Caley Jags fly out of the traps for long-awaited win
Jubilant Billy Dodds hailed Caley Thistle’s long-awaited victory their best of the season.
Pressure had been mounting on the manager and his team’s shoulders after 11 games without a win brought a collapse in title ambitions.
But the Highlanders blazed out of the traps against shock Championship high-flyers Arbroath, with two crucial early goals pivotal in the 3-0 triumph.
Applause rang out at full-time, and Dodds beamed: “I’m really happy for the players.
“We all feel the pressure when you’re not winning games, but they do more than most.
“I thought the way they handled it against the top team in the league was great.
“We had to put in a special performance under that pressure, and I thought we handled every department of the game well.
“I thought it was our best result of the season.”
Dick Campbell’s side knew the importance of picking up three points after Kilmarnock leapfrogged them at the top of the table the evening before but it was the hosts who claimed the early advantage.
With less than five minutes gone, Inverness won a corner. Aaron Doran swept a dangerous ball into the sixyard box where Shane Sutherland forced it over the line as an attempted clearance cannoned back off him.
It was 2-0 in the 11th minute through Reece Mcalear. Caley Jags worked the ball down the right-hand side as David Carson linked up well with Doran, before supplying Mcalear to finish from just inside the box.
The visitors worked hard to hit back but Michael Mckenna’s low effort bounced back off the post and ICT were able to clear.
Arbroath’s frustration began to boil over as Campbell was shown a yellow card just before the interval.
After having words with the referee as the teams emerged from the break, he was shown a second and sent to the stand six minutes into the second half.
Caley Thistle very nearly went 3–0 up after some excellent link-up play between Billy Mckay and Joe Hardy on the right.
The latter picked out Sean Welsh at the back post only for the captain to blaze his effort over the bar.
Inverness did get their third in the 68th minute.
Sutherland clipped a pass through to Mckay, whose shot was not the cleanest but it was enough to find its way under Derek Gaston into the net.
Arbroath first team coach Rab Douglas admitted Inverness deserved the victory, but insisted the pressure remained on new leaders Kilmarnock.
He said: “It is only the fourth time we’ve lost this season. The last one was away to Ayr and we went on a great run after that.
“Inverness deserved their win. The main thing for Arbroath was maintaining our status in the Championship. We achieved that.
“The pressure is not on our club, the pressure is on teams like Kilmarnock to be up there.
“We have two home games now (against Ayr and Raith). We will have a good week of training and you will probably see a different Arbroath the next two Saturdays.”