Caley Thistle point moves them off bottom spot
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CALEY Thistle moved off the foot of the Ladbrokes Premiership today (Saturday) after a 1-1 home draw with Hamilton.
Ali Crawford opened the scoring with a long range free-kick, which was cancelled out by a screamer from on-loan Fulham striker Larnell Cole.
ICT, however, were seething that they were denied a first half penalty when a Dan Seabourn handball robbed them of a better result,
The hosts didn't have their troubles to seek when it came to their team selection.
Overnight reports about number one keeper Owain Fon Williams' back spasm putting him out of contention led to fears that the club would have to turn to one of their 16-year-olds.
That's because Ryan Esson suffered a groin injury in a midweek Development game against Hearts, while under-20s keeper Daniel Hoban was also sidelined due to injury.
However, the good news was Welsh international Fon Williams was declared fit, with Esson on the bench.
Captain Gary Warren was suspended following his red card in the 3-0 loss last week at St Johnstone, while a knee injury has put fellow defender David Raven out for more than a month.
Brad Mckay vowed to play the through pain of an ongoing knee injury, while Lewis Horner came back from his suspension to make the starting 11, with Billy King and Aaron Doran dropping to the bench.
Injury, however, also kept out strikers Alex Fisher and Scott Boden, while midfielder Liam Polworth was also unavailable.
Accies captain Michael Devlin missed out because of a thigh injury, while Darren Lyon and Lennard Sowah were also out injured. In came Greg Docherty, Louis Longridge, Scott McMann and Georgios Sarris.
Richie Foran's rock bottom Highlanders had lost their last four games ahead of this fixture which he labelled a must-win.
Hamilton drew 1-1 with Inverness CT on October 1 and seven of their last nine matches had finished in stalemates, so another tight encounter was expected, with Caley Thistle a mere three points off the top six before a ball was kicked.
Caley Thistle thought they had taken the lead on 11 minutes, but the offside flag was up as Larnell Cole hit the back of the net after being sent through by Iain Vigurs.
Josh Meekings then had to be alert at the other end when he cut out a Longridge cross, which was intended for Alex D'Acol.
The visitors marched into the lead on 16 minutes when Crawford's low free-kick flew past Fon Williams' near post and into the net after Jake Mulraney conceded the set-piece from fully 30 yards.
D'Acol came close to doubling the Accies advantage with a searing 20-yarder, but it had just too much height to trouble the keeper this time.
ICT had claims for a spot-kick on 33 minutes when Dan Seabourne appealed to handle a net-bound effort from Lonsana Doumbouya a yard from the goal-line.
Six minutes later, a weaving run from Greg Tansey almost brought a home goal for ICT, but his low drive was blocked by ex-Ross County keeper Gary Woods.
Woods almost had the final say of the first half when he got down to clutch a shot from Tremarco after the ball was played out wide left by Vigurs and there was still time for Docherty to shoot over the bar for Hamilton from a Crawford free-kick into the danger area.
In the opening attack of the second half, Crawford released D'Acol, but Fon Williams got down smartly to save.
However, it was Caley Thistle who deservedly levelled on 51 minutes with a superbly worked goal.
Greg Tansey linked up well with Jake Mulraney and his pass found Cole, who lashed the ball high into the roof of the net.
Hamilton didn't sit back though and Darian Mackinnon drew a fine diving save from Fon Williams before Tansey's drive was blocked by Sarris after a flick back by Vigurs.
Cole was buzzing in this contest and he was unlucky on 62 minutes to see his dipping effort fly over the top from 20 yards.
Both teams sought a way through for the winner but they had to settle for a share of the spoils.
The result took ICT one point clear of Partick, who lost 4-1 against champions Celtic on Friday night.
Their next fixture takes them to Kilmarnock on Saturday, with their hosts in sixth place and just three points richer.
Inverness CT: Fon Williams, Tremarco, Meekings, Draper, Vigurs, Mulraney, Tansey, Horner (King 87), Mckay, Doumbouya, Cole. Subs not used: Esson (GK), Doran, Sutherland, Gilchrist, Robertson, Maclennan.
Hamilton: Woods, Seabourne, Gillespie, Imrie, Docherty, D'Acol (Bingham 68), Crawford, Longridge (Redmond 68), Mackinnon, McMann, Sarris. Subs not used: Thomson (GK), Brophy, Donati, Cunningham, Hughes.
Referee: Greg Aitken.
Attendance: 2473.
