MEEKINGS STEPS IN TO SEAL CALEY WIN
JOSH MEEKINGS’ stoppage-time winner guaranteed a stress-free Saturday night and Sunday morning for fledgling Inverness Caley Thistle manager Richie Foran for the first time in a month.
Meekings will doubtless score more spectacular goals before his career is over but he is unlikely to score a much more important one.
There is no saying what psychological scarring the Inverness players would have suffered had they failed to take all three points from a match they dominated.
After four consecutive defeats and three Premiership matches without anything tangible to show for their efforts, the squad must surely have been in danger of developing a negative mindset.
Instead, they will feel that the worst is over and their upcoming matches against Aberdeen and Celtic are no longer a daunting prospect, albeit they remain bottom of the Premiership.
Not that they gave the appearance of a team lacking flair and imagination, and one low on confidence, with the way they set about their task.
The St Johnstone goal survived several anxious moments before man-of-the-match Ross Draper eventually ended the stalemate in the 59th minute.
Alan Mannus had to make first-half saves from Draper, Billy King, Alex Fisher and Liam Polworth. King was also denied a shot by a desperate defensive block while Polworth and Fisher just missed the target.
Chris Kane probably had the clearest chance for the visitors after 21 minutes only to shoot over the crossbar moments after Blair Alston had just failed to make contact with a cross from David Wotherspoon.
But Inverness were a much more potent force and could easily have been two or three goals to the good by half-time.
However, justice was at last seen to be done when St Johnstone succumbed to the aerial threat posed by Draper, who rose high above the defence to head a Greg Tansey free-kick past Mannus from close range and claim his fourth goal of the campaign.
But it seemed that Caley Thistle would pay a heavy price for their failure to make more of their chances when Richard Foster claimed the equalising goal after accepting a cut-back from Steven MacLean and finding the top corner of the net from 20 yards.
It was a double-edged sword for the Inverness fans, given that Foster is a former Ross County player, who starred in the Staggies’ derby success at Caledonian Stadium 15 days ago.
But when Tansey whipped over a corner kick from the left in the first minute of stoppage time, Meekings emerged from an almighty goalmouth scramble the force the ball over the line and secure a thoroughly merited victory.
‘We deserved it,’ said Foran. ‘We were excellent from start to finish, but we just couldn’t score.
‘We created so many chances and should have been three up by halftime. We were excellent defensively. They put a lot of balls into the box, but we won our headers. All over the park, we were outstanding.
‘There was some really decent football and the balance was right.’
The Irishman confessed to feeling drained but resisted any temptation to deflect the credit away from his players.
He added: ‘It was pure team spirit that won the match and it was all down to the players. I’m delighted for them because we really needed those three points.’
Tommy Wright, the St Johnstone manager, voiced the opinion that it was a cruel way to lose a match.
But he also conceded: ‘Over the piece, I’d say they probably deserved it. But when you’re away from home, you expect the opposition to come at you and, in the first half, we didn’t do enough for ourselves.
‘We did ever so well to get back in the game and we were in the ascendancy. Somehow we managed to hand it back to Inverness through conceding stupid free-kicks and allowing pressure to build.
‘And we ultimately conceded the corner which led to the winner. We’re not a big side and Tansey’s delivery made it very difficult, although we were done by two set-plays and that was cruel for the players.
‘Foster scored a fantastic goal but they put the ball in the box at every opportunity and asked questions. We didn’t do that often enough or with sufficient quality.
‘Overall, we didn’t deserve to win and our game management has to be better away from home.
‘But there’s not a lot to worry about. We’re four games into the season and we’re getting everyone back fit.’
INVERNESS CT (4-2-3-1): Fon Williams; Horner, Warren, Meekings, Tremarco; Tansey, Vigurs (Boden 84); Polworth, Draper, King (Mulraney 85); Fisher (Doumbouya 82). Subs (not used): Esson, Raven, Doran, Sutherland. Booked: Draper, Tansey.
ST JOHNSTONE (4-4-2): Mannus; Foster, Anderson, Shaughnessy, Easton; Alston (Davidson 46), Paton (Craig 67), Wotherspoon, Swanson; Kane (Cummins 63), MacLean. Subs (not used): Clark, Millar, Coulson, Gordon. Booked: Wotherspoon.
Referee: Stephen Finnie. Attendance: 2,729.