Livingston boss Holt sees missed opportunities all round
Livingston manager Gary Holt believes some players did not take their chance in the 1-0 William Hill Scottish Cup defeat to Inverness.
The Lions’ boss made five changes to his starting line-up from the team that lost 2-0 at Ross County but his rotation did not pay off as Livingston exited the competition at the fifth round stage as a result of Sean Welsh’s 61st-minute goal.
Holt was disappointed that some players did not step up and take their opportunity to start with both hands, and has warned that they need to do better in the future.
He said: “We obviously played last Saturday and Wednesday, and boys have been training well so they deserved a chance.
“But they had to take that chance and if they put performances in like that then it makes it simple for myself and the coaching staff to pick a team.
“They got an opportunity to play, and I don’t think enough of them took it.
“It was brutal, conditions were terrible, I don’t think there were two passes in the whole game by either side because of the conditions but that doesn’t take away from the fact that we’ve thrown away a great opportunity to still be in the cup because of an individual error.”
Caley Thistle manager John Robertson made two changes but it was a change of formation that was the crucial decision.
He switched to a flat three across the middle of the park and that gave them control of midfield – which was a key battle Robertson believed Inverness had to win.
He explained: “We looked at Livi and decided to go with an extra man in midfield.
“I felt it worked. We got the tactics spot-on and matched them all over the pitch. We had to stand up to them.
“I can’t recall Mark Ridgers having a save to make and it was a really good strike from Sean, and it was enough to get us through.
“It was a good, old-fashioned Scottish Cup tie, both teams battled for every inch of the pitch and for every bounce of the ball.
“I think in the end we handled the conditions slightly better than Livingston did.”
