Inverness manager John Robertson admitted his side looked nervous during the 1-1 draw against Ayr.
The result was enough for the Highland side to make it through to the play-off semi-finals after winning 3-1 in the first leg at Somerset Park.
The Honest Men had taken a first-half lead through Luke McCowan to give themselves a fighting chance in the two-legged tie.
But Coll Donaldson’s first goal of the season was enough to rescue a draw on the day and a clash with the defender’s old club, Dundee United, in the next round.
But Robertson believes his players were in two minds at the start, not knowing how to approach the match with the two-goal advantage.
“Until the goal, we looked nervous,” he admitted.
“It’s a strange situation which players aren’t asked to deal with.
“No matter how much you tell them, psychologically with a two-goal lead you don’t know whether to stick or twist.
“We told them to go and play a normal game but Ayr’s goal woke us up a bit.
“Like ourselves they have been better on the road all season and they came up here and had a real go, and were unfortunate.
“At 1-0 with 20 minutes to go you could see a goal coming but you didn’t know whether it was us or Ayr. Thankfully we got it.”
Robertson’s opposite number Ian McCall thought his side deserved to win, but wished Inverness good luck ahead of the semi-final.
“I thought we were the better team over both legs, comfortably,” he said.
“At 1-0 it was interesting, we had two or three good opportunities but we couldn’t get them.
“We know that Inverness have done really well, two or three of their goals have been set-plays from the last two games and they’re difficult to defend against.
“The reason I wished all the Inverness players and in particular their manager the best is because it’s like a cup tie, and it doesn’t really matter about that.
“It just matters about getting through, so I wish them all the best against Dundee United.”
