Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Half measures once more not good enough as off-colour Caley Jags lose to Dunfermline

Dunfermline players celebrate the equaliser against Caley Thistle.
Dunfermline players celebrate the equaliser against Caley Thistle.

Failure to kill off opponents when on top came back to bite Caley Thistle again as they crashed to a 2-1 Championship defeat against Dunfermline Athletic.

This was a massive result for the Fifers, who just the day before made ex-Inverness boss John Hughes their new manager, replacing Peter Grant.

Match-winner Dom Thomas celebrates with John Hughes at full-time.

Although Greg Shields and Steven Whittaker took the team, there’s little doubt the presence of Hughes, who led ICT to the Scottish Cup in 2015, sparked the Pars into life as they posted their first win of the season and their first away league victory for more than a year.

It hauled the basement side to within two points of Queen of the South and Morton, while pushing ICT down to third, one point behind Raith Rovers and four points adrift of pace-setters Kilmarnock.

Wins hard to come by for Caley Jags

It’s now no wins in five for Caley Thistle and just three wins in 10 overall and that includes their SPFL Trust Trophy win at Elgin City.

For the second week running, an interval lead vanished. They led 2-1 at Ayr United and drew 2-2, but this was more painful.

A mixture of illness and injury led to Manny Duku, Shane Sutherland, Sean Welsh and Wallace Duffy being missing on Saturday, but there was a welcome return to full-back David Carson, who tasted a rare defeat.

Head coach Billy Dodds was watching on at home due to illness and he’d have been happy enough with the first half.

Caley Thistle celebrate Billy Mckay’s first half goal against Dunfermline.

The key moment of the opening 45 minutes arrived at the midway point as Billy Mckay was on hand to knock the ball past Owain Fon Williams after Michael Gardyne’s long-range shot struck the post.

The opener followed a lot of positive play from ICT, with Mckay and Aaron Doran going close before that.

Winless Dunfermline were not at the races, but they joined the contest for the last 10 minutes of the first half, with a fine save from Mark Ridgers keeping out Rhys Breen then Danny Devine blocked Mark Connolly’s follow-up.

Dunfermline Athletic strike back

Encouraged by their improvement, Dunfermline, who drew with Inverness earlier this season, sensed this match was alive.

And they drew level on 51 minutes when they broke up the park and from an Aaron Comrie cross, Devine was unlucky to divert the ball past his own keeper against his old club.

Dunfermline’s Dom Thomas looks for a way through as Tom Walsh (14) closes in.

The travelling supporters have a sense of humour at least, despite their position. ‘We’re Going to Win the league’ was their next song of choice, raising smiles even in the home stands.

Yet, there was soon frustration for Caley Thistle as a set-back turned into a damaging position.

Out of nothing it seemed, my star man Dom Thomas picked up play, worked his way into the box and guided a wonderful shot high beyond Mark Ridgers into the net.

Inverness CT’s Aaron Doran and Dunfermline’s Aaron Comrie battle for the ball.

Delight for Dunfermline, but anguish for Inverness.

Reece McAlear, in a rare start, almost replied moments later, but the ball flew wide.
There was a late flurry from Caley Thistle, but they fell short once again.

Scrappy victory will do in Dumfries

First-team coach Barry Wilson, who took on post-match duties, admits the hosts faded in the second half as the Pars upped their game and got their goals.

He said: “The players were made well aware at half-time we needed to go out and play the way we did in the first half, dictate the tempo and have our midfield dominate their midfield.

“We didn’t make the same passes or have the same zest about our passing in the second half until we were pushing at the end.”

On Friday, Caley Thistle can make a move on their rivals by winning at Queen of the South.

Wilson knows the importance of returning to winning ways.

e added: “We are out of that winning mentality at the minute and we need to get back into it as soon as possible, whether it’s a scrappy 1-0 or 2-1 – whatever it is.

“We need to start putting three points on the board. That’s no wins in five and we must sort that as soon as possible. Friday can’t come soon enough.”

CALEY THISTLE (4-4-2): Ridgers 6, Deas 6, Devine 6, Gardyne 6, Carson 6 (McDonald 80), Mckay 6, Doran 6, Walsh 6 (MacGregor 67), Broadfoot 6, Allardice 6, McAlear 6 (Jamieson 67). Subs not used: MacKay (GK), Harper.

DUNFERMLINE ATHLETIC (4-4-2): Fon Williams 6, Comrie 6, Edwards 6, MacDonald 6, O’Hara 6, Breen 6 (Graham 73), McCann 6 (Dow 84), Dorrans 6, Thomas 7, Todd 6 (Pybus 61), Connolly 6. Subs not used: Mehmet (GK), Wighton, Todorov, Allan.

Referee: Grant Irvine.

Attendance: 2111.

Man of the match: Dom Thomas.