Hearts 0 - 2 Inverness CT

League Match
Saturday, March 12th, 2005, 3:00 PM at Tynecastle Stadium, Edinburgh
Attendance: 9,822
Referee: Craig Thomson
Hearts Inverness CT

Goalscorers
None. Darren Dods (55)
Barry Wilson (pen.) (72)

Team Managers
John Robertson Craig Brewster

Starting Eleven
Gordon
Thomson
Webster
Berra
Wallace
Cesnauskis
Janczyk
Wyness
Hamill
Miller
Weir
Mark Brown
Ross Tokely
Grant Munro
Stuart Golabek
Darren Dods
Barry Wilson
Roy McBain
Russell Duncan
Richie Hart
Juanjo Carricondo
Craig Brewster

Bench
Lithgow
Pelosi
Pereira
Tierney
Elliot
Thorarinsson
Moilanen
Michael Fraser
Richard Hastings
Stuart McCaffrey
Liam Fox
Graham Bayne
Bryan Prunty
Bajram Fetai

Substitutions
Pereira -> Cesnauskis (64)
Thorarinsson -> Janczyk (69)
Elliot -> Miller (84)
Graham Bayne for Craig Brewster (79)
Bryan Prunty for Juanjo Carricondo (79)
Liam Fox for Barry Wilson (90)

Bookings
Gordon (72) Stuart Golabek (60)

Red Cards
None. None.
Appearances & Goals To Date
Mark Brown (GK) 123 apps -
Grant Munro 120 apps2 goals
Stuart Golabek 198 apps5 goals
Ross Tokely 312 apps22 goals
Darren Dods 20 apps1 goal
Roy McBain 196 apps10 goals
Russell Duncan 143 apps3 goals
Barry Wilson 221 apps68 goals
Richie Hart 95 apps14 goals
Juanjo Carricondo 31 apps6 goals
Craig Brewster 8 apps4 goals
Liam Fox (sub) 7 apps2 goals
Graham Bayne (sub) 32 apps6 goals
Bryan Prunty (sub) 20 apps1 goal

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Ross Tokely (26 years 11 days)
Oldest Player:Juanjo Carricondo (2006 years 224 days)
Average Player Age:32 years 169 days
Domestic Players:11 (100.00 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Ross Tokely (26 years 11 days)
Oldest Player:Bryan Prunty (2006 years 224 days)
Average Player Age:31 years 112 days
Domestic Players:17 (94.44 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones
Darren Dods scored his first goal for the Club.

Joy at Jamboland:

On Thursday Hearts sought a postponement of this fixture due to a flu epidemic sweeping Tynecastle. With two free Saturdays looming Caley Thistle wanted to avoid another rearranged match so were keen to play. The SPL refused the request and the match went ahead.

Craig Brewster came back from injury for ICT with Graham Bayne reverting to the bench. John Robertson's weakened side played some neat passing football, and defended well for most of the game, but never troubled Mark Brown.

A rare Hearts first half effort came in eight minutes when former Caley Thistle favourite Dennis Wyness shot high and wide from 22 yards. Juanjo tried an overhead kick at the other end but it went well wide.

In 12 minutes Stuart Golabek sent a cross from the left towards the back post and Roy McBain headed powerfully goalwards. Craig Gordon was nowhere and Hearts were only saved by a fine Andy Webster goal-line clearance.

Wyness set up Joe Hamill in 24 minutes but his early rising shot cleared the bar. Most of the first half was rather disjointed but things improved after the break.

Half Time: 0-0

Wyness headed just over in 53 minutes with the home fans on their feet thinking it was in, but it was Caley Thistle who took the lead two minutes later. Not for the first time Juanjo was fouled on the right and Richie Hart took the free kick. Darren Dods rose high above a static defence to head home his first goal for the club.

Hearts nearly equalised a minute later when Ross Tokely's attempted clearance skidded onto the top of the bar and over for a corner. Tokely redeemed himself seconds later with a fine block as Christophe Berra prepared to shoot. It was all over in 72 minutes when Barry Wilson chased a loose ball across the Hearts box and Gordon brought him down. Gordon saw yellow and Wilson hit the resultant penalty past the offending keeper to seal the points.

The Hearts fans started to leave and their team spent the rest of the game on the back foot. Caley Thistle were content to play possession football over the final period. Wyness did have a sight of goal in 81 minutes but he hit it straight through to Brown. A Duncan lob into the Hearts box a minute later was taken by Gordon ahead of substitute Bryan Prunty.

In added time Liam Fox made a good run through the middle but hit it too far and Gordon collected. A fine three points, eighth place maintained, seventh place in sight, undefeated in six SPL games, eleven points clear of bottom club Dundee United and all looking good. Celtic up next.

Match report written by Ian Broadfoot



Pld W D L F A +/- Pts
1. Rangers 29 22 6 1 61 14 47 72
2. Celtic 28 23 2 3 65 22 43 71
3. Aberdeen 29 14 6 9 33 26 7 48
4. Hibernian 29 14 5 10 47 42 5 47
5. Hearts 29 11 9 9 32 28 4 42
6. Motherwell 29 11 6 12 35 35 0 39
7. Kilmarnock 30 11 2 17 38 50 -12 35
8. Inverness CT 28 8 9 11 34 37 -3 33
9. Dunfermline 29 6 8 15 25 46 -21 26
10. Dundee 28 6 6 16 28 54 -26 24
11. Livingston 29 6 5 18 24 49 -25 23
12. Dundee Utd 29 4 10 15 29 48 -19 22