Adam Rooney salvaged a draw for Inverness from the spot after Derek Riordan opened the scoring early on for Hibernian.  It was a tale of two penalties, with Riordan missing one for Hibs before Rooney earned the visitors a share of the points.   Inverness manager Terry Butcher will be more pleased with the result than his counterpart, as Hibs passed up some great opportunities to make the points safe, but as Hibs left the door open, substitute Danni Sanchez was brought down to let ICT take a point back up the A9.

Capital Punishment for some ICT fans at Easter road as stewarding reaches a new low.  A number of Inverness fans were not around at the final whistle to congratulate the team on a hard earned draw after stewards removed them from the stands for supporting their team.  The fans had to endure being heavily scrutinised by a cordon of stewards and police for the entire match and the old stand up sit down enforcement meant an early bath for some. 

Terry Butcher handed Stuart Duff a start at the expense of Russell Duncan with young Nick Ross continuing to fill the hole left by the absence of Richie Foran.  Danni Sanchez started on the bench alongside Chris Innes and Shane Sutherland, but all three were to play their part before the day was done.  David Proctor filled Kevin McCann's boots as he was not allowed to play against his loan arrangers, possibly a blessing in disguise as Kev maybe needs a bit of time to recover from his injury.  The rest of the team picked itself with the ever so reliable Ryan Esson retaining the number one jersey.

John Hughes began life after Anthony Stokes with big Colin Nish up front and Derek Riordan given a free role to run at the ICT defence at every opportunity.  David Wotherspoon backed up both front men brilliantly.  At the back the introduction of Ghanaian Francis Dickoh was to help shore up Hibs shakey defence and give the team something to build from, and with Sol Bamba alongside him, things were looking solid at the back for Hibs, with Hart and Grounds making up the back four.  With Mark Brown in goals for the Hibs, would it be ironic if we were to get a penalty and he saved it?........Let's see what happens next, over to Ginger Jaggy........

Hibernian Report from Ginger Jaggy

  On Saturday we travelled to the capital to face Hibs at Easter Road with Caley Thistle returning to the highlands with a hard earned point. The result stretched Butchers boys fine away record which has been unbeaten on league duty since the trip to Partick last Novemeber. For Hibs it continued a miserable run of 7 without a win at home going back to March. But it had started so well for them to break that sequence.

Derek Riordan was a thorn in Inverness’ side all day but could only get one goal to show for a brilliant individual performance. Hibs started well with Riordan causing problems, but on his first attempt he dragged wide of Esson’s goal. Then Riordan again was played in behind the heart of the ICT defence but Esson manged to knock the ball out of his control with an outstretched arm. But the goal for Riordan was coming, and after a few warnings he opened the deadlock with a fine solo effort showing real composure to nutmeg David Proctor and finish low under the body of Esson. Eight minutes gone and Hibs looked like they were going to end up with an easy three points. 

 After going behind Terry Butcher’s men finally started to play and caused ex Caley Thistle keeper Mark Brown some problems. Jonny Hayes was getting more into the game driving forward causing the Hibs full backs all sorts of trouble. Grant Munro got too much on a flashing cross and powered a header high into the Hibs end from the front post area.  But it was the other Inverness winger Nick Ross who was involved in a controversial moment. Ross tried to control the ball on his chest in the box but was shoved from behind by new Hibs signing Francis Dickoh.  Referee Crawford Allan waved play on even though it looked like a stonewall penalty. Hibs continued to press, David Wotherspoon had a shot that narrowly curled wide, and just on half time David Proctor gave the ball away cheaply to Wotherspoon who lacked composure in dragging the shot wide. Caley Thistles best chance came from some good play by Hayes who found Odiambo in the box and he cut it to Rooney who had his shot brilliantly saved by the legs of Mark Brown from inside the six yard box.

 HT 1-0

The second half was everything you want in a football match with chances galore and plenty of talking points. First blood went to Hibs and that man Riordan who had a free kick brilliantly saved by Ryan Esson when it looked to have dipped into the top corner. Caley Thistle were next to come close when Rooney was sent clear after a brilliant reverse pass from Nick Ross and his sweetly struck drive cannoned back off the post with Brown beaten. Then Hibs took control for a period with Colin Nish being ever more influential dropping short pulling Munro and Innes all over the place to allow Riordan the space. But it was Liam Miller who found space to cut the Inverness backline in half as Nish ran through, but his shot was saved by Esson and the rebound fell kindly to Edwin De Graaf who transpired to miss the empty net to the dismay of the home fans and the delight of the visiting support. Hibs had another chance to kill the game off when Riordan set up Nish who reversed it back to Riordan, and he ran on he was felled by Proctor who was booked for his troubles. But Riordan’s spot kick rattled back off the post and Caley Thistle were able to clear it to safety.

 The closing stages were a bit more even with chances coming for both sides. First came the equaliser from Adam Rooney. Danni Sanchez was brought on, and he tormented the Hibs defence with some quick feet, in fact too quick for Steven Thicot. The Hibs substitute made a rash challenge and the ref had no choice but to point to the spot for the second time in the game. Rooney stepped up and expertly buried the ball into the bottom corner past a despairing Mark Brown. Shane Sutherland had an opportunity to steal the points for Inverness but he volleyed just over from eight yards.  The jubilation from the away fans was halted temporarily by Hibs in stoppage time after they thought they had won the game when Wotherspoon turned the ball into the net but was immediately flagged offside and the Hibs jubilation suddenly turned into a mass exodus as the final whistle sounded seconds later. The game ended in a draw and Terry Butcher will hope Caley Thistle can pick up their first home win of the season against Hearts next week.  

MotM was possibly Riordan, with Bamba and Dickoh mopping up most Inverness attacks, although the introduction of Sanchez gave ICT more outlets as Nick Ross had a quiet day.  Adam Rooney battled away to the end and was my ICT top player.  He was unfortunate not to score from the inch perfect through ball from Ross and enjoyed some success late in the game as the Hibs back line became more stretched.  It is becoming increasingly obvious that the sooner Richie Foran returns the better, as we were unable to keep the ball when pushing forward, but still a great experience for some of the youngsters playing at Hibs ground with the new stand looking good, pity about the stewarding.