ARBROATH 0
INVERNESS CT 1 Sutherland (66)
Inverness head coach Billy Dodds got off to a winning start but admitted his men had to dig deep to take all three points against an Arbroath side that battled doggedly all the way to the final whistle.
Shane Sutherland grabbed the only goal of the game midway through the second half with a sumptuous finish, but from that point on, the Lichties laid siege to the Highlanders defence and were perhaps unlucky not to have done enough to earn a share of the spoils.
Dodds said: “It was tight and hard fought, but I didn’t expect anything other than that. We were really good in the first half and I thought we controlled it, created good openings and good chances.
“Arbroath started to take control in the second half but then we got the goal.
“After that, oh boy, we really had to dig in. We had to stand firm.
“But I had told my players they had to be up for the battle and they were.”
Both sides had decent opportunities to score in the first half with Arbroath’s Bobby Linn firing across the face of the Inverness goal but finding no takers for his low cross, while team-mate Joel Nouble shot inches wide after a surging run down the right.
For Inverness, Manny Duku and Scott Allardice both came close with their efforts.
However, the breakthrough didn’t come until the 66th minute when Sutherland latched on to a slack ball from the otherwise impressive Red Lichtie youngster, Harrison Clark, and calmly clipped the ball over advancing keeper Derek Gaston.
Dodds added: “Shane works hard for the team but I’ve asked him to be more ruthless.
“I wondered if he was going to have too much time to think about it, but it was an unbelievably composed finish.”
Arbroath manager Dick Campbell said: “All credit to Inverness. The game was that tight it was always going to be decided by a mistake and that’s how it turned out.
“We had a lot of crosses into the box that we didn’t convert.
“There was nothing between the teams but I don’t feel sorry for my boys. They have to learn.
“We’ve shown we are a hard team to beat, particularly here, but I thought we at least deserved a point.”