CAPTAIN MARVEL

Fearless skipper Warren leads from the front and earns Caley crucial point

WHEN you are fighting for your lives, Gary Warren seems pretty much the kind of guy you want leading from the front.

Played off the park by Partick Thistle for large parts of this game, Caley Thistle needed their captain marshalling the rearguard, throwing himself in front of all sorts and using all his experience to dig in.

And with Kris Doolan’s opener after 56 minutes looking like consigning them to defeat, it was Warren who hauled himself upfield and rose at the back post to power home a header which cuts the gap between themselves and Hamilton at the bottom to just a single point.

The Englishman, who has been in the Highlands for almost five years now, is part of the fabric of the club. He knows they had lost a little of the ethos which made them such a tough team to beat earlier this season.

But Warren believes it is back now. And yesterday proved he is at the forefront of the resurgence.

‘It is up to me and maybe a few more of the experienced guys to galvanise the lads and give us one final push,’ said the 32-year-old.

‘When you are bottom of the league and a small club, you have to do everything you can to upset others — whether that is being aggressive, being nasty.

‘We need to be a team others hate to play against and I feel we have got that back.

‘If we are not playing our best, we must show another side, be gritty, make the game an ugly game. I don’t care whether you guys like watching the game or not.

‘We continued right to the end and our character was great. If we had lost, it could have been a pivotal moment.’

In fact, Inverness should have lost. This was a sore one for Partick. With five minutes left, they looked like being five points clear in sixth.

Kilmarnock’s late winner in their 2-1 victory at Ross County, coupled with Warren’s last-gasp equaliser, means that gap is now just two points and the prospect of being dragged into a post-split dogfight is still very real.

‘It is a great point because Partick Thistle, for me, are a top-four side,’ said Caley manager Richie Foran.

‘They’re strong, aggressive, can pass the ball, have movement and can score goals.

‘We defended courageously and dealt with a lot of crosses into the box. I felt it was deserved.’

The first half was short on notable action, but still strangely compelling.

Partick ditched their three-at-theback set-up, with Inverness going 3-5-2. The home side dominated the play against an opponent seemingly content to soak up any pressure.

In truth, it worked for Foran’s men over the opening 45. Indeed, they might well have gone in ahead at the interval were it not for a strong call from the officials after 41 minutes.

The ball reached Henri Anier at the edge of the area and his shot squirmed under the grasp of Partick goalkeeper Tomas Cerny to roll into the net. But referee Willie Collum blew for an infringement, with Billy Mckay judged to have interfered with the play in an offside position.

‘Billy was definitely in an offside position, but was he interfering with the line of vision of the keeper? I am not sure,’ said Foran. ‘I like to work off players’ reactions and I didn’t see Cerny complaining when the ball went in.’

Doolan had forced Owain Fon Williams into action at the end of the half with a header from a Mustapha Dumbuya cross and came close again a few minutes after the restart when the keeper touched his flashing shot wide.

As it happens, Doolan — Thistle’s new captain for the day when given the armband after Abdul Osman had gone off with a hamstring pull just after the half-hour, was merely finding his range. In 56 minutes, he scored the 99th goal of his Jags career and gave the Firhill side a thoroughly merited lead, sticking out a foot to divert a Ryan Edwards cross into the net and taking his season’s tally to 10.

Inverness, in fairness, opened up as the match developed, but they struggled to create much in the way of opportunities. Given what happened with the very last touch of the ball, though, that mattered little.

Substitute Billy King picked up a throw-in from Brad McKay and was given time to deliver a deep cross from the right flank. Warren rose majestically to send a strong downward header past Cerny and leave the home support silent.

‘We’d done the hard bit and got the goal on an awkward pitch,’ said Partick manager Alan Archibald. ‘We should have seen the game out.’