Inverness CT 0 - 0 Queen of the South: Dobbie denied in stalemate

They were braced for hurricane Dobbie, but the breeze blowing through the Highland capital yesterday was as lame as the disappointing Dumfries attack. Neither side held much force going forward.

Queen of the South's Stephen Dobbie is challenged by Brad Mckay. Pic: SNS/Sammy Turner

Stephen Dobbie may have hit 21 goals in 13 matches prior to yesterday, but drew his fifth successive blank against Inverness on a frustrating day for both sides.

Gary Naysmith, the Doonhamers’ manager, pictured, did draw positives from the away point.

“We’ve now had four clean sheets in five games in the league,” he said. “In the league alone, we’ve played eight and had four clean sheets. If we can go through the season on that average over 36 games, I’ll be delighted, because it is not often my strikers don’t score.”

Queen of the South started strongly, initially troubling the home defence with good movement and intent. All they had to show for the bright start, though, was a Lyndon Dykes strike from distance straight into Mark Ridgers’ grasp.

Caley Thistle took time to warm to the task although Aaron Doran’s 25-yard attempt had to be parried by keeper Alan Martin. With 18 minutes gone, Shaun Rooney’s chipped cross from the right found Carl Tremarco stretching to connect for a far-post volley that skewed wide.

Caley Thistle began to find 
fluency after the half hour, but failed to prise open Queens’ defence.

The second half opened with Callum Semple heading over the home bar from Dobbie’s corner.

The hosts resorted to the speculative, with Sean Welsh rocketing wide from distance with the breeze at his back.

After 67 minutes Dobbie almost split the cross bar with a venomous 30-yard free-kick. Home pressure built towards the final whistle with a low Rooney cross belted clear by Semple.

Inverness boss John Robertson said: “I don’t think either team did enough to win. If we want to be where we want to be, we’ve got to try and win our home games.”