Caley Thistle first-team coach Barry Wilson admits the pain of missing out on the promotion play-offs is so fresh he is not even watching Partick Thistle push towards the Premiership.
Inverness are preparing for a mouth-watering Scottish Cup final against treble-chasing Celtic on June 3.
They won a friendly fixture 3-1 away to Northern Irish top-table team Dungannon Swifts on Saturday.
This week, they have a closed-door bounce game on Wednesday and an in-house session on Saturday to sharpen up physically and tactically for facing the Hoops.
At the start of the month, ICT’s late surge of form took them to within one victory of finishing in the top four in the Championship.
However, a final-night 2-1 defeat against Ayr United saw them miss out and finish sixth in the division.
Since then, Partick have thumped Queen’s Park 8-3 on aggregate and have a 3-0 advantage going into this Friday’s semi-final second leg at Ayr United.
Former Ross County star Brian Graham has been a key figure, chipping in with four goals in three games for Kris Doolan’s rampant Jags.
‘We gave ourselves too much to do’
Wilson feels reaching the Hampden semis, as great as it was to beat Falkirk 3-0, cost the team dearly in their must-win crunch clash with Ayr on May 5.
He said: “Partick Thistle have done the business against Queen’s Park and have a good advantage against Ayr ahead of Friday.
“But I actually haven’t watched the play-off games because I know how I would be feeling if I did watch them. I’m staying away from them.
“We gave ourselves too much to do and everything caught up with us in terms of injuries. We were always playing catch-up.
“With seven or eight games to go, we probably knew we could not afford a defeat. We nearly got there.
“I am still convinced, had we not had the Scottish Cup semi-final against Falkirk, we’d probably have beaten Ayr.
“There was still a wee hangover from the efforts put into the semi-final. It maybe shouldn’t happen, but sometimes it does.”
May has been a ‘logistical nightmare’
Wilson was happy to report no injuries after the game in Dungannon as the entire squad got minutes in their legs as they shape up behind the scenes this week.
He said: “The benefit was all in the game itself in Northern Ireland, because it was a quick stopover.
“We flew out on Friday night, and we were back Saturday night. It was all business, and the important thing was all the boys got game-time.
“Apart from one challenge with a stud on Nathan Shaw’s foot, we came through it with no injuries. It was different opposition, and the game served its purpose.
“It has logistically been a nightmare to get games in May. You can tell the dates are designed for Premiership teams, which we accept. Nine times out of 10 that’s what happens.
“But when it falls like it has for us, it’s really tricky. It didn’t help that we missed out on the play-offs. It happened to Falkirk in 2015 before their cup final against Caley Thistle. They had several weeks to wait between games.
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The Club Shop is open today until 4pm
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“We have dealt with it. We’ll have a closed-door game on Wednesday night.
“On Saturday, although it will be a training session, it will have a practice-match theme where we will look at certain tactics and certain positions and try to implement that to get our strategy in place for the final the following week. That will help get that into the players’ minds.”
⚽️ ꜰᴏᴏᴛʙᴀʟʟ ᴍᴇᴍᴏʀɪᴇꜱ ⚽️
🏆 CUP FINAL FEVER! 🏆
Football Memories is back on this Friday 10am-12noon at the stadium.
Preparing for the final, we will be sharing famous cup finals and hearing stories of famous wins vs Celtic…👀 pic.twitter.com/AV2URXgFqf
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Celtic will be at their best for final
Since clinching a second successive Premiership title, Celtic have changed their team around and had a few defensive issues, including missing influential centre-half Cameron Carter-Vickers.
The champions lost 3-0 to Rangers then battled back twice to draw 2-2 with St Mirren at Celtic Park on Saturday.
Wilson, however, is sure Ange Postecoglou’s men, targeting a world-record eighth domestic treble, will be back to their best for the cup final.
He added: “Celtic have obviously lost five goals overall against Rangers and St Mirren.
“There are little things we can look at, but in truth it is so hard, because Celtic are such a strong side, you don’t expect any poor form to continue.
“I have been in that position where you win the league, and you still have three or four games to play. As much as you try not to, the adrenaline goes, that’s human nature.
“I have no doubt that will be back with a vengeance for Celtic in time for the final as they go for the treble.”
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