| Venue: Hampden Park, Glasgow Date: Saturday, 3 June Kick-off: 17:30 BST |
| Coverage: Watch on BBC One Scotland, BBC Scotland & BBC iPlayer, listen on BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio 5 live & BBC Sounds, live text commentary on the BBC Sport website & app |
Billy Dodds says the Scottish Cup “is about miracles and fairytales” as he prepares his Inverness Caledonian Thistle team to face treble-chasing Celtic in Saturday’s final.
Dodds sighted the example of Darvel’s shock victory over Aberdeen in round four as inspiration.
“Self explanatory,” Dodds said. “The mood in the camp is very good. We’re in a Scottish Cup final, it’s something to be embraced, but we just don’t want to turn up and enjoy the day. We want to make sure we’re competitive.”
With 2015 Scottish Cup winners Inverness having finished sixth in the Championship, they missed out on the Premiership play-offs and last played a competitive game on 5 May.
Celtic, who won the cup most recently in 2021, ended their successful league campaign with a 5-0 win at home to Aberdeen on Saturday.
“Not ideal, I would rather be in the play-offs and playing competitive games going into it, but the games we’ve had have been pretty good in getting the boys conditioned,” Dodds said.
“I gave them some time off as well. We’ve been training for the best part of three weeks. We’re ready to go. It’s not been ideal, but it’s not been disastrous either.
“We’re trying to do everything we can to try and get at Celtic and hopefully win the cup.
“You look at every aspect when you’re the underdogs. They just sent out the signal against Aberdeen that they’re back to their best. We know we’re up against it.
“This competition is about miracles and fairytales and no further than this season when Darvel beat Aberdeen. That was a huge result itself and we hope to do the same against Celtic.”
Striker Billy Mckay admits it’s been “weird” not being involved in competitive action for so long before a cup final.
“We’ve just have to make sure we show our best on the day,” the 34-year-old Northern Ireland striker said.
“We’re under no illusion how hard it’s going to be. Hopefully, if everything goes right, we can come away with a win.”
‘I don’t want to sit camped 30 yards from goal’
Celtic have not lost in a Hampden final since 2012 and were last beaten in a Scottish Cup final in 2002.
“We’ve got to be realistic,” Dodds added. “We’ll be sitting in, Celtic will have long periods of possession. We’ve got to focus and concentrate on our defending, but I want to try and get the balance to show them at times that we can get at them.
“I’ve got something in mind, but we’ll see if it comes to fruition. I don’t want to go to Hampden and sit camped in 30 yards from your goal and hopefully see out a 0-0 and getting to extra time and penalties.
“I want to go and show them that we’ve got good players in our own right and we’ve got players that can score goals. I want them to go and really have a go at winning the cup.
“We’ve beaten two Premiership clubs to get here. It was two really good performances against Livingston and Kilmarnock to get here.”