Inverness CT 3 - 2 Celtic

League Match
Wednesday, May 4th, 2011, 6:00 PM at Tulloch Caledonian Stadium
Attendance: 6,702
Referee: Stevie O'Reilly
Inverness CT  Celtic

Goalscorers
Charlie Mulgrew (o.g.) (7)
Grant Munro (53)
Shane Sutherland (62)
Kris Commons (9)
Kris Commons (pen.90+3)

Team Managers
Terry Butcher Neil Lennon

Starting Eleven
Ryan Esson
Ross Tokely
Grant Munro
Chris Innes
Kenny Gillet
Lee Cox
Nick Ross
Stuart Duff
Aaron Doran
Adam Rooney
Shane Sutherland
Fraser Forster
Emilio Izaguirre
Daniel Majstorovic
Mark Wilson
Charlie Mulgrew
Scott Brown
Beram Kayal
Kris Commons
Shaun Maloney
Anthony Stokes
Gary Hooper

Substitutes
Jonny Tuffey
Stuart Golabek
Russell Duncan
Gavin Morrison
Eric Odhiambo
Dani Sanchez
Alex MacDonald
Lukasz Zaluska
Georgios Samaras
Sung-Yeung Ki
Patrick McCourt
Thomas Rogne
Daryl Murphy
James Forrest

Substitutions
Eric Odhiambo for Shane Sutherland (82)
Gavin Morrison for Adam Rooney (90)
Ki Sung-Yeung -> Baram Kayal (71)
Daryl Murphy -> Anthony Stokes (58)
Paddy McCourt -> Gary Hooper (66)

Bookings
Shane Sutherland (82)
Ross Tokely (90)
Scott Brown (70)
Daniel Majstorovic (72)

Red Cards
None. None.
Appearances & Goals To Date
Ryan Esson (GK) 108 apps -
Ross Tokely 554 apps35 goals
Chris Innes 15 apps1 goal
Grant Munro 365 apps17 goals
Kenny Gillet 11 apps -
Aaron Doran 13 apps3 goals
Nick Ross 48 apps1 goal
Stuart Duff 37 apps1 goal
Lee Cox 73 apps4 goals
Adam Rooney 122 apps52 goals
Shane Sutherland 33 apps2 goals
Gavin Morrison (sub) 13 apps1 goal
Eric Odhiambo (sub) 70 apps11 goals

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Aaron Doran (19 years 361 days)
Oldest Player:Chris Innes (2012 years 278 days)
Average Player Age:25 years 228 days
Domestic Players:10 (90.91 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Aaron Doran (19 years 361 days)
Oldest Player:Chris Innes (2012 years 278 days)
Average Player Age:25 years 167 days
Domestic Players:17 (94.44 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones

Inverness throw a huge spanner in the SPL works:

An exhilarating game of football ended in fairy tale circumstances for one Grant Munro.

The sponsors man of the match would not have meant as much as the goal he hammered past Fraser Forster to put Inverness 2-1 ahead.  His love of this club is not in question and it was a fitting reward for Grant to be on the winning side in one of his final games for the Caley Jags.

Celtic started with more urgency as their cause would dictate, but the home side clawed their way into the game and in 7 minutes snatched a surprise opener as Sutherland whipped a smart low ball across the box for Rooney to flick goalwards, and the ball deflected off Mulgrew to silence the vocal away support.

The lead did not last for long, two minutes, as Kris Commons lashed a strike possibly with the aid of a deflection past a diving Esson into his left hand corner.  No chance for Esson as the ball whistled past him.

As half time approached, Celtic were having the majority of possession, but the Inverness rearguard brilliantly marshalled by Munro and Innes stood firm and Rooney at the other end was keeping the Celtic defence on their toes.

Half time 1-1

Inverness would have been pleased to get to half time on level terms given the away teams dominance, but things were about to change.

The pressure was mounting on the Celtic rearguard when local hero Grant Munro whacked a ball past Forster from 15 yards after it broke to him in the box.  That was no more than Inverness deserved after a lively start to the second half, goal timed at 53 minutes.

More pressure from Inverness in the 62nd minute resulted in Ross lobbing a ball into the box and Sutherland positioned himself brilliantly before volleying a left footer into the net from 12 yards, fabulous goal and once again, no more than the home side deserved.

As the game raged from end to end Inverness looked the more likely to extend their lead and Rooney, Doran, Munro, Tokely and Ross all passed up great chances to bury this game, however, as the game came to a conclusion, Celtic were handed a lifeline when Ross Tokely was adjudged to have brought down Shaun Maloney.  Commons converted the spot kick in the 93rd minute, but Inverness held their nerve as Celtic ran out of ideas.

Full Time 3-2

What a night for Inverness as they battled hard for each other and none more so than Grant Munro, simply magnificent.  Adam Rooney had his finest ninety minutes this season, running the channels and tearing the big Swede a new one, great line leading from Adam.  So many fantastic displays from the boys in blue, and Cox, Duff, Gillet and Sutherland were not far behind, with Esson surely securing the player of the year with another faultless display.

Match report written by tm4tj



None.

Pld W D L F A +/- Pts
1. Rangers 35 27 3 5 77 28 49 84
2. Celtic 35 26 5 4 76 22 54 83
3. Hearts 35 18 9 8 52 36 16 63
4. Dundee Utd 35 15 10 10 49 47 2 55
5. Kilmarnock 35 13 9 13 51 47 4 48
6. Motherwell 35 13 6 16 39 51 -12 45
7. Inverness CT 35 11 11 13 47 43 4 44
8. Hibernian 35 10 7 18 38 55 -17 37
9. St. Johnstone 35 9 10 16 20 43 -23 37
10. Aberdeen 35 10 5 20 36 55 -19 35
11. St. Mirren 35 7 8 20 32 56 -24 29
12. Hamilton Academical 35 4 11 20 22 56 -34 23