Duncan Ferguson was an outstanding ‘big man’ himself, so the Inverness manager certainly knows one when he sees one.
From his early days with Jim McLean’s Dundee United, then his controversial Rangers spell and later his transformation into an Everton icon, Big Dunc became the epitome of the tall, physically-imposing centre forward which has recently become something of a rarity.
Rare but not extinct, however, and it was Alloa’s veteran Irish striker Conor Sammon who grabbed Ferguson’s full attention at the Indodrill Stadium on Saturday, coming off the bench and scoring within six minutes to get his side right back in the game at 2-1 down.
The visitors had previously appeared to be cruising to a routine victory following a sumptuous seventh-minute opener from Danny Devine and a counter-attacking second goal courtesy of Calum MacLeod’s low angled finish midway through the second half.
Sammon’s header suddenly introduced an element of jeopardy to proceedings and Alloa’s dramatic comeback was complete when Luke Donnelly nodded home an equaliser barely three minutes later.
“Nobody saw Alloa’s fightback coming,” admitted Ferguson.
“All credit to them, their substitutions helped them, especially bringing on the big man (Conor Sammon) as a focal point for their attack. They had one shot in the first half but they never hurt us until they put the big man on.
“The (plastic) pitch was shocking. You can’t play football on it, but we were by far the best team today.
“I thought we absolutely dominated the game and we could have been three or four-up going into the last 20 minutes. We would have taken a draw before we came here, but we really should have put the game to bed.”
Encouraging display from ICT
The official match stats support Ferguson’s viewpoint as Adam Brooks, skipper Billy McKay and Adam MacKinnon all went close in first-half stoppage time, while MacLeod and McKay were both fractionally off-target in the early stages of the second period.
In total, the visitors managed ten attempts on goal despite enjoying limited possession (39%).
“I was pleased with the players overall,” added Ferguson.
“We were sitting one point off the top of the table after 70 minutes, so it’s all fine lines and there’s a long way to go this season. Our starting XI is very strong, but after that we have a lot of kids.”
Despite extending their unbeaten run to five games, Caley Thistle slipped one place to sixth in League One, although they remain three points behind new leaders Alloa, whose late fightback took them to the top on goal difference.
“We have two important home games coming up, starting with Cove Rangers this week,” said Ferguson.
“They won today (3-1 at Kelty Hearts), so they’ll be on a high, but we’re Inverness Caley Thistle and we expect to beat these teams on our home ground.”
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