Josh Meekings reckons Caley Thistle should dish out fresh deals to experienced duo Danny Devine and Aaron Doran as they regroup for a fresh shot at promotion from the Championship.
The 2015 Scottish Cup-winning defender was willing his old club on to replace St Johnstone in the top tier by winning Monday’s Scottish Premiership play-off final second leg.
After a 2-2 comeback draw in the first leg, and an encouraging first half in the second meeting in Perth on Monday, the Perth team powered away with four second half goals, with two early and two late strikes within the second 45 minutes.
👏 Once again thanks for your support tonight and through the season.
We’ll see you again next season ❤️💙
📸 @TMPfoto pic.twitter.com/slpc4vkXaa
— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) May 23, 2022
As the Inverness club talk new deals with their current squad, boss Billy Dodds aims to make them as strong as possible as they prepare for their sixth successive season in the second tier.
Ex-Scotland, Rangers and Kilmarnock defender Kirk Broadfoot confirmed on Monday he’s moving on and looking for a club closer to his Ayrshire home should he continue playing.
ICT will learn from this season
Meekings hopes Dodds deals in two of his former team-mates, who both want to stay, as the rebuild gets started.
He said: “I know there will be a few players leaving, such as Kirk Broadfoot. But if they can keep hold of the likes of Danny Devine and Aaron Doran around the dressing room then they will be up there challenging next season.
“Hopefully, they can rebuild again this summer and take what happened in the play-offs as an incentive to do it again next season.
“With the squad they have, and I know a few of them personally, I really believe they can be successful next season and will have learned from this year.
“You just wonder if they had even picked up a few extra points during that bad run, how much of a difference that could have made.”
ICT finished third in the Championship, eight points behind champions Kilmarnock and six adrift of Arbroath.
They defeated Partick Thistle and Arbroath in the play-offs, but could not become the first quarter-finalists to go all the way from third or fourth into the top division.
Dunfermline and Queen of the South have dropped out of the Championship, with Dundee relegated from the Premiership and Cove Rangers and Queen’s Park stepping up from League 1.
Unfair Devine ban had knock-on effects
Meekings, who is at Highland League big-hitters Brora Rangers, reckons ICT were counting the cost of a controversial Devine suspension all the way into Monday’s second leg showdown in Perth.
Although the defender was back from his one-game ban, the fact he missed out in Friday’s 2-2 first leg home draw had left Caley Thistle chasing their tails.
Devine was shown a straight red card by referee Willie Collum in the play-off semi-final at Arbroath as the side, who also had Wallace Duffy sent off, were down to nine men as they held on for a 0-0 draw before a pulsating penalty shoot-out triumph.
Collum sent Devine packing for what he deemed to be a last-man challenge on forward Jack Hamilton, a call which was widely criticised.
To add salt to the wounds, ICT were left “astonished” when their appeal last week was thrown out by the Scottish FA, who backed the man who took charge of Rangers’ extra-time win over Hearts in the Scottish Cup final on Saturday.
Meekings felt missing experienced Devine for such a crunch opening game handed St Johnstone a big advantage as they raced into a 2-0 early lead as ICT went with an unfamiliar 3-5-2 set-up to try and match up with their opponents.
A change of shape, along with impact substitutions, helped Caley Thistle turn the tide as two Reece McAlear goals restored parity before Monday’s McDiarmid Park decider.
Meeking said: “Yes, Inverness dug deep to get the draw against St Johnstone, but they were still without a key player in Danny Devine for that first leg.
“That might well have been why Billy Dodds changed the shape and felt he had to do something different.
“It was farcical to be without Danny. He has been clattered by their striker (Arbroath’s Jack Hamilton). The follow-through results in their guy falling over the top of Danny.
“To see that incident as if Danny had tried to pull him down or in any other way than he’d been beaten in the air… well, football people knew straight away it was the wrong decision.”
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