Robbed

Northern Constabulary are on the hunt for a band of robbers after Kilmarnock did a smash and grab act with virtually their only attack of note in the ninety minutes to snatch a point on a cold blustery night where squally showers soaked the park.  Nick Ross scored his second goal in as many games but Borja Perez sickened the home fans as he scored in the ninetieth minute after Inverness squandered chance after chance to put this game beyond a bedraggled Kilmarnock.

Richie Foran was missing once more as Inverness started with the same eleven that began against Celtic, Esson retaining the number one jersey. The game started with one of the Killie buses missing on the A9 as heavy snow made driving conditions treacherous on many roads outside of Inverness.  The small band of away fans had little to cheer for the first eighty nine minutes of the game, but were rewarded for their efforts by the late equaliser.

Inverness began on the front foot as Kilmarnock struggled to keep up with their hosts, the Inverness forwards ripping open the Killie defence at will.  It was only a matter of time before Inverness would open their account, but not after some profligacy from the man formerly known as Billy (he scores when he wants) McKay.  He tamely headed over as Inverness pushed for the opening and Letheren saved well from a Shinnie effort.  We would not have to wait much longer though and Doran eventually got a telling ball into the box where Nick Ross was first to react and knock the ball home from close range.  No more than we deserved and we looked hungry for more.

Chances were coming at regular intervals and Ryan Esson could have stayed in front of his fire as Kilmarnock were penned in.  Andy Shinnie miscued a volley  after a great cross from his brother Graeme, and Doran snapped in a shot which Letheren just about managed to keep out low down at his near post, but the killer second goal eluded us.

Half Time 1-0

The second half continued like the first, Inverness piling on the pressure, Kilmarnock soaking it up and hoofing the ball anywhere.  Shinnie curled one wide as the search for that elusive goal continued, but it was surely coming. Sissoko was mugged by McKay but he recovered in unconvincing fashion as he appeared to bundle McKay off the ball inside the box but nothing doing from the ref.

Graeme Shinnie then took on the lead role and had a number of runs through on goal but failed with his attempts to finish the game off either dragging his shot narrowly across the face of the goal or being blocked by Letheren.  Some neat interplay was not being rewarded as the final shot was wayward or Sissoko blocked the ball as shots rained into the Killie box.

If this was a boxing match the referee would have stopped the contest and their purse would have been withheld.  But, just when you think we would have to settle for a solitary goal and three points, up popped Perez in the box to round off Killies only foray forward.  Dayton broke on the left and his ball inside was turned in by Perez to the astonishment of the batch of Killie fans that made it to the ground and the disgust of the Inverness fans that suffered those misses.  Groans all round.

The icing was almost on the Killie Pie when Rory McKenzie went down under a challenge from David Raven, again no penalty and that was the catalyst to earn Kenny Shiels another trip to the stand for his outburst at the officials.

Full Time 1-1

This match should have been the perfect tonic for Inverness and it was looking good after twenty minutes.  We were creating numerous chances but not taking them and the longer the game went on, the more the feeling that we would rue those missed chances grew.  We need to find out why we have taken a dip, and we need to find out quick.  This game was crying out for substitutions about fifteen minutes before the end and Nick Ross looked jaded long before the end.  You have to say that Killie made their substitutes at the right time and we did nothing until it was too late.  It's all very well holding on to what you have, but we never achieved that and questions need to be asked.  Some of our recent results have been down to misfortune, tonight was just poor play in front of goal and poor finishing.  When is Billy McKay going to learn to put his boot through the ball, guilty of taking the extra touch again when scoring looked easier.  Graeme Shinnie must have his boots on the wrong feet, but he did get into some interesting forward positions.

Robbery caught on CCTV at Tulloch Caledonian Stadium.........meh.

tm4tj MotM:-  again difficult to single out a clear winner.  Andrew Shinnie just oozes class, and Owain Tudur-Jones is not far behind.  Aaron Doran ran the Killie rearguard ragged at times and he did get a couple of good balls into the danger area, but not often enough. Bill McKay got the sponsors man of the match, Christ knows why, but my MotM goes to big Ross Draper who worked tirelessly and covered every blade of grass tonight.

13th Feb 2013	Scottish Premier League	Tulloch Caledonian Stadium
Inverness C.T.	1 - Ross (21)
	TEAM: Esson, Raven, Warren, Meekings, G Shinnie, Doran, Draper, Jones, Ross (Sutherland 88), A Shinnie (Devine 85), McKay
	SUBS: Reguero, Taylor, Polwarth, Pepper, Roberts
	Booked: Warren
	Sent Off: none
Kilmarnock	1- Perez (90)
	TEAM: Letheren, Tesselaar, Hay (Racchi 62), Barbour, O'Hara (McKenzie 78), Sissoko, Clingan (Perez 66), Dayton, Pascali, Gross, Heffernan
	SUBS: Jaakkola, O'Leary, Ibrahim, Winchester
	Booked: none
	Sent Off: none
Referee	B Madden
Attendance	2529