Humanity is alive and well:
Another great away day in Kilmarnock as Inverness took all three points in an entertaining tussle. An Adam Rooney spot kick and a Jonny Hayes super sprinter strike gave Inverness the cushion needed as they saw out a punchless Kilmarnock despite Rui Miguel reducing the deficit with a sweet header. Russell Duncan was restored to the frey and he was to play a big part in the resultant scoreline. Inverness' defence which looked to struggle last week against St Johnstone were also prominent and resolute as Alternative Maryhill will recount. After the game we also saw some unselfish humanitarian duties carried out at the station, well done red card.
Another away day, another great result. This isn’t supposed to happen. Inverness Caledonian Thistle don’t start seasons well. Yet a combination of determined defending, dangerous counter-attacking, a never-say-die attitude and a wee bit of luck has taken Terry Butcher’s team to joint fourth in the table with nine games gone.
Following ICT away these days is such a contrast from two years ago: then, Saturdays tended to start with a sense of impending doom; now they start with a sense of excitement and anticipation. Yesterday’s adventure began at Central Station at 11 am with an odd spectacle: IHE had driven up from Chorley first thing and in the bewilderment of getting up so early had forgotten to glue on his beard before leaving. In The Hunting Lodge in Kilmarnock, however, they still recognised him, and the other ICT boys who have frequented the place in the past. We had an enjoyable couple of hours there – a few beers, a bit of pool, a bit of football on the TV, a spot of cheesy country on the jukebox – then headed off to Rugby Park.
And so to the game. To some extent my report will have to rely on the BBC website’s text service: puzzlingly, although I took notes diligently throughout the game, when I woke up today they had been replaced by a strange code apparently written by a five year old.
After last week’s disappointing first half performance, Terry Butcher reverted to the line-up that had performed so well against Aberdeen, with Russell Duncan returning to the midfield, Stuart Duff playing at right back and Kevin McCann dropped to the bench. It was a wise decision, with Duncan and Duff among ICT’s standout performers. Caley Thistle started brightly, and when a headed clearance from a Hayes cross was returned into the box, Duncan shot just wide from 16 yards. This set the tone for an open first half: throughout the forty-five minutes, play went from end to end, with both teams attempting to play passing football, and only a slight lack of creativity around either box kept the number of chances down.
After an even first ten minutes, ICT begin to exert some sustained pressure on the Kilmarnock goal. In a five minute spell, the Inverness team had three corners and three free kicks in attacking areas, but were unable to find a finishing touch for any of the moves. Kilmarnock then came back into it, with their much-admired summer signings, Alexei Eremenko and David Silva, starting to have some influence. From an Eremenko corner, Connor Sammon had a chance to score but failed to connect properly; Silva then had a shot from distance well blocked by Ross Tokely. Possession continued to switch from side to side and the game continued to flow through the midfield areas then peter out around the eighteen-yard lines until almost half time, when Caley Thistle drew first blood.
A cross from the right was controlled by Odhiambo and laid off to Duncan, unmarked at the left hand side of the box. He turned and knocked the ball past Sissoko and went down heavily under Sissoko’s late challenge. Penalty kick. With Rooney standing over the ball, the result was never in doubt, and he buried the ball in the bottom left hand corner with the keeper going the wrong way. The Kilmarnock players felt Duncan had dived and spent most of the remainder of the half greeting about the injustice of it all, although they did find time to create one decent opportunity, with Pascali heading over the bar from Eremenko’s cross.
Half time: Kilmarnock 0, Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1.
I said ‘Aye’ to a Killie pie – how much do I owe you for that, by the way, Naelifts?
Unsurprisingly, Kilmarnock started the second half showing more urgency than ICT, and within the first five minutes of the restart Sammon, Eremenko and Hamill all had long-range shots on goal, each of which missed the target. For most of the half, though, ICT defended superbly and restricted Killie to very few meaningful chances, with Ryan Esson having little to do apart from dealing with a couple of Eremenko free kicks and taking the sting out of a Sammon shot which Shinnie subsequently cleared off the line. Meanwhile, ICT looked dangerous on the counter attack, and a few minutes after Cammy Bell had saved smartly from a Rooney shot from about ten yards, Hayes’ opportunism put Caley Thistle further ahead.
There seemed to be little danger for Kilmarnock when Eremenko passed back to Frazer Wright on the left hand side of his own half, but as Wright dithered on the ball, Hayes stole it from him and sprinted diagonally towards the goal before sliding the ball past the advancing Cammy Bell and into the corner of the net. It was one of those great experiences to witness, a bit like watching Rooney’s goal against Aberdeen three weeks ago, where time seems to slow down as you see everything unfolding in front of you, and there are a few agonising moments and then the relief and euphoria of seeing the ball in the net. The away support went mental.
Eight minutes later, Kilmarnock guaranteed a nervy finish for that away support when Rui Miguel angled a superb flying header from Harry Forrester’s cross past Ryan Esson. Yet despite having the bulk of possession for the remainder of the game, Kilmarnock were unable to really threaten Esson’s goal, and eventually, with Caley Thistle retaining the ball well in the Kilmarnock half, the match ended, although not before Jamie Hamill had taken out Nick Ross with a reckless, nasty challenge born of frustration. Hopefully Ross, who had another fine game, will not suffer any after effects from it.
Full Time: Kilmarnock 1-2 Inverness CT
It was not ICT’s biggest travelling support by any means but yet again the supporters were terrific, keeping up a continuous chorus of songs and encouragement. The gratitude of the players, particularly Russell Duncan, was obvious at the end. The mutual appreciation that appears to exist between supporters and players and management is as strong at the moment as I can ever remember it being, and well-organised and determined performances like this will only serve to strengthen that. Bring on Ibrox.
With the game over and three more points in the bag, we took a detour back passed the Hunting Lodge en route to the legendary Fanny by Gaslight before jumping on the train. Somewhere along the way we captured a County supporter. Back in Glasgow, we took him to the Horseshoe and watched him experimenting with alcohol. By that point, however, I had reached the sleeping standing up stage, and long before everyone else went off to Brechin’s for the lesbian karaoke, I had headed off to pass out in the safety of Maryhill.
Another great day then; and I was promised yesterday that name-dropping in match reports guarantees a better rating, so in the spirit of shameless self-prostitution, take a bow Mannie, Naelifts, IHE, Red Card, Govan Jaggie, itn jnr, Capital Caley, Carol, Christian, Yompa, Iain, Moraywanderer, and everyone else, names unknown or since forgotten; you were magnificent.
Match report written by tm4tj/alternative maryhill
