A SPECTACULAR overhead kick from Billy McKay with little over a minute remaining lifted Inverness Caledonian Thistle off bottom spot in the Ladbrokes Premiership and increased Rangers’ woes.
The Ibrox club had looked to have earned a point when a well-taken Martyn Waghorn penalty in the second-half cancelled out a first-half Greg Tansey strike.
But their diabolical run in the league continued – they had won just one of their previous six outings – when McKay netted a stunning effort in the 89th minute.
Rangers will fall nine points behind second-placed Aberdeen if the Pittodrie club can defeat Ross County at home this afternoon.
Given their appalling run of form, and the fact they are still being managed by their under-20 coach Graeme Murty, there appears to be little chance of them coming runners-up.
Indeed, staying ahead of Hearts, who can move to within two points of them if they beat Partick Thistle at Firhill, and even St Johnstone may prove to be beyond them.
Incredibly, this was Inverness’s first league win in 14 outings. They last tasted victory against Motherwell at Fir Park away back on October 26. But they were well worth it and will take huge confidence from their showing.
Murty had made three changes to the side which had capitulated so meekly to Dundee five days earlier. Clint Hill had failed to recover from the whiplash injury which forced him from the field at Dens Park and Danny Wilson started at centre half.
Elsewhere, Lee Wallace who had missed the Dundee match due to a muscle strain, returned at left back at the expense of Lee Hodson while Jon Toral, who had been laid low by an illness at the weekend, came in and Joe Garner dropped to the bench.
The caretaker manager kept faith with the 4-2-3-1 formation he had switched to – this time with Kenny Miller taking on the role of the lone striker – and it worked well to begin with.
Richie Foran, not surprisingly, stuck with the same starting line-up which he had selected in the morale-boosting 1-1 draw with Hearts at Tynecastle the previous Saturday.
The home team’s hopes of building on that result suffered a setback in the 15th minute when Carl Tremarco, their top scorer this term with seven goals in all competitions, had to leave the field after suffering a head knock.
But, if anything, Caledonian Thistle increased in confidence after the enforced change. Jake Mulraney’s powerful jinking runs down the right certainly caused the returning Wallace all kinds of difficulties and it was the home team who looked far more likely to open the scoring.
The home defence had recovered well from their shaky start and held firm. It was their opponents who were soon battling furiously to stay on level terms as McKay, Mulraney and Tansey probed for an opening.
Caledonian Thistle deservedly took the lead just before half-time. James Tavernier blocked a shot from Liam Polworth and the ball spun inside to Tansey. The midfielder whipped a curling shot beyond Wes Foderingham and into the bottom left corner from fully 25 yards out.
Rangers couldn’t be accused of showing a lack of desire after falling behind. They played with far greater purpose at the start of the second half.
Jamie McCart got in the side of shots from Emerson Hyndman and Tavernier in rapid succession, McKay shot over and Toral fired wide when he only had the keeper to beat. They deserved to draw level in the 68th minute.
Referee Steven McLean had no hesitation pointing to the penalty after Louis Laing had brought down Wallace. Waghorn drilled the ball home. Foderingham then saved an poor penalty by Iain Vigurs, who had come on for Ross Draper, with four minutes remaining after Danny Wilson had fouled McKay. The keeper looked to have earned his side a point.
McKay, though, had other ideas.
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