For Fawkes Sake!!!

Fireworks at Rugby Park as Inverness sent statisticians scurrying for the record books.

Inverness came from a goal down to completely overwhelm Kilmarnock as they ran riot in the second half.

Andrew Shinnie once again showed his class with a superb Hat-Trick adding to a Hayes strike and a brace from the bustling Gregory Tade.  Dean Shiels had opened the scoring in the 12th minute before Shinnie curled in his first after 39 minutes.  Shinnie Tade and Hayes capitalised big style as the Kilmarnock defence were culpable and a late couple for Killie could not take the gloss off of a fantastic team display by the Caley Jags.

Capital Caley has the easy task to report this one, always easier after a win...............

Remember remember the 5^th of November. The day the new look Caley Thistle came together. The day we scored 6 at Rugby Park. Nobody could have predicted this explosion of goals. The team celebrated like they had just won the league. The support went ballistic. You could feel the emotions in the players as they approached the support at the end of the game. They needed a victory. They needed a morale boost and they got one in the best way possible. Trying to digest this score line seems unbelievable. Take a moment and out loud say 'three six'. It really brightens up the day! However, a fairer score line would have been 3-10. The small band of Caley Thistle supporters at the game will never forget this one. I feel immensely privileged to have been part of it.

5/11/11	Rugby Park, Kilmarnock
Kilmarnock	3 - Shiels (12, pen73), Heffernan (90)
	TEAM: Jaakkola, Fowler (Silva 59), McKeown (Hay 79), Pursehouse, Sissoko, Kelly (Dayton 59), Buijs, Harkins, Shiels, Pascali, Heffernan
	SUBS: Letheren, Kroca, Fisher, Racchi
	Booked: Shiels (26), Sissoko (27)
	Sent Off: none
I.C.T.	6 - A.Shinnie (39, 60, 66), Hayes (53), Tade (62, 83)
	TEAM: Esson, Tokely, Proctor, Gillet, Meekings (Golobart 84), Hayes (Chippendale 82), Tansey, Shinnie, Davis (Morrison 69), Foran, Tade
	SUBS: Tuffey, G.Shinnie, McKay
	Booked: Davis (26), Tade (27)
	Sent Off: none
Referee	Bobby Madden
Attendance	5626

Inverness started the game strongly with a 4-3-3 formation and Anssi Jaakkola did well to save a David Davis shot. Killie took the lead against the run of play in the 12^th minute when Shiels slotted the ball past Esson. It was a fine goal set up by a Paul Heffernan back heel. Shortly after, Jonny Hayes found the ball in the box in front of an open goal and hit the cross bar. In fairness to him, it looked difficult to keep down. We've missed him and having him back will help us to try and push up the league. There was a bit of a lull for a big part of the first half, where we were certainly the better team but were struggling to create anything. After a quick phone call to Terry from IHE, we found ourselves level on the 39^th minute. Andrew Shinnie managed to slot the ball into the corner of the net from a very tight angle. Minutes before half time Jaakkola pulled off two impressive point blank saves from Hayes. The support were fairly happy with the good performance and 1-1 at half time.

It was Killie pie time for me.

Half Time 1-1

As the team came out for the second half, there was a feeling of confidence within the support. However, little did we know what would happen next. Eight minutes after the restart and Hayes collected the ball from 30 yards out and slotted into the bottom corner. Then, within 6 minutes, Kilmarnock's defence were destroyed. On the 60^th minute, Shinnie got his second by picking up a loose pass and firing it into the bottom corner from the edge of the box. We went 4-1 up barely 2 minutes later. Gregory Tade collected a pass from the half way line and with Killies defence all over the place, he out run them, rounded the keeper and tapped the ball into the net. One minute later, Tade found himself one on one with the keeper again, but his shot went just wide. Three minutes later and Shinnie got his hat trick. David Davis attacked the Killie defence, passing the ball to Shinne who passed it in with little effort.

On the 68^th minute, it was time for a nostalgia trip with a re-enactment of the famous 'Jimmy says aye to a Killie pie' conga. The stewards weren't happy with that one! Gavin Morrison came on for Davis in the 69^th minute. Davis, who had been booked was starting to throw in a few reckless challenges and it was no surprise he came off, despite playing well. Kilmarnock pulled one back with a Dean Shiels penalty on 73 minutes. An unnecessary Kenny Gillet challenge resulted in the penalty. ICT continued to dominate however and scored goal number 6 on the 83^rd minute as Tade fired in from within the box. Tokely turned to the support and gave a wee shrug of the shoulders. Even the players were stunned by their own performance! Aiden Chippendale then came on for Hayes and Roman Golobart on for Josh Meekings with 6 minutes left. Killie pulled another one back on 90 minutes as Paul Heffernan shot from the edge of the box past Esson.

A few minutes before full time, many of the ICT support walked down to the front of the stand to applaud the players. A rendition of 'stand up for the Caley Jags' was sung for the team.

Full Time 3-6

I was disappointed when the final whistle went. I never wanted the game to end, as we had more goals in us I'm sure. On our return back to Glasgow, we banged into some County fans who had been watching their team win again. If we have turned the corner now, I am confident that there will be 2 teams from the Highlands in the SPL next season.

I'll take more of the same each week. We do need to cut out the silly defending such as the Gillet foul, unless of course we carry on scoring six goals per game! Celtic at home is our next fixture. There is bound to be optimism within the team and the support. If we perform like we did against Kilmarnock then we could win considering Celtics shaky form.

Take a bow Caley Jags........................Bring on the Celtic!