Meekings not so mild as brave clearance rescues point for injury-hit Inverness
Inverness manager Richie Foran reserved special praise for defender Josh Meekings after his team earned a point against Kilmarnock in the Ladbrokes Premiership.
Gary Warren’s 84th-minute headed equaliser cancelled out Souleymane Coulibaly’s stunning drive on 73 minutes in a 1-1 draw at Rugby Park.
But Meekings’ brave goalline clearance at the end of the first half ensured Caley went in level at the break. Foran said: “He’s got the pace that gets us out of a lot of trouble at times. It was big for us. It’s a great clearance. It’s just like scoring at the other end for us.”
However, the Inverness boss bemoaned injuries picked up by three of his players during the game – Lewis Horner, Lonsana Doumbouya and Brad Mckay.
Foran said: “Lewis is leaving on crutches. He has a knee problem. I think Doumbouya just has a dead leg, and should be okay. Brad’s got a broken nose but we couldn’t stop the blood. We’re not getting luck in terms of injuries, so we had a makeshift back-four again. But we looked a lot more solid today, as we did last week.”
Kilmarnock manager Lee Clark also had to contend with defensive injuries which meant reshuffling his backline. Eighteen-year-old Iain Wilson was handed his full debut, replacing Scott Boyd who had a hamstring injury.
Clark said: “I thought Iain was magnificent on his debut. Will Boyle, in his last four or five games, take away the Aberdeen game, has defended particularly well also.
“That’s what I’ve got. I’ve got no more players. I’m going even younger if I go into anything else that’s there. It’s not as if there’s any other players that I can play unless I put square pegs in round holes. I’d prefer not to do that, if there’s a young player who’s done well like young Iain Wilson.”
Clark also shared his view that Coulibaly, who scored his 11th goal of the season, is a vital goal threat for the team this season. He added: “If you have a team where you’re sharing the goals around, you’re probably in the top four. Whether we’re over-reliant on him or not, he was brought in because I knew he’d score goals.”