By the end of the season, Inverness had secured a play-off spot, after leapfrogging Ayr United into 3rd place. In the quarter-finals, Inverness defeated Ayr, winning 3–1 in the first leg, and drawing 1–1 in the second, securing a comfortable 4–2 aggregate win. However, the joy was short-lived after facing Dundee United in the semi-finals. In the first leg, at home, they fell to an unfortunate 1–0 loss while down to 10 men after Liam Polworth was handed a straight red for an apparent high foot on Mark Connolly while making a clearance. Inverness went to Tannadice with heads held high hoping to overturn the 1–0 deficit, but hope began to fade after United were awarded and scored a controversial penalty just before half time. The penalty was conceded by a Brad McKay handball, after it deflected off his heel. Again, controversy followed just after half time, when a handball wasn't seen by the referee which resulted in John Robertson being sent to the stands for flicking a water-bottle in aggravation near the 4th official. Inverness went on to lose 3–0, 4–0 on aggregate. After the match, Robertson stated in an interview with the BBC on what punishments he'd receive from the SFA for his actions;"I don't care. They SFA can ban me for as long as they want. I'm going to start speaking out now because I've had enough of it."