Derek McInnes criticises Elgin pitch as Aberdeen and Inverness CT draw 1-1

Curtis Main scored his first Aberdeen goal, but the Dons were held by Championship Inverness Caley Thistle at Elgin on a Borough Briggs pitch heavily criticised by manager Derek McInnes.

Aberdeen's Curtis Main scores a penalty to make it 1-0. Picture: Ross Parker/SNS

McInnes didn’t like the surface or the way his team defended the Inverness equaliser in a 1-1 draw, while an injury to loan defender Greg Leigh was also a concern.

But Main’s opening strike since his move from Motherwell was a high point for his manager. And McInnes also hopes ex-Manchester City man Leigh will be fit for the Dons’ Europa League qualifier at home to RoPS Roveniemi on Thursday.

“I think he’s going to be alright. He just rolled his ankle and got a wee bit of a fright but I’m hoping it will settle in 48 hours,” said McInnes.

“The pitch was awful and you could see it was treacherous. It didn’t look like it has seen water in a long time.”

Caley Jags boss John Robertson said: “We were really bested by a top team today and had to hang in there for long spells, but from our point of view, the exercise was a very good one.”

Main should have opened his Dons scoring account after just five minutes as Caley Jags made a nightmare start.

The Highlanders lost full-back Shaun Rooney to an ankle injury inside four minutes and his replacement, Coll Donaldson, made a hash of a pass-back with his first touch to gift the ball to Aberdeen’s Scott Wright, who in turn squared to Main. But the former Motherwell man scooped a poor effort straight at goalkeeper Cammy Mackay with the goal at his mercy.

There was an injury blow for the Dons when on-loan NAC Breda left-back Leigh took a sore one from a Roddy MacGregor challenge and limped off to be replaced by Andy Considine.

Caley Thistle’s first sniff of goal saw Aaron Doran break down the left and tempt Joe Lewis to wander out his box before lifting the ball over the Dons keeper but wide of the target on 27 minutes.

The scoring breakthrough arrived on 62 minutes when Jon Gallagher chased on to Ferguson’s ball through the centre and was fouled in the box by ICT sub Nikolay Todorov, who had only come on moments earlier, for a penalty.

Main stepped up to net his first goal in Aberdeen colours from the spot.

There was a shock for Aberdeen when their Championship opponents levelled on 70 minutes. Nick Walsh’s free-kick was deflected wide for a corner which he took himself, and when the ball was flicked on by Jordan White, defender Brad McKay stole in unnoticed at the back post to shoot home.

Gallagher had the ball in the Jags net on 83 minutes but an offside flag cut short the Irishman’s celebrations.

James Wilson forced a good Mackay save with a header from a corner in stoppage time, and was inches away from connecting with Scott McKenna’s flick on at the next corner as the Dons were forced to settle for a draw.