Dundee Utd 1 - 1 Inverness CT

League Match
Saturday, March 17th, 2018, 3:00 PM at Tannadice Stadium, Dundee
Attendance: 4,772
Referee: Steven Kirkland
Dundee Utd Inverness CT

Goalscorers
Thomas Mikkelsen (64) Iain Vigurs (30)

Team Managers
Csaba L�szl� John Robertson

Starting Eleven
Harry Lewis
Stewart Murdoch
Thomas Scobbie
Mark Durnan
Jamie Robson
Paul Quinn
Billy King
Samuel Stanton
William Flood
Matthew Smith
Thomas Mikkelsen
Mark Ridgers
Gary Warren
Carl Tremarco
Brad Mckay
Collin Seedorf
Joe Chalmers
Charlie Trafford
Iain Vigurs
Liam Polworth
George Oakley
Connor Bell

Bench
Deniz Mehmet
Paul McMullan
Scott McDonald
Scott Fraser
William Edjenguele
Craig Slater
Anthony Ralston
Ryan Esson
Coll Donaldson
Riccardo Calder
Aaron Doran
Jake Mulraney
Daniel Mackay
Nathan Austin

Substitutions
Scott McDonald -> Paul Quinn (46)
Paul McMullan -> Matthew Smith (74)
Scott Fraser -> Thomas Mikkelsen (85)
Jake Mulraney for Charlie Trafford (71)
Aaron Doran for Connor Bell (78)
Nathan Austin for George Oakley (87)

Bookings
Matthew Smith (70) Iain Vigurs (57)
George Oakley (67)

Red Cards
None. None.
Appearances & Goals To Date
Mark Ridgers (GK) 33 apps -
Gary Warren 211 apps18 goals
Collin Seedorf 12 apps -
Joe Chalmers 35 apps2 goals
Brad Mckay 63 apps3 goals
Carl Tremarco 130 apps11 goals
Iain Vigurs 132 apps22 goals
Liam Polworth 149 apps13 goals
Charlie Trafford 20 apps -
Connor Bell 29 apps7 goals
George Oakley 33 apps8 goals
Jake Mulraney (sub) 60 apps2 goals
Aaron Doran (sub) 185 apps24 goals
Nathan Austin (sub) 4 apps -

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Connor Bell (21 years 250 days)
Oldest Player:Gary Warren (33 years 221 days)
Average Player Age:26 years 98 days
Domestic Players:5 (45.45 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Daniel Mackay (16 years 336 days)
Oldest Player:Ryan Esson (38 years 7 days)
Average Player Age:25 years 242 days
Domestic Players:8 (44.44 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones

Cold Comfort at Tannadice: A perishing cold and breezy March afternoon brought Inverness down to Tannadice to face Dundee United as our season hangs by a solitary thread, the IrnBru Cup thread.

Defeat today coupled with an expected Dumbarton win over Brechin will plunge us into dangerous territory with a top four finish highly unlikely.

It was pleasing to see that Coll Donaldson and Nathan Austin were deemed fit enough to make the bench along with Jake Mulraney, Riccardo Calder Aaron Doran and Daniel Mackay. Charlie Trafford comes in to midfield with Connor Bell reinstated up front. Brad Mckay partnered Gary Warren at the heart of the defence.

United had Paul McMullen, Scott McDonald and William Edjenguele on the bench with midweek goal scorer Matty Smith keeping his place in the starting XI.

A crowd of 4772 put their winter woolies on to brave the elements.

Connor Bell got the ball rolling and Inverness were first to get into gear in a bright opening spell but it was United that threatened first, Tremarco blocking Mikkelsen. Vigurs put Oakley through on goal at the other end but Harry Lewis denied him. Gary Warren had a header cleared off the line after Lewis misjudged a cross and Oakley had the loose ball blocked behind for a corner which United managed to clear. Good spell for the visitors.

Polworth found Oakley inside the box and he had another effort blocked as we kept the pressure on the home defence.

Just past the half hour and Inverness got the lift they needed when our talented midfielder Iain Vigurs headed home a Liam Polworth corner and United can have no complaints as Inverness have taken the game to them at every opportunity, a complete reverse of our midweek fail.

Vigurs was leading by example and he fired a long effort that keeper Lewis managed to hold.

Five minutes before the break and Mark Durnan prevented Connor Bell from knocking in Oakley's cross. Would have been a tap-in for Bell had Durnan not intervened.

It had been a good first half for Inverness who were able to exploit space behind the United defence with Iain Vigurs outstanding. Seedorf and Trafford both took heavy knocks in the first half and we will need to see if they will be back out for the second forty-five. Oakley had been wasteful so far, would that come back to haunt us. With the half time challenge going to team ICT by 6-4, the teams were back out for the second half with United replacing Quinn with Macdonald.

Lewis saved from Vigurs and Chalmers as the second half got underway, and it was following the same pattern as the first half.

Vigurs collected a booking as he halted a United burst forward. How often have we seen this turn into a red card this season.

On the hour, United got an equaliser when Mikkelsen on the stretch knocked a ball to the back post back across goal and in from a Jamie Robson cross.

Jake Mulraney replaced Charlie Trafford with twenty minutes left and United took Matty Smith off with Paul McMullen coming on as they looked to find a winner.

Doran replaced Bell with ten minutes left as Vigurs fired a shot over the bar as we tried to get our noses in front once more. He almost made an immediate impact, bit his goalbound effort was blocked and United forced a corner at the other end as they broke up the park.

Mark Ridgers had to look lively to tip shots from McMullan and Flood over and Inverness made their final change with Nathan Austin replacing George Oakley.

Austin offered Mulraney a chance but he shot over and that was about it as the game ended a point apiece.

RIG thought "we were best serve throughout by Warren, Bell and Tremarco as our standouts. Bell brings a real energy to our attack buzzing all over the place to try and support Oakley whilst Tremarco is much more solid at LB than Calder. If we want to win the Challenge Cup next weekend we will need to up our performance again but I'm not too sure if some of these players have much more to give". Iain Vigurs was prominent in the first half especially and Mark Ridgers continues to impress with a couple of crucial saves near the end.

This was a vast improvement from the midweek game at Dunfermline and the stats will show that Inverness had the better of the game without being able to create a two goal cushion that would have gained us all three points.

This draw means that Dumbarton have closed the gap at the bottom to just four points behind Inverness, albeit we have a game in hand which is another tough encounter with the Arabs, scheduled for Tuesday 27th of March.

Next week is the IrnBru Cup Final at Perth against Dumbarton and the winners of this will gain more than just a cup, it will breed confidence for the battle at the bottom.

Match report written by tm4tj/RIG



Pld W D L F A +/- Pts
1. St. Mirren 28 20 3 5 52 29 23 63
2. Livingston 28 14 9 5 44 28 16 51
3. Dundee Utd 25 13 5 7 35 30 5 44
4. Dunfermline 28 10 9 9 40 30 10 39
5. Queen of the South 28 10 8 10 41 40 1 38
6. Falkirk 28 8 10 10 31 40 -9 34
7. Inverness CT 26 8 7 11 31 32 -1 31
8. Dumbarton 27 6 9 12 19 33 -14 27
9. Brechin City 27 0 4 23 19 60 -41 4