Saint's are on Inverness' side.
 

Inverness took their 10th point off St Mirren this season as captain Richie Foran scored his first goal since August 20th to clinch victory in the 85th minute. He nodded home a delightful Greg Tansey free kick to ensure the Highland Marchers had plenty to discuss on the walk home, all 160 miles of it.

Ross Tokely and Steve Williams were missing from the squad with Roman Golobart and Gregory Tade starting along with the returning Jonny Hayes, back from suspension. Billy Mckay was on the bench.

Ajsict92 enjoyed his day out in Paisley and his report is ready for your perusal.

More of the same please…

ICT’s away day trips ended on a high yesterday as they maintained their unbeaten record at St Mirren park with a well earned victory. Given that it had been nearly a month since ICT’s last win you could excuse fans for not feeling so confident, especially those that were subjected to the goalless draw against Dunfermline, yet despite the poor performance it was a match that cemented ICT’s place in the SPL for next season and with St Mirren having already confirmed safety it was a game that had little influence on the rest of the season.

What was a pleasing sight was the starting 11 that Terry Butcher had selected. With Hayes, Doran, Andrew Shinnie and Tade making the attack backed by a defence that saw Roman Golobart return to the starting line up, and the positive thinkers would have had every reason for feeling confident of gaining a result and rightly so.

It was a game that was of great sentimental value to the Saints as well as it was the final home appearance of club stalwart Hugh Murray. Murray has amassed over 400 appearances for the Saints in a career spanning over 16 years with the club who gave him his debut at the age of 17. One of the few remaining players around in this country that could be referred to as a “one club man”.

It was clear from kick off that without the pressure of relegation ICT were playing with a real freedom we hadn’t seen this season. The likes of Hayes and Tansey trying audacious passes and Andrew Shinnie displaying that energy and determination that has been badly missed over the last few months. St Mirren provided their own danger men though in the likes of Stephen Thompson, Paul McGowan and Nigel Hasselbaink, players who have shown their quality throughout the season and have been the key men in seeing St Mirren just miss out on a top 6 spot.

With both sides looking evenly matched Gregory Tade had ICT’s first opening when he headed over from Shinnie’s corner but the first real chance fell to Aaron Doran. Following some neat build up play from Andrew Shinnie, he laid it back for the young Irishman who saw his powerful drive parried wide by Craig Samson for a corner.

St Mirren then responded with Nigel Hasselbaink who turned Meekings and charged at ICT’s defence before laying the ball out wide for fellow Dutchman Jereon Tesselaar who blasted across the box but saw it fail to connect with anyone.

The game remained in a fairly open nature with Doran again providing a goal threat, he picked the ball up and opened fire about 25 yards from goal, Samson was able to parry it as Tade kept the attack alive, and Tansey’s neat pass was flicked on to Andrew Shinnie who swivelled and managed to get his shot away but it was tame and easily gathered by Samson.

As half time drew closer Aaron Doran suffered a knock to his ankle and was taken off for Nick Ross as St Mirren began to up the tempo to their game. Paul McGowan tried to twist Golobart inside out with some neat footwork before unleashing a dangerous strike that Foran managed to block though he knew little about it.

Just before half time though Ryan Esson showed why he was the difference between ICT winning and losing this game as he pulled off 2 magnificent saves in a matter of moments. First from Tesselaar as his curling effort required a finger tip save from ICT’s number one and then a great block from Stephen Thompson’s header from the resulting corner.

Half time – St Mirren 0-0 ICT

The opening stages of the second half saw my eyes distracted by a blow up beach ball and banana that were, pushed, punched, headed and by some ambitious people kicked around the away end much to the amusement and enjoyment of all our travelling support so if there were any notable moments straight after half time that I missed I do apologise, but it was too good not to get involved.

If memory does serve me right Jonny Hayes was the next to come closest to breaking the deadlock, he capitalised on a lazy pass from Van Zanten before weaving his way past a couple of challenges and testing Samson’s gloves with a swerving shot, Samson’s save saw him locked in a race for the ball with Gregory Tade for the rebound but fortunately for the Saints keeper he managed to claw it away.

St Mirren then introduced Gary Teale to the fold and he added a bit more pace down the flanks as St Mirren also looked to claim the lead but Stephen Thompson seemed to be struggling to get a good finish away as he saw multiple efforts either drift wide or easily gathered by Esson as both sides were beginning to get frustrated in their attempts to find the opening goal.

With time ticking away ICT caught St Mirren on the break and Nick Ross was hacked down in his pursuit by Gary Teale and from the resulting free kick Foran was found at the back post and his prod at goal was magnificently thwarted by Samson though the linesman had raised his flag for offside.

However Tade was then barged off the ball in a similar area by McAusland and Tansey found Foran in exactly the same area only this time Foran was able to nod the ball home at the back post to send the away fans behind the goal into raptures and give ICT the advantage with just 5 minutes remaining.

Time was running out for the home fans who I’m sure had experienced a frustrating afternoon watching their side fall short but they were nearly treated to a stunning volley from Paul McGowan. I remember him scoring a stunning volley against ICT last season and he nearly replicated it but sadly for him his effort fell just wide of the top corner. ICT held on for the remaining moments to grab the three points.

Full time – St Mirren 0-1 ICT

To summarise:– It was a game that had little to no effect to the completion of the league and it was played in such a manner. Both sides showed that they contained quality players but a combination of end of season attitude and certainly for some of our players lack of match practice saw both sides struggle to really unlock one another in the final third. Having seen Terry Butcher scrimp and scrape just to put together a fully fit starting 11 it was nice to see him have the freedom of picking and choosing a side that contained arguably every match winner within our current squad and I must admit there were times when they looked like a side of great potential and I can only imagine what would’ve been had they got more game time together, I really hope most of them can be kept together because I have no doubt that if we can add 3 or 4 quality players this team there is no doubt we can progress.

ajsict92’s motm:– Ryan Esson:- Nobody was really at their best given the type of game it was but for his 2 saves from Tesselaar and Thompson it definitely goes to our number 1 stopper. How we haven’t lost him to a bigger club I will never know.