Late Hemmings goal sees ICT's hopes of first win dashed
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A LATE strike from Kane Hemmings snatched a share of the spoils for Dundee against a dejected Caley Thistle.
David Raven's curling effort in the second half put Caley Thistle in front and a late penalty for the hosts – saved by Owain Fon Williams from Greg Stewart - looked like cementing a much-needed three points.
However, Hemmings' stoppage-time strike ensured Inverness will still be searching for their first win of the season after the international break.
Inverness finished the game with 10 men as Andrea Mutombo saw red, making it a horrible end to the game for the travelling fans from the Highland capital.
Speculation around the future of Ryan Christie did not deter John Hughes from starting him. Celtic's £500,000 offer, lodged late on Thursday, has not yet been answered by Caley Thistle, with the closure of the transfer window looming at midnight on Tuesday.
Despite the crushing blow of Aaron Doran being ruled out for the season with a knee injury, the injury situation does show signs of easing. Richie Foran returned to the bench for the first time since the away leg with FC Astra, while Josh Meekings expects to be back in time for the Hearts game in a fortnight.
In his and Gary Warren's absence, Ross Draper and Danny Devine have been the de-facto centre-back pairing. However, it was Tremarco that partnered Devine against Dundee, with Draper in midfield alongside Greg Tansey and Iain Vigurs.
Draper was the driving force early on, breaking regularly from the centre of the park in a bid to drive his team-mates into more offensive positions. It appeared to be working early on as Inverness had the first chances of the game – Ryan Christie seeing a long-range effort gathered at the second attempt by Scott Bain and Mutombo failing to get a clean header on David Raven's cross.
The visitors were not without their nervy moments , as firstly Nicky Low whacked a free-kick from the edge of the area straight at Raven in the wall then James McPake was denied by Fon Williams after the goalkeeper spilled a Dundee corner.
Caley Thistle wasted their best chance of the first half on 22 minutes as a Vigurs-orchestrated break found Raven in space in the penalty area. Instead of shooting, as he was well-placed to do, the stand-in captain squared back to Vigurs who side-footed past the far post from 10 yards completely unmarked.
Any notion that this game was going to be a dull affair could have been quashed by watching any five-minute spell of the first-half. A scrappy and tempestuous affair that was not helped by Andrew Dallas' stop-start approach to the game, tempers had threatened to boil over.
One instance saw Christie stealing the ball on the slide from Kevin Thomson before pirouetting around former ICT star Nick Ross, seeing his shot blocked and then crashing into McPake going for the header. Any notion that the 20-year-old would be thrown off his game by the transfer speculation was immediately dispelled.
Inverness threatened at the start of the second half through Mutombo, who was played in by Draper but saw his shot blocked as he shaped to shoot. Vigurs shot straight at Scott Bain from range while at the other end, Caley Thistle got off the hook when Low charged down a Fon Williams' clearance, only for Devine to intervene.
Raven's moment of glory came just after hour when the ball broke to him on the right-hand edge of the penalty area. The full-back took a moment to compose himself before curling a speculative effort with his left foot around the out-stretched Scott Bain.
The home stopper was again springing to his right five minutes later after good work by Christie down the right flank. Dundee's Gary Irvine was caught out by Christie and the in-demand prospect set his sights on goal, angling a shot that missed the far post by a couple of yards.
Pressure was starting to come from Dundee and Hughes had Fon Williams to thank for keeping his side ahead. Kane Hemmings wriggled free in the area and had a clear sight of goal, only for the Welshman to stand tall and block with his feet. Chances continued to come, with Low's floated cross then evading Hemmings and an unmarked Stewart at the back post.
Stewart would be presented with an even better chance to score in the final stages when Devine was penalised for a handball in the area. However, from the resulting spot kick, Stewart succeeded only in finding the gloves of Fon Williams, who kept out the effort, before Paul McGowan contrived to miss from two yards in stoppage time.
The drama was not done however, as Hemmings stole in to level the proceedings before Mutombo was dismissed for a rash challenge on Ross.
DUNDEE: Bain; Irvine (Carreiro, 75), McPake, Konrad (Meggatt, 69), McGinn, Low, Thomson, McGowan, Ross, Hemmings, Stewart. Subs unused: Mitchell, Ferry, Gazhalov, Curran, Holt. Booked: none.
CALEY THISTLE: Fon Williams; Raven, Devine, Draper, Tremarco, Christie, Tansey, Vigurs (Wedderburn, 82), Williams, Mutombo, Lopez. Subs unused: Esson, Foran, Horner, Polworth, Ferguson, Brown. Booked: Tansey, Draper, Vigurs, Devine. Sent off: Mutombo.
Attendance: 4767
Referee: A. Dallas.
