A dramatic first ever win over Rangers for Caley Thistle after a tremendous defensive performance and a Graham Bayne goal on the counter attack.

The Scottish Cup victories over Celtic and Hearts may be the pick of the club’s history but this is right up there with the best – most certainly the club’s best SPL result. The final whistle was greeted with loud cheers from the small away support and boos from those Rangers’ fans who had not left early. 

Rangers’ stand-in goalkeeper Allan McGregor was the SPL ‘Player of the Month’ for September but he was still dropped in favour of fit-again Lionel Letizi. The media criticised this change in advance and Rangers’ manager Paul Le Guen must have regretted the decision when Letizi gave away the goal that cost them the points. For Caley Thistle Ian Black came back into the side at the expense of Richie Hart and Liam Keogh missed out through suspension. With Dennis Wyness now fully recovered from his shoulder injury he took a bench spot.

Rangers started at pace and in the first five minutes they had three corners. They rarely found the route to Mark Brown thanks mainly to sterling defending by the back four. Grant Munro in particular was praised by all the media for his fine performance.

Caley Thistle did press towards the Rangers’ goal but mainly on the break. On the half hour mark Caley Thistle were awarded a free kick when Dado Prso fouled Barry Wilson on the right. Wilson played it short to John Rankin and he forced a punch save from Letizi – it fell to Roy McBain’s ‘wrong’ foot and he hit over the bar.

With three minutes of the first half remaining Rangers finally found a way through to Brown but he kept the Inverness side in the game when Thomas Buffel turned, shot on target and Brown saved it with his legs on the six yard line.

A minute later Ian Black was shown a rather soft yellow card which means he has earned a one game suspension.

Half Time: 0-0

The second half was much like the first with the Caley Thistle defence repelling all that Rangers could throw at them. In 58 minutes Buffel nearly managed a shot from a Prso pass but Richard Hastings managed to block it.

Buffel hit over the bar in 62 minutes then in 71 minutes came the defining moment of the game. A break from defence led to Craig Dargo racing through the middle and shooting from 20 yards. It looked a safe catch for Letizi but the reinstated ‘keeper spilled it and Graham Bayne was there to knock it in.

Rangers were shocked but continued to press. Steven Smith hit wide in 79 minutes then captain Barry Ferguson shot over. The home crowd started to leave as they saw no way back for their side. Rangers had a strong penalty claim when Nacho Novo was seemingly fouled with a minute of normal time left – he regained his balance, shot wide and nothing came out of it.

Full Time: 0-1

The final whistle went and Caley Thistle had once more ‘Gone Ballistic’. The fantastic result led to a three-place climb to fifth in the league. A day to savour and another chapter in the remarkable history of the club.