Inverness Caledonian Thistle fail to beat Montrose in League One clash as midfielder gives his opinion how they could not find victory
PAUL Allan says Inverness Caledonian Thistle played into Montrose’s hands as their style of play was not good enough for a win at the Caledonian Stadium on Saturday.
Inverness missed the chance to move out of the bottom two in League One as they could only manage a 1-1 draw against Montrose.
Victory would have moved them up to eighth place and ahead of Annan Athletic who lost 3-0 at Arbroath.
But as things stand, Inverness remain in ninth, but have closed the gap to one point with Annan, with a game in hand.
Allan, who signed for Inverness in August before the club went into administration in October, said Inverness were guilty of not moving the ball fast enough, especially in the first half.
He said it was frustrating that they did not take the opportunity to move above Annan Athletic after their defeat at Arbroath.
Looking back at the game, Allan said: “It was a frustrating one, it was a match we wanted to win at home and with the position that we are in, we could have closed gaps above us.
“The first half we were too slow at times. When they got the goal they sat in their shape. In the second half we increased the tempo and made chances. But we didn’t do enough to get the three points.
“We weren’t nervous, but we were too slow and it played into their hands. We could have put them under more pressure with more shots and crosses into the box which we touched on in the changing room.
“Them getting the goal in the first half wasn’t ideal. We should have got back into the game earlier than we did to put on pressure. A draw was a fair result. We did play better in the second half and looked more dangerous. When we equalised I thought we could have got a winning goal but it wasn’t to be.”
Inverness have 10 matches remaining in the regular season to avoid a relegation play-off with teams from League Two.
Head coach Scott Kellacher took his first game in charge of Inverness at Dumbarton in October when they lost 3-1. However, they did beat Dumbarton 2-0 in Inverness in January.
Allan says the squad wants to get the club out of the relegation as soon as possible and hopes they can do that by picking up victory at Dumbarton on Saturday.
He said: “There is plenty of time, but it was frustrating as we wanted to get out sooner rather than later to see where we could go in the remainder of the season.
“But we need to focus on ourselves and look ahead to Dumbarton.
“Looking at the table they are bottom and they have gone into administration too.
“It will be a tough place to go and I reckon they will play similar to Montrose. It is in our hands and we have to go win that game.”
