Caley Thistle beat Forres to make North of Scotland Cup final
Inverness Caledonian Thistle 4
Forres Mechanics 0
MacGregor (5) Mackay (47, 62) Brown (70)
INVERNESS Caledonian Thistle cruised into the final of the North of Scotland Cup with a comfortable victory over Forres Mechanics at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium.
Daniel Mackay scored twice in the second half after Roddy MacGregor's opener after five minutes with Jack Brown also finding the net.
ICT started the encounter with a completely different starting 11 to the team which beat Dunfermline 3-0 at East End Park 10 days ago.
Jamie McCart was captain for the night with Ricky Calder, George Oakley and Charlie Trafford also in the first 11 with a host of youngsters including Daniel Mackay.
It took Inverness only five minutes to break the deadlock, Mackay dribbled down the right wing and his cross into the six yard box was met by MacGregor who nodded the ball past Stuart Knight from close range.
Forres responded well and Robert Duncanson was allowed to cross from the right wing where the ball was found by Jordan Milne but he was unable to guide the ball on target.
Daniel Hoban gave Forres a golden chance with a poor clearance from the box which fell to the feet of Stuart Soane. But Cameron Harper rescued the goalkeeper’s blushes as he booted the ball away before the striker could get a shot on goal.
George Oakley beat the offside trap to run on to a ball from midfield and was one-on-one with the goalkeeper but Knight did well to close off all angles to save his first shot before the Englishman hit the side-netting with the rebound.
Forres did threaten from the set-piece to find an equaliser and came close when Scott Moore’s corner found the head of Soane who beat the defence in the air to nod the ball only inches above the crossbar.
Inverness doubled their advantage two minutes after the break when Gabriel Hastings' cross was cleared by the Forres defence but fell to Mackay who volleyed into the net from 10 yards.
Forres almost pulled one back when Alan Pollock’s cross from the left wing met Soane whose diving header towards the bottom right corner of the net was well saved by Hoban.
But ICT went on to score twice in the space of eight minutes, going 3-0 up when Roddy MacGregor's cross from midway found George Oakley who laid the ball off for Mackay in the six yard box who fired home.
Jack Brown made it 4-0 in the 70th minute when he recieved the ball 30 yards from goal and charged into the box before firing past Knight.
Inverness will face either Brora Rangers or Ross County in the final next month.
ICT: Hoban, Hastings, Harper, Trafford (Gunn 64), Fyffe, McCart, Mackay, Brown (Hyde 84), Oakley (Kennedy 75), MacGregor, Calder.
Subs (Unused) Mackinnon, Nicolson, Harkness, Hyde.
Forres: Knight, Macpherson, Fraser, Groat (Allan 64), Moore, Milne, Pollock (Macphee 64), Marae, Duncanson (Taylor 70), Howarth, Soane.
Subs (Unused) Brown, McGillivray, Paterson.
Referee: Billy Baxter.
