Inverness Caley Thistle head coach and former Dons striker Billy Dodds praises former Ross County player Ian McShane for role in Darvel shock Scottish Cup win over Aberdeen
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Caley Thistle head coach Billy Dodds praised the performance of former Ross County midfielder Ian McShane in his role with Darvel causing the biggest Scottish Cup shock of all time beating Aberdeen 1-0.
The former Staggie played for the West of Scotland League champions in the historic victory on Monday night.
McShane was at Dingwall between 2015 and 2017 after arriving from Queen of the South and played in the team when Dodds was assistant manager to Jim McIntyre.
Dodds praised McShane's performance on the night, saying he showed why he was a quality player good enough to play at Premiership level.
He said: "Darvel were unbelievable, I texted Ian McShane who is a boy I think a lot of and is a good player.
"He was unbelievably good in the game, but I knew he was capable of that.
"I thought Darvel were magnificent and Aberdeen had an off night."
Dodds says Aberdeen players will have to live with the Scottish Cup fourth round defeat to Darvel for a long time after the biggest shock in the history of the competition.
It was the first time a team from the sixth tier of Scottish football had beaten a team from the Premiership.
Dodds, a former League Cup winner with Aberdeen, where he spent four seasons, was part of the Dons team which were famously beaten 2-0 by Stenhousemuir in the Scottish Cup in 1995.
That result went down as one of the biggest shocks in the history of the competition, but Monday night's defeat to Darvel has been hailed as the biggest shock of all time.
Dodds says just as much as the defeat to Stenhousemuir 28 years ago is still remembered, defeat to Darvel will remain branded with the players at Aberdeen.
"That is what can happen in the cup, i've been there," he said.
"I've won it with Rangers and i've been beaten by Stenhousemuir. It shows you how big a result it is when it still gets brought up to this day.
"It is going to be the same for that group of players. That will stick with those players for a long time."
Dodds says he had sympathy with Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin saying he was pleased he kept his job despite intense pressure from Dons fans.
He says he praised him for keeping calm during and after the match in the midst of severe criticism
He said: "I am delighted to see Jim keep his job, nobody likes to see any manager get fired.
"I felt for him during the game as he was taking his nerves away from his team by playing it calm.
"Everyone was asking every aspect, why is he not cracking up, why is he staying calm, you can't win.
"When you are getting beaten, people look for any avenue to get at you and that is what happened to Jim.
"And Jim doesn't need me to tell him it wasn't a great result.
"But I don't think anyone can criticise Jim for his passion, I see people criticise how calm he was because he was dignified after the game.
"He tried to play it calm and I could see what he was doing as a manager so his players didn't get nervous.
"But I am delighted he kept his job."
