Cowie the don as his old club get whacked
FOR a native Invernesian, Don Cowie doesn’t half know how to stick the boot into the place. The 33-year-old midfielder, who crossed the Kessock divide from Ross County to spend a couple of contented seasons at the Caledonian Stadium, was the scourge of the Highlanders yesterday.
He ended the day with two goals and two assists and was afforded a well-deserved standing ovation for his part in a Hearts performance which suggested that all that early-season intrigue about director of football Craig Levein wielding undue influence over Robbie Neilson was wide of the mark.
“When the fax came in this morning and the team came through,” joked Neilson afterwards, perhaps also referencing the worst moments of the Vladimir Romanov era. “I was delighted when I saw it!”
If those fears seemed misplaced last night, concern about the season ahead at Inverness Caledonian Thistle, however, has never seemed more appropriate. Clad in an away strip which could best be described as cream or off-white, theirs was a strangely colourless performance which got everything it deserved. They now sit rock bottom of the Premiership table, having already been dumped out of the Betfred Cup by Alloa.
Neilson had to contend with the absence of Jamie Walker yesterday, who was completing his two-match ban for simulation, but he was able to bring on Bjorn Johnsen from his bench. After around three weeks of wrangling, the 6ft 5in striker’s international clearance from Litex Lovech of Bulgaria finally came through on Friday, and he wasted little time making an impression.
The cutest of backheels from the beanpole American/Norwegian played Sam Nicholson in for the first of two fine late goals in the space of 60 seconds, which put a gloss on this scoreline.
“That is the reason we have been fighting hard to get him,” said Neilson. “He’s a physical specimen but he is totally different from anything in Scotland.”
The home side were three goals to the good just after half time, courtesy of the endeavour of Tony Watt and Connor Sammon, as well as the rapier thrusts of Cowie. It started after seven minutes, John Souttar starting things off with a fine driven pass, before Cowie electrified the move by letting the ball run to Sammon then sprinting into the space. The Irishman’s return pass allowed Cowie to steer in a clever finish.
Watt didn’t quite get the first goal for the club that his overall play deserved but Cowie and Sammon were taking it in turns to present each other with goals. First Cowie’s back post cross was headed back where it came from by the Irishman, then another crisp Cowie finish made it three after some more neat combination play with Watt and Sammon.
The introduction of Johnsen added excitement late on, with Nicholson the beneficiary. The din was still subsiding from the fourth when one last Cowie pass bisected the Inverness defence and the winger’s finish trickled in off a post.
Callum Paterson’s late own goal following some typically dogged work from Ross Draper – that would be an unfortunate last contribution to the club from the full-back should a move to Wigan go through this week – merely gave the Tynecastle club their favourite scoreline.
It doesn’t help a new manager when summer signings like Kevin McNaughton go down with a ruptured Achilles but Foran last night assumed personal responsibility for the result.
“I’ll take the blame for this one, I pick the team, I do the shape, pick the training,” said Foran. “It doesn’t look great and it’s not an ideal start for me but it’s not all doom and gloom.
“We didn’t want to panic-sign so we didn’t, but we’ve got two players coming in on Monday and it looks as though they’ll get a deal and we’ll probably have another two in before the end of the week as well.”