Diamond Presents
Sean Welsh and Roddy MacGregor missed out in this one and Wallace Duffy dropped to the bench but new signing Luis Longstaff started and Max Ram made the bench. Nikolay Todorov started for the Diamonds, and he would have the final say..
An early opportunity gifted to the visitors almost brought about the opening goal. A short pass back allowed Todorov to latch onto the ball but fortunately Cammy Mackay was out quickly to block the shot. A couple of forays forward gave us half chances to no avail. Lewis Nicolson left the field on a stretcher as our injury woes started early to be replaced by Cammy Harper after quarter of an hour. However we never learned from our early slackness and Airdrie were allowed to stroke home the opener from the edge of the box through a grateful Ballantyne after a defensive blunder by Davidson who gave the ball away too easily. Before the half hour it was two blunders and two goals for the Diamonds who didn't have to do too much for their lead. This time it was Devine caught dwelling on the ball on the edge of his own box and Telfer clipped the returned ball home tidily. Shoddy stuff from the hosts who were chasing the game already. Substitute Harper lashed a free kick from a promising position into the wall and that was about as much as we could muster in a shockingly poor first half. The Caley Jags sheepishly left the field at the interval to the sound of boos.
HALF TIME: 0-2
Second half changes saw Duffy, Bray and Brooks on at the restart. Almost a third for Airdrie after a corner seemed to ricochet onto Mackays left hand post and he then blocked the rebound shot with his legs. We had upped our game in this half without threatening the goal but it did come when Charlie Gilmour lashed a tremendous volley from near thirty yards behind Rae after an hour. Duffy headed over from a good position off a free kick as we pushed for an equaliser. Inverness won a penalty when Billy Mckay burst into the box and was brought down. He then rewrote the record books as he slotted home comfortably to level the tie. We continued to force the game but the final ball or shot was elusive. We were undone in the final minute when Airdrie broke forward and again the ball was stroked into the net for what would be the winning goal by former Inverness favourite Nikolay Todorov. We incredibly missed a couple of opportunities to level the game but the ball just would not hit the back of the net with Rae making a point blank save at the death after Shaw's shot was deflected, the keeper clawing the ball away from the line.
FULL TIME: 2-3
A rank rotten first half where we gifted goals to the Diamonds was our downfall. Having got back into the match with a superb strike from Charlie Gilmour and a record breaking goal from Billy Mckay we looked likeliest to go on and win the game. However Todorov had the final say with a late winner to end our League cup chances.
One shining light was the second half performance of Keith Bray who made a few marauding runs forward. A bright future ahead for this young man. Is he a modern day Ted McMinn?
Nathan Shaw was probably the pick of our players with some neat wide play but his crosses went unanswered. Charlie Gilmour opened his account with a long range volley from thirty-yards
A nasty looking injury to Lewis Nicolson might shorten his season after he appeared to catch his studs and twist his knee. Here's hoping the scans are favourable for another of our promising youngsters.
Overall, it wasn't a great performance although the second half picked up somewhat until Toddy drilled home at the end. Meh! These performances have pretty much taken the shine off of Billy Mckay's 102 goal record which has just about been swept under the carpet. Absolute legend is Billy and he has plenty more to come.
Date: 25/07/2023 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 1117 Referee: Mathew MacDermid
Inverness CT: 2
Manager: Billy Dodds
Lineup: C Mackay; Davidson (Bray 45), Devine (Duffy 45), Delaney, Nicolson (Harper 16),
Doran (Brooks 45), Carson, Gilmour, Longstaff (Samuels 65), Shaw, B Mckay
Subs (not used): Ridgers; Ram, Hyde
Scorers: Gilmour (62), Mckay (pen 78)
Booked: Gilmour (32)
Sent Off: none
Airdrieonians: 3
Manager: Rhys McCabe
Lineup: Rae; Ballantyne, Fordyce, Taylor-Sinclair, O'Connor (Gallagher 72), McGregor, Frizzell (Devenny 90), McMaster, Watson, Todorov, Telfer (Aiken 90)
Subs (not used): Hutton; McCabe, Dunlop, Spalding, Fellows, Gunn
Scorers: Ballantyne (22), Telfer (29), Todorov (88)
Booked: Frizzell (70)
Sent Off: none
