Inverness CT 0 - 0 Hearts

League Match
Saturday, February 15th, 2014, 3:00 PM at Tulloch Caledonian Stadium
Attendance: 3,392
Referee: Craig Thomson
Inverness CT  Hearts

Goalscorers
None. None.

Team Managers
John Hughes Gary Locke

Starting Eleven
Dean Brill
Josh Meekings
Gary Warren
David Raven
Graeme Shinnie
Aaron Doran
Greg Tansey
Ross Draper
James Vincent
Marley Watkins
Billy Mckay
Jamie MacDonald
Dylan McGowan
Brad McKay
Danny Wilson
Jordan McGhee
Jamie Hamill
Scott Robinson
Dale Carrick
Ryan Stevenson
Sam Nicholson
Paul McCallum

Substitutes
Ryan Esson
Daniel Devine
Carl Tremarco
Nick Ross
Liam Polworth
Danny Williams
Richie Foran
Mark Ridgers
Jason Holt
Billy King
Gary Oliver
Angus Beith

Substitutions
Richie Foran for James Vincent (74)
Billy King -> Dale Carrick (74)

Bookings
Greg Tansey (88)
Paul McCallum (68)
Scott Robinson (90).

Red Cards
None. None.
Appearances & Goals To Date
Dean Brill (GK) 28 apps -
David Raven 60 apps -
Josh Meekings 90 apps -
Gary Warren 64 apps8 goals
James Vincent 13 apps1 goal
Marley Watkins 17 apps -
Ross Draper 66 apps6 goals
Graeme Shinnie 128 apps4 goals
Aaron Doran 101 apps12 goals
Greg Tansey 43 apps6 goals
Billy Mckay 97 apps49 goals
Richie Foran (sub) 188 apps44 goals

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Aaron Doran (22 years 284 days)
Oldest Player:Graeme Shinnie (2015 years 201 days)
Average Player Age:25 years 361 days
Domestic Players:5 (45.45 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Liam Polworth (19 years 131 days)
Oldest Player:Graeme Shinnie (2015 years 201 days)
Average Player Age:25 years 335 days
Domestic Players:10 (55.56 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones

Wood you believe it!

Inverness pummelled the Hearts goal but the woodwork came to the Jambos rescue on a number of occasions to keep the score blank. When the woodwork was beaten, Jamie MacDonald was once again in fine form to deny the reluctant strikers of the home side with a series of excellent saves, and some great goal line clearances ensured the Edinburgh side went home with a valuable point.

Inverness started the game with Foran on the bench and what looked like their strongest eleven on the park with Vincent and Watkins on from the start, along with Greg Tansey.

The pattern of the game was set early on after Ryan Stevenson fired a warning shot across the Inverness bows.

After that, it was constant pressure from Inverness who looked eager to score. Maybe too eager as a little composure might have seen some goals scored, but it all became a bit too frantic as chance after chance went abegging, the home side electing to take an extra touch or try to tee up someone else rather than take the bull by the horns.

Inverness' wide players were having a field day with Watkins and Doran able to beat their man at will, but the final ball all too often going astray.

When we did get a shot away, the woodwork was in brilliant form, denying Watkins, McKay, Raven and Tansey in a first half totally dominated by Inverness.

Danny Wilson blocked a McKay effort and Jordan McGhee cleared a Watkins shot off the line, but the ball would just not fall kindly for Inverness as MacDonald staged a one man blockade to deny Inverness as he made a TV save to deny a Tansey header.

Half Time 0-0

The process continued after the break, but Hearts realised it might just be their day and tried to smuggle the points out of Inverness. The ever popular Jamie Hamill tried a long range shot which went just wide but the domination continued and MacDonald denied Tansey with a superb save low down to his right.

A few more scrambles in the Hearts box kept the fans interested but the extra touch thwarted the Inverness forwards as they seemingly tried to walk the ball into the net.

With Hearts still in the game. they realised they might just get all three points and pushed forward late in the game, Hammil and McCallum having the best opportunities, but after dominating for so long, Inverness were not going to concede now and the game ended scoreless.

Full Time 0-0

Shooting practice might just be on Yogi's agenda this week after our forwards failed to make the most of our superiority, but credit also has to go to a battling Hearts side desperately looking to avoid the drop. Marley Watkins was probably our most likely match winner but like the rest, he failed to hit the net. Good to see Foran back, and he added some urgency when he came on, but in the end we had to settle for a share of the points.

At least we kept eleven men on the park this time...............meh

Match report written by tm4tj



complete
report added by tm4tj

Pld W D L F A +/- Pts
1. Celtic 24 21 3 0 57 12 45 66
2. Aberdeen 25 15 3 7 36 22 14 48
3. Motherwell 24 15 2 7 38 33 5 47
4. Dundee Utd 25 10 8 7 43 30 13 38
5. Inverness CT 23 11 5 7 29 21 8 38
6. St. Johnstone 23 9 5 9 31 26 5 32
7. Hibernian 25 8 7 10 23 28 -5 31
8. Kilmarnock 26 7 5 14 32 44 -12 26
9. St. Mirren 26 6 6 14 24 42 -18 24
10. Ross County 25 6 4 15 30 45 -15 22
11. Partick Thistle 26 4 10 12 25 43 -18 22
12. Hearts 26 5 6 15 22 44 -22 21