St Mirren 1 - 2 Inverness CT: Buddies get into Christmas spirit early to gift Inverness a victory

NOTHING about this game was pretty, from the football to the weather it was all best quickly forgotten, but all Inverness would have been reflecting on during their long and winding road back north was knowing this battling win over St Mirren has lifted them from the foot of the table up to ninth. Even the fact that St Mirren gave them a massive helping hand will not take away from what was a crucial win.

Inverness are, after a sluggish opening to the campaign, slowly but surely starting to again show the blend of aggression, counter-attacking, power and strength they have built their success on over the last decade. This is something not lost on manager, Terry Butcher, who hailed just such qualities, saying: “We had to grit it out in these conditions and we have played better than that this season.

“We have been bottom for a long time, and it is nice to be off it. Jonny Hayes’ goal was superb, I told him he was going to get the winner and I can’t believe I got something right.”

St Mirren manager, Danny Lennon, admitted that not only had his team failed to handle the conditions and the aggression of the visitors, but also that they played a major role in their own downfall. He said: “It was a scrappy game, but we didn’t adapt. However we have to stop giving teams a helping hand. What I would say to the fans though is don’t blame Marc McAusland, blame Danny Lennon.”

Fresh from their trouncing at Parkhead the week before, Lennon tinkered with his personnel and formations as they went to a three-at-the-back system. Maybe it was the patchwork set-up or the heavy pitch, but the passing game now associated with the Buddies never truly kicked in, although had Steven Thompson converted a harder-to-miss-chance after eight minutes it could have been very different.

Saints have been synonymous all season for missing more than their share of “gimmes”, but they have also earned a growing rap sheet for gifting soft goals at the other end, and this weakness again cost them dear minutes later.

McAusland, who doled out early Yuletide presents during that 5-0 Celtic drubbing, was again the guilty party as his blind pass across the area was seized upon by Caley, as they worked an opening for Andrew Shinnie to easily stroke home.

Spurred by their goal, Caley went on to dominate the rest of the half with Richie Foran seeing his looping header cleared off the line and Greg Tansey drilling a 20-yard strike inches wide as the Saints defence, who were at best woefully disjointed, looked vulnerable every time the Highlanders surged forward. However, for all their slapstick defensive antics, the home team levelled things in first-half stoppage time with Thompson powering home a header.

There is little doubt the half-time sermons in both dressing rooms would have been altered hugely as a result of Thompson’s strike, and if there was a feeling of injustice on the visitors’ part then only a smart stop from Ryan Esson to keep out Thompson minutes after the restart prevented it from festering further. Esson was suddenly heavily employed as soon after he had to push a Gary Teale free kick over the bar as Saints applied prolonged pressure for the first time.

For all the ball possession they enjoyed, Saints could not land a knock-out punch to go with all their dancing and jabbing, and they again paid the toll for their lack of incision as Inverness regained the lead with a quarter of the game remaining. Hayes produced a moment of magic to spin away from Jeroen Tesselaar before curling a brilliant left-foot strike low past Samson.

If St Mirren were going to get back into it, it was going to be through Thompson, who despite lacking pace these days continues to be a wily threat – and it was indeed the former Cardiff striker who came closest to levelling when he forced Esson to get down to clutch his header on the line. Esson held on and so did his team, as they moved out of the basement area.