Alex Fisher equaliser nets Caley Thistle point against champions Celtic
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A LATE equaliser from Alex Fisher earned Caley Thistle a difficult point against champions Celtic.
Substitute Fisher headed in with stoppage-time beckoning to give a spirited home side a merited point in the Highlands.
It had looked like Celtic were going to emerge with all three points, after goals from Tom Rogic and Scott Sinclair had cancelled out Billy King’s wonder-strike.
But Fisher pounced in the closing stages of the game to secure a valuable point for Inverness, which lifts them back off the foot of the table.
Richie Foran’s side also had goalkeeper Owain Fon Williams to thank after a fantastic display, including numerous key saves, which kept the league-leaders at bay.
The Caley Jags made one change from the draw with Aberdeen a week ago. Fisher could consider himself unfortunate to be dropped after a couple of impressive displays, however in his place Lonsana Doumbouya was handed a first start.
For Celtic, Kolo Toure and Nir Bitton dropped out for Callum McGregor and Rogic.
Both sides traded early half-chances, with Josh Meekings glancing a header wide for Caley Thistle and Cristian Gamboa smashing an effort past the side netting.
Celtic took a deserved lead on 17 minutes when Kieran Tierney clipped a ball into the box for Rogic, who found space and turned home past Fon Williams from the penalty spot.
The visitors looked to assert their dominance on the game but a moment of brilliance from King pulled Inverness level.
Gary Warren’s cross-field ball was picked up by the on-loan Hearts man and he drove at Gamboa, before cutting inside and unleashing a ferocious 30-yard effort that Dorus De Vries could only help into the net.
It was the lift the home side needed and it could have got so much better for the Caley Jags three minutes later. Ross Draper nicked the ball away from McGregor and raced towards goal. Erik Sviatchenko came back at Draper and appeared to lean into the back of the midfielder as he prepare prepared to shoot. However, Don Robertson was unmoved, urging Draper to get to his feet.
The non-call proved costly as Celtic were almost immediately back in front. Meekings’ pass was too far in front of Gary Warren, allowing Sinclair to intercept and charge for goal. He picked his spot from just outside the box to put the Bhoys back ahead.
Inverness went in at half-time with a strong sense of injustice at the non-penalty call but they had to weather a Celtic storm at the beginning of the second period.
They had Fon Williams to thank for keeping them just a goal behind as the Wales international made a string of top quality saves. He first parried a Moussa Dembele effort and then clawed away a goal-bound effort from Tierney. He completed the hat-trick by superbly tipping a rising effort McGregor on to the crossbar.
After Draper skewed a shot wide Fon Williams was producing heroics again, this time springing to his left to keep out a Sinclair strike. Fon Williams was not done however and when McGregor looked to have outfoxed everyone in red and blue, he lifted the ball for the top corner, only for it to be beaten away by the home goalkeeper.
Tierney was doing his best to get his name on the scoresheet and rattled the crossbar with a fearsome effort, shortly before Stuart Armstrong volleyed wide when well-placed.
Caley Thistle huffed and puffed and when Aaron Doran saw his shot deflected wide, it looked to be all over.
However when Greg Tansey saw his corner cleared back to home, he steadied himself to clip the ball in for Fisher to steer home his first goal for the club.
There was even time for Tansey to go close himself with a free-kick that whistled past the post, but ultimanely the Caley Jags were fully merited their point.
CALEY THISTLE – Fon Williams; McKay, Meekings, Warren, Tremarco, Tansey, Vigurs (Doran, 59), Polworth (Mulraney, 68), Draper, King, Doumbouya (Fisher, 81). Subs unused: Mackay, Raven, Boden, Cole. Booked: Vigurs, Tremarco.
CELTIC – De Vries; Gamboa (Simunovic, 68), Lustig, Sviatchenko, Tierney, Brown, McGregor, Roberts (Forrest, 75), Rogic (Armstrong, 85), Sinclair, Dembele. Subs unused: Gordon, Izaguirre, Christie, Bitton. Booked: Brown.
Attendnance: 6061.
Referee: D Robertson.
