Inverness Caledonian Thistle beat Montrose as they move back to the top of League One as Stenhouseumuir fail to beat Queen of the South in Dumfries
Scottish League One
Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1
Montrose 0
Scorer: Zimba (49)
Inverness Caledonian Thistle have moved top of League One as they edged Montrose in a hard fought victory at the Sarens PSG Stadium
Chanka Zimba scored his seventh goal of the season to give Inverness the lead early in the second half that proved to be the difference.
Inverness have moved one points clear at the top after Stenhousemuir drew 1-1 to Queen of the South at Dumfries.
Inverness made one change to the team that beat Peterhead last week 1-0 as David Wotherspoon came back for the injured Billy McKay.
Inverness almost took the lead within the first two minutes when they won a free kick at the edge of the box when Adam Mackinnon was fouled by Kieran Freeman.
Paul Allan’s free kick went over the wall and forced a fine save from Harrison Sharp who tipped the ball over the bar.
Liam Sole had two great chances in the opening minutes forcing fine saves from Sharp as Inverness laid on the heavy pressure early on.
Montrose had a great chance to take the lead in the 20th minute when a long ball into the box] from Terry Masson found Graham Webster who laid up Ewan Loudon in the six-yard box. But goalkeeper Ross Munro charged off his line to block his effort and keep the game goalless.
Allan went close again to giving Inverness the lead on the half hour when his shot from the edge of the box beat Sharp, but smacked against the crossbar.
Sharp denied Inverness the lead against when a cross from Chanka Zimba on the left wing found Sole 12-yards out as his thunderous effort was parried away from the goalkeeper for a corner.
Sole then played provider for Zimba who beat the offside trap and charged towards goal with only the goalkeeper to beat. But he scuffed his shot as it rolled comfortably for Sharp to pick up.
The deadlock was broken four minutes into the second half when Zimba got a nick on Mitchell Robertson’s original shot to guide past Sharp to give Inverness the lead.
Montrose did respond and came close to levelling midway through the second half when Danny Devine blocked a shot and the ball fell kindly to Loudon from 12-yards out. But he shot straight at Munro who saved comfortably.
Inverness then managed to see out the match and earn three points.
Inverness: Munro, Savage, Devine, Allan, Mackinnon (Longstaff 66), Wotherspoon (Macintyre 87), Robertson, Macleod, Sole (Stewart 66), Chalmers, Zimba (Bavidge 72).
Substitutes (Unused): Ross, MacIntyre, Alonge, Clark, Thompson.
Montrose: Sharp, Williamson (Machedo 80), Steeves, Masson, Webster, Loudon (McClements 80), Gibson (Sandilands 72), Freeman, Dillon, Stevenson (Lyons 72),
Substitutes (Unused): Millar, Waddell, May, Towler, McClements, Brown,
Referee: Sean Murdoch
Attendance: 2148