Inverness Caledonian Thistle end pre-season with victory
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Inverness Caledonian Thistle 3
St Johnstone 1
ICT: Keatings (36) Todorov (68) Machado (84) St Johnstone: Tansey (50 pen)
Inverness Caledonian Thistle finished their pre-season campaign with victory against St Johnstone at Grant Street Park.
James Keatings’ goal gave Inverness the lead with Scott Tanser’s penalty levelling for the Premiership outfit.
Bulgarian striker Nikolay Todorov regained Caley Thistle’s lead midway through the second half with Matheus Machado firing a low drive into the net in the closing stages to win the game.
St Johnstone were causing all the problems early on and threatened on the wing when Liam Craig’s cross from the right nearly found the Saints’ attack.
But the ball was cleared by Todorov for a corner which was dealt with comfortably.
The Perth outfit threatened again when Daniel Swanson’s cross found Ross Callachan at the edge of the box but his low drive was well saved by Mark Ridgers.
But it was Caley Thistle who broke the deadlock in the 36th minute when Jordan White’s pass down the left wing found Tom Walsh and his cross found James Keatings in the six yard box to fire home from close range.
St Johnstone were awarded a penalty five minutes into the second half when Scott Tanser’s shirt was pulled by Harry Nicolson in the box and the full back’s powerful shot beat Ridgers from 12 yards.
But Inverness regained the lead midway through the second half when Todorov beat the St Johnstone defence in the air to nod Tom Walsh’ corner into the back of the net.
Coll Donaldson almost made it 3-1 minutes later when he unleashed a thunderous curling effort which beat goalkeeper Elliot Parish but smacked against the crossbar.
But Inverness put the game beyond doubt six minutes from time when Roddy MacGregor won the ball in midfield and released Mitch Curry down the right wing whose cross into the box found Machado who from 12 yards fired the ball into the bottom right corner.
Caley Thistle open their Betfred Cup Group Stage campaign at Peterhead on Tuesday night.
