Inverness - a sad 24h on

Last updated : 19 January 2010 By Firparkcorner

Boyle & Brown
Since Inverness knocked us out in a home quarter final in 2004 we have succumbed to the all of the following - Kilmarnock, St Mirren, St Johnstone, Dundee, St Mirren and Inverness. With no disrespect to any of those teams, the list can hardly be described as the top flight in the Scottish game. That's a truly awful record for a club which has been an ever present in the SPL.

It was one of those nights when it seemed clear from the opening exchanges that we might be in trouble. On one of the biggest playing surfaces in Scotland we seemed content to fire long balls either to O'Brien or Humphrey on the wings or to Jutkiewicz, isolated upfield. Where was the bread and butter passing game?


Tokely's crashing tackle on Jutkiewicz' ankle inside the first two minutes took care of our main goal threat. He never looked the part thereafter and complained after the match that he'd never been kicked as often in a game. Welcome to the Scottish Cup Lukas!

O'Brien, for all his attempts at twisting and turning, made little progress and hardly complete a pass all night. Humphrey made no progress on the right wing. Tokely and at times Foran(!) block his runs with ease.


We had seven corners but none troubled Esson. Indeed, the home keeper had to deal with only three shots on target. No rhythm, no fluency and even worse, in the words of a disappointed Craig Brown after the game, "not enough determination nor grit" summed up the dismal showing.


As the team bus set off on the long road south the boxes of hot pizza which were onboard would offer cold comfort to the players who know better than the fans that they let themselves down. The lack of income that a decent cup run might have delivered will be of no help as the club tries to secure its position in the current transfer window.

The team has a first chance to make amends to the travelling fans on Saturday when St Mirren visit Fir Park - they might have a chance this time, it's not a cup game!