History

The Scottish Qualifying Cup has taken several different formats since it was first played in 1895. From 1877 to 1890 the Scottish Cup was an all-in affair but with the formation of the Scottish League in 1891 qualifying for the Scottish Cup took the form of a preliminary round where all the teams that won in the 4th round qualified for the Scottish Cup proper. In the first season of the new competition,1891-92, Inverness Thistle reached the 4th round only to be defeated 1-0 by Battlefield. Two seasons later, 1893-94, Inverness Thistle qualified for the Scottish Cup for the first time and in doing so became the first of the Inverness clubs to play in the Scottish Cup under the new qualification format.

From season 1895-96 the competition was reformatted into the Scottish Qualifying Cup whereby all the non-league teams throughout Scotland could enter. The first cup draw consisted of 116 teams and the draw was formed on a geographical basis with the highland clubs playing each other in the early rounds. All the clubs that reached the last sixteen of the competition gained qualification for the Scottish Cup. Over the 35 years that the competition was played in this format Inverness Thistle qualified for the Scottish Cup proper on seven occasions, 1896-97, 1905-06, 1907-08, 1909-10, 1910-11, 1923-24 and 1928-29. Over this period the club’s best performance came in season 1923-24 when they reached the semi-final where they were beaten 3-0 by Dykehead. From season 1931-32 the Scottish Qualifying Cup was split into two competitions, North and South, with the semi-finalists in both competitions qualifying for the Scottish Cup proper. The final of the competition was a single game at a neutral venue except between 1950-51 and 1976-77 when it was played as a two-legged affair. During the period 1931-32 to Inverness Thistle’s last season in 1993-94 the club qualified for the Scottish Cup proper on nineteen occasions, making eight Qualifying Cup Final appearances, winning it five times. Inverness Thistle’s last victory in the tournament came in 1988-89 with a 3-0 victory over local rivals Inverness Caledonian.

The club’s last season playing in the competition saw them beat Inverness Caledonian 2-0 in the 1st round at Kingsmills Park. This was followed by a 6-2 victory over Deveronvale in a 2nd round replay at Kingsmills Park after a 2-2 draw at Princess Royal Park but in the 3rd round they were beaten 4-1 by the eventual winners Ross County in a replay at Kingsmills Park after a 1-1 draw at Victoria Park.

The club reached the final of the Scottish Qualifying Cup on eight occasions - click here to view details of those ties.