A RIDGE TOO FAR
Arbroath dream’s over as NINEMAN Caley and shootout hero keeper Mark book play-off final against Saints ARBROATH..0 INVERNESS..0
MARK RIDGERS was the hero as his shootout save settled a nerve-shredding play-off semifinal and sent Inverness to within 120 minutes of a Premiership return.
On a night when Billy Dodds’ side had to dig deep into their reserves after being reduced to nine men, Ridgers dived to his right to deny Arbroath veteran Bobby Linn.
It teed up Kirk Broadfoot to slam home the final penalty and set up a home and away showdown with St Johnstone as Caley look to end their five-year top flight exile.
Dodds had challenged his side to ignore the script as they headed to Gayfield with what seemed like every neutral in Scotland behind Dick Campbell’s part-timers.
It was far from pretty. It was brutal at times and the match ball would have been deserving of a heavy dose of paracetamol.
The first half was all punt and grunt, 100mph stuff with neither side really getting anywhere.
Second balls and set-pieces were order of the day for Arbroath and off two scraps Scott Stewart and Jack Hamilton both had fizzing efforts from outside the box blocked en-route to goal.
At the other end it took until the 30th minute for Derek Gaston to get involved in the action as Caley’s attempts to get Austin Samuels in behind were thwarted by Ricky Little, Tam O’Brien. Arbroath served first notice after the restart too as Jack Hamilton broke wide and fired a dangerous low cross right across the face of goal but with no takers.
Suddenly the game burst to life. At the other end Shane Sutherland had the clearest sight of goal of the evening after 51 minutes when he nicked the ball past Little and homed in on Gaston’s goal only to see his left-footed effort bulge the wrong side of the net.
Gaston was taking pelters from the Caley Jags behind his goal. One muppet even decided to throw a cup of hot drink in his direction before the stewards stepped in.
Stewart swiped fresh air from
James Craigen’s cross as Arbroath passed up another excellent chance.
But they were dealt a massive hand by ref Willie Collum in the 65th minute.
Devine clashed with Hamilton as the pair contested a harmless ball lofted into the channel and, after the pair hit the deck, Collum wasted no time in pulling out the red card.
It looked harsh as the Inverness man may have been last man but never took his eyes off the ball dropping out the sky before the pair collided.
Momentum was with the home side and matters got worse for the visitors when Sutherland collapsed unchallenged as he chased a ball down and had to be stretchered off.
Having stopped the game three times to make subs already Dodds had to watch his side plough on into the final 10 minutes with nine men before he could throw on another replacement for extra time.
They made it through thanks to some heroic penalty-box defending.
Dodds finally got to make his last sub as the game went into extra time, with Lewis Hyde replacing the long-departed Sutherland.
But Arbroath should have stormed into the lead when Jack Hamilton burst through on Ridgers only to see the big keeper save brilliantly with his legs.
Colin Hamilton was next to have a go when his header from Nicky Low’s cross flew just wide.
Inverness were digging deep but their job got even tougher with seven minutes to go when sub Wallace Duffy received his second yellow for a sliding challenge on Linn.
Again it looked harsh with the Inverness man taking the ball first.
Colin Hamilton hit the bar with another header as the clock ticked down but the vistors held on for the spotkicks.
Billy Mckay, Joe Hardy, Sean Welsh and Cammy Harper scored for Inverness while Michael McKenna, Low and Colin Hamilton netted the home side’s opening three kicks.
But Linn’s was saved by Ridgers allowing Broadfoot to fire home the winner.