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.

Penalty leveller denies Caley Thistle win and takes Dunfermline off bottom spot

ICT striker Shane Sutherland celebrates his first half goal against Dunfermline.
ICT striker Shane Sutherland celebrates his first half goal against Dunfermline.

Caley Thistle moved to within three points of Championship leaders Arbroath after a 1-1 draw at lowly Dunfermline Athletic made this their fourth level score on the spin.

Shane Sutherland’s strike late in the first half put ICT in front but a Steven Lawless spot-kick 10 minutes from time took Dunfermline above Queen of the South and into ninth position.

It was a full-blooded, competitive battle, with points mattering for both teams at either end of the division.

Despite this being a 10th v second contest, neither side came into this one in particularly fine form.

For ICT,  they had posted just three wins in 15 games, with three successive draws preventing them from catching leaders Arbroath.

The Highlanders’ 2015 Scottish Cup-winning manager John Hughes is aiming to keep the Fifers up and dug out an important 1-0 victory against Hamilton a week ago. That was their first win in seven outings.

Main striker Billy Mckay sidelined

The headline team news for the visitors was 12-goal striker Billy Mckay was missing with a knock, as was midfielder Roddy MacGregor.

Scott Allardice is out for several months with a knee injury, while Aaron Doran also remains sidelined.

ICT’s loan signings, the versatile Sam Pearson from Bristol City and forward Logan Chalmers from Dundee United began the afternoon on the bench.

Striker Logan Chalmers, who is on loan with ICT from Dundee United.

There was just one change for the hosts, with Lewis Martin coming in for Mark Connolly, whose loan from Dundee United was over and he’s now on a short stint with Dundalk.

Inverness seeking first win over Pars

Dunfermline have been tricky customers for ICT this term taking four points from the two meetings thus far.

Hughes had only just replaced Peter Grant when they found it within them to score a 1-0 win at the Caledonian Stadium in November.

However, just one defeat on the road and a determination to put three points on the board in the sole Championship game today was the driving force for the visitors to move to within one point of first place.

The Caley Jags started on the front foot, with a couple of testing crosses keeping their opponents on their toes.

A slick move from Dunfermline had their fans lifted, but it ended when Aaron Comrie’s low cross was gathered by goalkeeper Mark Ridgers.

Ex-Raith striker Duku got a glimpse at goal on 21 minutes when he robbed Martin of possession, but his shot was too tame to trouble former Inverness keeper Owain Fon William, who clutched it without fuss.

The effort and quality for much of the first half was not matched by quality, but Inverness got their noses in front six minutes before the break.

On-loan Norwich midfielder Reece McAlear got the better of Paul Allan and his cross from the right was steered calmly into the net by Sutherland for his sixth goal of the season.

Shane Sutherland scores to make it 1-0 for Inverness at Dunfermline.

It was just what ICT needed, so the question was could they retain the lead, something they’ve struggled to achieve too often this term.

On the stroke of half-time, an injury suffered by defender Danny Devine was replaced by Wallace Duffy. Devine was soon using crutches to take his seat in the stand.

‘Missing’ referee leads to late restart

Referee Steven Reid took seven minutes to rejoin the players at the start of the second half, with the Pars in particular keen to get on with it.

Dunfermline were a fraction away from drawing level as interval substitute Kevin O’Hara was denied by Ridgers when he met a downward header from McCann after Steven Lawless whipped it in.

Chalmers made his ICT debut on 67 minutes when he replaced Duku, who had been well controlled by the Pars throughout the match. Pearson followed on not long after, taking the place of Harper.

It looked like it was all going to fade out with a 1-0 win, but then the home team were given a lifeline when a delivery from Dan Pybus hit David Carson on the arm and a penalty was awarded with 10 minutes to go.

Up stepped Lawless and the ex-Motherwell man sent Ridgers the wrong way to lift the volume inside East End Park and the Pars off the foot of the table by one point over Queens.

Next Saturday, ICT hit the road again to tackle Derek McInnes’ title contenders Kilmarnock, while the Pars head to Queen of the South for a basement battle.

HOW THEY LINED UP

DUNFERMLINE ATHLETIC (4-3-3) – Fon Williams 6, Comrie 6, Edwards 6, Donaldson 6, Dow 6 (Dorrans 63), McCann 6, Pybus 6, Allan 6 (O’Hara 46), Lawless 6, Todd 6 (Cole 63), Martin 6. Subs not used: Mehmet (GK), Macdonald, Todorov, Jones

CALEY THISTLE (4-4-1-1) – Ridgers 6, Harper 6 (Pearson 72), Welsh 6, Deas 6, Devine (Duffy 46), Carson 6, Sutherland 6, Walsh 6, Broadfoot 6, Duku 6 (Chalmers 67), McAlear 7. Subs not used: MacKay (GK), Jamieson, Hyde, Nicolson.

REFEREE – Steven Reid.

ATTENDANCE: 3138.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Reece McAlear.