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Inverness Caledonian Thistle v Clyde

Recap

Scottish Championship 2003-04

Caledonian Stadium

Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Clyde
3 - 1
Final Score

Recap

Football can be a cruel game. For the 100+ Clyde fans that made the long journey north and back late last night, never has that statement been truer, as they left the Caledonian Stadium with a mixture of disbelief, frustration and disappointment at the unfortunate defeat.

With Alan Kernaghan struggling with a foot injury, the defence, now including Kevin Fotheringham, had to be reshuffled and David Hagen came back into the left-midfield slot. Jimmy Gibson also returned and replaced Pat Keogh in the middle of the park.

The wet and windy conditions meant that the match started as you would expect; fast and furious with little fluent play and plenty of errors. Jimmy Gibson’s influence was an obvious advantage in the opening minutes and it was Clyde who created the first real chance of the match. Ian Harty did well on the right win and swung in an excellent cross that Andy Smith connected with well but unfortunately Mark Brown read the header and held it comfortably. Long range efforts from Jack Ross and David Hagen never threatened the scoreline but, although there were few clear-cut chances being created, Clyde were in charge it at this stage. Ian Harty hit the side netting from inside the box after good work by Andy Smith creating the opening, and Jack Ross narrowly missed a good chance with his head. On 35 minutes, however, ICT took the lead. Paul Ritchie appeared to be put through on goal, but the presence of McLaughlin and Fotheringham seemed to have put him off enough. The striker then put a low snap shot into the far bottom corner of the net to make it 1-0, with the said defenders and Bryn Halliwell looking less than impressive. It was an underserved lead and it was only fair that the score was made even again immediately from the restart, although the goal has to go down as one of the most bizarre of the season. Fotheringham, well inside his own half, launched a hopeful ball forward towards Andy Smith in the box. As Mark Brown came to meet the ball, it bounced and sailed over him and into the net. David Hagen then had a glorious chance to put Clyde ahead when he slid to connect with a cross at the back post, but his volley crept just wide of the post. Just when it appeared that fairness had been installed, Caley scored a scrappy goal on the break. A high ball into the box wasn’t cleared properly and David Bingham did what he does best by creating space for himself with a sneaky foul on McLaughlin and heading the ball over Halliwell, who was caught in no-man’s-land. There was still time for Clyde to create another chance before the break, when another cross to the back post was cleverly chested down by Fotheringham but he took too long to pull the trigger when looking odds on to score and was tackled.

There was only one team in the ascendancy as the match restarted after half-time and just 8 minutes in Clyde should have been level. Firstly, Brown did brilliantly to save a diving header by Ian Harty, and the ball spun away for a corner. The corner came into the box and a Clyde player connected with the ball and a certain goal was prevented by the arm of McBain. A penalty was awarded and McBain was sent off for deliberate handball. Harty put the spot-kick low and to his right but Brown clawed it out back towards our top goalscorer, but he panicked and blasted the ball over via the bar. Desperate stuff and it was al Clyde from here on in. Harty, looking to make amends, seemed to be clean through but he was caught be a defender. The ball broke to Marshall and his shot was also well saved by the Caley keeper. Andy Smith stretched to reach a header at the back post but couldn’t quite make it. At least two crosses were agonisingly missed with a goal beckoning, as Inverness sat further and further back. A Caley breakaway led to Mensing giving the petulant Wilson an equally petulant punch off the ball and he was lucky to only receive a yellow card. Fotheringham also received his customary yellow card for a two footed lunge after he lost out in the initial challenge. Gilhaney, Keogh and McConalogue were all thrown on as Clyde finished the match with 4 strikers on the park, but the tempo was beginning to fade and the final kick in the teeth arrived in the form of a late stonewall penalty, conceded by McLaughlin as Caley looked certain to score on a rare attack. The home side’s third shot on target made the scoreline 3-1 as Halliwell went the wrong way. Before the final whistle there was still time for McLaughlin to miss an easy chance with his head.

The masses of journalists not in attendance will be delighted to report that Clyde’s bubble has now burst, but the only consolation from the match is that this is not the case. A similar performance on Saturday should yield a positive result, now much awaited by everyone.

STAR RATINGS *****

Halliwell ** Needs to sharpen up
Mensing *** Looked the part in spells but silly mistakes let him down
Fotheringham *** Another needless booking but a decent contribution
McCluskey *** Looked much more at home in the centre-half role
McLaughlin *** The usual stuff from the big defender
Ross ** One or two good contributions but not in the game enough
Hagen * Hardly any input from the winger, disappointing
Marshall *** Sometimes lost the ball but there were more positives.
Smith *** Was given a lot to do and did most of it well
Gibson **** Ran the show in the middle of the park for the majority
Harty *** Penalty miss aside, another good shift

REACTION

ALAN KERNAGHAN – ""I’m in disbelief; we created chance after chance and had a penalty but couldn’t score a second goal. There probably wasn’t a decent goal in the game. Questions have to be asked defensively.

""I couldn’t ask for any more from my players, I thought generally they were magnificent. We must have had 8 or 10 chances in the second half so I thought we made decent use of the extra man. We’ve given a good team the run-around for long spells in difficult conditions.

""It’s frustrating that the bad results are coming at this time and against this opposition but leagues are won over 36 games. We are disappointed but we’ll go on. We’re still in the driving seat, which makes it even more frustrating.

"Saturday comes round quickly and we’re looking forward to that already."

Goals

Inverness Caledonian Thistle   Clyde
Ritchie 35'
36' Fotheringham
Bingham 41'
(pen) Wilson 88'

Line-Ups

Inverness Caledonian Thistle   Clyde
Brown
  Halliwell
Golabek
  Mensing
 
Mann
  Fotheringham
 
Tokely
  McCluskey
86
McCaffrey
  McLaughlin
 
McBain
  Ross
Wilson
  Hagen
63
Duncan
  Marshall
 
Keogh
  Smith
75
Bingham
  Gibson
61
Ritchie
  Harty
81
Substitutes
61
Munro
  Gilhaney
63
Fraser
  Morrison
75
Proctor
  Keogh
86
Thomson
  McConalogue
81
Hart
  Doyle

Details

Date Time League Season Full Time Attendance Report Author
March 16, 2004 7:45 pm Scottish Championship 2003-04 90' 2645 Graham Forrest

Officials

  • Referee
    Mike McCurry

Past Meetings

DateHomeResultsAwayTimeLeague
ClydeInverness Caledonian ThistleScottish Championship
N/A
Inverness Caledonian ThistleClydeScottish Championship
N/A
Inverness Caledonian ThistleClydeScottish Championship
N/A
ClydeInverness Caledonian ThistleScottish Championship
N/A
Inverness Caledonian ThistleClydeScottish Championship
N/A
ClydeInverness Caledonian ThistleScottish Championship
N/A
Inverness Caledonian ThistleClydeScottish Championship
N/A
ClydeInverness Caledonian ThistleScottish Championship
N/A
Inverness Caledonian ThistleClydeScottish Championship
N/A
ClydeInverness Caledonian ThistleScottish Championship
N/A
ClydeInverness Caledonian ThistleScottish Championship
N/A
Inverness Caledonian ThistleClydeScottish Championship
N/A
ClydeInverness Caledonian ThistleScottish Championship
N/A
Inverness Caledonian ThistleClydeScottish Championship
N/A
Inverness Caledonian ThistleClydeScottish League One
N/A
ClydeInverness Caledonian ThistleScottish League One
N/A
Inverness Caledonian ThistleClydeScottish League One
N/A
ClydeInverness Caledonian ThistleScottish League One
N/A
ClydeInverness Caledonian ThistleScottish League One
N/A
Inverness Caledonian ThistleClydeScottish League One
N/A
ClydeInverness Caledonian ThistleScottish League One
N/A
Inverness Caledonian ThistleClydeScottish League One
N/A
ClydeInverness Caledonian ThistleLeague Cup
N/A