Inverness CT 1 - 2 Aberdeen

League Match
Saturday, April 25th, 2015, 3:00 PM at Tulloch Caledonian Stadium
Attendance: 4,530
Referee: Crawford Allan
Inverness CT  Aberdeen

Goalscorers
Edward Ofere (48)
David Raven (og.69)
Niall McGinn (74)

Team Managers
John Hughes Derek McInnes

Starting Eleven
Ryan Esson
Josh Meekings
Gary Warren
David Raven
Nick Ross
Graeme Shinnie
Greg Tansey
Ryan Christie
Danny Williams
Marley Watkins
Edward Ofere
Scott Brown
Shaleum Logan
Ash Taylor
Mark Reynolds
Andrew Considine
Niall McGinn
Willo Flood
Ryan Jack
Jonny Hayes
Kenny McLean
Adam Rooney

Substitutes
Cameron Mackay
Daniel Devine
Carl Tremarco
Aaron Doran
Liam Polworth
James Vincent
Tarmo Kink
Jamie Langfield
Cammy Smith
Peter Pawlett
David Goodwillie
Nicky Low
Lawrence Shankland
Donervon Daniels

Substitutions
Aaron Doran for Ryan Christie (71)
James Vincent for Nick Ross (71)
Tarmo Kink for David Raven (86)
Cammy Smith -> Kenny McLean (46)
David Goodwillie -> Adam Rooney (78)
Donervon Daniels -> Niall McGinn (90)

Bookings
None. Andrew Considine (51)

Red Cards
None. None.
Appearances & Goals To Date
Ryan Esson (GK) 174 apps -
Gary Warren 114 apps11 goals
Josh Meekings 143 apps3 goals
David Raven 113 apps2 goals
Nick Ross 172 apps13 goals
Ryan Christie 54 apps7 goals
Graeme Shinnie 182 apps8 goals
Greg Tansey 97 apps16 goals
Danny Williams 60 apps3 goals
Marley Watkins 67 apps9 goals
Edward Ofere 8 apps4 goals
Aaron Doran (sub) 146 apps19 goals
James Vincent (sub) 45 apps2 goals
Tarmo Kink (sub) 4 apps -

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Ryan Christie (20 years 64 days)
Oldest Player:Edward Ofere (2016 years 270 days)
Average Player Age:28 years 50 days
Domestic Players:9 (81.82 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Cameron Mackay (15 years 141 days)
Oldest Player:Josh Meekings (2016 years 270 days)
Average Player Age:25 years 242 days
Domestic Players:12 (66.67 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones

Heroes to Zero's:

Cup heroes Inverness were once more upstaged by Aberdeen, despite taking the lead. Last weeks heroes turned to zero's with David Raven being credited with an own goal and Marley Watkins missing a sitter, but he was not alone as profligacy allowed Aberdeen to stay in the game before they eventually stole the points.......... again. Edward Ofere did it lying down as he despatched a rebound into the net but second half goals from Raven and Niall McGinn sealed the points for the Dons who are on an impressive run at the moment. They have been difficult to break down and are not in the habit of losing many goals. Today they rode their luck at times aided by poor finishing and this result confirms Aberdeen as second best with Inverness needing to pull their socks up if they want to remain in third.

 This report comes to you courtesy of RIG

Massively disappointing result. Felt like a bit of a smash and grab by Aberdeen to be honest who looked poor for much of the match until we shot ourselves in the foot by conceding two shoddy goals again from set plays (something that needs to be sorted out). After they went ahead Aberdeen comfortably saw out the rest of the match. It may be clichéd by the sign of a good side is when they are playing poorly but still winning and that appears to be true for Aberdeen today.

We started brightly enough. Some of our passing play in and around the Aberdeen area was fantastic. Clever and intricate one touch passing which carved open the Dons defence on a few occasions. Watkins and Ross both found themselves one on one with the keeper only a few yards out but each time they were denied by superb stops by Brown in the Aberdeen goal. Watkins had another good chance before half time when he scurried in behind the Aberdeen defence but blazed his effort well over.

Whilst the Aberdeen defence wasn't looking too clever, the Dons attack, whilst quiet on the whole, still looked threatening on occasions. A clever lobbed ball by Hayes found Rooney in some space but, under pressure, he dragged his shot wide. Rooney then headed past the post from an Aberdeen corner as he ghosted in unmarked and fortunately ICT escaped on that occasion.

Half Time 0-0

ICT took the lead shortly after the break when Watkins was able to send a cross in from the left flank which Ofere headed towards goal. Scott Brown failed to hold onto the ball and fumbled it to Ofere who, whilst lying on the ground, hooked his foot round the ball to fire it into the net to give Inverness the lead.

The equaliser for Aberdeen was an exceptionally poor goal to concede from an ICT point of view. A McGinn free kick on the Inverness right side was whipped across goal and it seemed to evade everyone in the box before ending up in the back of the net. No idea if it came off Raven (confirmed) as some are reporting regardless it was still a very disappointing goal to give away. Worse was to follow five minutes later when Aberdeen took the lead. Esson had initially saved well from a Rooney effort but the ball fell to McGinn who netted the winner from a few yards out. I might be wrong but I think McGinn actually took the initial corner and he followed the ball in with no ICT player picking him up. Again, very poor defensively from ICT on a set piece.

After that Aberdeen easily controlled the rest of the game and looked comfortable for the remainder.

Full Time 1-2

Definitely not their finest performance but it says something that they can play poorly and still emerge with the three points in a 2nd v 3rd battle. ICT showed some great attacking play at times but poor finishing let us down badly today along with our well known problems defending set plays. The subs by Hughes were odd. I thought Ross and Christie were playing well when they came off but perhaps they were struggling after last weekends exploits.

Definitely feels like a point or three thrown away as we now move on to eight league games without a win a run of form that drastically needs to be reversed if we want to finish third this season. The Scottish Cup run is fantastic but we can't lose focus on what we are trying to achieve in the league.

There were two big(-ish) penalty shouts for handball in this game. The first was when an ICT player slid across goal to block a shot and, with his arm trailing along the surface behind him as he slid, blocked the shot / pass. Logan then looked like he may have moved his arm to control a bouncing ball in the box. Neither was given and the referee was, coincidentally after last weekends shenanigans, Crawford Allan.

Match report written by tm4tj/RIG



None.

Pld W D L F A +/- Pts
1. Celtic 33 25 4 4 70 17 53 79
2. Aberdeen 34 23 5 6 56 29 27 74
3. Inverness CT 33 16 7 10 45 35 10 55
4. St. Johnstone 34 15 6 13 31 32 -1 51
5. Dundee Utd 32 15 4 13 52 47 5 49
6. Hamilton Academical 34 13 7 14 44 48 -4 46
7. Dundee 34 11 11 12 45 47 -2 44
8. Partick Thistle 34 11 8 15 43 39 4 41
9. Kilmarnock 34 10 8 16 36 50 -14 38
10. Ross County 34 10 7 17 40 58 -18 37
11. Motherwell 34 9 4 21 33 59 -26 31
12. St. Mirren 34 7 3 24 26 60 -34 24