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.

Duncan Ferguson disappointed Caley Thistle didn’t get victory after dominant display at Alloa

Inverness had to settle for a share of the spoils after the Wasps came from 2-0 down to earn a point.

Inverness manager Duncan Ferguson. Image: SNS
Inverness manager Duncan Ferguson. Image: SNS

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.”

Conversation