Fiery clash goes all the way 

Inverness Caley Thistle took to the road this evening to travel to Arbroath in their 2nd Round CIS Cup Tie.  Goals by Vigurs, Tosh, Wood and a penalty by Sellars saw the game go in to extra time which resulted in no goals but a lot of bookings when mayhem seemed to breakout on the pitch.  On to penalties and after a Tosh miss and Esson saving the shot from Sellars the Caley Jags walked away victorious.

Many may well be asking a few questions of the manager who made a number of changes to the starting line up for this match and was perhaps a little guilty of underestimating the opposition.

Inverness CT squeezed past Second Division Arbroath in a thrilling second round Co-op Insurance Cup tie.

Iain Vigurs gave Caley Thistle the lead on 18 minutes but Paul Tosh's deflected drive restored parity before the break.

Garry Wood put Inverness back in front on 64 minutes but Barry Sellars' late penalty took the tie into extra time.

With no more goals after 120 minutes, Vigurs held his nerve to convert the winning penalty and oust Arbroath.

Arbroath started well and came close to the opener after 13 minutes.

Tosh met Steven Weir's cross with a diving header forcing Caley Thistle keeper Ryan Esson into a superb save.

The ball rebounded out to Terry Masson but the Red Lichties star could not connect at the back post and the chance was lost.

Vigurs went on a mazy solo run past several home defenders before burying the ball past Scott Morrison to give Inverness the lead after 18 minutes

Arbroath responded almost immediately with Tosh beating the offside trap to race onto a flick from Sellars and chip the ball over Esson with the aid of a deflection off Jamie Duff.

Barry Wilson had a hand in the second Inverness goal when his cross was poorly cleared by John Fraser, leaving Garry Wood with a tap-in.

There was a late moment of controversy as Arbroath were denied what they felt was a penalty as Sellars fell under the challenge of Lionel Djebi-Zadi only for referee Alan Muir to wave away appeals.

However, Muir did award a spot-kick for the home side after 86 minutes with Djebi-Zadi this time fouling Sean Simpson.

Sellars converted from the spot to send the game into extra-time.

Andy Barrowman, a 79th minute substitute for Rory McAllister, hit the bar with a header with five minutes left of the added time.

And there was drama in the final moments with five players booked and one red-carded in a fiery incident.

Scott Gates and Phil McGuire clashed with both pushing each other to the deck.

All 22 players raced to the scene, with Gates, McGuire, Robbie Raeside, Ryan Esson and Barrowman yellow-carded, with the latter sent off for his second bookable offence.

Caley were then reduced to 10 men after Barrowman was red-carded for a second bookable offence.

Vigurs netted the decisive spot-kick in a thrilling encounter as Tosh and Paul Lunan both missed for the home side to see them crash out 4-2 on penalties.

Arbroath manager John McGlashan: "Every player in my dressing-room is disappointed right now, but that feeling will pass in five minutes when they realise what they have done." They have done the club proud tonight. They have taken an SPL side all the way to extra time and penalties and deserved to do so. "They can all feel good because it was a terrific achievement. They were fantastic and, sadly, they only missed out because of the lottery of penalty kicks."

Inverness Caledonian Thistle manager Craig Brewster: "I'm very relieved and the best thing I can say about tonight is that we are through. "Hearts went out on penalties in their game, but we went through and there's a world of difference in the feeling when it goes your way. "We played well at times but let them back into it and Arbroath deserved extra time. "At times, we gave the ball away too cheaply and we almost paid the ultimate price for it, but thankfully all four penalties in the shoot-out were superb and we're in the next round."