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  1. Caley Thistle ran out rampant 6-1 winners over Gretna at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium. It took only 31 seconds to grab the lead with a goal from Dougie Imrie. Rory McAllister made it 2-0 in 23 minutes. Gretna scored in 27 minutes to make it close at the half but 4 second half goals for the Caley Jags allowed ICT to record the second highest scoreline of the season in the SPL. 03/05/08 Tulloch Caledonian stadium, Inverness INVERNESS CALEDONIAN THISTLE 6 Imrie (37 secs), McAllister (23), Wilson (51), Cowie (70), Tokely (88), Vigurs (90) Team: Malkowski, Tokely, Proctor, Hastings, McBain, Wilson (Vigurs 80), Black (Kerr 85), Cowie, Imrie, Niculae, McAllister (Bayne 65) SUBS: Wyness, Duncan, Hart, Fraser GRETNA 1 Hogg (27) Team: Fleming, Barr, Meynell, Griffiths, Skelton, Deverdics, Hall (Wilkinson 62), Hogg (Taylor 69), McGill (Fisher 82), Osman, Naughton SUBS: Robinson, Murray, Scultz-Eklund, Sharples Referee Iain Brines Attendance 3639 From Site: That's about as easy as it gets, I think. We cut Gretna open whenever we could be bothered, and once we got Bayne on in the last 20 minutes we started causing havoc. Mostly great goals... 1. Great defence splitting pass puts Cowie in behind, he keeps his head and squares for Imrie to tap in. 30 seconds gone by my stopwatch. 2. Niculae's powerful header wonderfully saved by Fleming, but Rory shows unheard of athleticism to head in the rebound. Gretna goal - appalling marking at a set play, Tokely misses the header and Hogg flicks it in from six yards. Could Zibi have stopped it? I'll give him the benefit of the doubt - it was at close range. 3. Bazza, mate, that was a corker. 20 yards out, he steadied himself and hammered it into the keeper's bottom right hand corner. Magnificent goal, as good as any we've scored this season. 4. Great break by Imrie down the left, and he stood it up beautifully for Cowie to crack home on the volley - great technique from Chipper. Defence gave him all the time in the world to finish it off, mind. 5. Tokely gets on the end of a corner to head it in. Not much power on it, how it went in I have no idea. 6. Vigurs!!! Smashing volley on the turn after another Imrie run and cross. Gretna were utterly guff, but you can only beat what's put in front of you. We were pretty nonchalant in the first half, but only looked vaguely in trouble when defending set plays. Brew may have given them a kick up the rear end at the break. Commendations today for Imrie, Cowie and particularly Bazza who looked very classy indeed. I suspect, even despite his goal, that there may still be criticisms of young Rory, and I have to say that I've seen glaciers that move faster and sloths that put in more effort than he did today. He's like Steven Hislop but without the work rate. Still, he got a goal and that's what he's supposed to do. That's about as easy as it gets, I think. We cut Gretna open whenever we could be bothered, and once we got Bayne on in the last 20 minutes we started causing havoc. Mostly great goals...
  2. Caley Thistle ended their run of defeats with a 2-1 victory over Gretna but it was heavy going. Wyness, Imrie, Paatelainen and Wilson all had numerous chances before Caley Thistle scored in the 71st minute and when the goals came, they weren't strikers' goal but scored by midfielder Roy McBain who got the first and fellow midfielder Don Cowie two minutes later. In 80 minutes, Gretna - who were actually playing without a recognised striker - scored their first ever goal against the mediocre Caley Jags but ICT managed to hang on for the final 10 minutes to grab a valuable win. 05/04/08 Fir Park, Motherwell GRETNA 1 Barr (80) Team: Fleming, Barr, Griffiths, Meynell, McGill, Osman, Murray (Wilkinson 78), Skelton, Deverdics (Hogg 78), Kissock, Naughton SUBS: Fisher, Taylor, Sharples, Robinson, Schultz-Eklund INVERNESS CALEDONIAN THISTLE 2 McBain (71), Cowie (73) Team: Fraser, Tokely, McGuire, Proctor, Hastings, Wilson, McBain, Cowie, Paatelainen (Hart 82), Imrie, Wyness (McAllister 82) SUBS: Vigurs, Gillespie, Duff, Kerr, Malkowski Referee Mike Tumilty Attendance 431 Alternative Maryhill: Just back from a riveting performance, where a lot of the game consisted of Mikey punting the ball up the field to Imrie, where it would generally be won by Gretna. For the five minutes surrounding the two goals we looked like a team with a bit of fight and confidence again, and then it all just drained away again. Why?? Having said that, there were plenty of chances, but these were epitomised by a lovely cross along the goalmouth behind the keeper which Patti and AN Other (can't remember who) somehow magically failed to convert even though the ball was about a foot from the line and no Gretna players were close. Best players on the field were Kissock and Naughton from Gretna. Patti should have been subbed at half time for Hart, just seemed too lightweight today. Most depressing three points I've ever seen. Bayne, Duncan and Munro were all in the stands with us, so I hoped they enjoyed the show... Caley Stan: Although this fixture was a meaningless joke, it's still nice to see us win at last. We made hard work of though. Brewster went back to 4-4-2, with Wyness and Imrie up front, Wilson on the right and Markus on the left. Strange then that we spent most of the game punting high balls up to our wee strikers. There was a general lack of confidence and composure throughout the team - most of the players seemed to panic and hoof as soon as they received the ball instead of looking around for a simple pass. In spite of this, we managed to carve out a fair few chances, especially in the first half when Dennis could've had a hat-trick. Gretna came into the game more in the second half, with our defence looking as shaky as ever. McBain and Cowie deserved their goals, they worked well together in the middle of the park and were probably our best players today.
  3. Caley Thistle recorded another victory over Gretna today. Today's 3-0 victory takes the season tally to 10 goals scored against the borders side with none against. Another double from Marius Niculae, and a penalty from John Rankin all in the first half meant that Caley Thistle were on easy street but despite numerous chances in the second half, the Caley Jags still fell one goal short of scoring competitive goal number 1000 but its the three points that matter. Here's hoping that goal 1000 may come at Easter Road next week 05/01/08 Tulloch Caledonian Stadium INVERNESS CT 3 Niculae (34, 41), Rankin (39pen) Team: Fraser, Tokely, Proctor, Munro, Hastings (McBain 75), Cowie (Paateleainen 66), Black, Duncan, Rankin, Wyness, Niculae (Bayne 77) Subs: Gillespie, Vigurs, Duff, Malkowski GRETNA 0 Team: Caig, Barr, Collin, Innes, Horwood, Makinwa (McGill 88), Jenkins (Osman 51), Yantorno, Murray, Skelton, Deuchar Subs: Grady, Deverdics, McLaren, Canning, Fleming Referee Dougie McDonald Attendance 3919 Craig Brewster made two changes to the starting lineup after a disappointing defeat in the New Year fixture against Aberdeen. On-loan defender Phil McGuire was suspended for what might have been his last game for the Caley Jags - at least for a while - if a permanent deal cant be worked out with Dunfermline. His place in central defence was taken by the versatile David Proctor who may not have had success at Dundee United but is once again proving to be a very capable player in Inverness colours. Dennis Wyness also returned to the side with Graham Bayne dropping to the bench. Gretna had endured a horrendous journey up the A9. Opting to come up a day early, but were thwarted at Perth for 6 hours because of bad weather and didn't arrive until very late Friday night. Saturday was to be no better for them as Caley Thistle once again triumphed at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium with a 3-0 victory and made it 10 goals scored and none conceded against the visitors this season. This win was Caley Thistle's fifth home victory in a row at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium and seventh in the last 9 games, a record that has seen the club climb up the table from the relegation spot to currently lie seventh and only 4 points off third placed Motherwell. Going into this game Caley Thistle had scored 996 competitive goals but try as they might, they could only take the tally to 999 after this game and will have to wait for that 1000th goal. The home side, often slow to start was quick off the blocks in this game. Gretna has had a habit of completely capitulating if hit hard and early and this appeared to be Craig Brewster's gameplan. The first real chance fell to Ian Black in only 4 minutes when he forced a save out of Tony Caig after some neat build up play from Ross Tokely and Don Cowie. Dennis Wyness was next with a chance when a volleyed effort went close in 13 minutes but was again saved by Caig. David Proctor then had a header saved by the keeper and Ian Black had one blocked by Skelton and with 23 minutes on the clock, Caley Thistle had another three efforts on goal courtesy of a John Rankin corner. First Ross Tokely saw his headed effort blocked on the line, then the keeper blocked Grant Munro's attempt and finally Proctor had a shot diverted off the bar and out for a corner which came to nothing. Goals were coming, and even the neutrals could tell that only one team was going to score them. The first came in 34 minutes and it was from Marius Niculae with a major assist from Russell Duncan. Duncan surged forward from his own half deep into Gretna's and then laid the ball off to Niculae who looked up and then drilled a perfect shot low into the corner from 25 yards to make it 1-0. Five minutes later, it was Niculae again harassing the Gretna defence and this time he was needlessly pulled down by Chris Innes as a dangerous Tokely ball curled into the box. The ref had no hesitation in awarding a spot kick. John Rankin stepped up to take it and made no mistake. 2-0. At 2-0 Gretna did have a decent effort from Craig Barr but Mike Fraser held it easily enough. Back to the other end then and another goal from Niculae in 41 minutes. Marius doesn't seem to score single goals and today was to be no different. A Cowie corner was headed to far side of penalty area, Tokely headed back to edge of box and Niculae hit a downward volley into the net off the keepers left hand post Half Time: 3-0 If the first half was exciting and enjoyable from an ICT point of view, the second was a bit more mundane. Caley Thistle were on the hunt for competitive goal number 1000 but despite numerous chances, they couldn't get it. Gretna on the other hand, although they tried, put very little pressure on the Caley Thistle defence and when they did ICT usually went back up the park and had a go themselves. Niculae was the first to have a go just after half-time before Skelton tried his luck for Gretna. Just after that, Russell Duncan hit a tremendous twenty five yard shot to Caig's top left corner but he pulled off a fantastic save to tip the ball for a corner. Wyness then went close with a header that went just inches wide and then Rankin curled a shot just past Caig's post. Caley Thistle then came within a whisker of goal 1000 through substitute Markus Paatelainen. A Rankin cross found Markus in the box and he headed powerfully at the keeper but Caig managed to tip it over for a corner. From the resultant corner, Markus again went close but Caley Thistle just couldn't get that fourth goal. Gretna had a chance at a consolation goal in 77 minutes but Mike Fraser managed to push away Fabian Yantorno's shot. At the other end four minutes later Proctor hit the post and Paatelainen hit the rebound over the bar and that was about it. Full Time: 3-0 A fine victory, a clean sheet and 999 competitive goals. Its Hibs at Easter Road in the cup this week so a hard game but with confidence running high and Hibs lying below ICT in the SPL table, a win is definitely possible.
  4. Team: A big win for Caley Thistle today, both in terms of the scoreline and also in getting a little bit further away from the relegation zone. Dennis Wyness slotted home a second minute penalty after Ross Tokely had been fouled in the box and a Don Cowie free kick on the half hour mark extended the lead. Second half goals from Barry Wilson and Roy McBain sealed a 4-0 victory. 27/10/07 Fir Park, Motherwell Gretna 0 Team: Caig, Cowan (Graham 46), Horwood, Grainger, McGuffie, Jenkins, Murray, Hogg (Grady 66), Skelton, Yantorno, Buscher (McMenamin 79) Subs: Deverdics, McGill, Paarpalu, Fleming INVERNESS CT 4 Wyness (2pen), Cowie (31), Wilson (73), McBain (75) Team: Fraser, Tokely, McGuire (Proctor 79), Munro, Hastings, McBain, Black (Wilson 60), Duncan, Cowie, Niculae (Bayne 72), Wyness Subs: D McDonald, Vigurs, Kerr, Malkowski Referee Mike McCurry Attendance 1096 It was going to be a long day as it was, and it was one made even longer for me when I received a call during the early hours of the morning to let me know that I was to be an uncle again as my brother and his wife had been blessed with a son weighing in at 5lbs 5oz who was to be named Michael Rury. A toast to their good health would have to wait as I had to be up and about in a couple of hours to ferry the ICT faithful to Fir Park for the game. Ironically, interest in attending the game was high as everyone wanted to be part of the crowd that was tipped to become the lowest ever in the SPL. Gretna had organised a Family Fun day for pre-match entertainment and that meant an early start to allow the youngsters (and the young at heart) to attend. The decision had also been taken to brighten things up a bit by participating in the “Wear it Pink ” campaign in support of Breast Cancer Research. The ladies were dressed head to toe in pink, whilst the only pink from the lads was the colour of their cheeks resulting from a sherbet or two in the Social Club pre-match. Those travelling on the CaleyThistleOnline minibus were split into two buses this week. Maimie was first with her bus with me following on after a couple of pick-ups. Male arrogance was in full flow and we were confident we’d catch them on the A9 despite the 10 minute lead. That wasn’t to be, although both buses pulled in to Ballinluig one after the other for the breakfast stop. Maimie was first away again, and we were all ready to roll until it was discovered that we’d somehow managed to pay for breakfast twice…TM4TJ and Billy the fish weren’t having this and had to go back in to reclaim some funds for the beer when we got to Motherwell. Finally we were back on the road and despite short visit to the crematorium at the request of Caley100 we made it to Fir Park. We were made very welcome at the Social Club and were mingling happily with the Gretna and Motherwell fans (they were waiting on their bus to take them to Parkhead). Spirits were high, the songs had already begun and a quick call back to the Innes Bar confirmed what we all suspected….Scooby wasn’t available to give us a lift the 50 yards from the Social Club to the Stadium!!! Predictions for the crowd were coming in at around the 600 to 700 mark whilst predictions on the score were based around a 1-2 or 0-2 for ICT. My own prediction had been 1-3 as clean sheets haven’t been our speciality this season. There had been much speculation about the team, would Brewster make himself available and would Zibi get another chance in goal….as it was, Craig Brewster went with only one change to the starting line up for this match against bottom of the league Gretna with Michael Fraser coming in to start against the on-loan Zibi Malkowski. Gretna had also gone with a change of goalkeeper by bringing in Caig and had made changes in most other areas of the field. On entering the stadium the crowd looked more than the predicted 6 or 700 and the Caley Thistle faithful had turned out in good numbers and high spirits. The songs had started before the teams were even on the pitch and the majority of the travelling support was in good voice. It wasn’t going to take much to have the Caley Jags fans singing today but rewards for the twelfth man came early. A long throw by Munro into the box led to a chance for Tokely to stick the ball in to the net at the left post, his chance was impeded by barge from Cowan, but the result was a deserved penalty. Wyness stepped up to do the honours and he sent Caig the wrong way as he placed the ball comfortably into the bottom-right of the net. Caley Thistle looked to be in control of the game from early on with Gretna doing very little to threaten. We were defending from well up the park which seemed to be frustrating Gretna and it became obvious early on that they were relying heavily on Fabian Yantorno. Marius Niculae was next to threaten the Gretna goal. He picked up the ball on the halfway line and made direct for the Gretna end. He was closed out with about 25 yards to go but managed to stop and control the ball for a shot which went low and narrowly wide of the post. Gretna’s first shot on goal came shortly afterwards following a foul by Tokely on Yantorno 35 yards out. Yantorno decided to shoot direct but it offered no trouble to Fraser and dipped harmlessly on to the roof of the net. The chants were coming thick and fast from the travelling Caley Jags fans….”Your just a Pub Team from England” and “Shall we sing a song for You” being directed at the very quiet Gretna Support. Niculae then came close again. Caig had come off his line to chase a high ball to his left but missed it in dramatic fashion only for it to fall in front of the goal a few yards out. Niculae was at full stretch as he clipped the ball on the volley with his right foot. Had he got a little more on it then Grainger would have been unable to reach it and clear it from the line. Nobody seems more desperate to score for ICT just now than him, and you have to wonder what he has to do to get his name on an SPL goalsheet as he continues to be denied. Dennis Wyness was fouled about 25 yards out on the left side of the pitch shortly afterwards and the balled was placed for Don Cowie to take the free-kick. His shot was well struck and it curled around the wall and inside the near post to make it 0-2 after 31 minutes. Then came one of the most bizarre bookings I have ever seen. It could only have been given for dissent as not only was the ball nowhere near the booked Paul Murray, but he hadn’t been involved anywhere in the play. It didn’t take long for those around me to agree that given the poor effort by Gretna in the game so far, he’d been booked simply because he was…eh….”not very good”, and the rest of the Gretna team would be booked for the same thing if they didn’t get their act together. Inverness CT weren’t playing at their best but Gretna had nothing to offer which was caused us any trouble. McBain did manage one other shot on goal before the half-time whistle and the Caley Jags were cheered off the park for a dominating first 45 minute performance. HT – Gretna 0 v 2 Inverness CT One half-time substitution for Gretna as David Graham was brought on to replace David Cowan and it looked like Gretna were going to go for broke and risk 3 at the back. Caley Thistle looked sharp for the first 5 minutes of the second half getting off to a very positive start with Niculae heading narrowly over from the penalty box and Wyness also going over with an attempted lob from the left side of the area. For the next 20 minutes or so it looked like we were going to be happy to defend our lead and we allowed Gretna to come at us a bit more by choosing to defend a bit deeper. Yantorno was caught narrowly offside about 20 yards out and moments later he missed narrowly wide from 25 yards out. Ian Black was down injured on the far side of the field and it seemed to go unnoticed as play continued. Then McGuffie had a text book copy of Yantorno’s effort missing narrowly right. It looked like ICT had gone to sleep and if they weren’t careful Gretna were going to get themselves right back in to this game. Black had to make his own way off the pitch to receive treatment and the decision was quickly made to send Barry Wilson on in his place. Philip McGuire received a soft yellow card for a mis-timed tackle on Yantorno. Although it didn’t appear that any contact was made, Yantorno had decided to go to ground. His recovery was miraculous though. The moment the card was shown he was up and ready to take the free-kick which sailed harmlessly over the bar. Frasers goal kick was picked up well by Gretna and they came right back at us with Skelton opting to shoot from 30 yards out. The ball looked like it was going safely (if only narrowly) wide, but Fraser was taking no chances and a spectacular dive saw him getting a full hand behind the powerful shot and pushing it out along the line. Niculae made a desperate attempt to chase and keep the ball in to prevent the corner but a chasing Gretna player posed too much of a threat and he knocked it safely out. The Caley Thistle fans had been giving James Grady a bit of a hard time when he was warming up in the first half (we seemed to have songs for everyone and everything today), and he had now been take on to replace Steven Hogg. About 20 minutes in to the second half and we finally looked like we’d got ourselves together again and were back to defending from further forward and quickly breaking down the little threat Gretna had been showing. It was also time for our second sub with Bayne coming on to replace Niculae up front. Wyness had a shot pushed out by Caig with about 20 minutes left on the clock. Cowie knocked the resultant penalty in to the box but the clearance didn’t go too far before being played back in. Some nice touches from ICT saw us carve their defence apart - the play started with McBainplaying the ball wide to Wilson who cut inside and played it through to Munro on the edge of the area, Munro played it straight back to Wilson who touched it off to McGuire for him to play the killer touch behind the defender leaving Wilson with the simple task of taking a touch before slotting it into the bottom right corner. 0-3 This was the catalyst for the first of the Gretna fans to start departing from the stadium to chants of “Cheerio” and “We Can See You Sneaking Out”….not to mention my favourite of the day “Relegation to You” (sung to the tune of Happy Birthday to You). I was getting hoarse and the Stewards seemed to have all but given up on telling us to sit down… ”What’s the point, we’ll be standing to celebrate the next goal soon” was one reply to them…made all the funnier by the fact that whoever had said it was spot on. No sooner had we stopped cheering the third goal when the 4th one came. And it was a goal from nothing. A run of the mill ball played in from the right to McBain about 30 yards out. He must have saw the gap and the chance because he simply let rip with a shot into top dead centre….his name on the score sheet and a Free M.O.T from Caley100 (that’ll teach him to keep his gob shut…lol) Substitutions by both teams with 12 minutes on the clock did little to change the flow of the game. Proctor came on to replace the booked McGuire and Gretna swapped Buscher for McMennamin The last 10 minutes saw ICT simply knocking the ball about and killing the clock. Yantoro did manage his party trick of knocking a ball over the bar one more time from a fair distance out, with our own Wilson and Tokely having half chances of their own. Caley Thistle fans had taken pity on the Gretna support that had remained to the end and we even took to cheering on their players when they had the ball. Fortunately I managed to spell Gretna correctly when doing a round of “Gimme a G…Gimme an R…etc” From here on in I don’t think we let Gretna within 30 yards of goal and McCurry should receive a humanity medal for putting them out of their misery on the stroke of 90 minutes with no time added. Full Time: 0-4 I said after the Hibs game that we were going to give someone a hammering sooner rather than later due to the way we had been playing back then. The truth is, we weren’t at the top of our game today, but we didn’t have to be. We always looked ready to shift up a gear if it was needed whilst Gretna already looked like they had engaged everything at their disposal. The journey home…..well that’s a story in itself and shall be left for discussion on the forums!!!
  5. Graham Bayne, Barry Wilson and Dennis Wyness were all on the scoresheet tonight as Caley Thistle eased through to the next round of the CIS League Cup with a 3-0 victory over Gretna at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, but it could so easily have been more. Bayne opened the scoring in 21 minutes and goals in 67 minutes from Barry Wilson and in the 80th minute by Dennis Wyness sealed the victory. 25/09/07 Tulloch Caledonian Stadium INVERNESS CT 3 (Bayne 21, Wilson 67, Wyness 80) Team: Malkowski, Tokely, McCaffrey, Munro, Hastings, Wilson (Rankin 79), Duncan, Cowie, Morgan, Bayne (D. McDonald 72), Brewster (Wyness 57) Subs: Proctor & Fraser GRETNA 0 Team: Fleming, Jenkins, Horwood (Skelton 71), Grainger, Collin, McGill, Paartalu, Hogg, McLaren (Yantorno 53), McMenamin (Grady 71), Buscher Subs: McGuffie & Scott Referee A Freeland Attendance 1717 Malkowski made his full ICT debut between the sticks for this fixture, and despite one slight lapse of concentration in the first half, seemed to deal with whatever came to him and cleared his lines well. Graham Bayne, also playing for the full 90, linked well with Brewster up front and put the home team in front midway through the first half, and deservedly so. The midfield of Wilson, Duncan, Cowie and Morgan produced some great flowing football and were quick to track back when called upon. Munro, and Tokely, alongside the returning Stuart McCaffrey and Richard Hastings, made for a strong back 4 which Gretna found hard to break through. Ian Black, Roy McBain and Marius Niculae were to be rested for this tie, with Fraser warming the bench alongside Wyness, McDonald, Proctor and John Rankin. Gretna, shooting towards the North Stand in the first half, produced the first attack of the game when Brenden McGill sent in a cross towards Colin McMenniman, only to be met by a solid defensive set-up. From then on it was all Inverness, and the fans certainly played their part. Barry Wilson made some mazy runs, swapping passes with Craig Brewster with some classy 1-touch football. Wilson was also on hand early on with some decent corners, creating many problems for goalkeeper Gregg Fleming. Inverness made the most of some sloppy play by the Gretna defence, who conceded 5 corners in as many minutes after constant pressure. Don Cowie and Barry Wilson providing an array of quality deliveries into the box, and a 21st minute header from close range was enough to put ICT into the lead. Graham Bayne scoring in his first game since returning from injury. At first, Gretna seemed to try and create an equaliser, but the final pass seemed to elude them some what. Hogg and McGill were unable to get a decent enough cross in for the front pairing of McManniman and Buscher, and Malkowski was set for a trouble free evening in the ICT goal. Inverness started to play very well leading up to half time - the goal obviously a boost to them - and created an opening for a second goal. Don Cowie, settling nicely in his role on the right flank, read the game superbly, and sent in a superb cross towards the far post for Alan Morgan to create an opening. The ball was cut back across goal towards Craig Brewster only for David Cowan to clear once more for Gretna. The half time whistle blew with ICT sitting at 1-0. Would Caley Thistle sit on their lead, or would they go all out to finish off a Gretna side who seemed somewhat weakened after their triumph over Dundee Utd at the weekend? The Second Half was dominated by Caley Thistle pressure, and it was great to see Tokely and Cowie linking well on the right. Rossco did, however, seem to drift out of position on the odd occasion, and Munro did well to cover his tracks. Barry Wilson, again throughout the half, made a nuisance of himself in the midfield, continuously running in and out of position to get the best delivery into the box. His frustration was showing, though, as Gretna managed to clear their line time and time again. 15 minutes into the second half, Inverness made their first substitution of the game, with Player-Manager Craig Brewster taking himself off to be replaced by Dennis Wyness. Brewster had previously received treatment in the first half after a strong tackle from Gretna‘s Daniel Grainger. Wyness first touch of the ball could have put Inverness further ahead, when a splendid delivery from Alan Morgan from the left was met with Wyness’ head. Unfortunately for them, Fleming was well placed to punch clear and Gretna were on the attack. Short lived it was though, as Inverness pushed for a second. Barry Wilson in the 67th minute, the ball falling nicely to him to fire the home side into a 2-0 lead. Fleming pretty much left stranded, with little the defence could do. It was around this time that things in the stand got more interesting than activities on the park, as those who were getting behind their team were soon unable to do so. With 25 minutes of the 90 still to play, and your team winning 2-0 against SPL rivals, there is obviously going to be celebrations and an atmosphere. The latter almost certainly encouraging this changed ICT team to perform well on the pitch. The scenes in Section G were unbelievable and contradicting, bullying and encouraging. Overall, very surreal. The heavy handedness of certain stewards is astounding at a fixture of this nature, and with no malicious intent, racism or rude chants to be heard from anyone, it baffles even the most intelligent minds as to why we get behind our team in the first place. I digress!!! Back to the game and ICT were still dominating. Wyness now making some superb runs as the midfield tried to create an opening, and holding the ball up well to try and create for Bayne. With all three subs now used in the form of Mcdonald (for Bayne 72) and Rankin (for Wilson 79) it was clear their was no way back for the former Unibond Premier outfit. Very little was created for them, and even with the introductions of double subs Skelton and Grady, there was no inspiration to drive forward and create chances. The final nail in the coffin came in the form of a strikers poach. Don Cowie ran down the right flank to swing in a superb cross for Alan Morgan. Morgan tracked back to swing the ball back into the box, and an anticipated run by Ross Tokely saw him get in behind 2 defenders. Across goal went his shot with Fleming well and truly beaten, and all Wyness had to do was tap it in from 3 yards. 2 goals in 2 games now for Dennis Wyness, and there was surely signs of his former self on show. 3-0 it was to finish and it could have been more. Even Dean MacDonald had the ball in the net late on, but he was already judged to have been offside before he struck low into the bottom right corner from just 18 yards. Full Time: 3-0 Man of the Match was Barry Wilson and rightly so. He played extremely well and produced some great passing moves. His awareness was fantastic and he topped of a great night with his first goal of the season. Things looking very very good for ICT on the park, but in the stand - well - it’s going to be a long long season to come!!!
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