Hislopsoffsideagain has given us the first match report of the season from the fans view.

Caley Thistle swept into the second round of the league cup with minimum fuss, kicking off their season with a comfortable win over the amateurs of Queen’s Park.

Lee Cox gave the SPL side a half-time lead, and quick second half goals from Eric Odhiambo and Ross Tokely ensured a routine victory, with the visitors displaying plenty of endeavour but precious little quality.

Gardner Speirs had stuck with same eleven that defeated Livingston the previous week, but Terry Butcher went into the match without the injured duo of Jonny Hayes and Richie Foran, plus the suspended David Proctor. Kevin McCann, on loan from Hibs, and Israeli Gil Blumenshtein made their debuts. It was no surprise that Inverness, playing their first competitive game of the campaign, looked a bit rusty in the early stages, creating little in the first 20 minutes other than a sharp shot on the turn from Adam Rooney that was well held by Spiders keeper Peter Hamilton. That finally sparked the game into life, and Rooney saw a headed effort drift wide shortly before Cox grabbed the opener on 22 minutes.

The former Leicester midfielder grabbed his first goal for eleven months, racing from midfield to get onto Nick Ross’ through-ball. His initial effort was well parried, but Cox kept his head to slide the rebound into the empty net. Inverness looked comfortable from then on, with Blumenshtein heading a McCann cross wide after a clever build-up on the right, while Tokely should have done better with a free header at a corner, but saw his effort fly over with the goal gaping. Queen’s Park did briefly threaten just before the break, when Ian Watt’s cross flew across the goalmouth and somehow evaded his teammates in the middle, but Caley looked very comfortable at half-time.

That was the end of Grant Munro’s day, however, as he went off with a gash in his foot which needed four stitches and was replaced by another debutant, Chris Innes. The former St. Mirren man was to last only 20 minutes himself before tweaking a groin muscle, but by that point the game was up. Another substitute, Eric Odhiambo, doubled the lead, charging down Hamilton’s attempted clearance after the goalkeeper was sold a short passback; the ball appeared to hit the striker on the chin and spun into the net before anyone realized where it had landed. And only two minutes later Tokely atoned for his earlier miss, coolly driving into the roof of the net from twelve yards after Queen’s Park failed to deal with a corner.

With a three goal lead, the first division champions understandably took their foot off the gas, and the rest of the match was largely a non-event. The visitors continued to work hard, and Watt came up with their best chance of the afternoon, weaving past three players and bringing a good one handed stop out of Ryan Esson. But it was to be a clean sheet and a straightforward result, and Terry Butcher’s thoughts can now turn towards the league opener with Celtic.