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Point Taken Inverness and Dundee United shared the points in a hard fought 1-1 draw at Tannadice. It was inevitable that Billy Mckay would score against his old club, but Josh Meekings powered home a header just after the break to level the score. It was a glorious day in Tayside as Inverness visited struggling Dundee United at Tannadice. The shirt sleeve weather made it a tremendous day for a game of football and the pitch looked in magnificent condition as the sides took to the park. A decent away support saw Inverness start with a similar side that took to the field against Hearts. News that Tobi Sho-Silva was out injured was a bit of a downer but we were looking to build on our excellent win against the Jambos. Iain Vigurs also missed out but James Vincent and Josh Meekings continued their comeback. United had Billy Mckay in the main strikers role and Darko Bodul and Scott Fraser were the men providing the ammunition. The opening exchanges were fairly even but Ross Draper picked up a booking inside a minute for hand ball. Ryan McGowan fired one just wide after five minutes as United looked for an early opening, and they got the breakthrough after seven minutes. Inverness will feel they could have averted the goal which had a bit of fortune about it and who else but Billy Mckay scored from less than a couple of yards. Familiar territory for Billy who got the break of the ball after a John Rankin close range effort was blocked on the line. Unfortunately for Inverness Billy did what Billy does best and he knocked the loose ball into the net. It looked bleak for Inverness five minutes later when Rankin met a Morris cross about ten yards out bang in the centre of goal. This time we got the break as Owain Fon-Williams spread himself and blocked the ball with his legs. A let off for the visitors and it really should have been two nil for United. Mckay was looking lively early on as we afforded him the freedom of the park, allowing him to link and run directly at the heart of our box. A couple of frantic tackles kept him at bay and he turned and volleyed one just wide. A good effort that could have caught the keeper out, but Fon-Williams soon had to dive smartly to divert a vicious shot from the edge of the box as United and Mckay threatened to run away with the game. We needed half time to arrive sooner rather than later and we reached the break without further damage. Half Time 1-0 Harsh words must have been said over the half time cuppa as straight from the kick off, Ryan Christie drifted goalwards before sliding in Williams who was upended on the edge of the box. Nothing given though and that stung Inverness into determined mode. Following a couple of corners, Josh Meekings rose majestically at the far side of the six-yard box and powered a Christie corner into the roof of the net. Game on! Carl Tremarco was linking well going forward and had a shot savedthe angle before Danny Williams and Greg Tansey lashed shots close to the goals, but just wide. The tide had turned and Inverness looked the most likely to go on and win the game with United reduced to chasing shadows for long spells. Miles Storey was running the lone strikers roll and it was taking it's toll on the lad who gave his all before being substituted near the end, but he looked knackered long before that. Richie Foran replaced Williams with ten minutes left. Scare for Inverness with four minutes of normal time left as United broke out of defence, but despite a swift break the 'goal' was chalked off for offside. Sit down shut up! The game fizzled out thereafter and a point apiece it was in the Autumn sunshine. Full Time 1-1 Maybe not the best of games, but always something happening to keep you interested. At the end of the day, a point each was probably fair enough. United were on top in the first forty five but failed to extend their lead and were rightly hauled level by Inverness who upped their game after the break, no doubt having been ear bashed by Yogi. Billy Mckay was prominent in the first half but faded as we came out stronger in the second period. Spoke to a couple of United fans after the game and we all agreed it was the right result. We were also unanimous in our praise of Scott Fraser who showed quick feet on numerous occasions when in a tight spot. Ryan Christie once more shone for Inverness and Carl Tremarco looked good going forward in the second half. Tremendous header from Meekings to level the game, but Owain Fon-Williams kept us in touch in the first half and he gets my vote as our MotM. Date: 19/09/15 Venue: Tannadice Stadium, Dundee Attendance: 6235Referee: Kevin Clancy Dundee Utd: 1 Lineup: Zwick, McGowan, Morris, Durnan, Dillon, Dow (Spittal 65), Kuhl, Fraser, Rankin, McKay, Bodul (Murray 82) Subs (not used): McCallum, Telfer, Connolly, Taggart, Donaldson Scorers: Mckay (7) Booked: Rankin (28), Bodul (68) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 1 Lineup: Fon Williams, Raven, Meekings, Devine, Tremarco, Draper, Tansey, Vincent, Christie, Williams (Foran 83), Storey (Polworth 90) Subs (not used): Esson, Lopez, Wedderburn, Horner Scorers: Meekings (56) Booked: Draper (1), Tremarco (10) Sent Off: none

Toothless A disastrous opening fixture for injury hit Inverness. Adding insult to injury, (no pun intended), Gary Warren took a nasty challenge from Stephen Pearson and it would appear that the club have confirmed he has broken a bone in his leg. With Meekings also taken off injured and Tremarco, Vincent, Doran, Roberts, Brill, Foran and Ferguson all requiring treatment things look pretty bleak at this moment in time. I doubt Motherwell will be winning any fair play awards after trying to catch Inverness on the hop. The tried to sneak a goal after play restarted following Warren's injury. Thankfully they guided the shot just wide. Unsavoury incident though. Rig has a report that is too good to waste, and here it is.......... A truly honking performance from ICT with the tone set early on when Warren hacked down Skippy after only a few minutes of the game gone with our fragmented side struggling to settle into anything approaching a rhythm. As was so often the case with Inverness when Hughes first arrived we were architects of our own downfall and helped Well score the first goal. A slack pass by Tansey was eagerly seized upon by Well and it looked like Fletcher and McDonald linked well to create a chance which was well saved by Fon Williams however he couldn't collect the ball and Fletcher followed in from close range to put Well ahead. As anyone who has seen an ICT game this season will know we have a lot of the ball but do absolutely nothing with it. As Motherwell sat back and defended in numbers ICT stroked the ball about with no real creative spark to open up the Steelmen. Even on the odd occasion when a break could have been on we seemed content to advance slowly out of defence and keep the ball rather than go for the jugular and try and get right at Well. At one point, collecting the ball from a wasted Motherwell corner we had all of our players within about 10 - 15 yards of the ball in a couple of big lines with no one further ahead of the player with the ball and no one seemingly trying to get into space to try and stretch the remaining defenders. We were exceptionally sluggish whereas Motherwell were much more direct and aggressive with and without the ball chasing it down and snapping into tackles making it hard for us to settle things down. McDonald missed a penalty after Johnson showed great skill to roll his marker and sprinted into the box only to fall over under what looked like minimal contact from Devine. Regardless, Allan gave a penalty and Fon Williams did well to block McDonalds spot kick which was a nice height for the keeper to get to and keep out. Wedderburn, who was struggling with the quickness of Motherwell players closing him down, was subbed for Mutombo who injected a bit more creativity and pace into a lackadaisical ICT side. This was pretty much how the first half played out with the only other notable talking point being what looked like a horrendous challenge by Pearson on Warren which resulted in the ICT defender having to be subbed off. Pearson looked like he launched himself hard into a challenge going well over the ball with studs showing. It seemed a clear red card but fortunately for Pearson Allan only showed him a yellow. Pearson himself went off later on as he seemed to injure himself in the tackle as well. Will be interesting to see it again on the highlights if it's covered. Half Time 0-1 Motherwell started the second half on top and ICT again were in a mess at the back. Some good work down the Well right led to a good chance to extend their lead but fortunately an effort by Fletcher (I think) hit the post / was saved by Fon Williams. Not long after that Chalmers (I think) who was still up from a corner looked certain to score as he waited to tuck away a loose ball from only inches out but somehow Draper came in to clear the ball away. The second half largely replicated the first with Well starting strongly and ICT struggling to create anything. A half hearted penalty claim from Tansey who looked like he may have been clipped in the box and a free kick late on from the same player which was headed wide were as close as ICT came to threatening anything close to a goal in a match that was not high on thrills. Full Time 0-1 A good win for Motherwell who looked comfortable throughout but a concerning defeat ICT who, despite missing a lot of first team players, struggled again to create any really good scoring chances. With Meekings and Warren both coming off injured our back four is completely unrecognisable from that of last season. If we aren't going to score then we could at least have looked to a relatively resolute defence to keep the opposition out. It will be interesting to see how a potentially patchwork backline deals with the upcoming games against St Johnstone and Partick. Date: 01/08/15 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 3307 Referee: Crawford Allan Inverness CT: 0 Lineup: Fon Williams, Raven, Warren (Polworth 43), Meekings (Horner 46), Devine, Wedderburn (Mbuyi-Mutombo 33), Tansey, Draper, Williams, Lopez, Christie Subs (not used): Esson, Brown Scorers: none Booked: Warren (1) Sent Off: none Motherwell: 1 Lineup: Ripley, Chalmers, Laing, McManus, Hammell, Law, Lasley, Pearson (Leitch 61), Johnson, Fletcher (Moult 66), McDonald Subs (not used): Twardzik, Kennedy, Clarkson, Thomas, Ferguson Scorers: Fletcher (4) Booked: Pearson (37) Sent Off: none