Caley Thistle win at Ayr is the real Mckay
Ayr United 0
Inverness CT 1
Mckay (65)
Super sub Brad Mckay scored to give Inverness Caledonian Thistle a valuable three points to move into third place and above Ayr United in the play-off zone.
It was a deserved victory for Inverness who despite missing an early penalty produced a good display of attacking football at Somerset Park.
Inverness made three changes to the team that lost 2-1 against Ross County on Tuesday night.
Shaun Rooney, Kevin McHattie and Nathan Austin were all brought into the starting line up. Charlie Trafford was suspended, Brad Mckay dropped to the bench and Jamie McCart was out through injury.
Caley Thistle were gifted the chance of a dream start when they were awarded a penalty after six minutes.
Nathan Austin beat the offside trap to run on to Liam Polworth’s pass and in an attempt to run around the goalkeeper was brought down by Ross Doohan who received a yellow card.
But Aaron Doran was unable to make the most of the opportunity as his spot kick was blocked by the legs of Doohan before being cleared.
Inverness kept pushing and Doran had another chance when he managed to get a nod on a Tom Walsh cross but headed wide of the left post.
Ayr missed a golden chance to take the lead on the half-hour mark when Coll Donaldson failed to clear a cross and the ball landed to the head of Calvin Miller who in the six yard box nodded the ball wide of the right post.
But it was Inverness who continued to create the best chances in the first half and Doohan had to do well to get down to Walsh’s powerful low drive after connecting with Carl Tremarco’s throw-in to prevent the ball finding the net.
Ayr started better in the second half and could have taken the lead on the hour mark if it was not for Shaun Rooney clearing Steven Bell’s shot off the line and Coll Donaldson cleared from danger.
But Donaldson had to be taken off after suffering an injury and was replaced by Brad Mckay who would go on to give Inverness the lead minutes later.
A Joe Chalmers free kick into the box resulted in a misclearance from Michael Rose and it fell to the substitute who fired home from close range.
Ayr came close to an equaliser when Declan McDaid released a powerful low drive from 25 yards that forced a great save from Mark Ridgers.
But Inverness held on for victory to move them two points above Ayr in fourth and eight points ahead of Dunfermline in fifth who drew 2-2 at Partick Thistle.
Ayr: Doohan, Harvie, Rose, Geggan (Adams 69), Bell, Shankland, Murdoch (Moffat 75), Docherty, Smith, Cadden (McDaid 80), Miller.
Subs (Unused) Hare-Reid, Crawford, Moore, Kerr,
ICT: Ridgers, Rooney, Tremarco, Chalmers, Donaldson (Mckay 62), Polworth, Austin (McCauley 83), Doran, Walsh (Mcdonald 71), White, McHattie.
Subs (Unused) Mackay, MacKay, Brown, Harper.
Referee: Craig Thomson.
