Caley held in thrillerInverness cemented their grip on third place in the Scottish Premiership with a thrilling 3-3 draw with Kilmarnock.First-half goals from Graeme Shinnie and Nick Ross were cancelled out by Nathan Eccleston and Craig Slater, but Inverness stretched ahead in the second half with a spectacular finish from Danny Williams.However, Tope Obadeyi hammered home to tie the game in the second half, a point taking Caley further ahead of Dundee United who lost at home to St Johnstone.Inverness kept the same side that beat St Mirren a week agoMarley Watkins retained his place up front and youngsters Cammy Mackay, Alisdair Sutherland and Calum Ferguson kept their places on the bench.Kilmarnock made three changes from their dramatic 3-2 win over Dundee United last weekend
Chris Chantler, Alexei Eremenko and Sammy Clingan dropped out, to be replaced by Ross Barbour, Mark O'Hara and Eccleston.Gary Warren had an early chance for Inverness as he flicked on a Greg Tansey corner but it was blocked before it could be reached by the on-rushing Josh Meekings
Manuel Pascali responded by heading wide from Slater's corner.The hosts took the lead on 17 minutes as Watkins knocked down Ross Draper's cross into the path of Shinnie, who struck his first-time effort past the helpless Craig Samson.However, the advantage lasted just three minutes as Eccleston put Killie level
Chris Johnston's shot rebounded off the former Liverpool striker, over Warren and into his path again, where he calmly side-footed past Ryan Esson.Caley Thistle were struggling to re-establish themselves in the game and balls into the box were often high, too much so for Ryan Christie and Watkins.A few minutes after equalising, Killie could have taken the lead through Josh Magennis but he planted his header straight at Esson.Clever play by Christie helped set up Inverness' second goal after 33 minutes as he teed up Watkins on the left flank
His ball to the near post was met by Nick Ross, who nipped in ahead of Pascali to bundle in.Inverness, looking for their 10th game in a row unbeaten, were playing some tidy stuff in front of Killie, with Christie and Watkins linking up well.So when Gary Locke's side equalised on the stroke of half-time it came against the run of play, Slater curling a free-kick off the post that hit Esson on the way in.If the equaliser was spectacular, the third goal for Inverness trumped it completely
Watkins spread the play to Williams in the inside left position and he unleashed a wonderful left-footed effort that left Samson clutching at thin air.After seeing a goal-bound effort blocked by Christie, Obadeyi made no mistake from the resulting corner as he latched on to a knockdown from Slater's corner and hammered home.The game was going from one end to the other and Caley Thistle had a couple of half-chances to re-take the lead
Warren headed over from Greg Tansey's corner before Watkins was inches away from giving the hosts an advantage.In the last 10 minutes, Inverness had a penalty claim turned down when Williams, sensing a second goal, fired a shot that appeared to be blocked by the arm of Magennis.A debut for Ferguson, on for Ross, gave Caley Thistle an out-and-out striker on the park, but they were unable to add to their impressive showing in front of goal
Source : PA
Source: PA