Bino's Bonus
Kevin Rutkiewicz took his Stirling Albion side North for the second group 'A' match for both teams who were looking to continue their winning starts to the League Cup. Something was going to give and it did with the Bino's taking the bonus point after a 2-2 draw. Stirling took an early lead with a superb free kick by Dylan Mackin from twenty-three yards. Kieran Moore stunned the hosts on the counter with a second before Roddy Macgregor pulled one back before the Interval, linking with Duku. Shane Sutherland levelled the tie early in the second half, again Duku the provider. Jack Leitch hit the post for the impressive Bino's as they continued to cause problems. Chances went abegging at both ends and when Doran missed a great opportunity at the end, the game went to penalties to decide the bonus point. When Currie brilliantly saved Sutherland's penalty it was the Bino's that prevailed 3-2, and no one could grudge them that.
Penalty scorers
Inverness CT: 2 - Walsh ❌, Allardice ✔️, McAlear ✔️, Carson ❌, Sutherland ❌
Stirling Albion: 3 - Carrick ✔️, Leitch ❌, Flanagan ✔️ Omar ✔️, Banner ❌
CTO RIG has this summary: We had a lot of the ball but didn't create too many clear cut chances. From an ICT perspective the defending for the second goal was a shambles. Carson completely switched off and let his man run off him. Nice free kick for the opener but I can't help but feel we didn't defend that set piece particularly well either. A couple of nice passing moves at the edge of the box saw us score two decent goals and although we dominated in terms of attacking with Stirling content to sit back and hit on the counter we struggled to really test the keeper. Doran had the best chance to win it when he sclaffed a shot wide with only the keeper to beat. That said, Stirling looked decent on the counter and although Broadfoot was pretty decent for most of the game he did have a comedy mishap with Deas (I think) where the two of them went for the ball and both missed it leading to a clear chance for Albion to grab a winner but they hit the post / bar. That penalty shoot out was pretty rotten. Almost as bad as the one between the two sides back in 2017 in the same competition.
That's us possibly out of the competition already as we will probably need to do our usual of get at least a point from Hearts or avoid losing 3 - 0 only to contrive to lose 4 - 0. Meh.
On the plus side it was great being back at a game again.
Pragmatism at it's finest
CTO Doofers Dad: We played some tidy football at times with good ball retention and interplay in midfield, but there was a lack of movement up front, we were rarely able to find the defence splitting passes and any crosses into the box were generally poor. As for the defence; being lucky to concede only 2 goals at home against a part time team 2 divisions below us tells its own story. But hey. It was back to watching live football and that is a real positive.
CTO Robert: Not our finest day, and once again we look to be failing to get out of the group stages, but we need to use the next two games to sharpen up so we are ready for the league campaign.
🗣️ "We're disappointed there's no doubt about that."
— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) July 17, 2021
ICTFC Head Coach Billy Dodds gives his thoughts following this afternoon's match against Stirling Albion
Full Interview 👉 https://t.co/J1LVhQOKUm pic.twitter.com/29Dqq1wJWn
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