Inverness manager Terry Butcher praised his injury-hit team's spirit following their thrilling 3-3 Clydesdale Bank Premier League draw at St Mirren Park.
Inverness took an early lead through Adam Rooney but they lost two goals in 77 seconds to Michael Higdon's penalty and Steven Thomson's brilliant strike. They soon hit back through Aaron Doran and Rooney put them ahead just after the hour mark. But Butcher was relieved after Darren McGregor almost repeated his headed equaliser in the closing stages only for Ryan Esson to parry over.
"We could have won it and could have lost it, so a draw was probably the fair result, although Ryan has had to make a fantastic save towards the end and we scored against the run of play in the second half," said Butcher.
"I thought we were going to hold on and it was a case of holding on because they were putting balls in the box and buzzing around.
"To come away with a point with the resources we had is highly creditable to the players.
"We had a freak injury to Dani Sanchez with his arm, he might be out for the rest of the season. Graeme Shinnie had a stomach upset so he had to pull out. We have horrendous injuries.
"I looked round at the bench, I had put one striker on, I had two more strikers, Jonny Tuffey and a 16-year-old kid. So I was thinking 'come on lads, keep going'.
"The message was 'if you come off this pitch you'll get battered by me and Maurice (Malpas)', so they had to stay on."
Source: PA
