Wonder goal from Walsh fires Caley into top four
INVERNESS climbed back into the play-off places last night after a spectacular volley from Tom Walsh stunned Partick Thistle. The game looked to be heading for a draw after Stuart Bannigan had cancelled out Aaron Doran’s opener, but Walsh ensured all three points were heading back to the Highlands with a brilliant strike to seal victory and move John Robertson’s side up to fourth. ‘That’s five from our last six we’ve won, and the confidence is up but we have to keep it up,’ said Robertson. ‘The one thing you can level at us is we’ve been consistently inconsistent all season. We’re putting together that consistent run we’re after.’ While the home side kept the majority of possession in the opening 45 minutes, their long balls up to Scott McDonald and Lewis Mansell were comfortably dealt with by the Caley Thistle defence — and it was the Highlanders who provided a late surge as the half drew to a close. A poor Thistle corner in the 35th minute allowed Inverness to quickly counter through Joe Chalmers and Sean Welsh, with the former seeing his shot tipped over the bar by Jamie Sneddon. The Jags’ defence was cut open two minutes later by Welsh, gifting Doran a shot from six yards out, but he rolled it wide. Inverness came close to breaking the deadlock just a minute before the half-time whistle. A floated free-kick into the penalty area by Chalmers found Jamie McCart and the defender’s header looked to be creeping in, but Sneddon kept the ball out and it was knocked behind for a goal kick. The hosts started the second half strongly and thought they had opened the scoring after 51 minutes when defender Steven Saunders bundled the ball home from a corner, but it was ruled out for offside. While Thistle were the team in the ascendancy, it was Inverness who took the lead. A neat dummy from Jordan White got the better of Saunders to send Doran through one-on-one with Sneddon and he slotted home his tenth goal of the campaign. The lead didn’t last long, however, as Bannigan equalised in stunning fashion. After a couple of cannoned efforts into the box, McDonald laid a pass off for his captain and he curled the ball past Mark Ridgers into the far corner. Thistle thought they had taken the lead late on when a superb chipped pass from McDonald sent Blair Spittal through, but his half-volley struck the near post. It was Inverness, however, who were to snatch all three points in the 81st minute, with Doran involved again. A long ball forward from Liam Polworth was backheeled by the winger to Walsh, who lashed a powerful first-time volley past Sneddon. The goal sucked all the life out of Thistle’s momentum as they failed to put another dangerous effort on Caley Thistle’s goal to leave them still languishing in the relegation play-off zone. ‘Every game is huge, we know that,’ said Thistle boss Gary Caldwell. ‘We wanted to get three points tonight — we didn’t — but we don’t have time to dwell on it and think about the past. ‘We need to focus on the next game and make sure we are ready to go and win and do that right to the end of the season.’