Buddies Hammered in the Cup

Inverness dismantled St Mirren in the cup, scoring four and in reality letting St Mirren off lightly. First half goals from Gary Warren, and a Greg Tansey penalty put Inverness in control and strikes from Danny Williams and captain Graeme Shinnie completed the rout. after the break. The score flattered the Paisley outfit and Tommy Craig's peg is a bit more shoogley.

As expected, Marley Watkins returned to the starting eleven along with Greg Tansey. Nick Ross stepped down from the side that started at Paisley with Ryan Christie joining him on the bench. For St Mirren, Jim Goodwin came back into the defence with Thompson, McGinn and Osbourne starting again.

A sparse crowd of just over 1300 attended the game on a chilled evening after a bright winters day.

It was a fairly level opening to the game with the home side dominating possession and playing the passing game, often frustrating the fans as much as the St Mirren players. Indeed Dean Brill had more touches than the whole Paisley side. The retention policy would pay off soon enough as Inverness won a corner after 20 minutes. Tansey whipped the ball to the near post and Gary Warren bulleted a header behind Ridgers for the opener.

Three minutes later and Watkins latched onto a long ball that curled round the defence. As he forced his way into the box, Goodwin went to ground and appeared to bring Watkins down with his arm. Penalty no doubt and Greg Tansey hammered the ball to the keepers right, the goalie going the opposite direction.

We then squandered three great opportunities before half time. These were glaring misses and should have seen St Mirren buried before the break. Danny Williams trundled the ball into the keepers hands from ten yards, straight at the keeper when either side would have seen him score. Vincent did likewise from even closer range, cushioning a header into Ridgers' midriff. The third was more down to misfortune, Warren's back post header netbound until the defender threw himself at the ball, blocking it under the bar with part of his body.

Half Time 2-0

St Mirren were more stubborn for around fifteen minutes after the interval, and after 56 minutes Thompson headed over unchallenged. A warning for Inverness that there was still work to be undertaken.

Just before the hour, Meekings almost added to his seasons tally of three, but he was off balance as he tried to smash a shot with his right foot on the turn, the ball slicing well wide. The pressure was mounting now on the St Mirren defence as Inverness saw off their mini-revival.

Surging breaks forward were becoming more frequent and in one such surge, Williams fed McKay who smashed a close range shot off the underside of the bar, but when the ball came back out to the edge of the six yard box, Williams crashed a low shot into the back of the net.

This goal ended all hope of a St Mirren comeback and it was shooting practice for Inverness thereafter, The visitors goal leading a charmed life.

The arrival of Doran just added to the Buddies misery as he jinked and spun his way around the Paisley defenders. Doran, Christie and Tansey all missed efforts, but none moreso than sub Nick Ross who dallied before trying to get a shot away and the chance was lost.

However, captain courageous Graeme Shinnie showed his strikers how to finish, running onto a through ball to curl it beyond Samson and complete the scoring on a night to forget for the Buddies.

Full Time 4-0

In truth, Inverness crushed a toothless St Mirren side, scoring four and missing another half dozen great chances. The worrying aspect is that none of the forwards found the back of the net, but hey ho, as long as the rest are contributing it's onwards to the next round of the cup, where Partick Thistle will provide a sterner test. For Tommy Craig, your taxi awaits,

tm4tj MotM:- Garry Warren scored one, could have scored another couple and showed some fleet footed touches akin to Pele. Great all round performance from the big central defender. Ably assisted by most of the others, but notably Watkins, Williams, Shinnie and Draper.

Date: 02.12.2014 Venue: Caledonian Stadium, Inverness Attendance: 1326
Referee: Calum Murray
 
Inverness CT: 4
Lineup: Brill, Raven, Meekings, Warren, Shinnie, Vincent, Draper, Tansey, Williams (Doran 76), Watkins (Christie 73), McKay (Ross 83)
Subs (not used):  Esson, Devine, Tremarco, Polworth
Scorers: Warren (20), Tansey (pen23), Williams (67), Shinnie (90)
Booked: Shinnie (2)
Sent Off: none

St Mirren: 0
Lineup: Ridgers, Naismith, McAusland (Brown 62), Kelly, Tesselaar, Goodwin, Reilly (Drury 52), Osbourne (Ball 72), McLean, McGinn Thompson 
Subs (not used):  Kello, Marwood, Teale, Caldwell
Scorers: none
Booked: Goodwin (22)
Sent Off: none