Something did give
We mentioned in the preview that something has to give, and it did. Both sides lost their winning streak as the village side from Perth snatched a last gasp point with a piece of agricultural play from the foot of keeper Mannus. His long punt forward in the dying embers of the game saved Gregory Tade's boast about his new employers, as his replacement David Robertson netted a soft equaliser to level Billy McKay's opener.
They came in numbers from the farming community around the lowland town which became Scotland's seventh city in 2012 with ex-Inverness forward Gregory Tade extolling their virtues and no doubt giving false hope to his followers. At the end of the ninety three minutes Mr Tade was nowhere to be seen, possibly still inside Josh Meekings' pocket, his presence more noticeable for his absence throughout the ninety minutes.
The first blasts of winter descended on the Highlands as snow caused havoc on many of the higher routes around the area and the game was played out in Baltic conditions, not a great day for brass monkeys it has to be said.
With both sides on winning runs, it was always going to be a tough decision to call, as is sometimes the case with these games, the expectation is greater than the game itself, and this was apparent here as both sides cancelled themselves out in the first forty-five.
Inverness started with the same side that trounced Dundee last week and St Johnstone were unchanged from their encounter with Kilmarnock. This meant that Ryan Esson was on the bench and Richie Foran remains injured, possibly for up to another month.
Inverness started brightly and pressed forward from the start, but Meekings made his only error after six minutes when a long through ball escaped him and allowed Gregory Tade to run in on goal. The away fans thought this was to be their moment, but the home fans knew better as Reguero did well to grasp the ball after it bounced off Tade's shin and kept the score at nil-nil.
He did have another glorious chance to score with a header after half an hour from six yards as he rose highest in the box, but he nodded it over the bar when he should have made the keeper work. There endeth the bold Tade's involvement in the game.
Reguero was more fortunate after Rowan Vine lashed a shot goalwards from the right edge of the box but it bounced downwards off Reguero and then up over the bar for a narrow escape for the Spaniard.
It was mostly all cat and mouse in the first half and while the visitors enjoyed plenty of possession, they had no cutting edge and David Raven was so under exerted that he managed to forage forward and try a couple of long range efforts but to no avail. Inverness had gone back into their shell somewhat and were offering St Johnstone the ball at every opportunity but they did not know what to do with it and gave it back to us; and so it continued up to half time with our only attempt of note being a Draper header that was easily gathered by Mannus.
Half Time 0-0
The second half begun in the same manner and little of note happened before Fraser Wright left the field with a nose bleed, and Hasselbaink shortly after. His replacement was due to his lack of success against the Inverness back four.
David Raven was having one of his best games for Inverness, especially going forward, and there were no takers as he fizzed a dangerous ball across the box, but the action was about to warm up in the seventieth minute.
Aaron Doran played a neat reverse ball into the box and Graeme Shinnie was second favourite to get on the end of it, but a tremendous burst of pace saw him get there ahead of Vine who tripped him as he burst through, and picked up a booking for his troubles. No doubt about the award but plenty of doubt about the strike from Andy Shinnie as he blazed it high over the bar, an effort that would have looked good at Murrayfield, but not at the Caledonian Stadium. The ball ended high at the rear of the stands as the fans vented their frustration and searched for the ball in row ZZZ.
Shane Sutherland was introduced for the ineffective Roberts and like last week, this move paid dividends. Some intricate play on the edge of the box saw McKay being played in by Draper and he whistled a great strike below and behind Mannus from the left side of goal to put Inverness ahead.
From that point on, there looked to be only one winner as Inverness pummelled the Perth goal. Tudur-Jones took time off from dictating the play to get a shot away but it was charged down by the now desperate Saint's defence and Billy McKay almost doubled the advantage as he turned neatly in the box on the right side to curl a shot goalwards with his left foot. Unfortunately for him Mannus dived full length to prevent a goal as Inverness turned the screw.
A sporadic break forward almost produced a goal for St Johnstone but Reguero guessed right and threw himself at the feet of the Millar to prevent an equaliser.
It was only a matter of time before Inverness stretched their lead as they burst forward in a throwback to the Pele era and Andy Shinnie almost atoned for his penalty miss. Jones outjumped Tade to nod the ball to the far post where Andy Shinnie lurked, however, he contrived to lash the ball over the bar from a couple of yards when it was easier to score. An unbelievable miss which would come back to haunt the Inverness team on Halloween.
Aaron Doran had been woken up by the sudden Inverness activity and he was unfortunate to see a whipped shot narrowly miss the keepers right hand post. Shinnie's misery was complete when he thrashed another effort just over the bar from twenty yards for what would have been a spectacular goal and he was replaced soon after, but not before the now invisible Gregory Tade had left the field. He had been missing for most of the match, outplayed by young Josh Meekings.
As the clock ran down Liam Craig lifted a shot over the bar to keep Inverness ahead for now, but those misses were going to take their toll before the end.
Doran was strangely adjudged to have committed a foul deep into stoppage time and from the resultant free kick a long ball was launched into the Inverness box from eighty yards away by keeper Mannus. It bounced high to the back post where Tade's replacement David Robertson sneaked in uninvited behind the defence to head the ball past Reguero for an undeserved equaliser with barely fifteen seconds of the additional three minutes left to play.
Full Time 1-1 This felt like a defeat after dominating the latter stages of the second half with so many excellent opportunities to put the game beyond the big team from Perth, alas we were caught out by a hopeful ball into the box and a point each it was.
tm4tj MotM:- Owain Tudur-Jones was immense in the heart of the midfield spraying balls all over the park. He has the look of a great player, always appearing to have time to control and play the ball as though he was having a kick about with the kids on a Sunday afternoon down the Bught. He was closely followed by Meekings who put Tade in his place and Warren and Draper who had fine displays once again. Reguero will take some shifting from between the sticks and Esson may need to sit on the bench a bit longer.
tm4tj Moan of the Match:- Andrew Shinnie had a great game until it came to putting the ball in the opposition net. The penalty miss was a bad one, but the miss from a few yards out was much much worse and although we didn't know it at the time, it was one that was going to prove crucial to the outcome of this game.
My second moan was the poor home attendance. What more do the Inverness public want. Scoring goals every week, top scorers in the SPL, only two defeats in eleven games and still general apathy reigns supreme. Come on folk, get off yer erses and get behind yer local team, we are playing as attractive football as we have since Butcher came to Inverness, but that is seemingly not enough to tempt the stayaways out of the pub or away from the Xmas shopping.
Hell mend ye!
27th Oct 2012
Scottish Premier League
Tulloch Caledonian Stadium
Inverness C.T.
1 - McKay (72)
TEAM: Reguero, Raven, G.Shinnie, Tudur-Jones, Warren, McKay, Draper, A.Shinnie (Morrison 88), Meekings, Doran, Roberts (Sutherland 71)
SUBS: Esson, Oswell, Polworth, Pepper, Cooper
Booked: none
Sent Off: none
St Johnstone
1 - Robertson (90)
TEAM: Mannus, MacKay, Wright (Scobbie 60), Anderson, Millar, Murray Davidson, Tade (Robertson 82), Craig, Hasselbaink (MacLean 64), Miller, Vine
SUBS: Tuffey, Caddis, Kane, Rodger
Booked: Davidson (8)
Sent Off: none
Referee
John Beaton
Attendance
3154
