Inverness will go just under a month without a competitive game of football before this season's Scottish Cup final.
Billy Dodds' men face the daunting task of taking on Celtic in the showpiece event at Hampden on Saturday, June 3.
And it could be argued that it became even harder last night once their Championship fate was sealed.
Inverness finished outside of the promotion play-off spots after their devastating late defeat at home to Ayr United on a dramatic final day of the season for Scotland's second tier.
Ayr, Queen's Park, and Partick Thistle will battle it out to see who faces 11th spot in the Premiership for a place in next season's top flight.
So, with Inverness' season now done, it was confirmed that the Highlanders will go 29 days without a competitive match prior to their cup final showdown with Ange Postecoglou's men.
Ex-Rangers and Aberdeen player Dodds has revealed how he plans to cope with such a long break in between times.
Speaking in the immediate aftermath of the 2-1 home defeat to Ayr which saw Lee Bullen's men reach the play-offs instead of them, he told the club's official YouTube channel that he had already made plans for this eventuality.
He said: "We have, I've spoken with my staff about it. We'll be taking some time off, we have a month to go and we've had a hard season.
"So we have got to peak them again, then we will be starting to get back to work in a week's time.
"We will turn the legs, try to get a couple of games, and prepare for the final in the right manner. Not just turn up.
"We need to be in Celtic's faces and get close to them, not be thinking we are going to coast through the game and have a nice day out at Hampden."
Celtic bring their league season to a close on trophy day against Aberdeen on Saturday, May 27.
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