St. Mirren 1 - 1 Inverness CT

League Match
Saturday, October 28th, 2006, 3:00 PM at Love Street, Paisley
Attendance: 4,432
Referee: Mike Tumilty
St. Mirren Inverness CT

Goalscorers
Sutton (64) Craig Dargo (34)

Team Managers
Gus MacPherson Charlie Christie

Starting Eleven
Bullock
Van Zanten
Broadfoot
Millen
McGowne
Murray
Lappin
Sutton
Brittain
Reid
Mehmet
Mark Brown
Richard Hastings
Ross Tokely
Grant Munro
Darren Dods
Barry Wilson
Roy McBain
Russell Duncan
John Rankin
Graham Bayne
Craig Dargo

Bench
McKenna
Burke
Kean
Molloy
Brady
MacKay
Smith
Michael Fraser
Stuart McCaffrey
Stuart Soane
Richie Hart
Zander Sutherland
Dennis Wyness
Rory McAllister

Substitutions
Burke -> Reid (59)
Kean -> Mehmet (59)
Richie Hart for Barry Wilson (70)
Rory McAllister for Graham Bayne (87)

Bookings
Brittain (73) Graham Bayne (51)
John Rankin (54)
Roy McBain (58)
Barry Wilson (64)
Rory McAllister (90)

Red Cards
None. None.
Appearances & Goals To Date
Mark Brown (GK) 191 apps -
Richard Hastings 272 apps2 goals
Darren Dods 86 apps3 goals
Ross Tokely 375 apps28 goals
Grant Munro 181 apps5 goals
Russell Duncan 196 apps5 goals
John Rankin 12 apps2 goals
Barry Wilson 284 apps75 goals
Roy McBain 239 apps13 goals
Craig Dargo 50 apps25 goals
Graham Bayne 75 apps12 goals
Richie Hart (sub) 146 apps16 goals
Rory McAllister (sub) 31 apps3 goals

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Ross Tokely (27 years 241 days)
Oldest Player:John Rankin (2008 years 89 days)
Average Player Age:30 years 225 days
Domestic Players:10 (90.91 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Ross Tokely (27 years 241 days)
Oldest Player:Stuart Soane (2008 years 89 days)
Average Player Age:30 years 225 days
Domestic Players:17 (94.44 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones
Craig Dargo played his 50th major competitive game for the Club.
Craig Dargo scored for the 25th time for the Club.

ST MIRREN 1-1 ICT

Craig Dargo scores in the first half and John Sutton equalises in the second as the spoils are shared at Love Street. Caley Thistle Club Historian, Ian Broadfoot reports on the game.

It is a sign of the times that Caley Thistle came into this match as favourites and went home disappointed with a draw. Saints had taken all three points in Inverness on the opening day of the season but the visitors were now the form team.

It all started brightly for Caley Thistle, and they took a first half lead through Craig Dargo, but as time went on they were forced onto the back foot. Saints’ pressure led to an equaliser but after that the defence held firm and the 1-1 draw extended the unbeaten SPL run to seven matches.

Ian Black started his two-match suspension and Russell Duncan won the battle to replace him in midfield. Youngster Stuart Soane took a bench spot but otherwise the starting line-up matched the one that beat Falkirk last week.

Graham Bayne nearly gave the visitors a first minute lead with a 20 yard shot but it flew past the far post with ‘keeper Tony Bullock nowhere. John Sutton was a constant threat for the Buddies and in eight minutes Grant Munro did well to block as he shot goalwards.

Veteran Andy Millen should have done better for the home side in 16 minutes when he took a Billy Mehmet cut-back and somehow hit off target from little more than six yards.

In 28 minutes a long Mark Brown kick-out was flicked by Dargo into the path of Barry Wilson - he ran on and lobbed Bullock from the edge of the area but it went wide.

Caley Thistle took the lead in 34 minutes when Duncan took the ball off Hugh Murray in the centre circle and found Wilson on the right - his cross deflected off Millen to Dargo and the striker celebrated his 50th appearance for the club by sending a tremendous shot past Bullock for his fifth SPL goal of the season.

Half Time: 0-1

Caley Thistle had held their lead up to and after half time then a double substitution in 59 minutes gave St Mirren fresh impetus and set up strong pressure on the visitors’ defence. Stewart Kean and Alex Burke replaced Alan Reid and Billy Mehmet with Saints playing three up front.

The pressure paid off in 65 minutes after a free kick was cleared for a corner and Simon Lappin’s curling kick into the box from the right was headed home by Sutton.

While Saints continued to push forward it was not all one-way traffic and in 69 minutes Roy McBain and Dargo combined to set up John Rankin, but his shot deflected off Wilson for a goal kick. Richie Hart came on to replace Wilson and provide fresh legs for the final 20 minutes.

David van Zanten hit wide of Brown’s goal in 77 minutes and the same player shot over the bar with a minute left. Otherwise little troubled the Caley Thistle goal and Brown dealt comfortably with anything that reached him.

In the dying seconds substitute Rory McAllister became the fifth ICT player to be booked in a game that was anything but dirty.

Full Time 1-1

It ended with honours even and Caley Thistle moved back up to fourth place – a spot they held last week for 24 hours.

Match report written by Ian Broadfoot



Pld W D L F A +/- Pts
1. Celtic 11 9 1 1 21 7 14 28
2. Hearts 12 6 3 3 19 12 7 21
3. Rangers 12 5 4 3 19 14 5 19
4. Inverness CT 12 4 6 2 15 13 2 18
5. Kilmarnock 11 5 3 3 14 17 -3 18
6. Hibernian 11 4 3 4 17 11 6 15
7. Aberdeen 11 4 3 4 12 10 2 15
8. St. Mirren 12 4 3 5 13 15 -2 15
9. Falkirk 12 4 2 6 13 16 -3 14
10. Motherwell 12 3 2 7 14 19 -5 11
11. Dunfermline 12 2 3 7 9 17 -8 9
12. Dundee Utd 12 1 5 6 10 25 -15 8