Easy Money

Inverness cruised to victory over a rancid St Johnstone side devoid of skill, energy, subtleness and quality. First half goals from Billy Mckay and Marley Watkins had Inverness in the driving seat before the break as the Perth side never got out of first gear. No further goals in the second half but I doubt Inverness will have an easier game all season. Someone needs to tell the St Johnstone team it was a pay what you can night, not a play when you can be bothered.

Graeme Shinnie moved to right back to replace the suspended David Raven and Danny Williams started along with Marley Watkins. Ryan Christie and James Vincent started from the bench and young Ally Sutherland made an appearance before the end. St Johnstone were without James McFadden, but the dangerous Michael O'Halloran started.

The pay what you want experiment certainly boosted the size of the crowd, not sure about the coffers though.

The visitors started with a flurry of crosses and corners right from the off and from one of these Graeme Shinnie was fortunate to see a sliced clearance shave the top of the bar. It looked as though it was going to be a busy night for the Inverness defence, but that was it really. Once the Caley Jags got hold of the ball, they never relinquished it and it proved to be a difficult night for the Perth men as our possession game took over, albeit sometimes overplayed at times, but in keeping the ball, St Johnstone were restricted to chasing shadows for the rest of the game.

In truth, it turned into shooting practice for the hosts as they turned the screw. Plenty of showboating and slick interplay saw the Perth defence opened up time and time again with only the end product missing. Billy McKay was unlucky a few times as Mannus did his best to thwart the Inverness strikers. He clawed away a Billy header and saw a few efforts go close, none closer than Aaron Doran who hit the post after the ball broke to him on the edge of the box. A goal was imminent though and it carried a touch of fortune initially. An attempted clearance cannoned off a defender amidst claims of handball. Nick Ross never hesitated and his chipped cross found Shinnie at the back post, and he kept it alive by knocking it back to McKay who turned the ball into the net.

The Inverness tails were well and truly up and after a period of ball retention across our own penalty area, the long ball down the left paid off. Tremarco took the ball expertly on his chest as he burst forward before rifling a low ball across the box. Mannus dived but failed to cut it out and Watkins had the simplest of tasks to side foot the ball into an empty net.

St Johnstone were nowhere to be seen as Inverness dominated to the break, Tremarco volleying wide but no more goals as the half ended.

HALF TIME 2-0

If anything the second half was a bit of an anti climax as pretty patterns were still being weaved but the back of the net would not bulge again. That's not to say we did not create anything but a ruthless streak we do not possess. There were a few melee's around the Saints box but that elusive third goal would not come. Nick Ross volleyed over from a good position and one or two efforts were headed away or blocked in the six yard box.

FULL TIME 2-0

St Johnstone were absolutely minging, creating very little and spent most of the game chasing shadows. A lot of that was down to our possession play, but plenty of it was down to their lack of urgency and quality. That said, we let them off lightly by not forcing home our massive superiority and that is my only gripe. Too often we faffed around at the back and played across the park in search of total retention. It certainly worked to piss off St Johnstone but it was getting frustrating to watch at times although it probably kept Brill warm as the chill descended on the stadium.

tm4tj MotM is not easy to pick given our overall dominance. Nick Ross was the sponsors choice, not a bad one at that, but my pick was Carl Tremarco who grew into the game and had a brilliant assist for the second goal. Only Brill gets less than full marks as he had nothing to do but clear pass backs, and one of them he left so late he cleared it next week, almost being shut down. Now where have I seen that before?

Happy days, four in a row, here we go!

temp team lines

Starting XI

Dean Brill - Alan Mannus
Graham Shinnie - Dave MacKay
Garry Warren - Thomas Scobie
Josh Meekings - Frazer Wright
Carl Tremarco - Steven Anderson
Marley Watkins - Simon Lappin
Ross Draper - Liam Caddis
Nick Ross - Scott Brown
AAron Doran - Michael O-Halloran
Danny Williams - David Wotherspoon
Billy Mckay - Brian Graham

   Subs

Ryan Esson - Steve Banks
Daniel Devine - Gary Miller
Liam Polworth - Brian Easton
James Vincent - Gary McDonald
Lewis Horner - Lee Croft
Ryan Christie - Steven MacLean
Alasdair Sutherland - Christopher Kane

 (need to sort out the cyber speak below)

Help Scotty.....
 

</p><div><div style="font-size:13.63636302948px;"><em><strong>Date:</strong> </em>20/01/15  <em><strong>Venue:</strong> </em>Caledonian Stadium   <em><strong> Attendance:</strong></em> 3161<strong><em>Referee:</em></strong> Kevin Clancy <span style="font-size:24px;"><strong><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255);">Inverness </span><span style="color:rgb(255,0,0);">CT</span>: 2</strong></span><strong><em>Lineup:</em></strong> Brill, Shinnie, Warren, Meekings, Tremarco, Watkins (Christie 67), Draper, Williams (Vincent 81), Doran, Ross, McKay (Sutherland 87)</div><div style="font-size:13.63636302948px;"><strong><em>Subs (not used): </em></strong>Esson, Devine, Horner, Polworth<div><strong><em>Scorers: </em></strong><span style="font-size:13.63636302948px;">Mckay (34), Watkins (41)</span><strong><em>Booked:</em></strong><span style="font-size:13.63636302948px;"> </span><span style="font-size:13.63636302948px;">none</span><strong><em>Sent Off: </em></strong><span style="font-size:13.63636302948px;">none</span></div> <span style="font-size:24px;"><strong><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255);">St Johnstone</span>: 0</strong></span><div style="font-size:13.63636302948px;"><strong><em>Lineup:</em></strong> Mannus, Mackay, Anderson, Wright (Miller 55), Scobbie, O'Halloran (Kane 29), Brown (McDonald 46), Lappin, Caddis, Wotherspoon, Graham</div><div style="font-size:13.63636302948px;"><strong><em>Subs (not used): </em></strong>Banks, MacLean, Croft, Easton<div><strong><em>Scorers: </em></strong><span style="font-size:13.63636302948px;">none</span><strong><em>Booked:</em></strong><span style="font-size:13.63636302948px;"> </span><span style="font-size:13.63636302948px;">Graham (27), Lappin (46), Anderson (68), McDonald (70)</span><strong><em>Sent Off: </em></strong><span style="font-size:13.63636302948px;">none</span></div></div></div><p style="font-size:13.63636302948px;"> </p><p style="font-size:13.63636302948px;">

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