Inverness CT 1 - 1 Falkirk

League Match
Saturday, April 7th, 2007, 3:00 PM at Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, Inverness
Attendance: 4,435
Referee: Crawford Allan
Inverness CT  Falkirk

Goalscorers
John Rankin (86)
Finnigan (80)

Team Managers
Charlie Christie John Hughes

Starting Eleven
Michael Fraser
Richard Hastings
Ross Tokely
Grant Munro
Stuart McCaffrey
Barry Wilson
Russell Duncan
Richie Hart
John Rankin
Graham Bayne
Craig Dargo
Schmeichel
Ross
Holden
Barr
Milne
Cregg
Latapy
Thomson
O'Donnell
Moutinho
Gow

Substitutes
Ally Ridgers
Stuart Soane
Roy McBain
Zander Sutherland
Markus Paatelainen
Rory McAllister
Garry Wood
Finnigan
Lima
Craig
McStay
Scobbie
Uras
Lambers

Substitutions
Roy McBain for Barry Wilson (66)
Rory McAllister for Russell Duncan (82)
Scobbie -> Holden (48)
Finnigan -> Moutinho (68)
Craig -> Latapy (75)

Bookings
Ross Tokely (23)
Milne (64)

Red Cards
None. None.
Appearances & Goals To Date
Michael Fraser (GK) 15 apps -
Richard Hastings 295 apps2 goals
Ross Tokely 399 apps28 goals
Grant Munro 203 apps5 goals
Stuart McCaffrey 184 apps6 goals
Barry Wilson 307 apps79 goals
Richie Hart 152 apps16 goals
Russell Duncan 217 apps6 goals
John Rankin 34 apps6 goals
Craig Dargo 63 apps30 goals
Graham Bayne 99 apps16 goals
Roy McBain (sub) 260 apps15 goals
Rory McAllister (sub) 44 apps3 goals

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Ross Tokely (28 years 37 days)
Oldest Player:John Rankin (2008 years 250 days)
Average Player Age:31 years 21 days
Domestic Players:10 (90.91 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Ross Tokely (28 years 37 days)
Oldest Player:Craig Dargo (2008 years 250 days)
Average Player Age:31 years 21 days
Domestic Players:17 (94.44 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones

A pretty even match finishes as a 1-1 draw. Falkirk scored in the 80th minute but John Rankin equalised 6 minutes later (his 4th against Falkirk this season) to save a point for Caley Thistle. Club Historian Ian Broadfoot reports on the game from the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium.

Not a great game but it had its exciting moments. Caley Thistle could have had it sewn up by half time but nothing quite came off and it was Falkirk who opened the scoring with ten minutes left. John Rankin came to the rescue with a late equaliser.

Ian Black’s suspension continued and Darren Dods missed one game as a result of his red card at Ibrox. Stuart McCaffrey came into central defence, Markus Paatelainen dropped to the bench, Barry Wilson came back into the starting eleven, Richie Hart continued in midfield, Roy McBain returned from injury to a bench slot and young striker Garry Wood joined the squad for the first time. Falkirk striker Carl Finnigan came back from suspension but started on the bench.

ICT could have taken the lead in two minutes when an attack led to a loose ball which broke well for Wilson and left him one-on-one with Kasper Schmeichel – his low shot was saved by the legs of the ‘keeper and Wilson hit the rebound wide.

A minute later and there could have been a goal at the other end. Alan Gow sent a high free kick from the right and Dean Holden headed goalwards from the back post. It ran parallel to the goal line and over for a goal kick at the far side.

Schmeichel once more rescued Falkirk in 14 minutes when he tipped over a 25 yard dipping volley from Hart. In 34 minutes Rankin produced the shot of the match when he sent an angled ball from long distance on the left towards the top right corner. It curled beautifully but went just past the angle of the bar.

Half Time: 0-0

Falkirk had clearly been spoken to firmly at half time as they came out with more determination. Despite this Mike Fraser had little to do as the defence held firm under early second-half pressure. In 59 minutes Schmeichel did well to dive and hold a Hart ball across goal then in 69 minutes a good home move led to a blocked Craig Dargo shot from 20 yards.

The Bairns took the lead with ten minutes left when substitute Finnigan took a pass on the right wing and was allowed to continue despite strong offside claims. He raced ahead and hit an angled shot low into the net for 1-0.

Rory McAllister was sent on for Russell Duncan as the home side played three up front in search of an equaliser. It came in 86 minutes when a long Grant Munro throw from the left was returned to him and he sent a high ball into the box – Rankin managed to get a good touch on it and send the ball into the top corner for the equaliser.

There was a hectic finish and Caley Thistle nearly snatched a late winner when Dargo rounded Schmeichel on the left but a defender cleared the danger. Twice in added time Schmeichel had to punch clear but the final whistle went and it ended 1-1.

Full Time: 1-1

Caley Thistle moved up one place to ninth. Dunfermline beat Hibs 1-0 and the relegation issue has not quite been settled.

Match report written by Ian Broadfoot



None.

Pld W D L F A +/- Pts
1. Celtic 33 24 6 3 59 25 34 78
2. Rangers 32 18 8 6 53 25 28 62
3. Aberdeen 33 17 6 10 46 33 13 57
4. Hearts 33 15 9 9 40 30 10 54
5. Kilmarnock 33 13 7 13 43 49 -6 46
6. Hibernian 33 12 8 13 49 37 12 44
7. Falkirk 33 12 4 17 40 42 -2 40
8. Dundee Utd 33 10 10 13 39 53 -14 40
9. Inverness CT 33 8 12 13 36 45 -9 36
10. Motherwell 33 10 6 17 35 49 -14 36
11. St. Mirren 32 5 12 15 24 46 -22 27
12. Dunfermline 33 5 8 20 19 49 -30 23