Inverness CT 2 Ross County 1: Adams still in line to be new Don after hit by rivals

Monday 18 March 2013

Some of what has been achieved by Inverness Caledonian Thistle this season has seemed like a superhuman feat.

Paul Lawson celebrates his stunning strike

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Frank Gilfeather

Yesterday the Highland club consolidated their place in the top six of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League for the first time without even lifting a finger, a draw in the Dundee derby ensuring Inverness will be able to lounge comfortably in the top half of the table after the split. The challenge will be to fluff the cushion they hold over Ross County sufficiently so they can secure a place in the Europa League as well.

That is a statement which will have sounded fanciful back in the days when both clubs were battling away in the Highland League with squads of butchers, bakers, mechanics and postmen, but such a modest backstory has been replaced by a far racier script this term. Saturday's Highland derby ended with an explosion – well, Derek Adams and Terry Butcher had a bit of a row at full-time as a result of the controversy of a penalty winner – while Adams' performance as County manager may yet cause him to be recast as the man in charge of Aberdeen. Craig Brown has announced his intention to retire at the end of the season but he could shuffle out of the dugout as early as this week.Clubs do not tend to hang around when there is a need to bring someone in to lift ailing spirits, not to mention season ticket sales, for next season but the job might also appeal to Adams' ambition since Aberdeen are a sleeping giant which has been slumbering longer than Rip Van Winkle having a lie in on a particularly lazy Sunday. George Yule, the Aberdeen executive vice-chairman and the man tasked with finding Brown's successor, will likely have awoken to the need to instigate change quickly and he would have been interested to hear of the passion which emanated from every pore of Adams' being following his side's defeat in Inverness.It was Billy McKay's penalty midway through the second half which eventually told on the Dingwall side and brought to an end a run of 11 games without defeat. The result has caused County to fall two points behind their neighbours in the league table, but it has still been a breathless season for the club.The found it hard to keep up with Richie Foran on Saturday, too, the Inverness forward surely now considering a move to a larger house to accommodate yet another well-deserved man-of-the-match award. He brushed aside the spat between the managers after the game and instead focused on the prospect of competing on the European stage next season. The latest step towards that ambition meant more, he added, as it was taken against their Highland rivals. "It does mean a little bit more than if we beat anyone else," said Foran. "It is a big three points when we needed it most."With Adams proclaiming that referee Iain Brines got it wrong with the penalty award after Inverness had taken a fifth-minute lead through Andrew Shinnie before Paul Lawson, outstanding in midfield for County, scored a stunning 35-yard equaliser, Foran had his say. "It is a clear penalty, in my eyes," he said. "When you dive in the box you are always likely to give a penalty away."Adams was curter – "The decision was a shocker," said the County manager – although he may be just days away of taking on far greater concerns should Aberdeen send for him to resuscitate their flagging ambitions.

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Inverness CT 2 Ross County 1: Adams still in line to be new Don after hit by rivals

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