Inverness march on with new record established
INVERNESS Caledonian Thistle achieved a club record seventh clean sheet in a row as they despatched Falkirk thanks to Connor Bell’s decisive strike.
Hailing the achievement, manager John Robertson said: ‘It is a tremendous win — and a tremendous landmark for the club.
‘It would have been insignificant had we not won that tie and we’ve said to the players they should be proud of the history they’ve created, and proud they’re in a semi.’
Falkirk nearly spoiled the party as they broke with pace and purpose early on.
Twice in quick succession, Alex Harris sent in dangerous deliveries from the right.
The first in 11 minutes saw hesitancy between goalkeeper Mark Ridgers and defender Coll Donaldson, but Myles Hippolyte was unable to capitalise.
Two minutes later, another bit of magic from Harris on the right ended with a timely, scrambled Brad McKay clearance.
As the match wore on, the hosts became dominant and when the 50th minute had passed, Caley Thistle broke their club record for minutes without losing a goal — 617 — previously set in 2014 under John Hughes.
The Highlanders shouted in vain for a penalty kick soon after with John Baird claiming he was knocked down by Conrad Balatoni in the box.
The breakthrough came after 57 minutes. David Raven curled in a cross from the right, flicked on by Baird.
And Bell was in the right place to execute a superb leftfoot volley high into the net from 10 yards.