Hot on the heels of the big game last Saturday, the u20's did battle at the Global Energy Sandpit in Dingwall, and once more the Inverness side came out on top on a pitch that was reminiscent of a ploughed field.
Inverness were three up before County staged a late comeback but it was too late as Shane Sutherland stamped his class all over this game with a hat-trick before a Gary Glen penalty and a thumping strike from Alex Cooper reduced the deficit, but 2-3 it was. Old Caley Girl is our roving reporter checking out the young boys....
Highland Derby U20 style
A reasonable crowd on a cold Tuesday night turned out to watch the second highland Derby of the week.
Ross County. McCarthy, finlayson, MacPhee, Grimes, Micic, MacKillop, Cooper, Ross, Glen, Crown, Hutchinson. Subs Hall, MacDonald, Poritt,Corbett and MacLeod. ICT. Mathewson, Cooper, Murphy, Hogg, Devine, Gibbons, Khutsishvili, Polworth, Sutherland, Christie and Whyte. Subs MacKay, Skinner, Watson, Ferguson and MacKenzie. ICT started the first half in a lively fashion with Shane Sutherland hitting the left post with a shot. However he didnt miss the target in t,he 25 th minute when a Kyle Whyte cross was dispatched home. 0-1.
About 2 minutes later Jordon Gibbons neatly rounded the keeper to make it 0-2. Cou ty had few chances in this half and the few they had were well defended by a back line that included Chris Hogg and Danny Devine. Ht 0-2.
2nd half. Matthew Cooper was replaced by Andrew Skinner. 18 mins after the restart Shane Sutherland grabbed his second slotting home a Liam Polworth pass. 0-3. Ryan Watson then replaced Jordon Gibbons. Followed 5 minues later by Khutsivihvii coming off andCalumFerguson joining the play. It was pretty even until an ICT player was adjudged to have handled in the box. The game seemed to continue for a moment despite the County shouts and the ref decided to consult the West stand assistant Penalty awarded and duly scored by Glen but Matheson didn't look too far away! County also grabbed a second a minute before full time with an Alex Cooper 25 yd screamer FT 2-3.
All in all an enjoyable game. Well done to Chris Hogg on his first 90 minutes back after his injury. Main talking point of the evening was the state of the County pitch. More sand than grass and very very heavy. A few of our young p,ayers commenting on it on twitter after the game too. Will it even survive the season if there bad weather?