St Johnstone -V- Inverness CT - Report

Raven Mad

Inverness are slowly but surely losing their grip on the Euro spot after losing 1-0 to St Johnstone who move to within one point of Butcher's side. It was another tense game which saw Inverness reduced to ten men when defender David Raven was sent off for bringing down Rowan Vine after Antonio Reguero choked a kick-out to the Perth man who sprinted forward. Raven came across him and Vine collapsed, the referee in no doubt that Raven had caused the fall and he was red carded after only twelve minutes. Inverness held out until the 77th minute when sub Nigel Hasselbaink crossed for Steve MacLean to nod home the winner.

Not the result Inverness were looking for but despite playing with ten men for most of the game we were still well in the mix until MacLean popped up with the winner. Full credit to Inverness for coping well with the Perth onslaught for so long but in truth it was an untidy game on a pitch akin to the field at Dingwall which saw the ball bobble around and slick passing was at a premium. Andy Shinnie was a late substitute, missing out on a start because of a hamstring niggle which saw Charlie Taylor start.

With County and St Johnstone now breathing down our necks, the last three games are going to be just as tense. It's no use waiting for it to happen as seems to be our approach lately. He who dares wins and draws look unlikely to be enough to keep us ahead.

27th Apr 2013	Scottish Premier League	McDiarmid Park, Perth
St Johnstone	1 - MacLean (76)
	TEAM: Mannus, MacKay, Anderson, Wright, Scobbie, Tade (Hasselbaink 57), Millar, Craig, Vine (Cregg 87), Abeid (Edwards 42), MacLean
	SUBS: Tuffey, Doughty, McCracken, Miller
	Booked: Millar (59)
	Sent Off: none
Inverness C.T.	0 -
	TEAM: Reguero, Raven, Devine, Meekings, G.Shinnie, Doran, Tudur Jones (A.Shinnie 80), Foran, Draper, Taylor, McKay (Ross 65)
	SUBS: Mathieson, Hogg, Sutherland, Polworth, Pepper
	Booked: Devine (7), Taylor (27), G.Shinnie (69)
	Sent Off: Raven (12)
Referee	Craig Thomson
Attendance	2368