Dens Park first for Inverness


Inverness recorded their first win at Dens Park with an emphatic scoreline that saw off a spirited Dundee. The game was won in two bursts that saw the visitors score an early double and another late spell of dominance that ended the game as a contest. Billy McKay opened the scoring in the fourth minute and Gary Warren added a second three minutes later. Dundee pressed hard to get back into the game and scored a deserved goal through Colin Nish (who else) but late goals from MotM Andrew Shinnie and Billy McKay sealed the victory.

Friday night was deemed to be the most suitable time to play this fixture after the fiasco in the summer with Govan football club departing the SPL to be replaced by Team 12 which turned out to be Dundee after a series of debates and coin tossing. Sadly, for Dundee, this has left them short of time which has restricted their ability to gather a strong enough squad at present and little time to adapt to the rigours of the SPL.

The game being as live on BBC Alba at 10:00pm saw many fans lock themselves in darkened rooms waiting to watch the drama unfold without any knowledge of the final score. Richie Foran took a knock against County and missed out with Irishman Billy McKay starting up front and that was the only change for Inverness, as Reguero continued between the sticks.

Friday night football seems to be appealing to Inverness after the recent rout of County when we flew out of the blocks to take an early lead against them in the derby. We did the same at Dens Park as we stormed forward from the bell and in only four minutes McKay took advantage of shambolic defending to grab his first goal after Aaron Doran's shot was pushed out by Rab Douglas.

No time to settle into your seats as Inverness kept the pressure on the Dundee defence and in seven minutes centre back Gary Warren popped up at the back post to slam the ball high into the net from close range when Doran swung in a free kick after Roberts was upended. Just the start Inverness were looking for and disaster for Barry Smith as he looked on in despair at his struggling defence. I'm no lip reader, but I don't think he was shouting at his players in Gaelic.

Captain for the night Graeme Shinnie surged forward and tried his luck from distance and Douglas managed to grab it at the second attempt, that was shortly after his brother had the worst ever attempt at a shot which crossed the bye line level with the eighteen yard box. Meh.

Dundee were forced into action and Nicky Riley should have done better than to slice his shot wide of Reguero's left hand post. Colin Nish brought Reguero into action with a header that the Spaniard dealt with comfortably, but a goal was imminent and some shambolic defending of our own saw Nish left with an easy task to score for Dundee. It was the turn of the Inverness management to look on in horror.

Billy McKay passed up a tremendous opportunity to restore the two goal cushion immediately but shot wide from a good position, however Dundee were now right back in the game and McAlister forced Reguero to block his angled drive as the home side probed for an equaliser. It almost came just before half time as the ever troublesome Nish turned in the box and volleyed goalwards, but Reguero made a superb diving save to keep Inverness just ahead at the break.

Half Time 1-2

Milne was first to try his luck at the start of the second half as Dundee looked to get back on level terms but Inverness were always dangerous going forward. Andy Shinnie, Roberts and Shinnie again failed to test Douglas with lengthy efforts as the game evened out, and on the hour mark Inverness introduced Shane Sutherland for his first game since his ankle injury, this was to prove a shrewd move by boss Butcher.

Dundee seemed to run out of ideas as the game wore on and the away side looked ever comfortable dealing with the diminishing goal threats.

With fifteen minutes left Ross Draper almost sealed the win when he smacked a close range shot off the face of the Dundee bar when he really should have scored. The clinching goals were merely delayed though as Inverness pulled away in the last ten minutes to ensure the points went back up the A9. Sutherland raced into the box only to be blocked by Iain Davidson. Penalty no doubt about it and Andrew Shinnie calmly rolled the ball down the middle as Douglas dived to his right.

That goal tore the stuffing out of Dundee and it was no surprise when Inverness completed the scoring. Andy Shinnie drove hard at the tiring Dundee defence and he released Billy McKay on the right side of the box. He showed great composure to skip inside the defender and despite a couple of desperate defensive lunges at McKay, he confidently placed the ball behind Douglas to end the scoring and gain Inverness' first ever win at Dens Park.

Full Time1-4

Andy Shinnie was MotM for an all round composed midfield display and capped it with a cool penalty finish. Reguero pulled off a sensational save to keep Inverness ahead before the break and that proved to be crucial to the outcome as Dundee were on a bit of a roll at that point. Gary Warren once again showed his versatility for a big lad and scored into the bargain, great acquisition to this seasons squad. Billy McKay got amongst the goals and his confidence will be on a high and all this was achieved without captain fantastic Richie Foran.

Plenty reasons to be cheerful, onwards and upwards to third in the table, even if it was for only one day.
 

19th Oct 2012	Scottish Premier League	Dens Park, Dundee
Dundee	1 - Nish (13)
	TEAM: Douglas,Irvine, Lockwood (Conroy 74), McGregor, Grassi, Davidson, Riley, Kerr, Milne (Baird 74), McAlister, Nish
	SUBS: Baird, Benedictus, Gallagher, McBride, Boyle
	Booked: Davidson (23), Riley (64)
	Sent Off: none
Inverness C.T.	4 - McKay (4, 85), Warren (7), A.Shinnie (pen.81)
	TEAM: Reguero, Raven, G.Shinnie, Warren, Meekings, Tudur-Jones, Draper, A.Shinnie, McKay, Doran, Roberts (Sutherland 64)
	SUBS: Mathieson, Cooper, Morrison, Polworth, Pepper, Oswell
	Booked: none
	Sent Off: none
Referee	Craig Thomson
Attendance	5006