Two-game crunch spell for reeling Caley Jags
rock-bottom inverness approach vital period as they look for a lift
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Caley Thistle are rooted to the bottom of the SPL table after losing their sixth successive league game yesterday.
Despite giving their best first-half performance for weeks, Inverness capitulated in the second period at Caledonian Stadium, losing three goals as Pedro Mendes and Kris Boyd, with a double, took Rangers to within five points of leaders Celtic.
Hamilton’s victory against Aberdeen and Falkirk’s draw with Kilmarnock mean that Caley Jags are languishing at the foot of the SPL.
They last won a game on November 22 when they defeated Kilmarnock 2-1 at Rugby Park. Since then, they have lost goals alarmingly easily and plummeted down the table.
Manager Craig Brewster claims he has the backing of the board and has already begun looking for new players.
He has made an offer to veteran central defender Steven Pressley in an attempt to bolster Caley Thistle’s defence, but many of the club’s supporters are dissatisfied with the Inverness manager and made their feelings clear when they called for his head after the defeat at Motherwell. The Supporters’ Trust has called a meeting on Wednesday.
Caley Thistle’s next two matches have now taken on a huge added significance. First Division Partick Thistle travel north to play Inverness in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup this Saturday.
A victory is vital considering Inverness’s dismal league run and their poor home form. Caley Jags have the worst home record in the SPL, having recorded just one victory at Caledonian Stadium all season.
A trip to fellow strugglers Hamilton then awaits the Highland side in a match which must mark a turning point in the club’s season.
Brewster knows victory in both games is crucial to the club’s wellbeing and his own future at the Caley Jags.
Not for the first time this term Caley Thistle showed glimpses of real potential against Rangers, but could not make their early superiority count.
Inverness dominated the first period and were denied an opening goal when Allan McGregor made a point-blank save from an Iain Vigurs header after 17 minutes.
Don Cowie then shot from distance as Caley Thistle began to pass the ball with confidence.
Vigurs again went close when his 20-yard effort went marginally wide of McGregor’s left-hand post. Cowie was then sent clear and took the ball round McGregor before chipping over.
But for all their first-half superiority, Caley Thistle found themselves a goal behind just 23 seconds after the break. Nacho Novo and Kenny Miller combined to find Mendes in space and the Portuguese midfielder beat Esson with a sublime curling shot from distance.
Esson denied Boyd at his near post as Rangers finally began to find space.
At the other end, McGregor punched clear an Andy Barrowman shot from distance – and almost immediately Rangers broke forward to net their second.
Steven Davis played the ball through to Boyd and he dispatched a crisp strike past Esson with 10 minutes remaining. Boyd claimed his second goal when he converted a cross from substitute Chris Burke late on.
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