Scotty

Own Golobart makes a point Roman Golobart scored a fabulous goal full of Spanish flair to lift the doom and gloom at the Caledonian Stadium and earn a point for Kilmarnock. Unfortunately the fabulous goal was at the wrong end as he chipped a ball high into Esson's goal just like Messi. He also earned a point for Inverness after bundling home a ball on the goal line to deservedly give Inverness a share of the points, no more than they deserved. A rare sighting at Inverness yesterday, Sam Winnall made a start to help out Billy McKay in attack with Hayes out with a hamstring injury, and the injured Kenny Gillet being replaced by Graeme Shinnie at left back. Kenny Shiels rested some players with the League Cup final looming next weekend and started with Heffernan and Fowler on the bench. It was a lively start to the game for the new front pairing as they darted around in sprightly fashion and McKay offloaded a shot inside two minutes, but like most of todays twenty odd attempts it was off target. Winnall made Bell earn his crust as he scampered into the box and fired one goalwards after McKay was upended, this time on target but Bell saved well diverting the ball for a corner. What were Killie doing while we were trying to attack their goal; well nothing really. We were dominating the game while managing to look toothless up front, but the effort was there, well it was until Gnakpa came on later in the game. Tansey forced Bell into another top drawer save as he managed to get one low enough to make the keeper work. That was a bit of a rarity as well, a Tansey shot on target, but normal service would be resumed as Tade fired one high over when well placed. Killie did manage a corner as they ventured forth but no damage to the home rearguard as Esson cleared the danger with a couple of swift left hooks. Then, with half an hour gone, we conceded an own Golobart. Classy young Spaniard Roman Golobart in attempting to clear a Harkins centre lifted the ball into the roof of Esson's net in spectacular fashion from ten yards. He appeared to be caught in three minds, neither heading clear, hoofing over the bar or knocking back to Esson, he simply did the difficult thing and put the ball where Esson could not reach it, right in the top corner. Stunning! Messi eat yer heart out. This was against the run of play, where have I heard this before. Tade managed one on target before Tansey shot over, high and wide. I see a pattern forming here, a sort of one on, one off..... The hard working Richie Foran blocked a Silva effort as the game flow levelled out and before the break Golobart tried to make amends but his shot was mistimed and Bell collected comfortably. Half Time 0-1 (ouch) Second half started like the first, early effort from Sutherland this time going well over. Tansey narrowly missed the target as he dragged a low shot just wide of Bell's right hand post from the edge of the box. Golobart and Bell clashed going for a fifty fifty ball and Bell took some time out for a knock with the referee mysteriously awarding a free kick for the sliding challenge. Tade put one on, one off as we forced the pace of the game but the breakthrough looked like being always out of reach. Killie were being pushed onto the back foot and little was seen of their attacking intent. Winnall was next to miss the eight yard wide target and that was about it on his first start which had begun promisingly. A baffling substitution then raised a few hackles when Gnakpa replaced the industrious Tade, or should that be industrial. Not a popular decision as would become evident by Gnakpa's lack of interest in the proceedings, and Ross replaced the unfortunate Sam, this change proved more worthwhile as Ross was able to hold the ball and find players with his tight passing. Tom, Dick and Harry were having a go now, as Meekings and Sutherland shot high and wide again. It looked as though it was not going to be our day as Foran did well to burst into the box, unfortunately his clipped shot was blocked brilliantly by Bell and Foran knew he should have done better. With time running out and luck on the visitors side, up popped Roman at the right end to knock home the equaliser after McKay had knocked the ball goalwards. Olé. The move had began with some good Inverness pressure and when the ball came back to Sutherland on the right wing he whipped an excellent ball into the box and Richie Foran acrobatically volleyed the ball goalwards, Cammy Bell made a tremendous reflex save before McKay nodded it into the feet of the Spaniard. Relief all round and still time for a winner. However, instead of settling us down, we started to get jittery and Kilmarnock suddenly woke up. They produced a series of corners in a frenetic finish to the game but in fairness, we held firm and Esson eventually had some work to do as he saved from Nelson. It was squeaky bum time now, but the ball was kept out and the game slipped into full time. Full Time 1-1 Strange game to assess as every fan at the game saw a different picture. It was entertaining enough without setting the heather on fire and but for squandering numerous chances that came our way we should have won in style. But that's not the Inverness way just now and a point each it was. Despite scoring an own goal, Roman Golobart was my MotM and showed great confidence to come back from his first goal to eventually force home the equaliser. Richie Foran ran himself to a standstill, unable to run near the end and Shinnie, Meekings and McKay tried their best. The one downside today was our inability to hit a target than stands eight yards wide and eight feet tall in old money. What do we practice? Cammy Bell was probably deserving of the games MotM as he made a few excellent stops to keep the score down. One further pat on the back goes to the nurse who entertained the North Stand. I think I'm in love, Mwah. 10th March 2012 Scottish Premier League Tulloch Caledonian Stadium Inverness C.T. 1 - Golobart (83) TEAM: Esson, Meekings, Tokely, Golobart, G.Shinnie, Tansey, Foran (Tudur Jones 90+3), Winnall (Ross 70), Sutherland, Tade (Gnakpa 69), McKay SUBS: Tuffey, Williams, Proctor, Morrison Booked: none Sent Off: none Kilmarnock 1 - Golobart (og.31) TEAM: Bell, Toshney, Gordon, Sissoko, Nelson, Kennedy (Fowler 58), Silva (Heffernan 71), Kelly, Racchi (Johnson 76), Harkins, Buijs SUBS: Letheren, McKeown, Kroca, Dayton Booked: none Sent Off: none Referee Calum Murray Attendance 3060

United canter home against cart horses Dundee United once more emphasised the gulf in class between these two sides as they strolled to victory against a clueless and punchless Inverness Caledonian Thistle. There appeared to be little between the sides in the opening exchanges, but that all turned when a looping John Rankin effort found the top corner and Inverness reverted to type after that. Scott Robertson shouldered home a second before tormentor in chief Johnny Russell scored a sublime third to end the contest with twelve minutes remaining. Another defeat for Inverness and Terry Butcher must be wondering if he has anything left in the tank to offer his struggling outfit. I doubt many of the Inverness supporters expected much from this match, but it's still disappointing to be proved right and the alarming rate that we are shipping goals must be of some concern to the Caley Jags management. Of equal concern is our inability to fashion any clear scoring opportunities and we looked as though we could have played for a fortnight without seriously troubling Pernis in the United goal. We must be a joy for any opposition defence to play against given our lack of aggression in front of goal. Terry Butcher thrust a hastily repaired Roman Golobart back into central defence and his partner tonight was none other than Ross Tokely with Proctor and Williams on the bench alongside Graeme Shinnie. Jonny Hayes was nowhere to be seen and Shane Sutherland started, with McKay the lone striker and Gnakpa and Winnall on the bench with Tudur-Jones. Hayes apparently tweaked a hamstring last week but should not be out for long..........hopefully. United were a more settled side with goal threats all over the park and twin tormentors Jonny Russell and Gary Mackay-Steven leading the charge with big Jon Daly. They had a defence but they could have enjoyed this game from the stand as a powderpuff Inverness attack failed to carve out any serious goal threats although the stats will show a number of attempts on target, but none troubling Dusan Pernis in goal. I can't stomach much more of this drivel tonight and Ginger Jaggy can continue the report when he settles down.............. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Two weeks and two tales of woe in which Caley Thistle’s upward momentum has well and truly been clipped as we suddenly look over our shoulder. A win over Kilmarnock on Saturday in our game in hand will almost guarantee safety but our performance levels have nose-dived since the back end of January and Monday night saw this continue to deteriorate against a classy Dundee United side. We have to be thankful that Dunfermline have been poor all season otherwise we may not be looking backwards with any comfort. The game was a resounding victory for the Arabs and it could have been more had it not been for some decent stops by Ryan Esson. We do have good players and we are missing some key players but we are still lacking an out and out striker – some have queried why we haven’t tried Sam Winnall? Caley Thistle went into this game without Jonny Hayes who may have been off the pace in our last couple of games but we certainly missed him in this one. We lacked drive and quality with very little creativity. Terry Butcher would have been pleased by the opening of the game with Dundee United finding it hard to get the ball down and dictate the play with their excellent passing game. Unfortunately all that work was undone after a quarter of an hour from a comedy of errors at the back. First Kenny Gillet played a needless pass back to Esson who in turn made a poor clearance which fell to Richie Foran in midfield. His poor control allowed Ex Caley Thistle midfielder John Rankin to nip the ball away and hit a trademark long range strike which nestled into the top corner of Essons net. Great strike but shoddy play from the visitors. Inverness did create chances with Shane Sutherland blasting over from a good position in the penalty box. Then came our best chance when Billy McKay showed some tenacity in the box to win the ball and put a shot in that was well blocked by Dusan Pernis. The game continued to be hard fought but without Hayes, a lack of an outlet was very observant for every Inverness fan. Instead it was long balls with McKay and Tade barely winning any balls against Gavin Gunning and Sean Dillon. It was almost 2-0 before half time when danger man Johnny Russell was able to use his pace to get into the box and was only denied by an excellent full length save by Esson. Overall Inverness had held Dundee United well and had it not been for a lack of concentration on three fronts then it may well have been level at half time. But the downside was that we looked as dangerous as a mouse. Half-Time 1-0 The second half started as the first had finished with United in the ascendancy. This tale does have a common theme. The theme was poor defending and this again reared its head just five minutes into the second half. A free kick from Willo Flood was won by Jon Daly who had climbed above Ross Tokely, and his knock back found it's way to Scott Robertson who unmarked headed the ball into the bottom of the net. It was such a sloppy goal to concede with Daly dominating the penalty area and Robertson finding the freedom of Dundee to nod home untidily. Bizarrely going further behind stung us into some action. Claude Gnakpa came on for Nick Ross and his introduction definitely improved Inverness. Ross moments before going off was inches from an equaliser from a Sutherland Free Kick. The ball was definitely an improvement from the first half. It could have got worse when Esson dropped an easy catch, the goalkeeper watched on in relief when an off balance Daly stabbed the ball over. After that it was all Inverness for a 10-15 minute spell where some great chances had been made. Sutherland shot wide while Greg Tansey hit two decent shots that were comfortable for the Polish goalkeeper. But the golden chances fell first to Roman Golabart who headed wide when McKay was in a better position just behind him. Two minutes later McKay should have done better when he got himself into the box and hit a shot that looped over the bar at the near post. A better finish was needed and it summed up our night and season as a whole. Claude Gnakpa did bring out a save from Pernis but Caley Thistle could have played all night and not have scored. There was still time for Russell to score the goal of the game even if the challenges were a little half hearted. The pacey front man received the ball from a Daly centre and he used great agility to get away from three or four defenders to finish coolly past Esson. After that the game petered out with United sitting comfortably 3-0 ahead. Full Time 3-0 That was the way the game finished and it highlighted a major gulf in class. The game was fairly even for the whole of the first half but the quality of delivery into the box was light-years between the teams. When Inverness did play along the deck and improved the crossing it was no surprise that we dominated for 10-15 minutes creating some real good chances, but our attempts at finishing were timid. We were already 2-0 down by then and on final reflections it was a majorly disappointing performance, not taking anything away from in form Dundee United. 5th March 2012 Scottish Premier League Tannadice Stadium, Dundee Dundee Utd 3 - Rankin (15), Robertson (52), Russell (78) /media/images/club_badges/dundeeutd.png TEAM: Pernis, Neilson, Dillon, Gunning, Dixon, Flood, Robertson, Rankin, Mackay-Steven (Armstrong 77), Daly (Lacny 80), Russell (Ryan 80) SUBS: Banks, Kenneth, Douglas, Dow Booked: Ryan (84) Sent Off: none Inverness C.T. 0 - /media/images/club_badges/inverness.png TEAM: Esson, Meekings, Tokely, Golobart, Gillet, Tade, Sutherland, Tansey, Ross (Gnakpa 66), Foran, McKay (Tudur-Jones 76) SUBS: Tuffey, Proctor, G.Shinnie, Williams, Winnall Booked: Golobart (37), Foran (52), Tansey (62), Meekings (82) Sent Off: none Referee Alan Muir Attendance 5994