Billy Dodds proud of his Caley Thistle side despite final setback

By Sports Desk June 03, 2023

Inverness manager Billy Dodds was proud of his players after their Hampden efforts against treble-winning Celtic.

Caley Thistle restricted the champions to few chances before Kyogo Furuhashi swept home a 38th-minute winner in the Scottish Cup final.

Half-time sub Liel Abada doubled Celtic’s lead but Inverness fought back through Dan MacKay before Jota sealed a 3-1 win in stoppage-time.

“Everything a losing manager feels, you are disappointed, but proud at the same time.

“There’ s a massive gulf between the teams but I thought we asked them questions at certain times, I really did.

“We lost goals at bad times, because i was trying to get to half-time, had a plan in my head, then we lost a goal when I was going to make an attacking substitution.

“I love working with this group and after being idle for five weeks or so, I thought they put on a hell of a performance.

“I am absolutely thrilled by the way they dug in and what they gave me in terms of effort and determination.”

Dodds added: “Every manager talks about character and all that we have and we certainly did to come back into the game.

“Wallace Duffy whips in a great ball and it’s a brilliant finish from Dan MacKay.”

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