Inverness Caley Thistle 1 Dunfermline 0

Saturday, 4th May 2019

Ladbrokes Championship: Cammy Gill, Stuart Morrison, Kallum Higginbotham and Lewis Martin start. Nathan Austin (35) 1-0:

The final match of Dunfermline Athletic’s season was played on a cold Saturday in May. Ryan Scully was ill and Jackson Longridge was suspended so Stevie Crawford brought in Lewis Martin, Stuart Morrison, Kallum Higginbotham and Cammy Gill. Myles Hippolyte dropped to the bench and James Vincent was missing. For 21 year old Gill and 20 year old Morrison this was their league debut for Dunfermline but they both members of the last Pars team to win in Inverness.

No doubt with an eye on the impending play offs, John Robertson left out six players - Liam Polworth, Aaron Doran, Anthony McDonald, Jamie McCart, Carl Tremarco and Cammy Mackay. Into the home side came Mark Ridgers, Darren McCauley, Nathan Austin, Tom Walsh and two former Pars Brad McKay and Kevin McHattie.

The Fifers defeated Caley Thistle at the Caledonian Stadium earlier this season when they knocked the holders out of the Irn Bru Cup but they were in search of their first league success there since 2007.

Bruce Anderson kicked off with the visitors attacking the goal at the Kessock bridge end. A second minute corner was sent over from the left by Walsh but Lee Ashcroft headed the danger away. Next however Jordan White’s glancing header on a cross from the other side dropped wide left of target.

In sixth minute Gill was out of his box to clear a through ball that White was chasing and next minute when Mark Durnan pushed over Austin down by the right corner flag, Joe Chalmers delivered into the box and when it reached Shaun Rooney on the far side of the box to took him by surprise and the defence cleared.

When Louis Longridge sent the Pars first corner over from the right Anderson, Morrison and Higginbotham all had driven shots blocked and then Higginbotham’s cross travelled out beyond the far post. That meant that Caley keeper Ridgers first involvement was from the 15th minute goal kick

A moment of uncertainty from Danny Devine allowed Austin into the left side of the Pars box but fortunately his effort was sent wide right. Walsh sent over the home side’s 18th minute corner but Ryan Blair headed that away and then a McCauley cross from the left was headed wide right by Austin.

Despite a period of possession, Dunfermline had been kept well away from Ridgers and Longridge’s shot at the midway point of the half was well off target from 20 yards out.

A pass from Craigen to Higginbotham to his left then picked out Anderson and he did well to wrong foot Chalmers to get in for a low shot that Ridgers held diving to his right.

Gill dived forward to punch away a dangerous cross from McHattie that was swerving away from him. Rooney flashed a cross in from the right that everyone then missed and as the sun made an appearance the Fifers defended another Walsh corner from the left.

When he got the better of Rooney, Higginbotham drove a low ball into the Caley box that was defended out only as far as Blair but his shot from 25 yards was high. Morrison conceded a 34th minute free kick 28 yards out and Chalmers effort cleared the Pars wall and dropped on the roof of the net.

Disaster struck in 35 minutes when a mix up between Morrison and his keeper let AUSTIN in to slot the ball home. Morrison’s pass back to Gill was too high and that proved fatal. 1-0

After being fouled down at the right corner, Craigen over hit the 41st minute free kick. It had been a fairly even first half as the stats confirmed just an unfortunate mix up as the young players tried to play the ball out from the back.

Scores elsewhere meant that at the break Dunfermline were sitting seventh in the Championship.

Half Time: Inverness Caley Thistle 1 Dunfermline 0

Jamie McCart replaced Coll Donaldson for the Highlanders before the restart. Higginbotham created a good chance for himself in 48 minutes. Cutting between Rooney and McCauley he chipped an inviting ball to the far post that when headed out was moped up by Devine to feed Higginbotham. His low cutting shot from the edge of the box was tipped around his left hand post by Ridgers.

Caley defended the corner before Austin hit a 52nd minute shot wide right. The match was missing any real goal mouth action and Stevie Crawford committed his first substitution of the afternoon replacing Ryan Blair with Matthew Todd.

Higginbotham created the next chance for Craigen but his shot from the edge of the box was blocked. Then in 63 minutes Higginbotham chipped another ball into the six yard box that won a corner on the right but Longridge’s cross was cleared.

A 70th minute Caley corner was flicked on by McCart but Morrison headed away the threat. Andy Ryan returned to competitive action when Louis Longridge made way for him with 17 minutes remaining. Within two minutes he got his first opportunity, narrowly missing left with a good attempt from 20 yards out.

Gill clawed away a Chalmers cross that dipped in from the left and at the other end Anderson drove at goal but only a bye kick came of it. In 82 minutes Martin sent Ryan in on the left side of the opposition box but when he squared there was no team mate there to convert the chance.

Three minutes later Walsh broke through the defence and his powerful shot was turned on to his right hand post by Gill. Lewis McCann was the final substitution of the day coming on for Kallum Higginbotham two minutes from time. The sub had hard lines when Ryan failed to read his slipped ball into the left side of the box.

Inverness saw the two added minutes at the end of the ninety and they secured third place. The Pars dropped to seventh and the travelling support lined the barriers as the players threw strips to them.

The tannoy blared out ”the only way is up” probably with relevance to both sides.

INVERNESS CALEY THISTLE: Mark Ridgers (c): Shaun Rooney, Coll Donaldson (Jamie McCart HT), Brad McKay, Kevin McHattie, Joe Chalmers, Darren McCauley, Tom Walsh, Charlie Trafford (Liam Polworth 65), Nathan Austin (Aaron Doran 73), Jordan White.
SUBS NOT USED: Anthony McDonald, Cameron Harper, Matheus Machado, Cameron Mackay (GK).
SCORERS: Austin (35)

DUNFERMLINE: Cammy Gill (GK): Mark Durnan, Danny Devine, Lee Ashcroft (c) Lewis Martin: Stuart Morrison: Louis Longridge (Andy Ryan 73), James Craigen, Ryan Blair (Matthew Todd 62), Kallum Higginbotham (Lewis McCann 88): Bruce Anderson.
SUBS NOT USED: Myles Hippolyte, Faissal El Bakhtaoui, Paul Allan, Craig Burt (GK)

REFEREE: Graham Beaton
WEATHER: Cloudy 7C
ATTENDANCE 2828

NEXT MATCH: TBA
Winning ticket was 44283


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Preview Inverness Caley Thistle

Saturday, 4th May 2019

Ladbrokes Championship: (away) Saturday 4th May, 3.00pm kick off at Inverness Caledonian Stadium, IV1 1FF

A few weeks ago there was hope that this match might have turned out to be a play off place show down since at that time it looked looked Dunfermline and Inverness would be vying for fourth place in the Championship table. I

Regrettably that is not going to happen but the Pars sorely want to end the season on a high with their first league win in Inverness since March 2007. Dunfermline have won two and drawn one of their matches against ICT this season. The victories coming in the Irn Bru Cup when a young Pars side knocked out the holders and at East End Park in February thanks to a Joe Thomson goal early in the second half.

Milestones Inverness Caledonian Thistle (Away)
Last League Victory: 17/03/07: 3-1 SPL
Last League Defeat: 28/10/17: 0-1 Championship
Best League Victory: 22/04/00 2-1 Sc Div 1
Worst League Defeats: 15/08/04 & 29/01/05 0-2 SPL
Last Goalless Draw: 03/05/12: 0-0 Premier League
First visit: 23/10/99: 1-1 Sc Div 1

The last dozen league matches have seen three Dunfermline wins, six draws and three Caley Thistle wins.

Last 12 League matches v Inverness Caley Thistle
16/02/19: (H) 1-0 [1-0] Thomson
30/10/18: (A) 2-2 [1-0] Keena, [1-1] Calder, [2-1] Keena, [2-2] White
01/09/18: (H) 0-3 [0-1] Rooney, [0-2] Polworth, [0-3] Oakley
21/04/18: (A) 2-2 [1-0] Ryan, [1-1] Chalmers, [1-2] Austin, [2-2] Clark.
13/03/18: (H) 1-0 [1-0] Craigen
28/10/17: (A) 0-1 [0-1] Bell
12/08/17: (H) 5-1 [1-0] Smith, [2-0] Ashcroft, [2-1] Vigurs, [3-1] Cardle, [4-1] Hopkirk, [5-1] Cardle.
18/02/12: (H) 1-1 [1-0] Cardle, [1-1] Ross.
22/10/11: (A) 1-1 [0-1] Tade, [1-1] Buchanan (pen.)
06/08/11: (H) 3-3 [1-0] Kirk, [1-1] Tansey, [2-1] Kirk. [2-2] Hayes, [2-3] Tansey, [3-3] Hardie.
17/04/10: (A) 0-2 [1-0] Rooney, [2-0] Foran.
19/12/09: (H) 0-0

Last time at the Caledonian Stadium

Ladbrokes Championship, Tuesday 30th October 2018
Inverness 2 Dunfermline 2

In tenth minute Hippolyte accepted a misplaced pass from Welsh on half way and burst down the right. His pass to the left was accepted by Aidan KEENA who showed great composure to net low to the keeper’s left. Great celebration 0-1

The lead lasted only ten minutes until Inverness hit back however until Riccardo CALDER ran on to a long diagonal from Shaun Rooney to net all too easily from the left side of the Pars box. 1-1

Dunfermline regained the lead in 29 minutes when a pass inside from Aidan Connolly led to an opportunists strike out of the blue from KEENA, from some 35 yards out his effort sailed into the top right of the Caley net. 1-2

The teams were back on level terms five minutes later when Tom Walsh was able to get a low cross in from the right and it was met by WHITE who turned the ball in from six yards out. 2-2

INVERNESS CT: Mark Ridgers: Shaun Rooney, Brad McKay, Coll Donaldson, Riccardo Calder: Liam Polworth (Aaron Doran Cogan 74), Charlie Trafford (Nathan Austin 70, Tom Walsh (Joe Chalmers 70), Sean Welsh (c), Jordan White, Daniel Mackay.
SUBS NOT USED: Jamie McCart, Roddy McGregor, George Oakley, Daniel Hoban (GK).
SCORERS: Calder (20), White (34)

DUNFERMLINE: Lee Robinson: James Craigen, Lee Ashcroft (c), Danny Devine, Jackson Longridge: Aidan Connolly, Malaury Martin, Joe Thomson, Myles Hippolyte: Andy Ryan (Faissal El Bakhtaoui 70), Aidan Keena (Robbie Muirhead 81).
SUBS NOT USED: Ryan Williamson, Lewis Martin, Kallum Higginbotham, Lewis McCann, Cammy Gill (GK)
SCORERS: Keena (10, 29)

Form Last Six Matches

Dunfermline have taken one point from their last six league games, Inverness seven.

DUNFERMLINE
Morton (H) L 0-1
Queen of the South (A) L 1-2
Falkirk (H) L 0-1
Ross County (A) L 0-1
Partick Thistle (A) D 2-2
Ayr United (H) L 0-1

INVERNESS CALEY TH
Alloa Athletic (H) W 2-1
Dundee United (H) L 0-2
Morton (A) D 2-2
Ayr United (A) W 1-0
Ross County (H) L 1-2
Falkirk (H) D 0-0

Recent Form

Since Dunfermline’s run of five winning games, they have lost six of their next seven games by 1-0. The draw was at Firhill where they went two up against Partick Thistle, only for the battling Jags to claw it back to a draw.

Inverness have lost more home league games than they have won, only winning against Partick, Ayr, Morton and Alloa. Since that last win against Jim Goodwin’s team on 26 March have drawn one and lost two. They have however won two and drawn one away from home.

DUNFERMLINE
League Position: 6th
League Points: 41
Goal Difference: -6
Away League Record: P17 W6 D5 L6 GF20 GA21
Last Six League Match Form: LDLLLL

INVERNESS CT
League Position: 4th
League Points: 53
Goal Difference: +7
Home League Record: P17 W4 D8 L5 GF21 GA23
Last Six League Match Form: DLWDLW

Last Time Out

DUNFERMLINE (v Morton) Ryan Scully: James Craigen, Mark Durnan, Danny Devine (Kallum Higginbotham 85), Lee Ashcroft (c), Jackson Longridge: Myles Hippolyte, James Vincent, Louis Longridge (Lewis Martin 75), Ryan Blair: Bruce Anderson (Faissal El Bakhtaoui 63).
SUBS NOT USED: Matthew Todd, Stuart Morrison, Callum Smith, Cammy Gill (GK)

INVERNESS CALEY THISTLE (v Alloa Athletic):
Cameron Mackay: Shaun Rooney, Coll Donaldson, Jamie McCart, Carl Tremarco: Joe Chalmers, Liam Polworth (Nathan Austin 46), Aaron Doran Cogan (c) (Tom Walsh 72), Anthony McDonald (Darren McCauley 46), Charlie Trafford, Jordan White.
SUBS NOT USED: Kevin McHattie, Roddy Macgregor, Cameron Harper, Owain Fon Williams (GK).

Referee will be

Admission prices

Dunfermline fans will be accommodated in the South Stand at the Caledonian Stadium and prices are as follows:-
Adults (aged 26-64) £20
Adults (aged 16-25 and over 65s) £15
Under 16s: £6

Other Championship Fixtures

Ayr United v Alloa Athletic
Falkirk v Ross County
Morton v Dundee United
Queen of the South v Partick Thistle

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