On the opening day...

Motherwell handed us our first defeat of the season, and although we have had a few more since then, there were a few other firsts in this game too .....

In the absence of Richie Foran and vice-captain Ross Tokely, Jonny Hayes captained his first SPL match, Steve Williams made his first appearance for the club as a late sub, Gregory Tade got back to first spot in the ICT scoring tables with the winning goal in this game, our first win in the last 9 attempts at Fir Park, and the best 'first' of all .... Ryan Esson achieved his first clean sheet of the season.

A final 'first' that deserves mention, especially after recent discussions on the message boards about referees, is that this was the first time this season, in any competition, where there were no bookings in an ICT match. There have been a few occasions where ICT players were booked, but no opposition players, and a single match where ICT had no bookings but the opposition did ( -V- Hibs way back in July 11), but this is the first cardless game ... so fair play to Bobby Madden, a ref who is not scared to dish them out (35 cards in 15 games)

Clean sheets help fans sleep better.

A first clean sheet of the season has eased the restless nights of the Caley Thistle support after Motherwell drew a blank against Inverness at Fir Park to ease the Highlanders further away from bottom club Dunfermline.

It may not have been a pretty sight, but it was certainly very welcome as a tremendous strike from Gregory Tade was all that separated the sides in a tense encounter where neither side were able to fashion too many clear cut chances as Motherwell showed why they have only scored seven goals at home this season with a languid display in the final third of the park.

This was a fantastic response by Gregory to social networking harrassment that tried to make life difficult for him the previous week, as he put that behind him and showed magnificent ability and power to lash a ferocious shot into the roof of the net from twenty two yards to silence the home fans and send the small but battle hardened band of followers into raptures.

Capital Caley was on hand to witness the days events and he recounts his day out for your pleasure...........

Well oh well oh well!

Well oh well oh well! It’s been a long time coming but we finally kept a clean sheet. This victory has taken us 8 points clear of Dunfermline. If we can get past them in the cup, and with the potential financial rewards at stake, this could turn out go be a great season! We’ve now gone over 1 month unbeaten and there looks like real team spirit and unity within the squad. Our defensive performance was first class on Saturday. Nothing could get past Roman in the gloamin. Gillet played a blinder and when we attacked, we really had Well on the ropes.

My day started badly when I was short changed by the ticket man at Central Station, losing a fiver. This will seriously eat in to my 10p bowling budget. The Fir Park Social Club was quite quiet for a change before the game – Dewsbury Dude couldn’t make the trip this time. The bar was filled with other Caley Away regulars such as Govan Jaggy, Immortal Howden Ender, Alternative Maryhill, martinskye, Red Card Gringo Jnr, CaleyD, BA, Snow and a few others. On approach to the stadium, we were informed that we were behind the goal for this one. Usually we grace the side of the main stand, but in order to get behind the goals we had to walk about a mile to get there. It was good to get the extra miles in for my Highland March training.

We started strongly and pushed towards Motherwells goal. We were playing good football but struggling to find that final lethal touch in front of goal. Billy McKay worked his socks off throughout and nearly put Caley Thistle ahead on the 29^th minute. His low angled shot just went wide after Gregory Tade played the ball through to him. Motherwell went on the counter attack and Thomas Piermayr did well to block an Omar Daly shot from close range.

We were edging towards an opener towards the end of the first half. A Tade shot and then a Tansey chance were both saved by Darren Randolph. But, just before half time, there was a scramble in front of Ryan Essons goal mouth and Tom Hateleys corner looked to be heading straight into the goal, but Esson managed to punch the ball clear. Other than this moment, we were pretty much on top of the game in the first half.

We started the second half similar to the first half. We continued to press the Motherwell defense, who made it difficult for our attackers at times. Tade nearly opened the scoring soon after the break but his shot was blocked by Randolph. Tade then put us 1-0 up on the 67^th minute. He collected the ball from far out, ran at the Well defence, opening up a gap and firing into the top corner from 22 yards out. A cracking strike that will be a contender for goal of the month. His celebratory dances are starting to be very common now!

Towards the end, Butcher changed tactics to try and secure the win. Off came Nick Ross for new singing Steve Williams. Then McKay came off for Proctor. The tactics in the last few minutes were straight out of a Craig Levein manual – effectively a formation of ‘10’. It worked, and we defended solidly. With every clearance you could feel the desire for the clean sheet. Motherwell never really troubled us though and we were worthy of the win. A fine performance all round. The Caley Thistle fans walked down to the pitch side at full time for some high fives with Tade. I thought Esson was going to throw his gloves into the crowd, he was that happy. We marched back to the Social Club to the tunes of Caley Away With Terry and Mo! 2012 has started considerably better than 2011. Things can only get better.

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