Inverness take a step backwards with defeat in Perth

Inverness were reduced to shooting from range as St Johnstone cruised to victory with a goal in each half.

Former Arab, Francisco Sandaza opened the scoring after 12 minutes and David Mackay ended the contest in the 65th minute with a sharp first time volley into the bottom corner.

Enckelman kept the home side two ahead with a superb save from a Chippendale strike, touching the ball onto the bar, and Inverness were left at the foot of the table as Saint's head for the top half of the SPL.

So, it looks as though the long knives are about to be drawn as the suffering Inverness fans witnessed another damp squib of a performance which was in contrast to the entertainment shown in the previous games.  Questions are being asked as to the choice of players given a start, although in fairness, that choice is still somewhat limited, and it appears that one or two are short of full match sharpness, captain Richie Foran being one who looks as though his injuries are hampering his personal performances.

With new contracts being given to the management duo, it seems that they will be the ones to dig us out of this hole and we are still pinning our hopes on the returning casualties being sufficient enough to see us through this season.  What has been evident from the start of the season though has been the hole left in the spine of the team by the removal of Munro and Duncan, a move thought by many to be partly responsible for our demise at present.  The passion seems to have deserted Inverness as second rate loanees from afar fill our ranks, and gone are the days when Highland desire alone was good enough to earn a few points.

The lack of desire was certainly evident at McDiarmid Park as the home team brushed aside the feeble attempts of the visitors to take anything from this game, one which could see Derek McInnes depart on a high.  Terry Butcher was as disappointed as the fans with this performance as his unchanged side failed to create any clear cut chances and continued to leak goals at an embarrassing rate.

It is early in the season, but next weeks game against Dunfermline is now seen as a must win game, the proverbial six-pointer which may well define our season.  Defeat to the Pars would certainly leave the team in a difficult situation and would leave the fans with little confidence.  The possibility of relegation becoming a reality could be the beginning of the end.

Thankfully, it is all speculation at this point, and it was encouraging to see Lee Cox make the bench after his lengthy lay off.  Jonny Hayes is also closing in on a return and for most fans that will be the most welcome event of the season, and that can't come soon enough.

Ginger Jaggy will have a full report for us when he calms down.

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Caley Thistle made the direct journey down the A9 to take on Derek McInnes' rejuvenated Saints side at MacDiarmid Park. The home side won their last game down at Kilmarnock to move them into joint 4^thplace alongside Hearts. For Inverness a much needed win at home to the other Saints in the league made sure that we remained in touching distance with the rest of the pack. Our last visit to Perth saw us collect three points and see us score three goals in a dominant performance – how far from that day we were this weekend.

15/10/11	McDiarmid Park, Perth
St Johnstone	2 - Sandaza (12), MacKay (65)
	TEAM: Enckelman, MacKay, C.Davidson, Wright, Anderson, Morris, Millar, Craig, Moon (M.Davidson 64), Sheridan (Haber 20), Sandaza (Gibson 81)
	SUBS: Mannus, Durnan, Caddis, May
	Booked: Millar (32), Craig (43)
	Sent Off: none
I.C.T.	0 -
	TEAM: Esson, Tokely, Proctor, G.Shinnie, Piermayr, Tansey, A.Shinnie (McKay 74), Ross (Chippendale 58), Davis, Foran, Tade (Sutherland 56)
	SUBS: Tuffey, Gillet, Meekings, Cox
	Booked: Proctor (30)
	Sent Off: none
Referee	Craig Thomson
Attendance	2909

It was a gloomy day over MacDiarmid and it remained like that on and off the pitch on a very sad day to be a Caley Jag. The opening stages saw little threat from either side but that was about to change just 12 minutes into the game. Cillian Sheridan broke up the pitch with pace and played a neat ball into the feet of Francisco Sandaza. The Spaniard's control was instant but what Inverness fans will question is how he was allowed a shot goal without so much as a challenge. The ball bounced awkwardly from Tokely and the challenge never materialised. Sandaza spun round and the ball was rifled into the roof of the net with Ryan Esson just standing and admiring as the ball flew past his face.

That was to be the theme of the game as from that point on Caley Thistle became second best at everything. When Inverness did have control of the ball they kept it ok until reaching the penalty area where there was no creativity or movement to engineer a shot on Enckelmans goal. On the other hand Saints looked dangerous when on the ball and Sandaza almost got his and Saints second with some wonderful ball control in the box. He managed to evade several legs but his magic was finally stopped when Esson took control and blocked his effort out for a corner.

Anything Inverness did produce was just not good enough with Tansey and Shinnie blazing over the bar. David Proctor had the best chance when his header was tipped over by Enckelman following a corner but it was pretty comfortable for the Ex Aston Villa goalkeeper.

It was Saints again who should have gone into the break with another, when once more poor defending allowed early replacement Marcus Haber to see his shot agonisingly bounce against the post and then Liam Craig's follow up was brilliantly blocked to keep the contest alive.

Half Time 1-0

After the interval the 400 or so travelling supporters hoped that there would be an improvement in the proceedings but in fact it got worse. St Johnstone created two decent opportunities before they finally put the game beyond us. Dave MacKay's long range strike was well saved by Esson before Kevin Moon missed a sitter from about 7 yards out. When the second did finally come it was no more than Saints deserved and everything Inverness deserved as well. A brilliantly whipped in ball from Jody Morris was just punched away to the edge of the area by an under pressure Esson but he was powerless to respond to Dave MacKay's first time follow up from 14 yards which nestled comfortably in the bottom corner.

Butcher made changes to try and get back into the game and one of the changes, Aidan Chippendale almost did exactly that. The winger tried his luck just on the edge of the box but his bullet of a shot was fantastically tipped onto the bar and over by the big Finn. That was it after that. Caley Thistle tried to put pressure on the saint's backline but constantly looked like they were banging their heads off a brick wall, there was just no inspiration. The game was now long over as a contest and petered out giving Derek McInnes victory in what could potentially be his last game in charge for the Perth club.

 Full Time 2-0

For Butcher it is a matter of raising the players for next week's big basement battle in the highlands against Dunfermline. If Inverness want to win that one then there must be a dramatic improvement in performance.

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