Goalden memories from 25 years since the night they went ballistic

The 8th of February 25 years ago marked a legendary night in the Scottish Cup, but especially in the relatively short history of Caley Thistle.

The 3-1 Third Round success against Celtic provided a massive giant-killing upset and piled further woe onto a beleaguered Hoops side under the management of John Barnes.

Some might add that, longer term, it also provided the spur for the initial Inverness climb up the Scottish footballing ranks to regularly mix it with both sides of the Old Firm in the SPL.

That night in February the goals from Barry Wilson, a Lubomir Moravcik own goal, and a penalty from Paul Sheerin, provided headlines in newspapers and shock-waves through Scottish football.

But could the fixture have been any different? It had been scheduled for Saturday January 29th but the weather - notably strong gales - put paid to the original date.

Goalscorer Barry Wilson remembers the first trip to Glasgow:

"I think we stayed in Livingston the night before and everyone was excited, nervous, the whole range of emotions because it was such a big occasion for us

"When we arrived and we heard there was a bit of doubt about the game, something about part of the guttering being loose and blowing in the wind

"We stepped out on the pitch and just thought, 'it'll be fine, they'll sort it' - and next we hear the game is off

"It was a real anti-climax trying to pick yourself up from that, having been ready for the big game and then needing to wait 10 days

"So instead of a Saturday it was going to be a Tuesday - I felt sorry for the fans mainly, as most of them made the journey already that day

"But as it turned out, it worked out alright in the end!"

By the time Celtic came round to playing Caley Thistle in the Scottish Cup, the deficit in the SPL further lengthened for the Hoops, with Rangers sat comfortably at the top of the table.

But Barry Wilson disputes that there was any resentment or bitterness towards Celtic following on from the postponement first time around.

"We (Caley Thistle) played the following week - I can't remember who it was against - but Celtic had lost to Hearts 3-2 from a 2-0 lead

"Having seen that game we thought, Celtic looked a little fragile, so that gave us the impetus to go and attack from the word go"

Inverness won promotion to the old First Division after season 1998-99 when they finished second to Livingston. There was a solid core of players many of whom had come through the divisions with the club under their manager Steve Paterson.

"90% of us had played Highland League football, which brought a togetherness, but we maybe lacked something", said Barry

"We'd only been promoted maybe the year before to the First Division, but we were holding our own - maybe fourth or fifth in the league

"We knew on our day we were good going forward

"Defensively Pele (Steve Paterson) wasn't too bothered - he always thought, 'if you score four we'll score five' - but that's not to blame the defenders

"I mean, I'm probably guilty of that because Pele just wanted us to go forward, he didn't really look for us to defend

"Wingers didn't defend, Charlie (Christie) probably the same, but obviously very creative

"So we knew we'd create a few chances (against Celtic) and cause them one-or-two problems, but we knew the quality they had that they'd be able to hurt us

"Fortunately for us, Jim Calder was unbelievable

"When I look back, there was a toss-up between Jimmy and Les Fridge as to who would be in goal

"But Jim's shot-stopping that night was just incredible!"

Wilson's goal on 16 minutes from a glancing header was cancelled out within 60 seconds as Mark Burchill netted for the home side.

"After I scored the first goal, Celtic literally went right up the park and scored"

"I just thought, 'Oh no, we've gone and angered them a bit, scoring first on their patch' - we might get a doing here"

"But the reset point was Bobby's goal - well I always call it that even though it was deflected in by Moravcik! - it probably made more headlines giving it to him as he was one of Celtic's top players

"So that was the point where we thought, 'Well it's not going to be a 5 or 6-1 hammering'

"By that point we had got to half-time and it was a very different feeling then"

Sadly for Bobby Mann his header was credited as a Moravcik OG, but Barry feels nowadays there would be a review of the situation. Certainly it seems more journalists from national newspapers would have been more familiar with the Slovakian playmaker than the big ICT number 4(!)

Into the second-half and Caley Thistle failed to cave in, holding off everything that Celtic had to offer.

Barry said, "The First Division back then didn't have many grounds where there was a digital clocks - obviously Parkhead did - and I kept looking at it so much in the second-half

"But they didn't score, then we get the penalty and Paul (Sheerin) puts it away

"Then I'm thinking, 'The worst we'll be getting now is a replay', and certainly going into the last 10 minutes I'm thinking the board would've been very happy with that

"Then heading into the last five minutes, I thinking we'd be very disappointed with a replay now!"

Defensively, Barry WIlson believes the more Celtic were frustrated, the more it looked like Caley Thistle would be sending them out of the cup.

"Jim (Calder) made two or three great blocks, and there was Bobby (Mann), Richard (Hastings), Golly (Stuart Golabek) and Mikey (Teasdale) were all putting their bodies on the line

"But we weren't just humping it forward - we were actually keeping it, taking it out of danger, holding possession, so that all helped

"Celtic were throwing men forward and that started to leave the gaps so then that got us up the park a wee bit and gave us a breather"

With Celtic unable to conjure a late response, ref Dougie McDonald's whistle brought joy to the fans who had made the Tuesday night journey - and to the Inverness players and staff.

"I came off late on and was in the dug-out and (on the final whistle) I think it was Pele or Dunc (Shearer) who I might've grabbed - but it was just surreal", said Barry

"Then I just looked for my Dad in the stand, it was such a special night"

"We probably didn't realise when we were celebrating, but only when we went to the bus we realised the magnitude of things

"There were still thousands of Celtic fans waiting - and to be fair to them they were brilliant and applauded us onto the bus - but not so the Celtic players and staff!"

"I think we stopped at Bridge of Allan on the way back, and it was meant to be for around 20 minutes, but I think it was closer to an hour-and-a-half

"We went back to Inverness and I think myself and Pele stayed and Duncan's - and then we were just back out again the next morning!

"I mean, by that point the newspapers were trying to get a hold of us, and it was chaos, but it was brilliant - and still is brilliant looking back

"Thinking about it now, it was a little unprofessional because although we won on the Tuesday, we were drinking after game, out on Wednesday, day off Thursday, trained Friday, and then had the game at St Mirren on the Saturday (12th February).

"They were top of the league and won it that season and we lost 2-0 - never laid a glove on them that day!"

Since the year 2000 Scottish Cup shocks have been few and far between, although Clyde put paid to Celtic's hopes in the 05-06 edition of the cup.

"There seem to be less and less cup upsets nowadays, although there was Darvel against Aberdeen a while back", said Barry.

“I still speak to Celtic fans and Rangers fans now and again who bring it up

"In their eyes that's probably what you're best remembered for – you played in that team, you scored a goal

"It's something that I'm very proud of - not my main thing - my proudest moment was when I came back from Livingston and Inverness won the league (2003-04)

"As a one-off individual game it's head-and-shoulders above anything

"It always gets brought up time and again when the two teams meet"

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