New Start Same Problems

The first game after the olde CEO was prized from his oligarchy bubble saw a decent crowd turn out in appreciation of the efforts of Alan Savage to right the wrongs. It won't happen overnight, but the first steps have been taken to put some life back into the ailing Caley Jags. On the park, Musa Dibaga replaced the injured Jack Newman in goal with emergency loan keeper from Clach Martin MacKinnon on the bench. Keith Bray kept his place with Adam Brooks on the bench. Montrose were the visitors and they are a more settled side although Michael Gardyne was suspended with former Inverness youth player Matheus Machado starting. Both teams were looking for their first win of the League campaign. Kane Hester scored after twenty minutes but on the interval Montrose were reduced to ten men when Sean Dillon was sent off. After the break it was one way traffic against the ten men and no surprise when Adam MacKinnon equalised. However the winning goal eluded us and it was a point apiece.

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It was an overcast, breezy and somewhat chilly afternoon with an Autumnal feel about it as the teams emerged from the tunnel, Inverness in their new strip, the visitors in white tops with black shorts. Prior to kick off Captain Billy Mckay was presented with a wee memento on reaching 300 appearances for the Caley Jags, not to mention his 112 goals for the club. The first action saw Keith Bray's shot deflected at the expense of a corner when he spun on the edge of the box and tried to get his shot away in the seventh minute. Twenty minutes in and what a finish for the opening goal. Former Elgin player Kane Hester opened the scoring with a tremendous strike into the top corner from a tight angle after his miscontrol seemed to deceive Danny Devine to give the visitors the early advantage. Machado was booked a minute later. Billy Mckay came close to levelling the scores after half an hour when Cammy Gill turned his shot across the keeper onto the post with his fingertips. It was a half littered with fouls and Luis Longstaff shot over ten minutes before the break. Sean Dillon headed over at the other end before he received a second yellow card for a late challenge on Billy Mckay. How dare he on his 300th appearance! That was on the interval to leave the visitors to face the second half a man short but a goal to the good.

HALF TIME: 0-1

Mathew Strachan replaced Flynn Duffy at the start of the second half and Gill denied Longstaff shortly after. The other Duffy was hooked for Callum MacLeod ten minutes into the half and Mckay was again foiled by Gill as he shot from inside the box. It was turning into a procession towards Cammy Gill and Longstaff and Gilmour had a go before Adam Mackinnon equalised just after the hour, drilling home from outside the box. He almost scored a second momnents later. Mckay would not find that elusive strike as Gill saved again and Gilmour was blocked before Davidson should have done better at the back post. MacKinnon had another couple of attempts ten minutes from the end and Mckay was denied for the 300th time by the keeper in the top corner. We plugged away until the end but try as we did, the winning goal eluded us and it ended all square.

FULL TIME: 1-1

A disappointing result but we did create enough chances to win three games. However, as has been our downfall over the last few seasons, we struggle to get the ball in the net.

Great for Adam MacKinnon to get his first goal, and with a bit of fortune he could have scored another couple.

Overall the concensus of opinion is that it is a bit of improvement on recent dire performances but we still have a long way to go. Let's not forget we played against 10 men for the whole of the second half.

Doofers Dad summarised neatly:  Of course it is very disappointing to not to beat a 10 man part time team at home, but I felt there were a lot of positives yesterday.  We laid siege to their goal for lengthy periods in the second half and created more chances than we have for a long time.  It got the crowd going and was quite exciting to watch.  (Dunc, please take note.). A mixture of very narrow misses and weak efforts meant we couldn't find the winner but it could just have easily have been a victory by 3 or 4 goals.  How that would have changed the mood!

If you can make out what is being said, you are better than me... Sort this out, the wind did the same last time.

Can just about make it out in the interview, but it sounds like keeper Jack Newman has gone back to Tannadice for treatment. Sounds like he could be out for some time.

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