CALEY THISTLE DRAW ON THEIR COURAGE

Inverness hold Celtic and earn a conf idence boost for Cup clash

TWO dropped points won’t cause too much damage to Celtic’s title defence — but this draw will have offered encouragement to Inverness Caledonian Thistle ahead of next weekend’s Scottish Cup semi-final against the champions.

While Celtic have relentlessly marched towards the title, the shine has come off Caley’s season in recent weeks, with manager John Hughes struggling to find a solution to the problem posed by the sale of top scorer Billy McKay to Wigan in January.

Nigerian Edward Ofere has been recruited as a replacement and, although he does not appear to have the same natural predatory instincts as the Northern Irish international, he did pop up in the right place to equalise Leigh Griffiths’ early goal.

A further sign of the Highlanders’ fortitude came with the way in which they absorbed the loss of goalkeeper Dean Brill to a nasty knee injury but, in truth, neither side was able to play their favoured passing game thanks to the combination of a bobbly pitch and a strong wind.

Celtic last travelled here during their troubled and ultimately unsuccessful bid to qualify for the Champions League group stages, with manager Ronny Deila making 10 changes to the team in the midst of a two-legged tie with Slovenian champions Maribor.

Names like (Filip) Twardzik, (Teemu) Pukki and ( Dylan) McGeouch featured on the teamsheet that day, with teenage Irish defender Eoghan O’Connell having the dubious honour of match-winner, his own goal gifting Inverness Caley their 1-0 victory.

With Celtic eager to wrap up the title as quickly as possible, a victory was the priority this time and there were three changes to the team that beat Partick Thistle in midweek, Efe Ambrose and Scott Brown joining Griffiths in the starting line-up.

Deila has taken to rotating his strikers of late and Griffiths immediately staked his claim with a clinical piece of forward play which had shades of the sort of goal he regularly scored for Hibs en route to picking up the Player of the Year title with the Easter Road club a couple of years ago.

Brown, restored to the team after suspension — and booked again yesterday — offered assistance by launching a long pass into the wind.

The stiff breeze coming off the Moray Firth was enough to give Griffiths the chance to beat Gary Warren in a race for the ball. By the time the defender had got square, Griffiths had worked the ball onto his left foot and drilled an emphatic finish into the bottom corner of the net from 20 yards. With their team on such a poor run and struggling to score goals, the locals cringed — but Inverness rallied and produced an impressive response.

Ofere may have shown little to suggest he can offset the loss of McKay’s goals but he is a powerful specimen and this, clearly, was his type of occasion.

Before scoring, he had already given Jason Denayer a couple of bumps and he was there to punish the Belgian for the goal.

Denayer did all he could to prevent the ball crossing the line when he blocked Ryan Christie’s net-bound effort but Ofere was there to jab home the finish from close range.

Few teams have the physicality to match Celtic but Ofere typifies the muscular streak that runs through Hughes’ team, with Warren, Josh Meekings, Warren, Greg Tansey and Ross Draper all quite happy to mix it with the champions.

In such circumstances, Celtic turn to Brown, and the captain stepped up to the plate, breaking up play and showing a willingness to carry the ball forward from deep.

He was the most impressive performer afield, yet his game was not without controversy as he picked up a yellow card for tumbling when tackled by David Raven, a harsh sanction from referee Craig Thomson, who adjudged the contact insufficient to award a penalty.

The Highland team had to overcome a more serious setback, however, when goalkeeper Brill went down in obvious discomfort after kicking clear as Gary Mackay-Steven moved in.

There seemed no ill-intent in the Celtic winger’s challenge but Brill required five minutes of treatment before being stretchered off and replaced by Ryan Esson.

To his credit, the substitute produced impressive saves either side of half-time to tip over headers from Ambrose and Denayer.

Caley dropped deeper as the game wore on, with Deila introducing Kris Commons, Adam Matthews and John Guidetti in a bid to force the issue.

Even so, it was Inverness who came on strongly at the end. Raven and Tansey flashed shots over, although ultimately there was nothing to test the capabilities of Craig Gordon in goal.