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    Inverness CT 2-1 Dunfermline - SPL

    With St Mirren winning at Motherwell, and Caley Thistle scoring a couple of late goals to win this game, Dunfermline are officially relegated from the Scottish Premier League. Club Historian Ian Broadfoot reports from the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium.

    ICT 2-1 DUNFERMLINE

     12th May 2007 Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, Inverness
     INVERNESS CALEDONIAN THISTLE FC  2 (Hastings 76, McAllister 88)
    Team: Fraser, Tokely:yellowcard:, Dods, Munro (McAllister 75), Hastings, Hart, Black, McBain (Sutherland 68), Paatelainen (Wilson 61), Dargo, Bayne

    Subs: McCaffrey, Duncan, Rankin & Ridgers 

     DUNFERMLINE  1 (McIntyre 37)
    Team: De Vries, Shields, Bamba, :yellowcard:McGuire, Muirhead, Mason, Glass (Morrison 81), Hammill (McCunnie 66), O' Brien (Burchill, 81), McManus, McIntyre

    Subs: Hamilton, Young, Woods & McKenzie

     Referee  Mike Ritchie
     Attendance  6464
     Man of the Match  Richard Hastings (ICT)

     

    It was a day of high drama as Dunfermline came north hoping to keep their fine run going and at least take the relegation battle to the wire.

    They brought a large vocal support and the team fought for every ball, but in the end it was not enough. At Fir Park the other possible candidates for the drop, Motherwell and St Mirren, were playing each other and there were many possible permutations after the final whistles.

    In the event St Mirren fought back from 2-0 down to win 3-2, but the 2-1 win for Caley Thistle meant it did not matter. Dunfermline were relegated. Two months ago Caley Thistle were 1-0 up on Dunfermline at half time then surrendered the second half to lose 3-1. Today it was 1-0 to the Pars at half time and it was Caley Thistle who came back to win.

    There were two milestones as Ross Tokely became the first player to reach the 400 appearance mark and Darren Dods played his 100th league match for ICT. The end of the season is often a time to give fringe players a run but, with relegation at stake, it would have been unfair to go down this route. Charlie Christie did shuffle his pack but with no loss of strength - John Rankin, Stuart McCaffrey and Russell Duncan dropped to the bench and Ross Tokely, Ian Black and Markus Paatelainen came back to start the match. The newly-blond Barry Wilson returned from suspension and injury to the bench.

    It was frantic from the off and play surged from end to end. There was no danger however until the twelfth minute when Dunfermline ’s Jim McIntyre sent a low angled ball skidding past the post from the right. Five minutes later the first ICT effort came when Craig Dargo latched onto a long Grant Munro throw but his angled shot was held well by Dorus De Vries. Caley Thistle began to create openings but could not make them pay.

    In 28 minutes a Richie Hart free kick from the right reached Graham Bayne but his header from the back of the box was held by De Vries. Three minutes later a clearance from the ‘keeper reached Hart 40 yards out with the goal vacated – Hart hesitated and was closed down before he could try for a spectacular goal. The opening came at the other end in 37 minutes when Tam McManus headed into the path of McIntyre and he volleyed home from just inside the home box.

    Half Time: 0-1

    With St Mirren trailing to Motherwell the Dunfermline fans began to sing ‘We’re staying up’ but their optimism was premature. The second half started bizarrely when a Dods attempted clearance was stabbed goalwards and Mike Fraser had to be alert to tip it over. Nothing came off at either end and Dunfermline began to slow things down to retain their lead. In 71 minutes a poor back pass towards De Vries allowed substitute Wilson to nip in and steal the ball but he was forced wide and could only chip it to the centre of the box with no one following up.

    With fifteen minutes left Charlie Christie went for broke when he replaced defender Grant Munro with striker Rory McAllister. It was to prove decisive as within a minute McAllister was brought down by Sol Bamba 25 yards out on the right. Richard Hastings took the free kick and its power was too much for De Vries as he dropped it over the line – this was only the defender’s third goal for the club with the others coming in October and November 1995.

    Zander Sutherland did well down the left in 84 minutes and found McAllister inside – he ran on and blasted just wide from 25 yards. With two minutes of regular time left Wilson beat Phil McGuire to the ball and passed to McAllister who once more struck for goal from 25 yards. This time it took a deflection to fool De Vries and give ICT a 2-1 lead.

    The three added minutes stretched to four and Dunfermline pushed hard. De Vries joined the attack for the final few minutes to try to make amends for his error but it all came to nothing.

    Full Time: 2-1

    The whistle went and the Dunfermline players slumped to the ground despondent. It had been a brave fight but the Pars were down and out. For Caley Thistle there was a one spot climb to eighth and just one game left away to St Mirren.




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