After a 1st leg 2-1 loss, Inverness Caledonian Thistle also failed to win the 2nd leg of the Scottish Championship play-off final. As the whistle blew with Hamilton Academical 2-3 ahead and 3-5 on aggregate, the South Lanarkshire side deservedly promoted to the Championship.
The loss marks a conclusion to a negative season for Inverness Caledonian Thistle. The club still played in the top flight in the 2016/2017 season, but gradually saw the team decline towards a 9th spot in the 2023/2024 Scottish Championship season. The relegation to the Scottish League One is a new low for the Inverness side.
The highlanders still believed in a good outcome after the 1st leg defeat against League One side Hamilton Academical. Defender Cameron Harper told The Inverness Courier before the match he was not able to imagine his team in the Scottish League One. Even so, the highlanders and their fans will now have to prepare for a season in the 3rd tier in the Scottish football piramid.
The signs were on the wall for Inverness early in the game. The visitors from Hamilton scored in the 8th minute. Several minutes later the highlanders received another blow, when Lewis Smith scored another for The Accies. It took until the 31st minute for Caley Thistle to get one back via Cameron Kerr. But not much later Hamilton brought the difference back to two again. Just before half time they netted another: 1-3.
The second half saw no further goals in normal time. In the 8th minute of extra time Inverness did score a late goal for some reprieve. But it will have been without much celebration, as the 2-3 scoreline made no difference in the outcome of the game.
For Hamilton Academical, whom ended 2nd in the League One in the 2023/2024, the return to Scottish Championship football marks an end to the club’s decline in the past couple of seasons. Hamilton can now rest and prepare for the restart of the Scottish Championship in the weekend of 2/3/4 August.
