Inverness CT 0 - 1 Morton

League - Championship
Tuesday, March 9th, 2021, 7:00 PM at Caledonian Stadium
Referee: Gavin Ross
Inverness CT  Morton

Goalscorers
None. Aiden Nesbitt (56)

Team Managers
Neil McCann Antone McElhone (interim manager)

Starting Eleven
Mark Ridgers
Wallace Duffy
Robbie Deas
Daniel Devine
Brad Mckay
Scott Allardice
Roddy MacGregor
David Carson
Nikolay Todorov
James Keatings
Shane Sutherland
Aiden McAdams
Michael Ledger
Brian McLean
Sean McGinty
Markus Fjortoft
Kyle Jacobs
Aiden Nesbitt
Kazaiah Sterling
Luca Colville
Craig McGuffie
Reece Lyon

Substitutes
Cameron Mackay
Kevin McHattie
Harry Nicolson
Ryan Fyffe
Sean Welsh
Aaron Doran
Daniel Mackay
Chris Millar
Gary Oliver
Cameron Salkeld
Cameron Blues
Rabin Omar
Darren Hynes
Justin Johnson

Substitutions
Aaron Doran for James Keatings (53)
Daniel Mackay for David Carson (65)
Cameron Blues -> Reece Lyon (84)
Rabin Omar -> Luca Colville (89)
Cameron Salkeld -> Aiden Nesbitt (89)

Bookings
Brad Mckay (38)
Nikolay Todorov (45)
Daniel Devine (61)
Scott Allardice (81)
Robbie Deas (83)
Luca Colville (27)

Red Cards
None. None.
Appearances & Goals To Date
Mark Ridgers (GK) 145 apps -
Daniel Devine 101 apps4 goals
Wallace Duffy 16 apps1 goal
Brad Mckay 156 apps8 goals
Robbie Deas 21 apps1 goal
Scott Allardice 21 apps2 goals
Roddy MacGregor 46 apps2 goals
David Carson 44 apps -
Shane Sutherland 108 apps8 goals
Nikolay Todorov 52 apps12 goals
James Keatings 49 apps11 goals
Aaron Doran (sub) 290 apps48 goals
Daniel Mackay (sub) 45 apps6 goals

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Roddy MacGregor (19 years 83 days)
Oldest Player:Mark Ridgers (30 years 220 days)
Average Player Age:25 years 227 days
Domestic Players:8 (72.73 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Roddy MacGregor (19 years 83 days)
Oldest Player:Sean Welsh (31 years 2 days)
Average Player Age:25 years 30 days
Domestic Players:14 (77.78 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones

Abysmal, a new low!

A stormy evening saw no goals at the break. Todorov came closest when he hit the post just before the interval. Could it get worse? The answer was yes when Aidan Nesbitt drilled a low shot into the net from the edge of the box with Inverness unable to make any headway. With twenty minutes left you could see the game slowly drifting away from the hosts. Sutherland hit the woodwork again and Todorov's follow up 'goal' was ruled out.

Morton came North on the back of a poor run of form to meet a side with similar problems, hence both sides are languishing perilously close to the foot of the league. Something was going to give.

Neil McCann was still looking for his first win in the Caley Jags dugout in this his fourth game in temporary control. He was without Miles Storey and Cameron Harper with Kevin McHattie making the bench alongside Aaron Doran. No sign of Storey or Lewis Toshney. The visitors were without defender Lewis Strapp, Robbie Muirhead and striker Kalvin Orsi. Anton McElhone shook his squad around but somewhat surprisingly Aidan Nesbitt was in the starting XI.

A bitterly cold night saw the sides emerge to a stiff breeze with Morton shooting towards the Kessock Bridge end. And they were first to probe into the box when Sterling slipped past Brad Mckay but the defence mopped up. Sterling's pace looks like it will cause problems and he forced Mark Ridgers into a comfortable save in the early exchanges.

A tentative opening quarter to the game saw the keepers underworked at either end of the park. Petty fouls and misplaced passes were the order of the day but Inverness were fortunate when Morton broke on the left but Sterling's header was glanced wide as the rain started to fall.

Poor decision making saw most moves break down in the final third as the hosts probed for an opening with half an hour gone. The weather was not helping but it was easy to see how both sides were struggling in a stop start game.

Ten minutes before the break a long ball forward by Sutherland found Roddy Macgregor chasing into the box and McAdams was brought into action at last as he saved Roddy's low shot from the right side of the box. Poor keeper must have been frozen prior to that.

Four minutes before the break Nikolay Todorov hit the top of the post from close range at the far side of the box after determined play by Keatings created an opening for the big striker who got his shot away at the second attempt. The same player earned a yellow just before the interval when a long ball into the box appeared to be handled by Toddy. As it was the ball bounced over the bar and Toddy was booked.

Half Time: 0-0

The stiff breeze had grown into a blustery swirling mini storm with relentless driving rain as the teams came out for the second half.

Ridgers was early into action as Nesbitt drilled a low shot goalwards after good work by Sterling but the keeper saved comfortably.

Aaron Doran made a welcome return to match action after injury as he replaced Keatings ten minutes into the second half.

The much maligned Aidan Nesbitt opened the scoring with a low shot from a similar position to his effort five minutes earlier, the ball drilled low behind Ridgers and against the run of play the visitors were ahead with the Caley Jags ball watching.

Wallace Duffy forced a corner with a good burst down the right but it came to nothing, as did most of our feeble efforts. In truth we were struggling badly against a mediocre Morton side who almost doubled their advantage from a corner, but the ball was headed just over with Ridgers spectating.

Allardice picked up his sixth booking of the season as we entered the final ten minutes and Deas followed him into the book.

As desperation set in Sutherland rifled a low shot straight at the keeper from twenty yards with the game slipping away from us.

We almost snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat as Sutherland cracked the ball off the bar and when Toddy followed up and headed into the net his 'goal was ruled offside. Meh!

Full Time: 0-1

ImageWhat a shitfest of a game and result. Absolutely hapless and at the moment we are deserving everything we are getting, and that is zilch. We really look jaded.

Forget looking up the table, we need to concentrate on the bottom. This is pretty much a low point after 26 years of giving it a go :sad:

Match report written by tm4tj



None.

Pld W D L F A +/- Pts
1. Hearts 19 13 3 3 46 21 25 42
2. Raith Rovers 17 8 4 5 32 24 8 28
3. Dunfermline 17 7 6 4 26 19 7 27
4. Queen of the South 19 8 3 8 30 37 -7 27
5. Dundee 17 6 6 5 31 32 -1 24
6. Morton 19 5 7 7 17 24 -7 22
7. Ayr United 18 5 6 7 22 21 1 21
8. Arbroath 19 5 6 8 17 24 -7 21
9. Inverness CT 18 4 8 6 25 23 2 20
10. Alloa Athletic 19 3 5 11 21 42 -21 14