Wasps Stung by Caley Jags

With storm Eowyn having passed over yesterday it was game on at the Indodrill Stadium within Recreation Park. The Caley Jags last visit here saw them relinquish a two goal lead within six minutes all too easily after Conor Sammon entered the fray. With the only League1 fixture failing to weather the storm being the Arbroath v Kelty game, this was an opportunity for Alloa to get up to second spot and for Inverness to keep abreast of the relegation zone with Dumbarton at Queen of the South.

Charlie Dewar started his first game with Josh Gentles on the bench for the hosts. Luis Longstaff failed to make the starting XI or the bench with Alfie Stewart starting again for an unchanged visitors. Inverness took a first half lead through a Keith Bray header but immediately after the break Cameron O'Donnell equalised however Alfie Stewart got his first goal for Inverness with ten minutes remaining. We saw out the game thereafter and took a big step towards safety.

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Alloa were keen to take the initiative and Dibaga had to save from Conor Sammon in the first couple of minutes followed by Luke Rankin having his effort blocked. James Nolan and Stefan Scougall exchanged misses at opposite ends of the park after ten minutes as the game settled down. Almost midway through the half and a Sammon header brought Dibaga back into action, but it was at the other end that the first goal came. Keath Bray won a corner when his effort had been blocked and when Alfie Stewart swung the ball in Bray headed home to open the scoring. That's three in three for Bray, becoming a habit now! Adam MacKinnon fired goalwards after twenty-five but Morrison saved. Danny Devine picked up a booking and from the free kick Cameron O'Donnell went close but missed the target. Three minutes before the interval Alfie Bavidge almost got his four in four but his first time shot from outside the box hit the post. 

HALF TIME: 0-1

Here we go again as we lose a goal within a minute, Cameron O'Donnell scoring from close range to draw Alloa level. A bit of a lull in the game and possession had levelled out with a spate of corners for the Caley Jags producing nothing but a couple of bookings for Mckay, Bray and Nolan. Devine had a header pushed away from goal from an Allan free kick and with ten minutes left Alfie Stewart opened his account at the Caley Jags, slotting in after a great assist from Paul Allan. Kane Thomson had an effort saved by Dibaga in the bottom corner as the game approached the ninety minutes. Despite five minutes of time added on, the visitors saw out the game relatively unscathed and took a massive step towards safety.

FULL TIME: 1-2

This was a huge win for the Caley Jags with Dumbarton losing and Annan Athletic drawing today after equalising in the last minute. Meh! Only two points behind Annan now and twelve points ahead of Dumbarton although they have a game in hand over us. We showed great resilience to weather the storm and push on for the win. Pleasing and deserved result after the disappointment in midweek at Dumfries. Biggest surprise was no goals for Alfie Bavidge today. Send him back 

Mantis on CTO: Never a dirty game but Alloa led us on bookings 4-1 before we came back to 4-4 but they snatched it with a last minute card 

Should have been out of sight at half time. Bavidge was probably poorer than usual but  was unlucky when his drive came off the inside of the post. Paid for it within a minute of the restart and Alloa had a good spell for 15 minutes when we could have conceded. Any worries about tiredness after all the long away trips soon evaporated as we took control and forced corner after corner. Billy had a good chance but his legs gave up on him, then Stewart grabbed the winner, in a game where he started to show a bit of overdue class. 
What a player Keith Bray is. What a support we have right now 

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