Inverness CT 2 - 2 Alloa Athletic

League Match
Saturday, August 25th, 2018, 3:00 PM at Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, Inverness
Attendance: 2,269
Referee: Barry Cook
Inverness CT  Alloa Athletic

Goalscorers
Brad Mckay (10)
Sean Welsh (pen.) (48)
Andrew Graham (35)
Iain Flannigan pen.87)

Team Managers
John Robertson Jim Goodwin

Starting Eleven
Mark Ridgers
Shaun Rooney
Coll Donaldson
Carl Tremarco
Brad Mckay
Joe Chalmers
Tom Walsh
Sean Welsh
Liam Polworth
Nathan Austin
George Oakley
Neil Parry
Scott Taggart
Liam Dick
Andy Graham
Zdravko Karadachki
Steven Hetherington
Kevin Cawley
Iain Flannigan
Jake Hastie
Dario Zanatta
Greig Spence

Substitutes
Daniel Hoban
Jamie McCart
Riccardo Calder
Charlie Trafford
Aaron Doran
Jordan White
Daniel Mackay
Christopher Henry
Alan Trouten
Liam Burt
Adam Brown
Reis Peggie
James Goodwin

Substitutions
Jordan White for Nathan Austin (55)
Riccardo Calder for Sean Welsh (64)
Aaron Doran for George Oakley (72)
Reis Peggie -> Greig Spence (49)
Adam Brown -> Kevin Cawley (65)
Liam Burt -> Steve Hetherington (78)

Bookings
George Oakley (24)
Carl Tremarco (32)
Zdravko Karadachki (46)

Red Cards
None. Zdravko Karadachki (48)
Appearances & Goals To Date
Mark Ridgers (GK) 51 apps -
Joe Chalmers 52 apps5 goals
Shaun Rooney 8 apps -
Coll Donaldson 40 apps1 goal
Carl Tremarco 146 apps12 goals
Brad Mckay 81 apps4 goals
Tom Walsh 8 apps2 goals
Sean Welsh 3 apps1 goal
Liam Polworth 168 apps15 goals
George Oakley 51 apps14 goals
Nathan Austin 20 apps9 goals
Riccardo Calder (sub) 36 apps2 goals
Aaron Doran (sub) 202 apps29 goals
Jordan White (sub) 8 apps1 goal

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Shaun Rooney (22 years 35 days)
Oldest Player:Carl Tremarco (32 years 326 days)
Average Player Age:25 years 111 days
Domestic Players:8 (72.73 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Daniel Mackay (17 years 132 days)
Oldest Player:Carl Tremarco (32 years 326 days)
Average Player Age:24 years 163 days
Domestic Players:12 (66.67 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones
Sean Welsh scored his first goal for the Club.

Wasps sting lavish Jags: Inverness were held to a 2-2 draw by ten man Alloa after Karadachki was sent packing just after the break. Brad Mckay had headed the opener in the first half but Alloa levelled through possibly the back of Oakley's head, Graham credited at the moment with the goal. We went ahead when Walsh scored a penalty at the Karadachki incident but the visitors got an unlikely equaliser late in the game with a penalty of their own, Flannigan scoring from the spot.

Old Caley Girl has this report for us .............

Let me start by saying that this should have been a totally different match report. In fact, one in which we were joint top of the league with 3 points in the bag! I digress though as a totally different scenario played out.

A reasonable crowd (these days) of over 2000 sat down on a sunny afternoon at the TCS looking for an entertaining and profitable afternoon. We started off brightly with several goal opportunities early on including a blocked shot by Tom Walsh in 7 minutes. This led onto the opening goal in 10 minutes. A Polworth corner found Brad McKay in the centre of the box, and he headed powerfully into the net. There then followed chance after chance to go further ahead without reward. At this point it looked like we would go on to score at will and felt comfortable. There were several scrappy fouls committed by both sides and in 25 mins Zanatta engineered a foul by getting squashed between Polworth and another ICT player gaining a free kick just outside the box. This led to the equaliser with it looking like a deflection off Oakley to me from behind the goal. However, the news outlets awarded the goal to Andy Graham from a header? From then till half time nothing much of note happened except a succession of fouls again from both sides. It felt like the wind was taken out of our sales after the equaliser.

HALF TIME 1-1

The second half was a tale of 3 penalties! Just after half time Karadachki was booked for a foul on Oakley. This led to further madness on his part at the ensuing free kick as he wrestled with Donaldson which led to Donaldson being dragged to the ground. Second yellow meant red and a penalty. I’m sure I was not alone in watching through my hands as Welsh stepped up. There was nothing to worry about here, though, as Welsh coolly stuck the ball into the bottom right hand corner. Smiles all round as word came through that County losing at Morton and the top of the table beckoning for us. It didn’t go like that though despite opportunity after opportunity and good saves from Parry in the Alloa goal. In 56 minutes White replaced Austin and Calder replaced Welsh. In 71 minutes, Calder was clipped in our box and a 2nd penalty was awarded. From my seat there was contact, but it appeared a tad soft. However, penalty it was and what a disaster that turned out to be! Welsh had gone off and no-one seemed to want this task so up stepped a very nervous looking Coll Donaldson to smash it off the bar instead of into the net. Is it just me that thinks it shameful our strikers hid at this particular moment? Shortly afterwards Doran replaced Oakley and did look livelier than of late but to no avail. It looked like we would carry on over the finishing line at this point but then up stepped Shaun Rooney into the spotlight. He tried to foul the Alloa player several times until finally deciding to bundle him over in the box whilst heading towards the by-line. One of the most clueless decisions ever. Up stepped Flannigan to literally steal a point with a thank you very much!

FULL TIME 2-2

We are still unbeaten in the league, but this certainly was 2 points dropped not a point gained. The failure to finish off 10 man teams twice this early in the season is worrying and we should be 4 points better off than we really are. We are making chances but being punished for not taking them and it is clear we do not know what our best striking partnership is. Yet again we persist with a narrow formation for a good part of the game and surely everyone, including management, can see Polworth is not and never will be a winger! Calder coming on did create width and as I stated earlier there was glimpses of the old Doran on show during his short appearance yesterday. All 3 substitutions seemed wrong. Is tightening up and seeing a game out not possible for us these days. Robbo was quick to blame the players post-match and yes, we were not clinical enough, but I do feel he has to step up and admit his share of blame as they play to his instructions. There appears a real lack of leadership on the park as well. Tremarco seems very flat and out of sorts to me. I know some wont like me saying this, but we are missing Iain Vigurs terribly. Some players seem totally bombproof as well such as Chalmers whilst others like Trafford and Calder are given little opportunity to shine. Final word of the day is disappointing.

Dunfermline away next. They will be smarting from a heavy defeat against Ayr yesterday and 3 points for us is a must. Do I feel confident this team can do that? I’m not so sure sadly.

OCG MOTM – A hard one really. Going with Coll Donaldson despite his awful penalty blunder. He showed leadership when there wasn’t much on show by stepping forward and had a steady game overall.

RIG summed up his thoughts along similar lines................... All too familiar a tale for ICT fans. Dominate the game in terms of possession but tend not to create much and when we do we are wasteful in taking those chances. Very little width for most of the game until Calder came on and gave Tremarco someone to link with ahead of him instead of having to turn back inside all the time. Welsh had a decent game and we definitely lost a bit of composure in midfield when he went off (presumably due to fitness issues). Donaldson, penalty miss aside, was good at the back but the rest of the squad is quite poor. Austin, Oakley and White all continue to work hard up front but none of them look like they will be particularly prolific for us this season. Rooney was really poor. Defensively naive and poor bringing the ball out from the back.

Match report written by old caley girl



None.

Pld W D L F A +/- Pts
1. Ayr United 3 2 1 0 6 1 5 7
2. Morton 3 2 1 0 6 3 3 7
3. Dundee Utd 3 2 0 1 7 5 2 6
4. Ross County 3 2 0 1 5 3 2 6
5. Inverness CT 3 1 2 0 3 2 1 5
6. Queen of the South 3 1 1 1 6 4 2 4
7. Partick Thistle 3 1 0 2 3 6 -3 3
8. Dunfermline 3 1 0 2 5 9 -4 3
9. Stirling Albion 3 0 1 2 2 5 -3 1
10. Falkirk 3 0 0 3 1 6 -5 0
Programme cover / Team sheet