Elliott slips in to amend comic turn

Paul Forsyth
at Caledonian Stadium

Inverness Caley Thistle 1 Tade 51

Hearts 1 Elliott 82

NO-ONE breathed a bigger sigh of relief than Jamie MacDonald after his team-mate, Stephen Elliott, scored a late equaliser for Hearts yesterday. When the Irish striker nipped in with eight minutes left to salvage a point, it eased a traumatic journey back to Edinburgh for the goalkeeper. His howler six minutes into the second half, when he slipped in the process of clearing a simple passback, gifted Inverness the opening goal and proved to be the defining feature of an error-strewn match.

Before that frankly comic incident, it had been an afternoon to forget, short of invention, never mind scoring opportunities. After it, everything changed out of all recognition, with both teams, but mostly Inverness, suddenly finding a route to goal. The irony was that a string of saves by MacDonald, only in the team while Marian Kello recovers from injury, kept his side in the match and made the leveller possible.

It was the third consecutive 1-1 draw between these sides, although Terry Butcher, the Inverness manager, who gave a debut to David Davis, on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers, thought that his team deserved more. "Two dropped points, without a shadow of doubt," he said. "We did enough to win the game. They've only had one shot on goal, and it hit the post and went in."

Hearts were too pedestrian, especially in the first half, when the muggy conditions compounded what was shaping up to be a soporific exchange. After nearly half- an-hour of over-polite football, the Portuguese coach was out of his dugout, chastising his players for a series of bad decisions. Arvydas Novikovas, in particular, seemed to incur the manager's wrath. When the Lithuanian did finally beat his marker, the outcome was a corner, which gave Hearts their best chance of the opening period. Jamie Hamill delivered it, Ryan Stevenson flicked it on, but when Andy Webster stabbed it goalwards at the back post, it was blocked on the line by Graeme Shinnie.

Hamill was at the root of another opportunity a few moments later. His skidding pass down the right was caught in the nick of time by Stevenson, whose cutback picked out Elliott in the box. The ball was decent, but it arrived just behind the striker, who could manage only a scuffed shot that Ryan Esson easily saved.

Inverness competed well enough, but apart from a Gregory Tade cutback that briefly caused alarm, and a cross by Andrew Shinnie that Marius Zaliukas glanced away, there was no goal threat and MacDonald had scarcely a save to make before the interval.

How quickly that changed.

MacDonald's first task of the second half was to clear a simple passback by Adrian Mrowiec, but for some reason, the goalkeeper allowed the ball to run across his body and into a difficult position. On a greasy pitch, MacDonald lost his footing, allowing Nick Ross to capitalise. The midfielder laid it back to Tade, who sidefooted into the bottom corner.

Predictably, the home support jeered MacDonald's every subsequent touch, but he never lost his concentration. When Gavin Morrison sent Tade through the middle, the goalkeeper was quickly out to block. When the same player was later released by Richie Foran, MacDonald did even better, deflecting the shot past with his right leg. By the time Andrew Shinnie was flashing a Davis cross just past the post, Inverness must have been wondering how they were only one ahead.

The game, by now, was unrecognisable from the first half. It was no great surprise that Sergio hooked Novikovas during the interval, giving David Templeton a chance. He made his case with one trademark run, wriggling past an opponent before thumping his shot off the crossbar. Danny Grainger also tried his luck after a short corner, but the effort was blocked. At the other end, Grainger was less impressive, allowing Richie Foran to peel away at the back post and release a shot that MacDonald again parried.

Hearts still weren't properly testing Esson, but when Templeton crossed, Elliott stole in ahead of Thomas Piermayr to poke his shot in off the post. It barely had enough power to cross the line, but Hearts, and more particularly MacDonald, were grateful that it did.

Sergio later revealed that he reprimanded MacDonald, not for the mistake, but for saying sorry in the dressing room. "I screamed at him," said the manager. "I don't want to hear that. It happens in football. It is the responsibility of the group."

INVERNESS CT

Esson
Piermayr
Tokely
Golobart
G Shinnie
Davis (64)
Morrison
Ross
A Shinnie (82)
Foran (85)
Tade

Subs used

Tansey (64)
Chippendale (82)
Sutherland (85)

HEARTS

MacDonald
Hamill
Webster
Zaliukas (66)
Grainger
Mrowiec
Stevenson
Black
Obua (77)
Novikovas (45)
Elliott

Subs used

Taouil (66)
Jonsson (77)
Templeton (45)

MAN OF THE MATCH

Richie Foran (Inverness)

Marius Zaliukas and Andy Webster never had a minute's peace.

TALKING POINT

The slip by Jamie MacDonald that let Gregory Tade open the scoring

Referee: W Collum. Attendance: 4,106

Taken from the Scotsman