Ten a side but Celtic hold on

Inverness put up sterner resistance this week and could have snatched a point, but chances fell to Nick Ross and he was unable to make the keeper work. Both sides were reduced to 10 men as Majstorovic and Williams went for early baths and it was Joe Ledley's 16th minute tap in that settled the game in favour of on form Celtic.

With the Pars losing heavily to Rangers and Hibernian and Aberdeen sharing the points it turned out to be not the worst Saturday we have endured this season and we remain eight points ahead of bottom club Dunfermline.

Pointless day out

Terry Butcher's Inverness made a fantastic transformation to their performance since a week ago, when we succumbed rather easily at home to Celtic before our home crowd in the Scottish Cup.

Instead of letting the big bhoys secure an easy home victory, the Highlanders grew into the game, looking comfortable, playing fast paced football on the floor and playing fearlessly with the mindset of having nothing to lose.

Esson was back at number 1 and Steve Williams was deemed fit enough to start ahead of Ross Tokely and David Proctor who were both on the bench. Claude Gnakpa and Shane Sutherland were thrust into the action from the off as Gregory Tade stood down with an injury.

Inverness really showed their class and proved that Terry Butcher has built them into a formidable force away from home. Each chance showing why they have scored more, or the same amount of goals than half the scottish premier league, and won the same amount of games as Aberdeen four places above them.

Ryan Esson made some tidy saves having been put back in the team, with Cup keeper Jonny Tuffey sitting this one out, and Inverness were finding good attacking positions and areas but constantly not finding or being able to get a shot away, Nick Ross probably having the best chances.

However Celtic finally penetrated the Caley Jags defence when Scott Brown threaded a ball wide to James Forrest who in turn placed a lovely and inviting ball right across the box and into Joe Ledley's path and he simply could not miss.

Normally teams crumble, especially at Parkhead, but with new signing Claude Gnakpa getting into the game a bit more with the whole midfield working up and down the pitch as a unit, it was a surprise to the home fans how Inverness simply did not capitulate, and in fact had a really good spell of pressure near the 1st half interval.

Mulgrew had tested Esson a couple of times from distance but Ryan was up to the task and the whistle ended a competitive first forty-five.

Half Time 1-0

If inverness had played well in the first half then they played exceptionally well in the second, chances from all angles being fired into the box with seemingly no one getting onto them, or again being able to put the decisive finish onto it.

Gnakpa fired a close range angled drive into the side netting when he should have done better and Nick Ross found himself ahead of the strikers a couple of times but was unable to produce a finish from great positions.

Majstorovic was sent off with 30 minutes to go, as last man after taking down Hayes in a prominent position. The away fans thought it was on a plate for them but inevitably after Steve Williams was sent off for the visitors after being sold in the corner by Samaras, Celtic could finally see out the game much easier.

Full Time 1-0

At the end of the day this was another pointless day out for Inverness, but we can hold our heads up better after making Celtic toil for their points and if we had maybe bothered to field a striker we might have managed to sneak a point or three. It was maybe unfortunate that our best chances fell to young Nick Ross, who through no fault of his own, found himself in the strikers role, but a finisher he is not and the chances went abegging.

We still managed to edge further ahead of the relegation favourites as the Pars goal difference took a battering, and with the proverbial six-pointer coming up next weekend we could all but banish any fears of relegation for another season if we can see off Dunfermline in Fife. I for one won't be holding my breath though as we have failed to get the better of the Pars over ninety minutes three times this season, and relied on you've been framed bloopers by Chris Smith to enable us to match them on a couple of occasions.

Thanks to sotonict for the report.