Pre Season Express

You can only beat what’s put in front of you, and the Caley players sent along the A96 under the tutelage of Malky Thomson certainly did so with gusto, hammering the Locos with some style.  It was a dull, miserable afternoon weather-wise, but the players certainly did their best to brighten it up with a lively performance.  

INVERURIE LOCO WORKS 1 v 7 INVERNESS CALEDONIAN THISTLE

Caley scorers (times according to my watch!): Vigurs 22, 36, Wood 26, McAllister 29, McBain 59, Sutherland 66, 86

Lineup: McNulty, Tokely, Hastings, Munro, McGuire, Vigurs, Duncan, McBain, McAllister, Wood, Sutherland

It’s a while since I’ve done the whole Highland League thing – in fact my last visit to one of the clubs was Caley’s pre season match with Clach last year.  Geographical convenience this year, coupled with the fact that Grant Street Park’s German concentration camp motif doesn’t really do it for me, meant that a trip to Harlaw Park was an easier option for my Saturday afternoon.  Admittedly, my flat is but a few minutes walk from where Aberdeen happened to be taking on the champions of England and Europe, but who would you choose to see – Wayne Rooney or Ross Tokely? No contest, obviously.

And in a lot of ways Harlaw Park was a nostalgia trip, a reminder of the old days of Kingsmills Park (for those of us who can remember it).  For one thing, one of the teams came out in red and black stripes, and I had to remind myself that I wasn’t supposed to be cheering them.  But the pitch was in good nick, even if one goal was considerably further above sea level than the other.  There was much amusement from the locals as we realized that there were two female assistant referees, then mute astonishment when it became clear that Morag Pirie was actually the ref!  However, they caused little distraction, as one looked rather too much like Markus Paatelainen, and the other looked like, er, Morag Pirie.  Even in this situation, Zander was still the smallest person on the pitch.

There was nothing terribly revolutionary about the Caley formation – a standard 4-4-2 with what was mostly last year’s first choice back line (Rossco, McGuire, Granty and Hastings) in front of rookie goalkeeper McNulty.  McBain and Duncan were in the engine room, with Vigurs on the right and Zander, back from his Elgin exodus, on the opposite flank.  Another loan returnee, Garry Wood, partnered Rory up top with three youngsters who I’d never heard of on the bench.

Unsurprisingly, Locos looked well up for it from the beginning, and went about the opening stages with plenty of energy to make up for their lack of skill.  There was a hairy moment for McNulty inside two minutes as he flapped at a cross and was fortunate to see it drop to safety.  Caley took time to settle, with plenty of what the cynics amongst us come to expect on display early on – Rory unable to get off the ground to win headers, Duncan passing sideways, Zander running into cul-de-sacs, the dreaded long ball.  Had it not been for an erroneous offside flag, after a through ball was adjudged to have come off a Locos player last, rather than the boot of Duncan, there might have been a shock on the cards.

Unfortunately for the home side, a nightmare 15 minute period left the cocky upstarts looking more beaten than a Zimbabwean opposition activist.  Caley’s renaissance came after Zander and Vigurs switched flanks, and it was the latter that broke the deadlock midway through the first half; cutting in from the left, his effort from the edge of the box totally deceived the goalkeeper, swerving inside his near post.  The kinder spectators queried whether there might have been a slight deflection.  That was to spark a total collapse in the Locos back line as the Jags took only three minutes to add a second.  Roy McBain charged forward from midfield, and his right wing cross was guided beautifully into the bottom corner on the half volley by Garry Wood, anonymous up to that point.  The hosts looked shell-shocked and the SPL side promptly went for the jugular.  Duncan was the next to charge through the huge gaps in the centre of the park, and he laid on Rory, who showed uncharacteristic composure to stick in a third.  Duncan had an opportunity of his own but wasted it trying to lob the keeper, so Vigurs, racing clear onto a slide-rule pass from Wood, showed him how to do it with a gorgeous chip off the outside of the left boot.  Even the home fans gave that one a cheer.  Not so their players, whose malaise was summed up by the decision of the Inverurie boss to sub two of his players even before the interval.

So things were largely done and dusted by half-time, and yours truly was able to enjoy the rare experience of being able to get a coffee by the time the second period got underway.  Again Locos showed a bit of purpose; again it was to no avail.  The sun popped out briefly just before the hour, and appeared a signal for Caley to strike their fifth – Duncan again the creator as he rampaged forward from midfield before laying on McBain to curl the ball into the top corner.  With tiring legs now endemic throughout the Highland League side, it was now open season in front of goal, with Zander adding number six with a cool finish from eighteen yards.  Even Granty was keen for a goal, sauntering forward from the back and curling an effort just wide from way out.  Inverurie did get a consolation of their own late on, as McNulty, presumably bored by his lack of involvement, showed that his ball skills are on a par with his predecessors in the side by booting a clearance straight into the midriff of an opposing forward, who joyfully watched it ricochet into the back of the net.  But that only sparked Caley back into life, with Zander racing clear and sliding the ball past the goalkeeper to restore the advantage.

So a comfortable afternoon in the end, with a display from ICT which was full of vitality and enthusiasm, and not a little class, and which hopefully bodes well for the campaign ahead.