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Drab Draw Inverness hosted Cove Rangers and were without Flynn Duffy, Lewis Nicolson and Ethan Cairns. Paul Allan and former Cove players Luis Longstaff and Charlie Gilmour had returned to the squad with Gilmour and Longstaff starting. Cove had won their last two outings and put three past Kelty Hearts last weekend with Mitch Megginson always a threat up front. Adam Emslie tapped in at the back post to open the scoring after twenty minutes. Substitute James Nolan levelled five minutes after the restart following a corner. A replacement official was required to complete the game and even with fifteen minutes added on, there was no further scoring. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An overcast but calm afternoon greeted the players and a freshly painted bar area greeted the fans at the stadium. After a slow start, Adam Brooks was first to have a go, in fact a double go as his first effort was saved at the expense of a corner, the second fired over the bar. Cove opened the scoring after twenty-minutes following a quick break forward involving Marshall, Adam Emslie the scorer after Megginson dummied and he had the simple task of tapping in at the far post. Brooks missed a great opportunity to level matters but headed over from close range at the near post. Scully shot over from the edge of the box five minutes before the break. It had been a poor first half for the hosts who trailed at the interval with Brooks the biggest sinner in front of goal. HALF TIME: 0-1 James Nolan came on at the restart and five minutes later he was scoring his first goal for the club after his initial shot was saved but his follow-up found the net. Keeper Suman was replaced by Demus when he went off injured minutes later. Duncan Ferguson appeared to pick up another yellow card after an angry exchange when Gilmour was booked. An injury to the referee prompted a tannoy call for a replacement from the crowd as the game was halted. One of the assistants took control of the game and a substitute linesman was sourced from the stand and duly appeared to run the line as assistant Will Pare took centre stage. On resumption, Emslie was denied a second goal by Dibaga. Megginson was blocked brilliantly by Calum MacLeod as he looked favourite to add a second for Cove as the game approached the ninety-minute mark. However, there was plenty time added on for the replacement of the referee and Jake Davidson fired wide deep into added time. 15 minutes of additional time came and went before Will Pare brought the game to a halt and the points were shared with opportunities at a premium. FULL TIME: 1-1 The only positive to take from today was Caley Jags fan Jamie Mackinnon stepping in to save the game being abandoned and running the line after the referee went off having made too many wrong decisions... Or maybe he was injured. Apparently the tannoy announcement was so successful the club will do the same at next weeks game with Stenhousemuir and will ask the fans if there is a manager in the stands willing to step in and do Dunc's job. There you go Jamie. This week running the line, next week running the club. The world is your lobster. <<<Jamie can be seen here jogging past Remi Savage after assuring him that the offside law has been cancelled. Well done you. <<image from Caley Jags.Com >> Pos Team Pld Gd Pts 1 Alloa Athletic 7 3 13 2 Montrose 7 4 12 3 Queen of the South 7 2 11 4 Stenhousemuir 7 0 10 5 Kelty Hearts 7 2 9 6 Inverness Caledonian Thistle 7 0 8 7 Cove Rangers 7 -1 8 8 Annan Athletic 7 -6 7 9 Dumbarton 7 -1 6 10 Arbroath 7 -3 6 Date: 21/09/2024 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 1505 Referee: Stewart Luke Inverness CT: 1 Manager: Duncan Ferguson Lineup: Dibaga; W Duffy (Nolan 46), Devine, Savage, Davidson, Longstaff, Gilmour, MacLeod (Allan 90), MacKinnon, B Mckay (Thompson 90), Brooks (Bray (82) Subs (not used): Newman; Strachan, Ferguson, Ewan, C Mackay Scorers: Nolan (51) Booked: Gilmour (60) Sent Off: none Cove Rangers: 1 Manager: Paul Hartley Lineup: Suman (Demus 55); Doyle, Gillingham, Darge, Parker, Harrington (McAllister 61), Scully, Yule, Megginson (Gaffney 90+6), Marshall, Emslie Subs (not used): Demus; Murray, McGrath Scorers: Emslie (21) Booked: Doyle (39), Darge (42), Yule (43), Marshall (85) Sent Off: none

The majority of Brooks experience comes from in the Lowland League. He wasn’t good enough for the Championship, very like most of our squad. I just can’t get my head round why everyone thinks we should now be winning this league just because we have players who train every day. The difference in these leagues will be a recognised goal scorer, something I doubt we can really afford just now. Im surprised that’s the fans now staying away when we actually need the funds in the club to keep us going. Says a lot about our support though I suppose.

On a positive note it was good to hear a special birthday mention for a long time supporter Lizi

It's in the post - just hoping that the post out is better than the post into Inverness. We only seem to get post delivered on a Tuesday for the last few months on my street.

OK - what does it say? That fans don’t have bucketloads of cash to throw at something they don’t even enjoy? Football on some level is supposed to be entertaining. Why do we start off watching football and supporting any team at all? Now, why would I spend 5 hours on the road and another 105 minutes at the ground when I could have a lot more enjoyment doing something else? Kids used to watch Caley, but it’s now turgid, and I can’t “tempt” them along any more. Quite rightly, I guess, they’ve turned to the Dons as their local team…

I think there was a delay whilst they verified but no idea re pay. He had his kit ìn car as was refereed a game in morning

Brooks had four great chances to score. He was really poor yesterday. If we do get a reputable striker in this week who can take pressure off Billy I can see change coming. Given our financial position that may not happen and whilst he has not so far achieved much Cameron up front from the start might be worth trialling with Brooks on the bench. To me Brooks failing to score from four good chances created for him was the primary reason we failed yesterday.

It's clear little will change until Ferguson is gone. Well stay in League 1 but that's it.

Reading all of the above makes me glad I decided to stay away again. I won't be back until Ferguson goes because he isn't showing any sign of changing the style of play.

Weird that Ferguson seems to realise that we've got next to no attacking threat and haven't for the best part of a year and has, erm, done nothing about it.

Yep. Would I travel 5 hours on a Saturday to watch this dross? Nope. Not a great crowd today. I guess a lot of fans feel the same.

I vowed at the start of the season to get behind the young players from our youth academy and support them. However the young lads aren’t getting an opportunity and I can no longer stomach the tactics and style of play offered up from Big Dunc. League 1 was an ideal opportunity to introduce our promising players into the first team environment and develop them into better players and build a team that could push on in a season or 2. I’m grateful we have a team to support but until Mr Ferguson walks away or is giving his marching orders Im out.

Totally agree! I really wonder what he does with them in training full time. The referee was shocking today with Cove kicking lumps out of our team all over the park and getting away with it but we can't use that as an excuse.

That ref was a shocker Up with John Mckendrick. Poor billy got flattened in wwf style in a move Hulk Hogan would have been proud of