Killie old boy Gardyne digs out a win for Highlanders
Inverness emerged victorious from a scrappy top-of-the-table clash at Rugby Park, Michael Gardyne coming back to haunt his ex-employers with the only goal.
The clash was hardly a mouthwatering one for the neutral, but there were no complaints from Caley coach, Billy Dodds, who said: “I am delighted. Since the League Cup we had to tighten up and they’ve grown as a team so much.
“You see the work ethic off everyone in every position doing their job properly and getting us a clean sheet.
“I think we can score more by being a bit more careful in our passing. We’ve so much confidence right now.
“Second half, we were really good after asking them to keep the ball a bit better.
“If I’m looking for a performance in front of a 5,000 crowd away from home, I’m delighted with that.”
Hopes were high of an entertaining clash when Caley took the lead after just five minutes, former Killie man Gardyne lashing an effort into the roof of the net.
Killie had a fantastic chance to equalise on 15 minutes when Scott Robinson burst past the Caley defence before teeing-up Liam Polworth – but his tame shot rolled into the grasp of ex-killie stopper Mark Ridgers.
And just a minute later the hosts went close again as Blair Alston fired a volley towards goal, but it was tipped round the post for a corner.
Killie striker Scott Robinson was forced off with injury on the half-hour mark, with Innes Cameron rushed on to replace him.
Genuine chances continued to be at a premium as a dour affair unfolded but sub Cameron had a excellent one on 67 minutes when the ball fell to him from a corner, but his effort was clawed away by Ridgers.
Then Aaron Doran tried his luck from 20 yards only to see his curling effort sail just wide.
Shane Sutherland looked to kill the game off when he was through on goal on 82 minutes, but he couldn’t keep his cheeky chip down and it ended up in the stands.
Killie struggled to forge clear-cut chances in the closing minutes, and the Highland side saw out the match without having to break a sweat.
The only half-chance was a poor Cameron header in stoppage time but it didn’t have Ridgers worried.
Dejected home boss Tommy Wright admitted: “It was definitely a frustrating afternoon, it wasn’t the overall performance I wanted, and it certainly wasn’t the result we wanted.
“The goal was all too easy. We had an opportunity to clear it and we should have done better. We gave the ball away cheaply, all afternoon.
“The quality in our passing wasn’t as sharp as it should have been – we took too many touches and allowed Inverness to press us, so we only have ourselves to blame.
“It wasn’t to the standard we have been in recent weeks.
“I didn’t think we’d look like conceding a lot of goals. It was a goal from a counter-attack which we gave away, and apart from that Zach Hemming didn’t have much to do.
“There was a good reaction to going a goal down. We dominated possession, but it’s what we did with it that was disappointing.”