Inverness Caley Thistle beaten by Annan Athletic in Highland capital with gap to bottom two in League One cut back down to two points
Inverness Caledonian Thistle will be wondering how they did not score as they were beaten 1-0 by Annan Athletic in the Highland capital.
An early goal from Paul Smith proved to be the difference between the teams, despite Caley Thistle dominating the game – doing practically everything but score a goal.
It was not a good start for Caley Thistle, who went behind in the third minute after failing to clear a corner, with Paul Smith firing past Musa Dibaga and into the net.
Paul Allan and Alfie Stewart each forced saves out of visiting goalkeeper Jamie Smith in the first half, but by and large Inverness struggled to find a timely response.
In the last move of the half, ICT came inches away from finding a leveller, when Adam Mackinnon picked out Paul Allan in the middle with the midfielder’s effort bouncing back off the post.
The Caley Jags kept pushing in the second half, with Alfie Stewart’s cross towards Keith Bray finding its way inside the far post - only for referee Sean Murdoch to give Annan a free kick instead.
Shortly afterwards, Mackinnon forced a good stop out of Jamie Smith with a curling effort from the edge of the box, with some of the ICT faithful perhaps wondering if it was going of be one of those days.
Billy Mckay also had a golden chance to score with just over 20 minutes left to play when Jamie Smith committed himself, and Caley Thistle managed to get past him, but Mckay’s effort was blocked on the line by an Annan defender.
In the closing stages, Allan picked out Keith Bray with a cross, but the academy graduate’s header went wide of the mark.
That summed up ICT’s afternoon, with the scoreline still reading 1-0 to Annan Athletic when the final whistle was blown.