Dodds applauds the ICT players' efforts in the Scottish Cup final

The championship team lost 3 - 1 to Celtic at Hampden Park

Author: Rob WallerPublished 4th Jun 2023

Inverness manager Billy Dodds says he's proud of his players after their Scottish Cup Final performance against treble-winning Celtic at Hampden Park.

Championship side Caley Thistle restricted Celtic to few chances before Kyogo Furuhashi broke the deadlock after 38 minutes.

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.

'A hell of a performance'

"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."

Proud dad watches on

Zak Delaney came on as a substitute for Danny Devine after 75 minutes.

His dad, Aidan, gave Greatest Hits Radio News his reaction after the match: "The tactics were probably spot on.

"We kept Celtic to 1 - nil with not a lot of chances. We unleashed some pace in the second half and got a goal and we gave then a scare for maybe five minutes."

"Zak got 20 minutes at the end. He came on at right side of centre-half, which is not really his position because he is left-footed, but he did a great job for the team."

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