Dundee 1 - 4 Inverness CT

League Match
Friday, October 19th, 2012, 7:45 PM at Dens Park, Dundee
Attendance: 5,006
Referee: Craig Thomson
Dundee Inverness CT

Goalscorers
Colin Nish (13) Billy Mckay (4)
Gary Warren (7)
Andrew Shinnie (pen.) (81)
Billy Mckay (85)

Team Managers
Barry Smith Terry Butcher

Starting Eleven
Rab Douglas
Gary Irvine
Neil McGregor
Davide Grassi
Matt Lockwood
Nicky Riley
Iain Davidson
Mark Kerr
Jim McAlister
Colin Nish
Steven Milne
Antonio Reguero
Josh Meekings
Gary Warren
David Raven
Graeme Shinnie
Aaron Doran
Andrew Shinnie
Owain Tudur Jones
Ross Draper
Billy Mckay
Philip Roberts

Bench
Alex Baird
Kevin McBride
John Baird
Kyle Benedictus
Declan Gallagher
Ryan Conroy
Martin Boyle
Scott Mathieson
Gavin Morrison
Liam Polworth
Conor Pepper
Shane Sutherland
Jason Oswell
Matthew Cooper

Substitutions
John Baird -> Steven Milne (74)
Ryan Conroy -> Matt Lockwood (74)
Shane Sutherland for Philip Roberts (64)

Bookings
Iain Davidson (23)
Nicky Riley (64)
None.

Red Cards
None. None.
Appearances & Goals To Date
Antonio Reguero (GK) 3 apps -
Gary Warren 12 apps1 goal
Josh Meekings 32 apps -
David Raven 12 apps -
Ross Draper 12 apps3 goals
Aaron Doran 40 apps4 goals
Graeme Shinnie 68 apps1 goal
Andrew Shinnie 32 apps15 goals
Owain Tudur Jones 22 apps -
Billy Mckay 36 apps7 goals
Philip Roberts 5 apps1 goal
Shane Sutherland (sub) 73 apps3 goals

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Aaron Doran (21 years 165 days)
Oldest Player:Owain Tudur Jones (2014 years 82 days)
Average Player Age:25 years 22 days
Domestic Players:6 (54.55 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Liam Polworth (18 years 12 days)
Oldest Player:Scott Mathieson (2014 years 82 days)
Average Player Age:23 years 226 days
Domestic Players:13 (72.22 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones
Gary Warren scored his first goal for the Club.

Dens Park first for Inverness:

Inverness recorded their first win at Dens Park with an emphatic scoreline that saw off a spirited Dundee. The game was won in two bursts that saw the visitors score an early double and another late spell of dominance that ended the game as a contest. Billy McKay opened the scoring in the fourth minute and Gary Warren added a second three minutes later. Dundee pressed hard to get back into the game and scored a deserved goal through Colin Nish (who else) but late goals from MotM Andrew Shinnie and Billy McKay sealed the victory.

Friday night was deemed to be the most suitable time to play this fixture after the fiasco in the summer with Govan football club departing the SPL to be replaced by Team 12 which turned out to be Dundee after a series of debates and coin tossing. Sadly, for Dundee, this has left them short of time which has restricted their ability to gather a strong enough squad at present and little time to adapt to the rigours of the SPL.

The game being as live on BBC Alba at 10:00pm saw many fans lock themselves in darkened rooms waiting to watch the drama unfold without any knowledge of the final score. Richie Foran took a knock against County and missed out with Irishman Billy McKay starting up front and that was the only change for Inverness, as Reguero continued between the sticks.

Friday night football seems to be appealing to Inverness after the recent rout of County when we flew out of the blocks to take an early lead against them in the derby. We did the same at Dens Park as we stormed forward from the bell and in only four minutes McKay took advantage of shambolic defending to grab his first goal after Aaron Doran's shot was pushed out by Rab Douglas.

No time to settle into your seats as Inverness kept the pressure on the Dundee defence and in seven minutes centre back Gary Warren popped up at the back post to slam the ball high into the net from close range when Doran swung in a free kick after Roberts was upended. Just the start Inverness were looking for and disaster for Barry Smith as he looked on in despair at his struggling defence. I'm no lip reader, but I don't think he was shouting at his players in Gaelic.

Captain for the night Graeme Shinnie surged forward and tried his luck from distance and Douglas managed to grab it at the second attempt, that was shortly after his brother had the worst ever attempt at a shot which crossed the bye line level with the eighteen yard box. Meh.

Dundee were forced into action and Nicky Riley should have done better than to slice his shot wide of Reguero's left hand post. Colin Nish brought Reguero into action with a header that the Spaniard dealt with comfortably, but a goal was imminent and some shambolic defending of our own saw Nish left with an easy task to score for Dundee. It was the turn of the Inverness management to look on in horror.

Billy McKay passed up a tremendous opportunity to restore the two goal cushion immediately but shot wide from a good position, however Dundee were now right back in the game and McAlister forced Reguero to block his angled drive as the home side probed for an equaliser. It almost came just before half time as the ever troublesome Nish turned in the box and volleyed goalwards, but Reguero made a superb diving save to keep Inverness just ahead at the break.

Half Time 1-2

Milne was first to try his luck at the start of the second half as Dundee looked to get back on level terms but Inverness were always dangerous going forward. Andy Shinnie, Roberts and Shinnie again failed to test Douglas with lengthy efforts as the game evened out, and on the hour mark Inverness introduced Shane Sutherland for his first game since his ankle injury, this was to prove a shrewd move by boss Butcher.

Dundee seemed to run out of ideas as the game wore on and the away side looked ever comfortable dealing with the diminishing goal threats.

With fifteen minutes left Ross Draper almost sealed the win when he smacked a close range shot off the face of the Dundee bar when he really should have scored. The clinching goals were merely delayed though as Inverness pulled away in the last ten minutes to ensure the points went back up the A9. Sutherland raced into the box only to be blocked by Iain Davidson. Penalty no doubt about it and Andrew Shinnie calmly rolled the ball down the middle as Douglas dived to his right.

That goal tore the stuffing out of Dundee and it was no surprise when Inverness completed the scoring. Andy Shinnie drove hard at the tiring Dundee defence and he released Billy McKay on the right side of the box. He showed great composure to skip inside the defender and despite a couple of desperate defensive lunges at McKay, he confidently placed the ball behind Douglas to end the scoring and gain Inverness' first ever win at Dens Park.

Full Time1-4

Andy Shinnie was MotM for an all round composed midfield display and capped it with a cool penalty finish. Reguero pulled off a sensational save to keep Inverness ahead before the break and that proved to be crucial to the outcome as Dundee were on a bit of a roll at that point. Gary Warren once again showed his versatility for a big lad and scored into the bargain, great acquisition to this seasons squad. Billy McKay got amongst the goals and his confidence will be on a high and all this was achieved without captain fantastic Richie Foran.

Plenty reasons to be cheerful, onwards and upwards to third in the table, even if it was for only one day.

Match report written by tm4tj



Pld W D L F A +/- Pts
1. Celtic 8 5 2 1 14 7 7 17
2. Hibernian 9 4 3 2 15 12 3 15
3. Inverness CT 10 3 5 2 22 18 4 14
4. Aberdeen 9 3 5 1 11 8 3 14
5. St. Johnstone 9 4 2 3 11 11 0 14
6. Motherwell 8 3 4 1 13 10 3 13
7. St. Mirren 9 3 3 3 15 14 1 12
8. Kilmarnock 9 3 3 3 12 11 1 12
9. Hearts 9 2 3 4 9 10 -1 9
10. Dundee Utd 7 2 2 3 7 9 -2 8
11. Ross County 9 1 5 3 8 11 -3 8
12. Dundee 10 1 1 8 4 20 -16 4