Cammy Harper refused to call himself a hero – despite scoring the winner and making a last minute goal-line clearance as Inverness enjoyed a satisfying day at Somerset Park.
The 1-0 victory, their third away win on the trot, takes them level on points with Ayr United and keeps them three behind leaders Partick Thistle who visit the Caledonian Stadium on Friday evening.
Harper is in rich scoring form, following up his double in the 3-2 win over Dundee, to net with a glancing header from a Steven Boyd cross. And to cap it all, his intervention at the death made sure of the three points.
Harper, 20, laughed: “I don’t know about being called a hero, I’m just happy to help the team and get the win which was most important.
“In the first-half, you saw the conditions, the wind and rain and Ayr were downhill a little bit. They were on the front foot and we knew it was just about getting ourselves in at half-time and going from there.
“We knew we would have the wind and going downhill as well so we were happy to come in 0-0 with the amount of pressure they put on. We were going to build on that which was our game plan.”
On his 47th minute goal, Harper claimed: “I don’t know how it ended up there to be honest. I heard Scotty behind me shouting me to get to the box so I just bounced and tried to get across my man and luckily Boydy knocked it right to me. I’ve just tried to get a wee flick on it and thankfully it’s gone in.
“I’ve played centre mid the last three games now, I’m enjoying it to be fair, I didn’t play a lot last year which was frustrating. I’m just happy to be playing and scoring to help the team win is a bonus.”
Cammy Harper: ‘We dug in deep’
Harper put his last ditch clearance down to defensive instinct from playing at left-back.
He revealed: “Riggy came out, I saw he wasn’t getting it so I moved into the middle of the goal and it fell in front of me and I smashed it as far as I could.
“The game was all about digging in and trying to get the three points. It wasn’t nice football, it was just battling hard and winning in a different way which was good for us.
“We’ve had three away games and good results in all three of them so we are delighted.
“It sounds like a cliche but literally anyone can beat anyone in this league. Ayr were on top but we dug in deep.
“It was a different type of win maybe compared to our victories at Dundee and Raith which is a good sign as it shows we can win ugly as well which you’re going to need in this championship.”
Caley Thistle boss Billy Dodds content to grind out win against Ayr United in tough conditions
Conversation