HARRISON’S LATE SHOW IS A WINNER
SCOTT HARRISON snatched a dramatic stoppage-time winner for Falkirk to end Inverness’ unbeaten 14-match league run and leave them 11 points adrift of Championship leaders Ayr United.
The Highlanders looked to be heading for yet another draw — their 11th of the campaign — when Harrison emerged from a melee to force Paul Paton’s free-kick over the line.
Caley Thistle had to come from behind — despite scoring first through Tom Walsh — after a first-half double from Zak Rudden left the home side trailing 2-1 at the break.
George Oakley looked to have earned Inverness a deserved point when he struck in the 61st minute — only for Harrison to strike in stoppage time to lift Falkirk off the bottom of the table.
Slack defending contributed to Inverness surrendering their sixth-minute lead as Rudden took advantage.
The striker must have been taken by surprise when he was allowed a free header to equalise Walsh’s opener after 16 minutes.
Rudden was unmarked to get on the end of Deimantas Petravicius’ cross to head powerfully past Mark Ridgers.
Falkirk’s danger man then got free of Shaun Rooney rather too easily in the 36th minute to fire home his second goal.
Ridgers will also reflect that he should probably have done better after appearing to hesitate.
Inverness had started the game impressively and their industry was rewarded when Liam Polworth set up Walsh to hit the net with a shot from 14 yards.
But the Highlanders failed to build on their enterprising start, due in part to a lack of urgency when they were in the driving seat.
Walsh blasted a free-kick wildly over the crossbar in the 21st minute after Harrison had been cautioned for bringing down Oakley on the edge of the penalty box.
Oakley and substitute Jordan White also threatened the Falkirk goal early in the second half.
And it was Oakley who supplied the finish when he made contact with Rooney’s knock-on from Liam Polworth’s corner to equalise with a glancing header — but then Harrison delivered that late decisive blow.
Afterwards, Inverness manager John Robertson insisted that his team deserved better.
He said: ‘If we had done our job clinically at both ends of the park, we would have won.
‘It wasn’t a free-kick (leading up to Rudden’s first goal) because the boy conned the referee. But while we were disappointed about a poor decision, the referee is not the one doing the marking in the box.
‘We lost a slack first goal. They had one attacker in the box, yet he got a free header and that knocked the stuffing out of us.
‘I would also have expected our keeper to save the second one. But when we went 3-5-2 in the second half, I was delighted with our play to get level. At 2-2, I could see only one side winning.’
Falkirk boss Ray McKinnon said: ‘It’s always good to score a winner in the dying seconds, especially after such a tough match.
‘We knew it would be difficult because they had gone so many league games unbeaten.
‘It’s also an important result psychologically as it lifts us off the bottom of the table for the first time this season.’