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Inverness Caley Thistle boss says they have got to give themselves a chance





HEAD coach Billy Dodds says Inverness Caledonian Thistle have to put the Scottish Cup semi final to the back of the minds and concentrate on getting back into the Championship play-off zone.

Billy Dodds.
Billy Dodds.

Inverness return to action against Queen’s Park for their first match since beating Kilmarnock in the quarter final last week.

Caley Thistle will play Falkirk at Hampden on Saturday, April 29, with the winner facing Celtic or Rangers in the final on Saturday, June 3.

But Dodds says his players must be focussed on getting back into the Championship play-off zone and salvaging their promotion ambitions.

Inverness are in sixth place in the Championship, seven points off Ayr United with nine matches remaining.

Dodds says his players can’t get carried away with aspirations of Scottish Cup glory, saying improving their league position is the priority.

He said: “You can imagine after the result, after the draw, it is a good place to be.

“But it is time to realise we’ve got to be concentrating on league fixtures now.

“I don’t really want to speak about semi-finals. “We’re going to get plenty of media attention in the run-up to the semi-final that week, so it is time to focus on Queen’s Park.

“I can see an extra edge to training now.

“Not that there wasn’t an edge before, but it naturally brings it.

“I’ve been here before. It is very competitive. Boys want to be in the team and realise what is at stake.

“I’ve got plenty of bodies available now. It is a great tempo and a good place to be.”

With nine matches remaining in the Championship, Dodds says they can’t afford many slip-ups if they want to continue their campaign beyond the regular season.

“It is now or never time. We have to make sure we put some results on the board.

“We’ve done that in the last two fixtures with four points from six against Dundee and Ayr, and we hope to add to it.

“I just want them to keep chipping away. If we can get a few results, we can reel in one or two and we’re hoping to make teams panic.

“We have hard fixtures. Just look at our next three - Queen’s Park, Partick and Morton.

“We have to make sure we do something special in these three fixtures.

“That will bode well going forward in terms of what we will need to do in the last six games. We’ve got to give ourselves a chance.

“Within the next month, we’ll pretty much know if we’re going to be in with a chance of making the play-offs or not.”


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