Appearances & Goals To Date
Starting Lineup
| Youngest Player: | Iain Vigurs (20 years 134 days) |
| Oldest Player: | Garry Wood (2010 years 45 days) |
| Average Player Age: | 27 years 31 days |
| Domestic Players: | 10 (90.91 % of starting eleven) |
Matchday Squad
| Youngest Player: | Iain Vigurs (20 years 134 days) |
| Oldest Player: | Lionel Djebi-Zadi (2010 years 45 days) |
| Average Player Age: | 28 years 212 days |
| Domestic Players: | 17 (94.44 % of matchday squad) |
First Team Debuts
Milestones
Saints and Sinners:
Caley Thistle welcomed St Mirren to the Caledonian Stadium today but it was the Buddies who felt more at home.
A 43rd minute penalty from Adam Rooney, his first for the club and the 6000th SPL goal saw ICT lead 1-0 at half-time.
In the second half, St Mirren scored through Billy Mehmet and Garry Brady and that meant all three points headed down the A9 to Paisley. A full match report will appear here sometime after the match on Saturday.
It would seem that this season is going to be a rather exasperating one for ICT fans who were left to endure another frustrating home performance as the team crashed to a 2 – 1 defeat to St. Mirren. Only a few weeks ago Hibs had found themselves on the back foot in Inverness but took the game to the Caley Jags in the 2nd half and were perhaps unlucky to only come away with 1 point. Here Saint Mirren, who were somewhat blunt in attack during the first 45, upped their game significantly in the second half to claim victory as ICT toiled after the break once more. What was even more vexing was that the loss came against a team who had last season scored an astonishing 9 goals away from Love St. and had found the net just once this season. Yet ICT found themselves hanging on for large periods of the 2nd half as they fell away badly.
What causes Inverness to fade so severely in the 2nd half of home games is a mystery particularly given their excellent performances on the road so far this season which included an opening day win at Pittodrie. In spite of that Inverness continue to struggle at home seemingly unable to kill games off when they are on top and allow teams back into it. Adam Rooney scored the 6,000th SPL goal but Billy Mehmets strike brought the teams back on level terms and the hard working Garry Brady nipped in at the back post to slot the winner to send the 200 travelling fans into delirium.
It had all started so well for Inverness as Don Cowie, yet to recreate last seasons stunning form, sent in a dangerous ball which found youngster Garry Wood in the box but he was unable to control the ball and the chance was lost. Wood was one of three youngsters retained in the starting line up from the previous win at Falkirk with Ian Vigurs and Jamie Duff also featuring, the latter keeping club captain on the bench despite returning from injury. Ian Black was next to test Howard in the Saints goal. Seizing upon the ball in midfield he drove towards goal and lashed a shot wide of Howard’s left hand post. Ross Tokely, who had to endure only half hearted jeers from the away support, whipped in a good ball for the flame haired Rooney to attack but he was only able to direct his effort right at Howard who held the ball comfortably.
Saints first effort came when Inverness failed to properly clear a corner and midfielder Brady latched onto the loose ball at the edge of the box but his effort was tame and squirmed wide but it was a reminder to ICT that they still had to keep things tight at the back. The Buddies were to threaten again when Gary Mason found himself in space but he dwelled on the ball too long and lost possession. However it ended up at the feet of Andy Dorman who fired an effort towards Fraser in the home goals but never trouble the Inverness keeper. Ross Tokely seemed to be letting the jeers get to him as his play had been slack in the game so far and this was nearly to prove costly when a sluggish clearance fell to Hamilton who quickly sent a shot goal wards but with Fraser out of position the ball fortunately flew wide.
There was to be a moment of controversy as Saint Mirren appealed for a penalty when Ian Black and Gary Mason tussled in the box as they chased a through ball. Referee Ian Brines waved away the Saint Mirren protests much to the relief of the ICT fans. Inverness got back on top when a neat pass from Vigurs found the hard working Rooney in space but his goal bound shot was charged down by the lunging Potter for a corner kick. Youngster Vigurs was gradually becoming more involved in the Inverness attacks and from a neat turn he nearly put ICT one up but he pulled his shot wide of goal.
Just before halftime ICT got the breakthrough they needed when Franco Miranda needlessly upended Wood in the box resulting in a penalty to Inverness which Rooney scored to give him his first goal since signing from Stoke City. A second goal nearly came less than a minute later when Cowie and Black worked a neat one – two from a corner which allowed Cowie to thunder in a shot that was right down the throat of Howard.
Into the second half and ICT were first to threaten as Rooney crashed a shot against the bar with Howard scrambling. At the other end Hamilton nearly restored parity when his attempt also hit the woodwork and then Wood, attempting to cash in on a woeful clearance from Howard, nearly got the important 2nd but his effort was blocked by Howard who redeemed himself to his team mates by making the save.
These two missed early chances were to haunt ICT as St. Mirren drew level. A long kick downfield from Howard caused confusion in the Inverness defence and Billy Mehmet took full advantage as he squeezed between defence and keeper to calmly lift the ball over the onrushing Fraser and into the net. Inverness looked to hit back right away with a Vigurs shot from outside the box sailing over the bar as the home side looked to get ahead once more.
Saint Mirren were now in the ascendancy and began to dominate possession albeit without creating too many clear cut chances. However a great chance fell to Mehmet from a Jack Ross cross but the header flashed wide with Fraser looking on beaten. Richard Hastings ventured forward and his cross landed at the feet of Rooney who tried to make room for a shot but it was blocked. The rebound fell kindly for Wood who saw his effort head for goal only to be hooked away by the legs of Howard who had already gone down for the previous Rooney effort.
In response to the negative swing of the game Brewster took off Vigurs and on come Dougie Imrie fresh from scoring the winner against Falkirk. A free kick from Cowie found Black peeling away at the back post and he was able to hook the ball back across goal which appeared to clip the bar on its way across but no one was able to follow up to our advantage. Shortly after Barry Wilson and Andy Barrowman replaced Roy McBain and Adam Rooney but it was Saint Mirren who found the crucial second goal. Substitute Stephen McGinn raced past a static Tokely on the St. Mirren left and sent in a wonderful ball right across goal which eluded everyone bar Brady who strode onto the lose ball and sidefoot it into the net to secure the points for the Paisley side.
Clearly frustrated at having been beaten so easily, Tokely took his frustrations out on Saint Mirren by scything down one of their players on the touchline next to the dug out which resulted in a yellow card capping a miserable afternoon for the defender. After this ICT upped their game significantly as they looked for an equaliser but the closest they came was an Imrie cross which had Howard flapping.
A chorus of boos greeted the final whistle, blown as Wood had a chance to shoot, but it was too late. After such an impressive result against Falkirk previously it was disappointing to see such a poor second half performance from the team and only when we were losing was some urgency injected into the ICT game. Brewster will need to identify what the problem is as what the home fans saw yesterday were all too familiar to the game against Hibs only a few weeks ago. The only difference on Saturday was that where Hibs couldn’t capitalise on the slackness shown by the home side, Saint Mirren punished ICT for their lethargic display.
Match report written by tm4tj
