Inverness CT 4 - 0 Dundee United: ‘Immense’ Foran inspires Inverness rout

SCORERS:

Inverness CT - Foran (31, 35), A Shinnie (70), Roberts (72)

Referee: S Finnie

Attendance: 3,059

Foran was in tremendous form, the Inverness striker curling home a delightful opener before doubling the hosts’ lead with the interval approaching courtesy of a clinical header at the back post.

The Highland outfit then went on to record their first SPL triumph in eight attempts with second-half efforts by Andrew Shinnie, who bundled his way into the penalty area and added a third from close range on 70 minutes, and on-loan Arsenal forward Philip Roberts, who blasted home a Foran lay-off from 18 yards.

In perhaps the most surprising result from the SPL at the weekend, the hosts simply overwhelmed a very disappointing United side. Inverness manager Butcher was delighted with the efforts of his players, in particular Foran, despite the pair having a minor disagreement during the game.

He said: “Richie Foran has been immense for me. He is the leader of the team. He did a team talk before the game and then he did one again at half-time as well. We had a little set-to during the game, but I wind him up and he does the same to me.

“I think it was because he didn’t show his man down the line. He showed him inside, so we disagreed about that, but I think there’s been loads of times that’s happened in the past.”

United manager Peter Houston apologised to the travelling fans for his side’s lacklustre display as they slumped to a fifth SPL game without a victory.

United have not won a league game since overcoming rivals Dundee in  August – a run which has also seen them fail to register a goal in four successive league outings. The Tannadice side now sit second bottom of the table, just four points above their neighbours.

It’s all a far cry from the opening weeks of the season when United looked the likeliest contender for second place and Houston conceded confidence was not at its optimum for his struggling team. However, the manager told his players that only hard work will help to turn around their ailing fortunes.

He said: “Just because you are low on confidence it doesn’t mean that you don’t close down your opponents, or look to win loose balls or tackles. We just never did that against Inverness. They won the scrap for the second ball. We didn’t keep playing like we had done in the opening 30 minutes. Suddenly, we started knocking long balls from back to front.

“Apart from Gavin Gunning, who I felt did okay, this was a poor performance, although take nothing away from Inverness as they merited their victory. What is worrying, however, is how we capitulated. We never threatened Caley Thistle’s goal in the second half.”