Inverness CT 1 - 3 Dundee Utd

League Match
Saturday, December 6th, 2008, 3:00 PM at Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, Inverness
Attendance: 3,560
Referee: Brian Winter
Inverness CT  Dundee Utd

Goalscorers
Adam Rooney (73)
Jon Daly (51)
Craig Conway (64)
David Robertson (71)

Team Managers
Craig Brewster Craig Levein

Starting Eleven
Ryan Esson
Richard Hastings
Grant Munro
David Proctor
Jamie Duff
Russell Duncan
Ian Black
Don Cowie
Iain Vigurs
Dougie Imrie
Andrew Barrowman
Lukasz Zaluska
Lee Wilkie
Garry Kenneth
Paul Dixon
Michael Kovacevic
David Robertson
Daniel Swanson
Scott Robertson
Morgaro Gomis
Craig Conway
Jon Daly

Substitutes
Michael Fraser
Lionel Djebi-Zadi
Barry Wilson
Roy McBain
Zander Sutherland
Garry Wood
Adam Rooney
Michael McGovern
Sean Dillon
Daniel Grainger
Prince Buaben
Ryan McCord
Warren Feeney
David Goodwillie

Substitutions
Adam Rooney for Dougie Imrie (63)
Garry Wood for Andrew Barrowman (84)
Zander Sutherland for Iain Vigurs (84)
None.

Bookings
David Proctor (29)
Daniel Swanson (30)
Michael Kovacevic (33)

Red Cards
None. None.
Appearances & Goals To Date
Ryan Esson (GK) 9 apps -
Grant Munro 259 apps6 goals
David Proctor 73 apps4 goals
Jamie Duff 11 apps -
Richard Hastings 355 apps4 goals
Russell Duncan 273 apps9 goals
Iain Vigurs 20 apps2 goals
Ian Black 125 apps6 goals
Don Cowie 60 apps12 goals
Andrew Barrowman 18 apps2 goals
Dougie Imrie 35 apps5 goals
Zander Sutherland (sub) 8 apps -
Adam Rooney (sub) 17 apps4 goals
Garry Wood (sub) 15 apps3 goals

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Iain Vigurs (20 years 218 days)
Oldest Player:Andrew Barrowman (2010 years 129 days)
Average Player Age:26 years 76 days
Domestic Players:10 (90.91 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Iain Vigurs (20 years 218 days)
Oldest Player:Lionel Djebi-Zadi (2010 years 129 days)
Average Player Age:27 years 357 days
Domestic Players:17 (94.44 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones

Arabs on top:

Caley Thistle have continued their poor form at home with another three points going to the visiting team, this time Dundee United were the benefactors with the reshuffled ICT defence being generous to a man leaving United’s strikers the simplest of tasks to leave Inverness with just one home win this season.

The match was goalless at half time but finished 1-3 when United found the extra gear in the second half and left ICT as a blur in their rear view mirror. 

With Ross Tokely missing through suspension, the surprise choice was not in seeing Jamie Duff in the starting eleven, but his position at right back, with Proctor remaining in central defence alongside Munro. Andy Barrowman played the lone striker role today without much success.

United had to make a couple of changes as Sandaza and Willo Flood were out with injury and suspension respectively. They were replaced with Conway and Robertson, who made the most of their day out in Inverness as they both scored in the second half to put further pressure on Craig Brewster and his abysmal home record.

The 3560 crowd were boosted by the appearance of some of Brews fans, Dunfermline’s game with County being called off, some Pars made the weekend of it and joined the North Standers to witness another home defeat. United had a vociferous 300 plus crowd in the South Stand.

How Inverness must have wished Conway was not playing as he ran the defence ragged and caused us all sorts of problems down the United left wing with Jamie Duff unable to cope with his pace and twisting runs and Proctor not faring any better. His deliveries into the box were also of real quality and Inverness were fortunate on a couple of occasions in the first half not to concede a goal as there were no takers for his tempting crosses which flashed tantalizingly close to the goals with the defence like statues admiring his display.

Not too much to get excited about in the first half with Cowie having the best opportunity for Inverness but his lob cleared the keeper, unfortunately it also cleared the bar. Barrowman had earlier flashed a shot wide as did Vigurs, who’s normally reliable left foot let him down. Proctor was rightly booked for a horrendous looking challenge on Conway as he sped down the left wing. Neither keeper had anything of note to do in a dull first half with the teams fairly evenly matched. No goals at half time, although Jon Daly should have done better from fifteen yards but he shot over.

However he would soon rectify that early in the second half as he rose unchallenged to send a superb powerful header past a helpless Esson from a Swanson cross after a short free kick. Adam Rooney replaced a subdued Dougie Imrie after 63 minutes and the switch paid off, unfortunately at the wrong end as United went two up a couple of minutes later. Daly knocked the ball down and MotM Craig Conway finished in style by swivelling volleying home from inside the area.

Esson prevented the rout at this stage when he made a superb double save to deny United. At this point things were looking bleak for Brewster, and they got even bleaker when the shambolic defence allowed the resultant corner kick to bounce across goal in 71 minutes for Robertson to stoop and head the ball into the net from close range.

Some fans wanted to suffer no more and left the stadium and missed the goal of the game as sub Rooney guided a volley into the roof of the net from Cowie's fizzing left wing cross. Too little too late and even the late double substitution of Wood and Zander Sutherland had no impact on the game. Duff was booked after fouling Conway who turned him inside out and then back again.

We still had time to miss a golden chance to help our goal difference as a misplaced passback from Kenneth's head bounced off the post and as Wood arrived, he could only help the ball into the hands of Zaluska.

Summing up…we were well beaten by a decent United side and our reshuffled defence had no answer to the aerial threat posed by Daly and Wilkie and the mazy runs from Conway. Gary Kenneth won’t have an easier afternoon with countless high balls landing on his head. Best for ICT was the outstanding Ian Black who showed great restraint yesterday after being upended almost as many times as Craig Conway. Dougie Imrie had a quiet day and only once showed up when he collected a ball on the run and drove at the United defence, but that was about it. Richard Hastings was the pick of the back four, and their faces must have been as red as the early evening sky after they lost their man more times than I care to remember. I thought Barrowman started brightly but faded as we resorted to the high ball tactic.

A worrying trend has developed at Tulloch stadium, something Brewster needs to sort out pretty sharp or it may not be worthwhile signing the new contract. It does not get any easier with a difficult away day to Paisley next week followed by a home game against the Dons. Judgement day is looming.

TM4TJ MotM goes to United's Craig Conway who tore the ICT rearguard to shreds and reminded us how Barry Robson used to cross the ball and he capped it with a good goal.

Match report written by tm4tj



None.

Pld W D L F A +/- Pts
1. Celtic 16 14 1 1 40 15 25 43
2. Rangers 17 12 3 2 42 14 28 39
3. Dundee Utd 17 8 5 4 25 18 7 29
4. Hearts 16 9 2 5 19 19 0 29
5. Aberdeen 16 6 3 7 17 18 -1 21
6. Hibernian 16 5 5 6 20 23 -3 20
7. Kilmarnock 16 6 1 9 14 22 -8 19
8. Falkirk 17 4 5 8 20 24 -4 17
9. Inverness CT 17 5 2 10 18 26 -8 17
10. Motherwell 16 5 2 9 17 25 -8 17
11. St. Mirren 17 4 3 10 12 22 -10 15
12. Hamilton Academical 17 4 2 11 15 33 -18 14