ICT were lacking sparkle – Foran
INVERNESS CT 1 Doumbouya (86) KILMARNOCK 1 Coulibaly (pen, 8)
RICHIE FORAN suspects a bout of Old Firm blues was behind Inverness Caley Thistle’s poor show against Kilmarnock – but insists it wasn’t good enough.
The Irishman lamented a lack of sparkle against the Ayrshire team as it took a late, scrambled Lonsana Doumbouya leveller to salvage a point after Souleyman Coulibaly’s early penalty kick strike.
Foran, whose side had lost narrowly to Rangers eight days previously, insisted he and all his players had to take a good, hard look at themselves after a dip in standards.
The Caley Thistle manager said: “Games you play after the Old Firm are always tough. We don’t seem to perform after we play them.
“You come from the exciting game, Friday night, full house, great atmosphere and today it’s a bit flat.
“Maybe mentally we weren’t right – and we did look a wee bit tired in the first half.”
Foran, though, was not shying from criticism of his side.
He said: “We didn’t start well. With a silly penalty we gave ourselves a mountain to climb.
“We didn’t look our usual selves. We didn’t have a spark about us but we finished the game stronger.
“I told the lads they need to look at themselves first. I’ll go and look at myself. Was there enough passion in
INVERNESS CT: Fon Williams 6; McKay 5 (Boden 79, 3), Warren 6, Meekings 6, Tremarco 7; Tansey 6, Vigurs 6; Mulraney 5 (King 65, 4), Draper 6 (Doran 55, 5), Polworth 6; Doumbouya 6. Subs – Mackay, Raven, Horner, Fisher. KILMARNOCK: MacDonald 6; Hendrie 6, S. Boyd 6, Addison 6, Taylor 6; Dicker 6; M. Smith 5 (S. Smith 65, 4), McKenzie, 7; Coulibaly 7 (K. Boyd 78, 4), Tyson 6, Jones 6. Subs – Mackay, Boyle, Bojaj, Frizzell, Paterson.
my team-talk today? I’ll go through it all.”
The hosts had carved an impressive five-game unbeaten run before last Friday night’s slender defeat to Rangers.
Killie, in stark contrast, had broken a six-game run without victory last weekend with the backs-to-the-wall win over St Johnstone.
Momentum looked to be with the Highlanders but Killie have shown a knack of being able to soak up pressure and hit on the break. A burst of pressure after eight minutes led to the opener.
A Rory McKenzie cross from the right shouldn’t have presented too many problems for Inverness but, when home defender McKay clattered into Souleyman Coulibaly, referee Nick Walsh was left with no option but to point to the spot.
Coulibaly struck the kick low to