, but it was important we kept going.
“We told them at half-time, the job wasn’t done – they were back in the game, but needed to go out and win it again.
“The players gave us everything they’ve got and had to work really hard – credit to City for that. But in the end we were worthy winners.”
Golden chance missed for Elgin City
Home manager Gavin Price, meanwhile, felt his players blew the chance to cause an upset by leaking two goals so quickly in the first and second halves.
He said: “It was an opportunity missed. To go 2-0 ahead, you see the game plan is working and we had something to hold on to.
“Unfortunately, they scored two quick-fire goals in each half. We have not regrouped after the first goal, we lost another soon after.
“We had a wee problem down that (left defensive) side for the last 10-15 minutes of the first half and we could not see that through. Had we made it to half-time, then it might have been a different story.
“The second half was quite positive. Until they scored their third, I don’t think we were troubled too much and we were plodding along quite nicely.
“Archie MacPhee had a chance where he was unlucky not to score to put us 3-2 up. The game was in the balance at that point, but we conceded the third and a bit of ill-discipline led to us losing a fourth. That killed the game.”
ICTFC win 🤝 Scotland win
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— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) October 9, 2021
