Inverness CT 1 - 1 Dunfermline: Thistle stay bottom as they pay the penalty for a poor display

THE diminutive figure of Liam Buchanan allowed the Dunfermline team to leave the Highlands last night with a degree of satisfaction.

His late goal from the penalty spot kept them from slipping to the bottom of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League and left Inverness Caledonian Thistle stuck in that berth, with their fans booing and jeering their team off the park at the end of 90 tense minutes.

Buchanan, a substitute early in the second half for Andy Kirk as Pars manager Jim McIntyre threw personnel forward in a bid to take something from the game, lulled David Proctor, the Inverness centre-back, into a reckless challenge when it looked as if Gregory Tade’s first-half goal would have been enough to have sealed the points.

And, as Terry Butcher, the home side’s manager, fumed on the sidelines, Buchanan grabbed the ball and bulleted the spot-kick past Ryan Esson, a contender for the man-of-the-match award with an unblemished display of goalkeeping.

“I felt we did a lot in the game,” said Buchanan, “and we might have won it. I always felt confident, even though we missed some half chances early on, that if we had another we would take it.

“I took a ball from Ryan Thomson, took a touch and the defender fouled me. I had no time to think about it and, as I didn’t see too many of my team-mates showing confidence to take the penalty, I was happy to take it. I always feel confident in those situations.

“You’ve got to step forward and be brave enough in your mind to take it.”

The strong wind that swept the Caledonian Stadium from the south did little for the quality of the football on show as both sides set out to begin to make a difference in the SPL, though Butcher would have wondered what possessed Thomas Piermayr, his right-back, to scythe down Joe Cardle in such an over-zealous way before a minute had been played and end up with a yellow card.

Nor was the Caley Thistle boss smiling when Paul Burns, an industrious midfielder for the Pars, found time and space to fire a left-foot shot off the far post of Esson in the 20th minute as the visitors began to make their presence felt and when their centre-back, Alex Keddie, settled their nerves by intercepting Nick Ross’s strike after Gregory Tade had carved out the opening. This promoted the Fifers to step up their game.

First, Esson produced a spectacular stop from John Potter’s header from a corner kick before he was again called into action, this time blocking Cardle’s blistering volley from inside the area.

The pendulum was to swing the other way, however – and in dramatic fashion – as the Highlanders took the lead after 32 minutes as Richie Foran, an expert at holding up play, sent over an inviting ball from the right and Tade’s diving header was too far out of the reach of Paul Gallacher, the Pars goalkeeper, as it hit the back of the net.

This may have been harsh for the visitors given their dominance in the preceding period, but no-one wearing red and blue in the stadium was complaining.

Dunfermline’s determination to regain the initiative they showed in the earlier part of the game manifested itself with a strong start to the second period and again Esson’s reflexes were required as he threw himself in the way of a shot from Buchanan, brought on a few minutes earlier for Kirk.

It left Butcher stunned and upset at yet another sub-standard performance from his troubled team.

“If I paid to watch that, I’d be very disappointed,” he said. “The team tantalise you; they give you so much and they let you down. We haven’t got together and we haven’t done so this season for 90 minutes from back to front. It’s too sporadic. I find it embarrassing and I told them that.

“We’ll see what the players come up with, because they have to provide the answers.”