David Carson is relishing a crack at Scottish Cup glory – but he insists his main target remains to help Caley Thistle reach the Premiership.
Inverness have a last-four tie against Falkirk at Hampden Park next month, in their efforts to reach the final of the competition they memorably won in 2015.
English midfielder Carson joined Caley Jags in 2019 from Morpeth Town, shortly after Inverness’ last appearance at the national stadium – when they went down 3-0 to Hearts in the semi-finals of the same competition.
Carson says the cup provides an exciting opportunity for the Highlanders, but he says ending Caley Jags’ six-year absence from the top flight remains his primary motivation.
He said: “I knew all about the cup run when I first signed for the club.
“To be honest, the first task that was set when I came to the club was trying to get to the Premiership.
“That is still there – and it’s one of the things that I personally want to do while I’m at the club.
“The Scottish Cup would always be something you would maybe dream of winning, or getting the chance to play at Hampden Park.
“First of all I would say the league was the big one, but with where we are now, you can’t grumble.”
Inverness looking to take league momentum into semi-final
Inverness travel to play Queen’s Park at Ochilview today, in the first of nine league games remaining.
Carson says the semi-final can spur his seventh-placed side on, in their efforts to get back into play-off contention.
He added: “We have nine league games to go, and a Hampden semi-final with the chance to go to a final.
“Every player in there should be chomping at the bit to get through every game, to try and get us to those play-offs and have that big occasion to look forward to.
“There’s no better position to be in as a player. I know we are a little bit behind the play-offs, but it’s only going to make it sweeter if we get there and have that good day out at Hampden.
“Last year we did the same. After Christmas we had that little spell where we didn’t have a good run of form.
“We picked up towards the end of the season, and we gave the play-offs a real good go.
“We ended up 45 minutes away from the Premiership.
“It just shows how big momentum is. We’ve got to build on the last few results we have had and see where it takes us.”
Carson targeting another big triumph
Having defeated Premiership side Kilmarnock in the quarter-finals of the cup last weekend, Carson says a victory over the top-of-the-table Spiders would be another significant result.
The 27-year-old added: “We know Queen’s Park are a good side. They try and pass the ball. They are up there because they have probably been the most consistent this year.
“We’ve got to maybe take the last few games and performances into Saturday, with the gameplan we are going to be set up to do.
“Hopefully we can come away with a positive result, because in the last nine games of the season we have to look at every one as a cup final. We need to try to take as many points as we can from every single game.”
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