A STAGGERING eight red cards were produced, six of them being shown to New Elgin, as Inverness City moved to the top of the table following a 4-1 triumph.
City had goalkeeper Iain Young and captain Colin Mason both sent-off in the opening 10 minutes of what turned out to be a fiery contest between these two rivals.
The visitors, however, were already in front before these two red cards, Andrew Fraser have scored a magnificent solo goal with barely a minute gone.
New Elgin were next to feel the wrath of the referee as he reduced them by one in numbers as well, but it failed to deter them from restoring parity in a frenetic start to proceedings.
Both sides had chances in the remainder of the half, yet there were no further incidents of note as the teams went in level at the interval.
The break, however, was only a momentary period of calm as the match official evened up the numbers when sending New Elgin’s goalkeeper for an early shower after he had been adjudged to have denied Stevie Sanderson a clear goalscoring opportunity.
From the penalty kick awarded, Jordan Macdonald keep his composure to drill the ball home and restore City’s lead.
The indiscipline of the home side was now coming to the fore and they had a substitute red carded for an incident off the park, before picking up their fourth of the game shortly afterwards when one of their midfielders picked up his second caution.
It was all too much for the New Elgin boss who was sent-off and ordered away from the sidelines as tempers boiled over.
The game itself was taking a backseat to other events, but Inverness ensured the points would be going home with them as two clinical finishes from Ross Thomson and Danny Murdoch in the latter stages completed the scoring.
There was still time, however, for a final red card, New Elgin’s replacement goalkeeper receiving his marching orders for dissent.
INVERNESS CITY — Young; Macdonald, K. Mason, Murdoch, K. Fraser, McGregor (Miller), C. Mason, Thomson, A. Fraser (Hughes), Sanderson, Mackenzie (Aitchison). Subs unused: Macleod, Bannerman, Nairn.
