BILLY Dodds last night revealed that his Celtic counterpart Ange Postecoglou had lavished praise on Inverness Caledonian Thistle following the Scottish Cup final and expressed hope the Greek-Australian will remain in this country.
Postecoglou’s men completed a world record eighth domestic treble at a packed Hampden on Saturday evening when they beat their Highland rivals 3-1 thanks to goals from Kyogo Furuhashi, Liel Abada and Jota.
However, substitute Danny McKay made it 2-1 with six minutes remaining when he got on the end of a Wallace Duffy cross and headed beyond Joe Hart to give the underdogs hope they could force extra-time.
It was not to be, but Dodds, whose charges had not played competitively since their final Championship match against Ayr United at the start of May, was proud of how Caledonian Thistle acquitted themselves.
And the former Aberdeen, Dundee, Dundee United, Rangers and Scotland striker revealed that his opposite number had commended him for the second tier outfit’s display when they embraced on the touchline following the final whistle.
“Yeah, he did,” he said. “He’s a gentleman. He is dignified. I knew he was going to celebrate on Saturday night. I said to him ‘enjoy your celebrations’. He said to me ‘your boys were magnificent and gave you everything’.
“That’s the way it should be. You take that on board. I would have said the same to him if we had won. I think there is a dignified approach from certain managers and he was really good. And my boys were good, that’s the main thing. I knew they would do it. I knew we wouldn’t take a thumping.”
Postecoglou is widely expected to bring an end to his trophy-laden two year tenure in the East End of Glasgow this week and agree to take charge of Premier League outfit Spurs in England.
But Dodds admitted that he had relished pitting his wits against the former Australia and Yokohama F Marinos manager’s side at Hampden on Saturday night and confessed that he would like to see him stay in Scotland.
“I think you see the type of product that he brings,” he said. “You see Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool when he plays those inverted full-backs. I had to handle them on Saturday. (Greg) Taylor at times was playing as a centre forward. So was (Alistair) Johnston, maybe not as high as Taylor.
“It is good for me to learn and try and combat that and try and be a threat as well. That is why I was saying before the game that I knew they would pin us back at times, I knew they would try and get their full-backs forward, but I didn’t just want to camp in. I wanted to get the balance and be a threat. But we just fell short.”
Dodds felt the superior quality that Postecoglou had at his disposal at the weekend – not least up front – was ultimately the difference between Celtic and Caledonian Thistle in the Scottish Cup final.
“We managed to keep Kyogo quiet in the first half an hour,” he said. “That was down to us making sure we shut off the right areas. But his goal showed you what a quality player he is and why a lot of people enjoy watching him in this league.
“We let them down the sides once, they cut it back and miss our first centre half. The other centre half is pretty close to him (Furuhashi), but he just needs that yard. It was a helluva finish from him. He can do that. We just had that little switch off. That’s sometimes the difference between real quality and good players.”
