There are some football matches that, with their sophistication, class and beauty, can be compared to beautiful women.

If ICT’s 1-1 draw in Dumfries was a woman, it would be Vanessa Feltz. After disfiguring facial burns.

Jonny Hayes gave Inverness a first half lead against Queen of the South, but once more Terry Butcher’s side showed an inability to protect their advantage, conceding to Bob Harris’ superb free kick after the break in a match which saw Richie Foran and Russell Duncan both sent off, along with David Lilley of the home side. It was a game of much toil but little craft, with ICT once more treating us to long periods of lacklustre play interspersed with rare moments of quality, whilst QOS had most of the possession but did not quite have the quality to produce enough chances.

Coming off last week’s defeat to Partick, Caley Thistle made three changes. With full backs Ross Tokely (broken hand) and Stuart Golabek (hamstring) out, Lionel Djebi-Zadi was brought in from the cold and David Proctor reverted to defence, with Lee Cox coming into midfield. Further up the pitch, Danni Sanchez was dropped to the bench, with Eric Odhiambo deployed in the “second striker” role.

Not that the new faces seemed to improve things early on. It was Gordon Chisholm’s side who came flying out of the traps. The first 20 minutes were spent almost exclusively in the Inverness half. Rocco Quinn dragged a shot wide, while Peter Weatherston was denied by a last ditch LDZ block. But with Ryan Esson much the busier keeper, a goal for Queens seemed inevitable, which made it all the more bizarre when Caley took the lead against the run of play. Jonny Hayes got a rare chance to run at full-back Bob Harris and, having skipped past him with the aid of a lucky ricochet, smacked a right-foot shot across the keeper and into the bottom corner. The goal was barely deserved, but was a moment of rare quality.

The home team were visibly deflated by the setback, and Eric Odhiambo came close to doubling the lead, glancing a header just wide. Harris nearly levelled things up by getting on the end of a fluid one-touch passing move, but Ryan Esson made a magnificent one handed save from his strike. But the talking points at the break were more to do with the cards being dished out willy-nilly by ref Alan Muir. The official had been at the centre of controversy at Motherwell-Dundee United last weekend, but by half-time had already booked four players in a match that, while robust, was hardly violent. One of those carded was Foran, for a studs-up tackle, and it would be regretted later on.

As expected, Queen of the South came out and had a go in the second half, with Esson making another great save, this time in a one-on-one with Weatherston, before Lee Cox nicked in to deny Derek Holmes the rebound. Weatherston then blazed over when he should have hit the target, whilst at the other end Adam Rooney shot straight at the goalkeeper and Eric, when clean through, took too many touches and was tackled before he could shoot. As the game entered the last half hour, though, things started to go against Inverness. Rooney appeared to be scythed down by Marc McAusland as he raced clear, but Muir deemed the tackle to be fair; a free kick would surely have resulted in McAusland’s dismissal for a professional foul.

Butcher, incensed on the touchline was promptly sent to the stand for his protests, just as Barry Wilson emerged from the subs bench for the home side. He had an instant impact, drawing another rash tackle from Foran which earned the Irishman a second yellow card. Shouts of “cheat!” and “you used to be a legend” were somewhat harsh, as Foran’s challenge was mistimed at best. To add insult to injury, Bob Harris stepped up and delightfully curled the resulting free kick into the top corner for the equalizer (whilst the visiting support were occupied singing “happy birthday” to Mrs Gringo). But even then the drama wasn’t over, as David Lilley and Russell Duncan got involved in fisticuffs over the ball. On the advice of his assistants, Lilley was shown a straight red and Duncan a second yellow, though no-one can actually recall the midfielder being booked earlier.

In the aftermath, Danni Sanchez, brought on only a few minutes earlier for Odihambo, was hooked for the more defensive McBain, whilst Dougie Imrie also entered the fray. Incredibly, it was Inverness’ nine men who nearly nicked the winner, with the energetic Imrie flashing a header just wide. But in the end the points were shared, a result which does neither side’s promotion prospects any good.

The Patented Hislopsoffsideagain Man of The Match

Ryan Esson, easily. The stop from Harris in the first half would be considered a top save at any level, and he displayed composure often sorely lacking in the rest of the game.