Premier Sports Cup: Caley Thistle boss Scott Kellacher ready for ‘step up’; Elgin City and Cove Rangers lose to top-flight opposition

Blazing sunshine and humid conditions may not make for the easiest of afternoons but Inverness had as comfortable an outing against Linlithgow Rose as was possible given the conditions on Saturday afternoon.

First-half goals from Ryan Duncan and Noa Boutin were sufficient to give Inverness a win that keeps them just a point behind St Johnstone, whom they host tomorrow evening. The suspicion is that the dial will rise significantly for that one.

There was much for Scott Kellacher to be enthused about in the weekend display, not least the first club goals for both Duncan and Boutin as his squad starts to knit together.

There could and should have been more goals which would have been a fair reflection of the dominance that Inverness enjoyed with Linlithgow goalkeeper Cammy Binnie pulling off a number of decent saves.

His performance earned him the man of the match award.

But for Kellacher, attention now turns to the visit of St Johnstone tomorrow as he insisted that he is enthused rather than being intimidated by squaring up to last season’s Championship winners.

Simo Valakari’s side lead Premier Sports Group F by a point having won their opening two games.

Aware that the game will present a sterner test than Saturday’s game, Kellacher is confident that it will be a chance to measure just where Inverness are at this stage of the season.  He is also insistent that it will be a positive approach to the game.

“There is no doubt that it’s a step up for us,” he said. “We played them last year, and it was tight game. We need to look after ourselves and we’ll have a right go.

“We’ve got nothing to lose.  The table’s quite tight now. We are looking forward to it because it is a challenge and that is what you want.

“We’ve learned a lot through pre-season so far,” continued Kellacher.

“The boys are still getting up to speed. Some boys are two, three weeks behind, but when we can get it all together at the right time then I think we will be in a good place.

“We will hopefully give a good account of ourselves against St Johnstone. They are an excellent team and like to play football but, as I said, we will go and be positive and have a go and try to take something from the game.

“We deliberately tried to create a pre-season against some tough teams to give us that test and I think it can be hugely beneficial. Sometimes you take more from the game that you lose because there can be a lot of learning in them.

“But for now and in terms of the game against St Johnstone, we know that it is going to be a big step up from Saturday and I think we are ready for that.

“I was really pleased with the way we went about the game against Linlithgow because it had the potential to be a really awkward game. They are a decent side and not too many teams beat them on their own patch so there were a lot of positives in there for us.

“It is always good to see players who have just come into the club get on the scoresheet and that will help them enormously.”

Graeme Shinnie was the architect of the opening goal, sliding the ball through the Linlithgow defence for Duncan to latch on to and deliver a low left-footed finish past Binnie.

Luis Longstaff set up the second with a similar pass to send Boutin in behind the hosts defence. He collected before spearing a low effort into the net.

There would have been more but for the industrious Binnie who worked up a sweat keeping Inverness at bay.

Linlithgow defender Jamie Watson headed off the line to deny Morgan Bates a goal and keep Inverness at bay. The action was pretty much one way as Inverness dominated the ball.

Greater challenges await.

Elgin City 0-1 Kilmarnock

Taking Premiership visitors Kilmarnock to the wire in Saturday’s Premier Sports Cup clash was a source of great pride to Elgin boss Stefan Laird.

The Black and Whites were inching towards a penalty shoot-out against ten-man Killie when Joe Hugill struck three minutes into injury time to seize a much-needed victory for Neil McCann’s men.

Laird didn’t hold back in his criticism of City’s defensive lapses in Tuesday’s defeat to Peterhead, so was happy to lavish praise on his team for a hugely-improved display on Saturday.

“I called my team abysmal in the second half on Tuesday. Well, they were the opposite of abysmal today,” he said.

“They were absolutely outstanding to a man.

“Yes, they (Kilmarnock) went down to ten men. That happens in football, you’re still playing a Premier League side.

“You can see how good they are, how well Neil’s got them drilled.

“I thought we were absolutely superb. Perhaps we could have looked after the ball a wee bit better in the second half but there were a lot of tired legs out there.

“I didn’t want to make any changes to be honest because to a man they were absolutely outstanding.”

Even Kilmarnock boss McCann had to admit his team came up against a tough opponent.

He said: “I’ve got to have a wee bit of empathy to Stefan and his boys because on reflection on how hard they worked, it would be easy to say that a draw would be a fair result and we go to penalties to see what happens there.

“In terms of our intention and how we wanted to play our game and how we were always trying to impose ourselves and go for the first goal in the match, I do think we deserved to win it.

“It’s a tough one for Elgin to take but we’re delighted.

“When you look at cup competitions, it really doesn’t matter how you play. Of course you want to play better but it’s really early in the season and the most important thing is getting your wins on the board in the cup.”

Killie certainly had it all to do when right back Jamie Brandon was shown a red card after 36 minutes.

Referee Duncan Nicholson appeared to have little choice when the former Hearts defender put in a dangerous two-footed challenge that left Lyall Booth writhing in agony on the turf.

Up to that point, the visitors had forced a series of corner kicks but did little to trouble Tom Ritchie in the Elgin goal.

McCann had to dig deep into his resources, making one immediate sub, another at half time and two more shortly after the interval in an effort to land a victory.

Tyreese John-Jules and Erik Ring added some pep to Killie’s forays up the field, yet Elgin held a threat on the counter-attack and had chances to take the lead themselves.

Jack Murray headed wide from a corner, Kane Hester shot weakly past from good position and Jack MacIver also blasted wide, with a deflection taking his effort off target.

Ritchie pulled off a superb stop from Tom Lowery to keep his team on terms, and John-Jules twice squandered free kicks on the edge of the Elgin box.

The Black and Whites didn’t just sit in for penalties, they pushed on and young debut sub Sam Rothnie won a 90th minute corner, which Kyle Girvan headed just over from MacIver’s delivery.

Then came heartbreak at the other end for the home support, as forlorn appeals for offside didn’t prevent Hugill from taking John-Jules’ pass clean through on goal and his strike skidded under Ritchie and in, much to the delight of the travelling fans behind the goal.

Cove Rangers 0-4 St Mirren

Jordan White is determined to wipe the memory of “horrific” back-to-back relegations with Ross County to fire League One rivals Cove Rangers into challenging for the title this season.

Cove eventually succumbed to a four-goal defeat to Premier Sports Cup holders St Mirren in their second game of the group stages.

The eventual scoreline was harsh on the hosts, who matched their Premiership opponents for long spells before tiring at the end, when they conceded two goals to put a flattering outcome on the scoreline for the Paisley side.

White is Cove’s marquee signing this summer, with the 34-year-old, far-travelled hitman opting to move to Aberdeen after his five-year stint in Dingwall came to an end.

His spell there ended disappointingly after two relegations in a row, with manager Stuart Kettlewell lashing out at some players after they were relegated at Raith Rovers.

But 34-year-old White insists he can hold his head up high and is determined to help Cove’s promotion push.

He said: “Sometimes you need to put your ego to one side.

“The last two seasons have been hoffic, I’ll be honest.

“Obviously, everyone who was involved was culpable, but I think for me I always trained hard every day, worked and looked after myself.

“So I can look back and say I don’t regret anything and I am not sure everyone could have said that.

“I do regret how the outcome ended.

“But that’s in the past now and I am looking forward to the future.

“I just felt it was a really good opportunity in terms of the next stage of my career.

“I was looking about whether to stay full time and was asking myself if I was delaying the inevitable because I will have to make a career outside of football.

“And we had a new baby in the sumer now and I have a young family so I had a lot to think about.

“But when Cove came and the gaffer spoke to me, I just felt they had real ambition and my gut feeling was it was the right place to come.”

White is one of 11 new faces at Balmoral, including loans and there has been a huge turnaround by manager Paul Hartley.

His old side will be favourites to return to the second tier, but White believes his new teammates have plenty going for them.

He said: “We don’t want to get too ahead of ourselves, but from what I have seen here so far in pre-season and these games, there is a good group coming together.

“We have a good group of boys and we have added some depth from last season so I am really looking forward to it.

“I will do everything I can do to help.

“Against St Mirren, I think we were probably disappointed with the goals we lost because we were well in the game when we lost a cheap penalty.

“And then we conceded just before half time so that was disappointing because I didn’t think it was a 2-0 game at that stage.

“We knew the second half would be a battle, but I thought we responded quite well and it was more of an open game and we definitely threatened them.

“But I think we just kind of lost our way in the last ten minutes.

“We also made a lot of subs which disrupted us, but it’s important that we all get as many minutes as possible and that’s what the gaffer is trying to do.

“So far it’s been positive even though a 4-0 defeat seems heavy.”

Next up for Cove is a trip to Fife to face Dunfermline at East End Park.

And boss Hartley said: “Dunfermline is a place I have always enjoyed going.

“They have a good manager and play good football so it will be a test.

“But the important thing for me is to show we are ready on August 1.”

[Source: Press and Journal]