Caley Thistle hearts broken as Fraser hits late winner
SCOTTISH CUP
ST MIRREN
Dennis 50, Fraser 89
INVERNESS CT
Todorov 48
2
1
Football can be desperately cruel at times. Just ask Inverness after their eight-game unbeaten run and Scottish Cup aspirations were ended in the 90th minute by St Mirren.
The Championship playoff hopefuls, who look a reinvigorated, attractive team under stand-in manager Neil Mccann,brieflyledthisfourthround tie thanks to 48th-minute goal by Nikolay Todorov. St Mirren replied instantly via Kristiandennisbeforemarcus Fraser bundled in the winner with seconds to spare.
This was a quite brilliant cup tie. Caley Thistle have timedtheirrunperfectlyinthe Championship and went into this match unbeaten across all competitions in eight games. St Mirren have also had a fine season,soclosetothepremiership's top six and Betfred Cup semi-finalists. In the end, a little bit of nous probably won it.
"Football does that to you,” lamented Mccann. “We maybe just switched off ever so slightly. It's a sore one, but I'm so proud of them and I think everybody in Inverness who watched will be proud of their side. I don't think we deserved to lose the game."
St Mirren manager Jim Goodwin knew his men had been in a battle. “We definitely left it late, there’s no doubt about that,” he said. “We hit the woodwork a couple of times as well. I could list all the things that we did wrong but I’d rather congratulate Inverness on their performance. They were excellent from start to finish. Neil can be extremely proud of their efforts.”
This game crackled right from the off. Inverness shone intheirluminouspinkawaykit. Scott Allan, on loan from Hibs, pulledmostofthestrings.daniel Mackay and Miles Storey were pests on the flanks. Allan deserves special mention for his first 90 minutes since last February, a pleasing sight considering his battle with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
In the first period, Allan came closest to scoring, but his shot smacked the post. The Buddies weren’t without their own threat, though, with Dennis’ effort deflected on to the bar. An entertaining half ended goalless.
The breakthrough came on 48 minutes. Allan delivered a wicked corner and Todorov, unmarked, lashed it into the net..
The Buddies responded strongly. Only two minutes later, Dennis was found unmarked and he made no mistake with a clinical finish.
The game was now fizzing. Durmus hit the bar and Dennis rattled the rebound off the post. The woodwork, again, was involved as Durmus’ header looped on to it.
Of course, the post played a part in St Mirren’s winner. Jon Obika’s shot hit the inside of it, Brandonmasondrilledtheball backacrossthegoalandfraser slid in to bag the winner. The Saints march on to the quarter-finals.