Dodds’ delight amid Caley’s crock crisis
INVERNESS head coach Billy Dodds praised his injury-ravaged team despite Caley Thistle now having gone six matches without a win in the Championship.
Dodds was right to accentuate the positives, given that he has almost an entire team sidelined by the worst injury crisis he has experienced in 37 years in the game.
Ayr appeared to have made it four wins from five when Dipo Akinyemi fired United in front with eight minutes remaining after substitute Mark McKenzie had cancelled out two-goal Nathan Shaw’s sixth-minute opener midway through the second half.
But man-of-the-match Shaw had other ideas and his 87th-minute equaliser that cut Ayr’s lead at the top to a single point was no more than Inverness deserved.
‘The performance, quality and two goals were excellent,’ said Dodds. ‘In fact, I thought we could have got more out of it.
‘Ayr are where they are with momentum and confidence and we had to show some spirit to come back from 2-1 down when we are missing a full team.
‘This is the worst I have seen since going to Chelsea as a schoolboy and there are not many coming back anytime soon.
‘I will accept two or three players missing, but we have eight, nine or 10 and every one of them would be pushing for a start.’
Dodds claimed that there is always fire in his belly, no matter how bad things get, but he reckoned that some of his players needed a reminder to raise their game.
He said: ‘Maybe the criticism the players heard from the fans last week fired them up to show a few people.’
Dodds also believes that Shaw’s brace will do the player a world of good as sixth-placed Inverness attempt to bridge a six-point gap in the title race.
He added: ‘Nathan needs more consistency. But his touch for his second goal was incredible. He also showed composure to finish.
‘He is playing at the top of his form and he will now believe after that he is one of the main men.’
Ayr last featured in the top tier of Scottish football 44 years ago, but they remain on course for a return despite both Morton and Dundee eating into their lead.
Shaw fired Inverness in front after just six minutes when he ran on to Cammy Harper’s chip forward and stayed calm to drag the ball wide of goalkeeper Charlie Albinson and complete his finish into the unguarded net.
Looking defensively more solid with centre-half Danny Devine back following a seven-week absence, Inverness dictated much of the first-half play.
But Ayr raised their game a couple of notches in the second half and after Inverness’ Aaron Doran had rattled the crossbar from 25 yards, they forced their way back into the match midway through the second half.
Logan Chalmers’ cross in the 66th minute fell for Akinyemi but his effort was blocked on the line by Wallace Duffy before McKenzie, following-up, made a vital contribution five minutes after replacing Sam Ashford when he levelled the score from close range.
It appeared that Akinyemi had nicked it for Ayr with his cool finish after being put in the clear by Alex Kirk, but justice was seen to be done when Shaw evaded a couple of tackles to square matters five minutes later.
Ayr boss Lee Bullen alluded to the positive impact his substitutions had on the match but added: ‘When you are 2-1 up late in the game it’s frustrating not to win.’