Caley Thistle’s home toils continue after they were forced to settle for yet another draw in their encounter with Morton.
Caledonian Stadium has not provided Inverness with the home comforts they have craved so far this season, winning just once and drawing their other four league matches so far, and this was another frustrating afternoon for John Robertson’s men.
Although they showed resilience to bounce back from Charlie Telfer’s early opener for Ton courtesy of Jordan White’s goal, and their creative spark appeared to have returned on an afternoon with no shortage of chances, the inability to make the most of them to pick up home points is a concern.
While not the result the Highlanders were hoping for, against a Morton side that was hammered 5-1 by Ayr United the previous weekend, it extends their unbeaten league run to 19 matches.
Consistency of selection has been key to Caley Thistle’s successful start to the campaign, which was evidenced once again by Robertson selecting the same team for a fifth successive match.
Inverness came into the game on the back of successive goalless draws against Ross County and Queen of the South but it took only six minutes for their defence to be breached by Ton.
The goal came courtesy of calamitous play from Brad Mckay, whose ball across the backline was intercepted by Gary Oliver, albeit with strong appeals for handball from the hosts, with the attacker sliding the ball through for Michael Tidser to tee up Telfer for a fine drilled low finish past Mark Ridgers from 16 yards.
Despite the setback there was a strong response from Inverness with a Sean Welsh free- kick deflected over before the midfielder turned provider with an exquisite pass to release Aaron Doran but goalkeeper Ryan Scully was out sharply to thwart him.
Scully was forced to make an even better save to deny Doran again on 34 minutes, beating the ball to safety after the winger had been teed up by Liam Polworth.
The Inverness breakthrough came on the stroke of half time with Coll Donaldson’s long ball latched on to by White, who showed ingenuity to spin around the challenge of Kerr Waddell before guiding the ball in at Scully’s near post from six yards out.
The goal ought to have provided Caley Jags with a boost for the start of the second half but it was the visitors who looked the most likely to regain the lead.
Tidser’s corner picked out the head of Waddell, who looked to have scored before Welsh knocked the ball off the line.
Ross McLean hit the side netting after a misunderstanding between Shaun Rooney and Mark Ridgers.
Caley Jags finished the match on top with substitute Daniel MacKay unlucky to see his shot that looked destined for the top right-hand corner clawed away by Scully. A late claim for a penalty when Carl Tremarco appeared to be scythed down by Lee Kilday was waved away, leaving Caley Jags five points adrift of leaders Ayr United.