Rooney at the treble

An Adam Rooney hat-trick, his second of the season, propels ICT to a 3-1 win over QOS

With County losing in Kirkcaldy, ICT climb to second spot 6 points behind leaders Dundee.

This was an important match, so important in fact that we have not one but two match reports from it !!!

Both Granty24 and Themann4thejob submitted match reports and as it was such an emphatic and enjoyable win we thought we would feature both instead of amalgamating the two. 

9th March 2010	Caledonian Stadium, Inverness
INVERNESS CALEDONIAN THISTLE	3 - Rooney (42, 52, 76pen)
Team: Esson, Tokely, Proctor, Munro90, Golabek82, Cox, Odhiambo (Sanchez 85), Duncan, Foran (Eagle 90), Rooney, Hayes Subs: Allison, Bulvitis, Ross
QUEEN OF THE SOUTH	1 - Holmes (60pen)
Team: Hutton, McMillan (Quinn 49), Harris, Scally76, Andrews, Reid, Burns, McKenna, Holmes, Kean (McLaren 54), Weatherston Subs: Fox, Knight, Hamill
Referee	Crawford Allan
Attendance	3003

MATCH REPORT - Granty24   [jump to TM4TJ report]

It’s back to winning ways for ICT after an emphatic 3-1 win over Queen of the South at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium tonight. It took a second hat-trick of the season for Adam Rooney for the highlanders to send the Queens fans back down to Dumfries disappointed. The first half was dire and very little goalmouth action was shown by either side in the first half. However, ICT had a decent opportunity to take the lead with just 5 minutes on the clock when Adam Rooney barged past Jordan McMillan before lashing the ball wide of the target when he should have laid off one of his players advancing into the box. The quick break from the Queens had ICT sweating when David Weatherston caught the ICT defence napping and played a lovely through ball to Stewart Kean, but the ex- St. Mirren man could only watch as his effort was expertly saved by Ryan Esson. As the first half droned on, ICT had the better chances and when Jonny Hayes curled in a free kick, Lee Cox thought he had turned the ball into the net but David Hutton was equal to the effort and held onto the ball easily. The breakthrough did come three minutes before half time, a possession goal from the home side which ended in a cracking, deep, Lee Cox cross that Richie Foran nodded back across the six yard box where the poacher that is Adam Rooney was waiting to dispatch his thirteenth league goal of the campaign. Half Time: ICT 1 – 0 Queen of the South The second half was much better from both sides and again it was ICT who were looking more likely to snatch some goals and the second goal nearly arrived when Richie Foran used his pace down the left flank and cut the ball back to Eric Odhiambo who just couldn’t turn the ball into the net, then Rooney had a pop, but neither could beat Hutton as the ball trickled out for an ICT corner. It was route one stuff from ICT for Rooney’s second goal on 52 minutes, a long ball from Grant Munro was expertly flicked on by Hayes to Rooney who stuck a nicely struck half volley past the despairing Hutton. At this point, I would imagine that Saturday’s game with Dundee and how we managed to lose a two goal lead was crossing everybody’s mind. It was high heart rate time for everyone at the stadium when referee Crawford Allan pointed to the spot for a soft Queens penalty. David Weatherston went down after tangling with captain Grant Munro inside the box. Much to the anger of two thirds of the stadium queens had an opportunity to pull a goal back. Derek Holmes stepped up and rolled the ball past Esson fourth goal against the highland side this season. Unlike Saturday’s game ICT continued to try to get the decisive third goal and Lee Cox nearly grabbed it when Hayes’ deep cross was hooked back towards goal by Cox but the ball just dropped over Hutton’s goal. The chance for a third and for the hat-trick arrived with 15 minutes to play, another deep cross from Hayes looked to be landing onto the head of Foran but in came Neil Scally with a tug on Foran, leaving Crawford Allan to point to the spot for the second time in the game. Who else but Adam Rooney would have stepped up for this penalty, and he smashed into the bottom right corner, despite Hutton going the right way. Full time: ICT 3-1 Queen of the South The result sends ICT into second place, ahead of Ross County on goal difference, and short of Dundee by six points. Hat-trick hero Adam Rooney felt that his goal record this season is mainly down to the service of the players around him, and the Ross County result had given the players and staff a huge confidence boost and he now feels that every game from now to the end of the season is the clubs most important of the season and the players won’t stop believing about their promotion dreams until it is mathematically impossible.

MATCH REPORT - Themann4thejob  [jump to Granty24 report]

This was a hard fought but deserved win tonight against a Queen of the South side embarking on a difficult run of away fixtures. Seen as a must win game after dropping four points in the last two Inverness were made to work tirelessly for the three points. David Proctor played at right back with Tokely in place of Bulvitis, possibly a ploy to conteract the menace of Holmes bulky frame. Eric kept his place with Sanchez still warming the bench. He started slowly but the more attacking we did, the more prominent he became. Jonny Hayes, despite that haircut was teasing the Queens defence and Richie Foran was doing his usual stint, some great running on the left flank. The defence looked a bit hesitant at times and Proctor almost gifted an opening with a loose ball played across the face of our box. Hesitancy between the new pairing let Queens in but the attack was snuffed out eventually. Esson came to our rescue when Queens played in Stuart Kean after we sloppily gave the ball away in the midfield. He found himself in acres of space when the ball sliced our recovering defenders open. He was on his own, eighteen yards out with only Esson to beat, but Ryan stood tall and blocked him as he tried to round him. An important save at that stage of the game. We threatened at the other end without troubling the keeper, Rooney curling just over from 20 yards. Queens almost stole a goal when a long range free kick from Harris evaded everybody in the box and a wrong footed Esson was grateful to watch the ball bounce past his right hand post. He was none too happy with the re-arranged defence for letting the ball bounce through. Hayes was probing, but the crosses were usually met with the head of big Marvin Andrews. Just before the break, Inverness took a welcome advantage when Foran met a deep cross from Cox on the left side of the goal area and knocked it back across the box where Rooney arrived on the scene and cracked it in. Half Time 1-0 We almost scored at the start of the second half but the ball was cleared off the line and scrambled clear. We were starting to look more dangerous now. Rooney scored number two when little Jonny headed onwards, and as he held off the defender he unleashed a shot from the edge of the box. It took a slight nick off the defenders challenge and beat the diving Hutton high up his right hand side. Superb diagonal runs by Rooney were threatening to realise more goals for a rampant ICT. Queens were thrown a lifeline when a needless challenge by Munro brought down Weatherston on the left edge of the box. No danger of the Queens player going anywhere but the challenge was adjudged to be unfair and Holmes sent Esson the wrong way from the resultant spot kick. A few brief flurries from Queens were repelled by our improving back line and we were constantly hitting on the break. Rooney was everywhere and Foran was backing him up brilliantly. Jonny was now taking the mick as he toyed with the opposition to chants of ole.....ole.....ole.....booo as the final pass went astray. A third goal arrived as Foran was bundled over inside the six yard box after bursting forward to meet another Lee Cox chip into the danger area. Rooney did the necessary to complete his hat-trick and a fabulous night for him. Golly took a nasty knock after he made a late tackle but he continued after treatment. The final whistle was welcomed almost as loudly as the Ross County score. It had been a good night for ICT as we moved into second place on goal difference. The race for the title is hotting up, don't go away. MoM, undoubtedly the clearest cut decision in the history of MoM awards, the man of the moment Adam Rooney. We wanted Wayne but we don't care.....................He was ably assisted by Russell Duncan and Richie Foran. Lee Cox is another having a good spell, and his two assists are no surprise as he does not often waste balls. Defence had their moments and we looked uncomfortable at times, but Esson certainly earned his corn with that block in the first quarter. Eric has some superb touches when he has the time and some of his turns were sublime. Overall, we deserved to win comfortably but made harder work of it than the fans would have liked, but 3-1 was just reward for all the hard work. Bring on Morton on Saturday.