Source: FOOTYMAD
Just Don't Get In Terry Butcher's Way Today
It would be best to let Terry Butcher alone for a while after last night's result Inverness manager Terry Butcher was at a low ebb after last night's Scottish League Cup game against Ayr United. The 1-0 defeat was to blame for the mood with Butcher describing the loss as "the lowest point of my managerial career". Understandably, the dark mood was not replicated by his Ayr United counterpart as Brian Reid showered praise on his side after the upset. He hopes the victory will kick-start a successful First Division campaign after Eddie Malone's second-half goal at Somerset Park earned Ayr a place in Monday's third-round drawReid said: "I'm delighted - I always felt we had a chance as we're playing with a lot of confidence and have a good record here against Premier League teams. I'm proud of every one of my players - a lot of them have worked shifts today and were rushing here for an early kick-off and they all deserve great credit for a great performance, all their hard work and their fitness, which was second to none. I don't think it was undeserved as we played well, passed the ball and created chances and were the better team for the first 30 minutes; Inverness then came into it and the second half was even. We defended magnificently, stopped them creating a lot and were still creating chances ourselves - it was a great night for Ayr and we're looking forward to the next round. Now we have to take confidence from this into the league; hopefully we can build on this as we've set the tone for the season and I think a few people will be taking note. We want to make Somerset Park a difficult place to visit - nobody's going to come down here and pick up easy points or have an easy game." Butcher described himself as "bitterly disappointed" and said: "I have no excuses - Ayr deserved to win the game, they had other chances as well as the one they scored and they fully deserved it. I take full responsibility as that's my job, and I can only apologise to our fans that we badly let them down. We can't have any excuse tonight and the players have been told that - it's totally unacceptable from our point of view. I spoke from the start about attitude, getting the ball and passing it and winning the battle first, and Ayr were the ones who did that. I don't know what the team will be at the weekend - playing Kilmarnock is a good match to bounce back in and we'll see who wants it; we'll see in training who wants to stand up and be counted and who wants to play on Saturday."
