I got it wrong but changes kept us in tie

RELIEVED Billy Dodds praised his Inverness stars for bailing him out and keeping their Premiership dream alive.

The Caley Thistle boss tried a 3-5-2 formation and it backfired as his team were 2-0 to St Johnstone at half-time.

Dodds went back to a more tried and trusted formation and a Reece McAlear double levelled the tie.

He said: ”Never known we’re beaten is something I knew we had – that was a given. We didn’t have to prove it but we did so again. It’s an incredible thing to have in football.

“Sometimes you have to hold your hands up. We tried something different by matching up St Johnstone, going man for man.

“I didn’t think we did the right things within it. We didn’t pass the ball well, we forced it, so I had to do something.

“I knew the next goal was so important when it was 2-0.

“If we nick it, we can spook them and that’s what we did.

“Reece gave the ball away a few times but my word he’s special when it comes to striking the ball.

“To turn it around against a Premiership team when 2-0, I have told you all season how strong my team are mentally.”

Saints boss Callum Davidson reckoned Caley Thistle’s first goal shouldn’t have counted as it should have been stopped for a head knock, while Austin Samuels was offside before he crossed for McAlear.

Davidson said: “It’s hard to take because we’ve had some shockers this year. We lost a bit of impetus and allowed Inverness back in the game.

“For 60 minutes we were good. We should have taken the tie away from Inverness but you get punished when you don’t take your chances.”