Kilmarnock 1 - 1 Inverness CT

League Match
Saturday, December 17th, 2016, 3:00 PM at Rugby Park
Attendance: 3,294
Referee: Nick Walsh
Kilmarnock Inverness CT

Goalscorers
Souleymane Coulibaly (73) Gary Warren (84)

Team Managers
Lee Clark & Lee McCulloch Richie Foran

Starting Eleven
Jamie MacDonald
Luke Hendrie
Iain Wilson
William Boyle
Greg Taylor
Gary Dicker
Steven Smith
Souleymane Coulibaly
Rory McKenzie
Jordan Jones
Nathan Tyson
Owain Fon Williams
Josh Meekings
Gary Warren
Carl Tremarco
Brad Mckay
Iain Vigurs
Greg Tansey
Ross Draper
Lewis Horner
Larnell Cole
Lonsana Doumbouya

Bench
Devlin Mackay
Charlee Adams
Florent Bojaj
Adam Frizzell
Dean Hawkshaw
Innes Cameron
Martin Smith
Ryan Esson
Aaron Doran
Liam Polworth
Jake Mulraney
Alex Fisher
Scott Boden
Billy King

Substitutions
None. Alex Fisher for Lonsana Doumbouya (20)
Liam Polworth for Brad Mckay (46)
Billy King for Lewis Horner (52)

Bookings
Greg Taylor (63)
Steven Smith (90)
Ross Draper (16)
Liam Polworth (90)

Red Cards
None. None.
Appearances & Goals To Date
Owain Fon Williams (GK) 66 apps -
Josh Meekings 189 apps7 goals
Brad Mckay 12 apps -
Carl Tremarco 96 apps7 goals
Gary Warren 173 apps14 goals
Ross Draper 182 apps16 goals
Iain Vigurs 83 apps16 goals
Larnell Cole 8 apps1 goal
Lewis Horner 31 apps1 goal
Greg Tansey 169 apps26 goals
Lonsana Doumbouya 15 apps5 goals
Liam Polworth (sub) 95 apps10 goals
Alex Fisher (sub) 17 apps1 goal
Billy King (sub) 21 apps3 goals

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Brad Mckay (23 years 272 days)
Oldest Player:Josh Meekings (2018 years 142 days)
Average Player Age:28 years 145 days
Domestic Players:7 (63.64 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Jake Mulraney (20 years 261 days)
Oldest Player:Josh Meekings (2018 years 142 days)
Average Player Age:27 years 235 days
Domestic Players:12 (66.67 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones

Injuries ruin our chances:

Inverness came from behind to earn a 1-1 draw with Kilmarnock in a game marred by more injuries to our already creaking squad. Souleymane Coulibaly scored a superb individual goal, his eleventh of the season, but captain Gary Warren cancelled that out as he headed home with six minutes remaining.

That result keeps us second bottom with Ross County the only bottom team to pick up three points, and that was enough for them to replace Killie in the top six.

Gary Warren returned to the starting XI with injury ravaged Owain Fon Williams and Lewis Horner taking their places in defence. In an attempt to bolster the midfield, Brad Mckay played in front of the back four, and Foran started with Lonsana Doumbouya the lone target man. Larnell Cole kept his place after his fine performance last week. Wide players Jake Mulraney, Aaron Doran and Billy King all started on the bench alongside Liam Polworth who has returned sooner than anticipated from injury.

Killie had injury worries of their own and youngster Ian Wilson was given a start at the back with Scott Boyd missing out.

It was a pretty dour first half with the home side occasionally threatening. In one such attack Josh Meekings made a tremendous clearance off the line after Nathan Tyson had clipped the ball over Owain Fon Williams. He did enough to hook the ball away from the goal line and Brad Mckay completed the clearance to avert a certain goal.

Nick Walsh was called into question when the ball came off an Inverness arm in a goalmouth scramble but that would have been harsh had he penalised it. He was asked again and this time it could easily have been given as a cross was blocked by an elbow on the edge of the box.

We struggled to make much headway in the first half, not helped by injuries to Doumbouya, Horner and Mckay. Fisher replacing the big striker after twenty-one minutes. Polworth replaced the nose bloodied Brad Mckay at the break. Lewis Horner struggled on until the hour before leaving the field, replaced by Billy King.

Gary Warren had our only effort of note in the first forty-five but his header went wide. He would do better late in the game.

Half Time 0-0

Billy King entered the fray and flashed a shot wide soon after and it looked as though the pace of the game had changed as we ventured forward. However, clean sheets are difficult to come by and Kilmarnock took the lead through a piece of individual magic.

Coulibaly scored his wonder goal in the second half, although there was an element of good fortune about it. When he gathered a long ball on the corner of our eighteen yard box, their seemed little danger. The ball bounced up and he controlled it with his arm. Undaunted and unpunished, he twisted and turned substitute Liam Polworth onto the ground before firing a high shot into the keepers near post as defenders closed on him.

Chances were at a premium, but Inverness found a way back into the game through captain Gary Warren. Greg Tansey fired a free kick into the box and the Killie rearguard parted to allow Warren every opportunity to head the ball down into the corner past a diving Jamie MacDonald.

Just what we needed to get us off the foot of the table again and the game ended with no further scoring.

Full Time 1-1

A draw was just about deserved as both sides had their moments on the ascendancy, but Killie will feel they might have nicked it with the one cleared off the line and a couple of penalty claims that were turned down. We came out stronger in the second half and did well to get back on level terms, so we won't complain about a share of the points.

Rig saw it like this

Really poor game overall. We lacked any attacking intent in the first half and seemed to have no plan for most of the game other than lump balls towards Doumbouya and Fisher. It was desperate stuff. Second half was a bit better but still we lacked an real incisive play in the final third. We seem to absolutely refuse to try and use our wingers and try and cross the ball into the box for the striker to attack.

Looked like there was a hint of a handball when Coulibaly took the ball down when he scored the opener. Still, poor defending from Polworth to let him cut back inside and Fon Williams beaten again at his near post. Atrocious marking for our equaliser. Warren seemed to get in between two Kille players and still had a free header to plant the ball past MacDonald.

Injuries really disrupted us today. Doumbouya, Horner and Mckay all taken off. Our reorganisation was a bit odd. Polworth at right back was strange. Far rather have Meekings there, drop Draper into defence and stick Polworth into midfield. He (Polworth) seemed to be one of the very few ICT players willing to carry the ball forward instead of battering it towards Fisher. Massively underwhelming first half performance, slightly improved second half but there's a lot of work to be done specifically in terms of our attacking play. We remain one dimensional, predictable and largely toothless. Think we deserved a draw but there's a lot of concerns there for me from an ICT point of view

Immortal Howden Ender picked out different highlights in his summary.

That was the best away day in years. The game was frenetic. It was highly entertaining and surprisingly competitive. I witnessed levels of skill and endeavour that I had never seen in certain individuals before. But then, unfortunately, the Hang The Man competition ended and we had to go to the game. How the feck did Mary Hill get Bahram Fetai !! The game itself was wholly forgettable. Up until the Coulibally goal BOTH teams served up dire stuff. The game only really heated up after they scored. We did show a lot of guts to recover but they went defensive and paid the price. Speaking to Killie fans afterwards they said that they had been doing the same all season. The goal was terrific and I had to celebrate with a piked, double somersault over the seats in front of me - ably abetted (feckin pushed) by King Beastie. And RedCard organised and won the goalscorer award and Warren could have had time to do a turn in the Hang the Man competition whilst he strolled in for the equaliser. The "spirit" certainly was there. Agree with what SuperFan posted earlier. Strange substitution but injuries are taking their toll. Strange to see the Walrus parading around with a huge ice pack on feckin freezing day and blood oozing from the two others. Tremarco was my clear MOM although Meekings was close. And we have no "teeth" up front.

Match report written by tm4tj/RIG/IHE



Pld W D L F A +/- Pts
1. Celtic 16 15 1 0 46 13 33 46
2. Rangers 18 10 5 3 25 18 7 35
3. Aberdeen 17 8 4 5 29 17 12 28
4. Hearts 18 7 7 4 32 22 10 28
5. St. Johnstone 17 6 6 5 23 20 3 24
6. Ross County 18 4 8 6 19 29 -10 20
7. Kilmarnock 18 4 7 7 16 30 -14 19
8. Motherwell 17 4 5 8 21 28 -7 17
9. Hamilton Academical 18 2 10 6 19 25 -6 16
10. Dundee 18 4 4 10 15 24 -9 16
11. Inverness CT 18 3 7 8 23 34 -11 16
12. Partick Thistle 17 3 6 8 19 27 -8 15