Willie's Yellow Fever

Inverness took all three points North despite the best efforts of the incompetent Willie Collum who ruined the game as a spectacle with a treble hat-trick of bookings culminating in the sending off of Ryan Christie. What on earth was Collum thinking about? Was he trying to get into the Guiness book of records as yellow lit up St Mirren Park. 26, 27, 28 - 36, 41, 42 - 44, 47 and 49. No, that's not the lottery numbers, it's the times within a 23 minute period that the clown in charge flashed his cards and stifled the willingness of players from both sides to get too enthusiastic about the game, resulting in a dour stop start affair with a Greg Tansey penalty just before half time sealing the win.

If the SPFL want to encourage fans to go and watch live football, then they need to have a word with these egomaniacs and get them to understand that without spectators, we won't be needing referees. Bring back the men from Luxembourg, our lot could certainly learn something from them.

RossP will have a full report when he returns...................erm, assuming he is returning from somewhere.

Honesty is the best policy
This match report will be slightly different to my usual pieces of writing, in that I’ll be reviewing a match that I didn’t actually manage to attend! Having made plans to travel to the game once I’d picked up wedding rings from Glasgow in the morning, the missus and I were gutted to be told that (despite assurances) the rings had not arrived – which then led to us cancelling the car journey down on the morning of the game. I remember once reading about a journalist getting sacked after fabricating a glowing review of a Meatloaf gig that unbeknownst to him was actually cancelled… so rather than going down that route I’ve pieced together my account of the dedicated MFR2 radio coverage I listened to, the match highlights I’ve watched and the reviews from the various message boards which cover the match.

Team lineups
Inverness sprung a surprise by replacing Aaron Doran with Danny Williams on the left wing, a move that has led to fans suggesting a link to Doran’s frustration shown when substituted against Ross County. Hopefully this is not the case as with suspensions and injuries likely arriving very soon we need every player pulling in the same direction. The rest of the team were as predicted, playing in the familiar 4-2-3-1 formation.

St Mirren kept a winning team together, with the only change being Drury replacing the injured Wylde in the midfield.

On the pitch
The first half was interrupted with Willie Collum wearing his pencil down from persistent bookings – 7 in total for 45 minutes! Reports from fans range between a shambolic performance from the man in the middle, giving cautions for very little, to some saying that it was our own players naivety and persistent fouling leading to Collum’s firm approach to the match.

In amongst the card issuing, the game was reduced to St Mirren shooting waywardly from distance and a more direct approach from Inverness than usual leading to several chances in the penalty area. First a Billy Mckay goal was chalked off as offside following a cross from Shinnie in 20 minutes. Looking at the replays it seems a very marginal decision where perhaps only his body leaning forward took him into an offside position. Mckay was thwarted again soon after, with his touch altering the direction of a Ryan Christie shot into the keeper’s body. We soon took the lead though after Marc McAusland wanted Gary Warren’s shirt before the full time whistle. An easy decision for the referee to award a penalty, as the top was nearly over his head by the time the ball arrived in the box. Greg Tansey stepped up and powered an unstoppable shot wide to the keeper’s left. One final important piece of action was where Ryan Christie picked up his first booking for persistent fouling, a decision that most fans online have agreed with.

Half Time 0–1

St Mirren were straight on the front foot from kick off, carving out an opportunity for Drury at the corner of the penalty area where he drove the ball into the side netting. Collum was also quick to get involved again with his notebook as he issued his 8^th card of the day, this time to St Mirren’s Marwood before then changing the nature of the game by giving Ryan Christie his marching orders. Looking at the challenge several times online I actually agree with Collum’s assessment of the incident, where the cliché of Christie’s ‘youthful exuberance’ led him to make a rash challenge on John McGinn from a near seated position after winning the ball initially from Kenny McLean. Despite going for the ball, the challenge looked dangerous and would have resulted in potential injury for McGinn had his leg been planted.

St Mirren immediately looked to get on the front foot with the ineffective Reilly being replaced by former Hibee Ross Caldwell, followed by Brown coming on for Man City loanee Drury. In response Inverness adopted a 4-4-1 formation with the two banks of four moving extremely well as a unit, restricting St Mirren to long passes to the strikers or shots from distance. Dean Brill saved a deflected drive from McGinn very well and Carl Tremarco managed to block a shot directed at goal by St Mirren right back Jason Naismith. Looking at the replay it appears the home players and fans who claimed for handball may have had a point, with Tremarco appearing to stop the shot with his legs but his arms then definitely stop the ball’s momentum once it was on the ground. One final chance came the Buddies way with an additional time goal mouth scramble, which Inverness cleared by the unusual method of Shinnie battering the ball off David Raven’s face.

Full Time 0-1

RossP review: I’m delighted with the 3 points against a team coming into form, at their own ground. These points are especially welcomed when we have games versus Dundee United and Celtic coming up. It’s disappointing to lose Christie and Draper to suspension, but hopefully the likes of Polworth, Ross and Doran bust a gut to compete for their positions whilst they are missing. Glowing praise has been heaped on the organisation shown by the defence after the red card, by home and away fans and rightly so. We should count ourselves lucky to have such a talented backline and it can only be a matter of time before Josh Meekings and Graeme Shinnie move on. Billy Mckay showed some good touches to bring others into play and was unlucky not to get himself back on the scoresheet. His challenger for the lone striker role didn’t impress as we had hoped, with a lack of confidence noted when one on one with the less mobile Jim Goodwin and then a poor unorthodox finish when he should have used his weaker foot to get his debut goal.