Inverness CT 0 - 1 Hibernian: Better late than never for Hibs

In THE last 15 to 20 minutes or so of this otherwise drab game, tiring legs meant that the spaces which had been so assiduously closed down earlier by both sides suddenly began to open up and all of a sudden a serious football match broke out.

There were chances aplenty as both sides to their credit attempted to win the match instead of settling for a draw, and it all ended a tad unfairly for the home side.

Deep in injury time, Jonny Hayes lost the ball to what seemed an unfair challenge by substitute David Crawford, and the Inverness defence was suddenly posted missing, allowing Ian Murray to move forward quickly and feed Garry O'Connor, the big striker placing a low shot into the net.

Ryan Esson in the home goal had been outstanding to that point but failed to get down to the shot in time to prevent the goal. Hibs manager Colin Calderwood fell to his knees in salutation at the goal which gave Hibs their first points and sent Inverness to the bottom of the league.

O'Connor: "It was really good play by Ian Murray, but I don't know what their defence was doing because they never gave me a minute the whole game. They just got out of position and held a really bad line, and I drifted into the space.

• Saturday's football in pictures

• Get the latest football news on Facebook and Twitter

"The gaffer had made a comment at half time that their keeper liked to play to the near post so I aimed for the back post and luckily for me it went in."

His manager admitted his side had been a trifle fortunate to win. Calderwood said: "The first-half performance warranted getting something out of the game. We didn't reach the same level in the second half but we'll take the reward we got and we're very grateful for it, as we were playing a team that was at least as good as us. Some of things we did in the match were not good enough, but we have had to learn from failure so maybe we can learn from success."

Inverness Caledonian Thistle manager Terry Butcher said: "I am disappointed that we lost three points but I am delighted with the way we played. Lady Luck shone on Hibs today, but maybe it is a lesson to be learned for the players."

A very poor first half saw little goalmouth action with only three attempts on target and a lot of huffing and puffing in midfield which came to nothing. Passing to colleagues was at a premium, and the lack of quality on show made you thankful that this was not live on television as the SPL's reputation would have slithered furthered downwards.

The first chance fell to Ivan Sproule of Hibs, but Kenny Gillet did enough to put him off his effort.At the other end, Gregory Tade went down under the influence, shall we put it, of Hibs' captain Murray.

After 20 minutes, Hibs carved out an excellent chance, Lewis Stevenson putting O'Connor clear over 20 yards out. The striker's crisp effort was superbly saved by Esson.

The goalkeeper's face then played a vital role, Sproule's knock-down finding O'Connor three yards out, and the shot making Esson groggy though the ball stayed out.

Tade had the ball in the net late in the half but offside had already been signalled against Richie Foran.

The "chopped off" tally equalised itself in the second half when Murray's "goal" for Hibs was disallowed.

These major moments of controversy were followed by another fine save by Esson from a Thornill volley and couple of solid penalty claims - "blatant penalties" said Butcher - for the home side, though referee Conroy was having none of it.

They seemed to inspire Inverness to greater efforts however, and the home team very much dominated the last third of the match, creating several good chances. A couple of them were indeed of the sitter variety, especially Tom Aldred's close-range effort from a Hayes cross, while substitute Shane Sutherland's vicious left foot shot forced Graeme Stack into a fine parry.

Greg Tansey had earlier stuck one by from a few yards when caught wrong-footed, and with a minute left he struck the post from close range.

In stoppage time, O'Connor pounced to make it Hibs' day, though if Caley Thistle can play the way they played in the final minutes of this match they will not be bottom for long.

INVERNESS CT

Esson

Tokely

Aldred

Gillet

Piermayr

Tudur-Jones

Hayes

Tansey

Ross (58)

Foran

Tade (69)

Subs used

Doran (58)

Sutherland (69)

HIBERNIAN

Stack

Booth

Hanlon

Murray

Stephens

Wotherspoon (77)

Thornhill

Stevenson (65)

Sproule (83)

Palsson

O'Connor

Subs used

Galbraith (65)

De Graaf (77)

Crawford (83)

MAN OF THE MATCH

Garry O'Connor (Hibernian)

In the kingdom of the bland, the one-goal man is king.

TALKING POINT

Thistle fans felt the referee should have given at least two penalty claims.

Referee: S Conroy. Attendance: 3,600