Caley Thistle promotion dreams over after loss at Dundee United
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Dundee United 3 (Clark pen, Sow, Safranko)
Inverness Caledonian Thistle 0
Inverness Caledonian Thistle's dream of promotion back to the Scottish Premiership came to an end at Tannadice.
With the best away form in the league, ICT had been confident of hauling Dundee United back in after losing the first leg 1-0.
But goals from Nicky Clark, Osman Sow and Pavol Safranko knocked Caley Thistle out of the play-offs and saw United through to the final.
Paul McMullan's pace – as it has been so often this season – posed an early threat to the Inverness defence.
On multiple occasions in the opening 10 minutes he got in behind the defence, but his good work was only rewarded with a couple of corners, and no clear sight of goal.
Tom Walsh did go close to opening the scoring for the visitors after 14 minutes.
A Joe Chalmers corner was not cleared away properly and came to Walsh just inside the box, and the attacker had enough time to chest the ball down and volley towards the bottom corner.
United goalkeeper Benjamin Siegrist was unsighted, but managed to get down in time to parry the ball wide.
As far as sights of goal were concerned, Caley Thistle would go on to dominate the next period.
Just after the half hour mark, Jordan White headed a corner just over the bar.
Then Brad McKay played a long ball over the top which Aaron Doran latched on to, but he could not quite keep it away from Siegrist and the keeper cleared.
But United would take the lead on the night on the cusp of half time.
Peter Pawlett was teed up by Nicky Clark inside the Inverness box, but when his shot was blocked by McKay the referee pointed to the spot for handball – to the fury of the defender.
Replays showed that the ball cannoned off McKay's leg and onto his arm, which would mean it is not a penalty, but the referee did not have that information on the pitch and the spot kick stood.
Clark stepped up to take it and sent Mark Ridgers the wrong way to put United 1-0 up on the night, and 2-0 up on aggregate.
It would go from bad to worse for Inverness as they emerged for the second half without their manager, as John Robertson had been sent to the stands after confronting the referee in the tunnel.
And United would soon make it 2-0 on the night.
McMullan again got down the right wing, and this time he found Osman Sow in the six yard box.
Sow had his back to goal, but he managed to turn and find the top corner in what was his first Dundee United goal.
That knocked the stuffing out of Caley Thistle, and it was one way traffic from then on.
United could have gone even further ahead when McKay essentially tackled the ball out of Ridgers' hands inside his own box.
The ball ran free, but though Clark just about kept it in play he could only hit the post with an open goal in front of him.
There was some sign of life in the Inverness squad with just over 10 minutes left on the clock as Nathan Austin went close to scoring from a corner, before Jamie McCart headed wide when the ball was put back into the box.
Pavol Safranko provided a final nail in the Caley Thistle coffin when he was slipped in on goal by Sam Stanton and he beat Ridgers to net – killing off any hopes the visitors had of an at that stage unlikely comeback.
