Billy Dodds senses bullet dodged over Dundee no go as he reveals emotion over landing Inverness job

The winning penalty hit the back of the net and it was chaos.

With nine men - eight at one point - Inverness Caley Thistle had somehow managed to see off Arbroath to clinch a place in the Premiership play-off final. Players and staff were celebrating wildly on the Gayfield pitch. Kirk Broadfoot was half naked. But when the camera pans to the away dug-out, Billy Dodds sits motionless.

He’s got a tight grip of assistant Barry Wilson beside him. And through the darkness, you can see the emotion written all over his face. The embrace only lasts a few seconds. But it was a special moment for Dodds. In a 30-year playing career, he’d never felt anything like that. This wasn’t just about winning a football match. It meant more than that. While there was carnage around him, he quietly thought about family, about life, about defying the odds.

And about the total vindication of his decision to become a manager. It was 100 days ago but it’s still fresh in his memory. Dodds says: “I just sat, calm. I was thinking about a few things and Barry was the same. He’d lost his mum, who was a good football woman.

“It was those sort of emotions. I was thinking about stuff that has happened in my life too.

“The game itself felt so unjust. I couldn’t believe what I’d watched.

“The effort my players had given me was incredible.

“I watched the first few penalties but for Broaders’ one, I didn’t look. Barry had to let me know.

“It was a different emotion to anything I’ve experienced before, because I’m older, I suppose.

“It’s not like being a player when you’re young and carefree.

“This was an older, wiser emotion. It was about perspective and life experience.

“I don’t run up and down the touchline like Mourinho? That’s not my style.

“It’s not