Welsh warns super Caley love the odds

SEAN WELSH has fired St Johnstone a play-off final warning that never-say-die Inverness have proved they can handle anything thrown their way.

Billy Dodds’ side overcame the stiffest of tests at Arbroath on Friday evening, including being reduced to nine men, to set up the two-legged shot at Saints for a place back in the top flight.

Danny Devine saw red with 25 minutes of normal time remaining at Gayfield before Inverness had to play the last 12 minutes with nine men when Shane Sutherland went off injured after Dodds had used his subs allowance.

Even when the Caley Thistle boss was permitted to throw on a final sub in extra-time, they were reduced to nine again when Wallace Duffy was harshly red carded.

It meant the ultimate backs-to-the-wall performance to take the game to penalty kicks, with Kirk Broadfoot slamming home the winner after Mark Ridgers had kept out Bobby Linn’s effort.

Caley Thistle are walking wounded after four playoff games but skipper Welsh insists they’re ready to go another two rounds.

He said: “We’ve got a tired group of lads with a few injuries, suspensions.

“We’re going to have to patch together a team but these are the games you want to play in.

“You’ve got to look at the game in Arbroath as what we can overcome. Everything was thrown our way to stop us and we came through it.

“We’ve got to take confidence from that. The place is absolutely buzzing after Friday’s win. We had to dig in and give everything we’ve got there. The feeling at the end was just unbelievable.

“It just felt like everything conspired against us. We dug in there as much as we could.

“We gave everything we had in the tank. We’ve had a hard shift in these playoffs but you saw at the end in Arbroath that the boys were dead on their feet.

“You couldn’t write it. We lost Shane through injury and then Wallace got sent off in extra-time after losing Danny.

“It just took every ounce of effort we had. I don’t know what Danny can do for the first one – the boy wins the header.

“I don’t know what Willie Collum wants him to do but we just gave everything and it galvanised us.

“We were just running and running and thinking, ‘Please, let’s just get to penalties’.

“We’ve got the spirit. We have shown that all season. When we’ve gone behind in games, we’ve had the spirit to come back and win them.

“We’ve got an honest group of boys in there and they give everything for the club. I’m just delighted we got there in the end.”