Injury concern to new signing Max Ram as Caley Thistle grab late winner thanks to George Oakley at Kelty Hearts
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League Cup
Kelty Hearts 0
Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1
Scorer: Oakley (88)
Inverness Caledonian Thistle started their League Cup group stage campaign with victory as George Oakley grabbed the winner at the death.
However there is concern over new signing Max Ram who was taken off injured after just 13 minutes.
Caley Thistle almost took the lead in the opening few minutes when Roddy MacGregor sent a ball through to Billy McKay.
His ferocious shot had to be tipped over the bar by goalkeeper Darren Jamieson for a corner.
Inverness suffered a blow in the 13th minute when Ram was taken off injured and was replaced by fellow new signing Max Delaney.
Kelty had their first chance in the 15th minute when the ball fell kindly to Alfredo Agyeman who broke free of the Inverness defence and his low drive beat Mark Ridgers.
But Zak Delaney cleared the ball off the line to keep the game goalless.
It was a quiet first half, but Kelty almost took the lead on the stroke of half time when Ridgers had to be alert to block Lewis Martin’s shot who latched on to a Thomas O’Ware free kick.
Inverness tried to break the deadlock just before half time in a counter attack when Austin Samuels broke up field and was clear on goal but fired over the bar.
Kelty started brightly in the second half with Tam Reilly getting a low drive and a header on target forcing Ridgers to make two excellent saves to prevent them finding the opener.
New signing Daniel MacKay, who returned to the club on loan from Hibernian came on to the pitch midway through the second half.
Inverness were quiet for the majority of the second half but almost took the lead in the 73rd minute when Cameron Harper's cross from the left wing found Mckay in the box and his diving header hit the right post before being cleared to safety.
But Inverness found the winner two minutes from time when McKay sent through substitute George Oakley who beat the offside trap and fired a low drive past Jamieson into the net to give them all three points.
Inverness continue their campaign at Livingston on Tuesday night.
Kelty: Jamieson, Peggie, O’Ware, Martin, Forster, Reilly, Barjonas, Higginbotham, Tidser (Owens 82), McNab, Agyeman (Strang 77)
Subs: Hill, Brown, Cameron, Campbell.
Inverness: Ridgers, Harper, Deas, Carson, McKay, Doran (MacKay 66), MacGregor, Ram (Delaney 13), Allardice, Samuels (Shaw 81), Boyd (Oakley 81).
Subs: (Unused) Hyde.
Referee: Barry Cook
Attendance 601.
