Caley Thistle winger Luis Longstaff was shocked to hear fans boo the team – stressing their 4-1 League One loss to Cove Rangers was a rare off-day.
Sections of the home support made their feelings known as Cove delivered a lesson in finishing to move fourth in the division with their biggest league win of the season.
It was the heaviest league defeat of the campaign for ICT, a club fighting against the odds due to administration costing them 15 points.
Long-time coach Scott Kellacher replaced axed manager Duncan Ferguson in October and he had guided the team to four wins from seven league matches.
However, Saturday’s defeat for the ninth-placed Highlanders means they are just three points ahead of this weekend’s visitors Dumbarton, who are also in administration.
Longstaff: Boss has ‘worked wonders’
Former Cove player Longstaff, 23, speaking as the dust settled on Saturday’s game, was stunned by the reaction from some fans.
He said: “We’ve not had many off days. Even in that Dumbarton game which we lost 3-1 (Kellacher’s first in charge on October 26), the manager had only been in the job for two days.
“I have to say, after the football we have played over the past six or seven weeks, to get booed like that was really disappointing.
“The manager has worked wonders since he’s come in. We’re not going to win every game and we will have the odd bad game, but everyone has been buzzing since the manager took over, so to be booed like that…I just don’t understand that.
“I know we were not great, but Cove scored from two corners and two counter-attacks.
“Apart from that, I didn’t think it was a game with loads of chances.
“The difference was Cove were clinical with the chances they got. We didn’t create enough.”
Goals from Declan Glass and Mitch Megginson had Cove cruising inside the first 18 minutes.
Remi Savage pulled a goal back and there were hopes that ICT could stage another big comeback, as they have done against Cove and Montrose this season.
But an Arron Darge goal just after the break and a late Adam Emslie strike earned Cove a deserved victory.
Longstaff said: “It just didn’t happen for us.
“We got a bit of a lifeline by scoring just before half-time.
“After the Montrose game, and winning that the way we did (with three second half goals to win 3-2 on December 7), we genuinely believed we could win against Cove.
“As awful as we were in the first half, we still thought we could win. But we conceded five minutes into the second half and it killed it off.
“We need to start taking control of games earlier. I think we do that in terms of the way we play, but that’s not reflecting in the scorelines.
“We came back from a goal down to win at Cove last month and we came back from 2-0 down to win at Montrose, but we can’t keep relying on doing that.”
‘Reality check’ as ICTFC target Annan
Dumbarton’s 2-0 victory over Kelty Hearts at the weekend hauled them to within three points of ICT.
Eighth-placed Annan Athletic are nine points ahead after they dug out a 1-1 derby draw with Queen of the South ahead of their trip to second-top Stenhousemuir this weekend.
A defeat for Inverness against Dumbarton would make it 10 points apiece for the two toiling clubs.
Longstaff reckons Saturday’s harsh lesson dished out by Cove could spark a reaction as they seek to score what would be precious victory.
He added: “We want to catch Annan and that’s what we’re focused on.
“We still believe we can do that. Maybe Saturday was the kick up the backside we needed after being on a decent run overall.
“It’s a reality check that you will get turned over in this league if you don’t turn up. We will carry that into Saturday and hopefully put things right by getting the win.”
Aberdeen loanee Adam Emslie reckons displays and results like Saturday’s are what will be needed to keep Cove Rangers in the League One title chase.
Winger Emslie, 19, was a thorn in the side of Caley Thistle all afternoon and capped a sparkling display with a late goal – his fifth in 20 outings this term.
Cove are on a four-game unbeaten run and fourth in the division ahead of Saturday’s trip to seventh-placed Queen of the South.
The back-to-back wins over Alloa and Inverness means they are just six points behind leaders Arbroath.
Dons starlet Emslie, who was on loan at Highland League club Formartine United last term, believes the team are clicking nicely going into the new year.
He said: “These are the places you have to get results at if you want to challenge at the top of the league. We won quite convincingly, which is also good for our confidence.
“We’re getting more used to this league and we’re really getting going.
“We got in behind Inverness with our pace and we knew we could cause them problems. We played really well and deserved the three points.
“We’re just taking it game by game and we will see where it takes us come the end of the season.”
Emslie who, along with Findlay Marshall arrived at Cove on loan from the Dons in August, is delighted to be playing his part in Paul Hartley’s team on a regular basis.
He added: “I’m loving being here. I’m playing every week, which is exactly what I wanted to do when I came out on loan. It has been really good so far.
“We have got many good technical players here, so you know you’re going to get chances. When they come along, you just need to take them.
“It’s a long journey to Dumfries next up, but we want to just go there, play our stuff and try to get another three points.”
Cove set pace from start – Hartley
The game marked Hartley’s 500th game in management and 200th in charge of Cove, who he bossed from League Two into the Championship during his first stint.
The former Alloa, Dundee, Falkirk and Hartlepool boss was impressed by how his team set the early tempo.
He said: “I thought it was really good – I enjoyed our team performance on Saturday.
“Everything about us – how we started, how we played. Some of our football was excellent, really quick on the counter-attack and we defended really well at times.
“We set our intent out early with the way we passed it and pressed, just the speed of the team and our quality was evident.
“In the second half we knew they would come at us, but we defended really well.”
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