Alan Cochrane @ Caley Stadium

It took Killie less than 30 seconds to fire up their small travelling support when James Fowler fastened onto a ball on the right, cut inside, and fired off a left foot shot which was heading for the top corner before Michael Fraser tipped it over for a corner.

Next up it was Danny Invincibile who wriggled free, and his left foot shot was only just blocked away by Fraser, but in 9 minutes Killie were stunned when Dougie Imrie rattled a 20 yard free kick through a Killie wall to beat Alan Combe, and give Inverness the lead. Unfortunately, although we didn't yet know it, we had already seen the best of Killie for the day

Both teams were playing studied football, but it was too studied and lacked a cutting edge. Wales had a glancing header go the wrong side of Fraser's left hand post, and Niculae had a shot wide and a header over, but the crowd were getting little to be excited about. The first half was really a story of passes going astray, not enough guile, and all in all, a game with a real end of season feel to it. And the second half was going to be worse.

Ross Tokely started the second half exactly the way Fowler started the first, blasting in a shot from outside the box which beat Combe, but also beat the far post. Inverness's next chance came when a Dennis Wyness shot took a huge deflection off a defender's foot, and a rapidly back-pedalling Alan Combe did well to tip the ball over. Barry Wilson had a go from a 25 yard free kick, and Alan Combe was relieved to see it slide past his right hand post. The Caley second was only delayed however. Killie were pressing forward, but Caley stole the ball and quickly pushed down the right, Imrie cleverly crossed in front of the attackers and defenders charging in, and Lilley was the unlucky man to have it hit his foot and squirt past Combe and into the net. There was nothing lucky about Caley's third however. Ross Tokely found Niculae in acres of space on the right hand side of the penalty area, and the Romanian beat Alan Combe with an elegant curling left foot shot to the keeper's right, and into the postage stamp.

To say Jim Jefferies was not best pleased somewhat underestimates the manager's reaction. There were four or five changes from the team that beat Caley comprehensively at Rugby Park just a few weeks ago, but the lack of fight and heart shown here today simply wasn't good enough. This was an opportunity for him to learn a lot today, and for a lot of players whose contracts have clauses which require them to play a certain number of games to get that contract continued, well he certainly learned a lot. There weren't a lot of travelling supporters who had taken the long road north, but the ones who came were great, and they deserve better than they got today. If the players don't have the heart for it they should go somewhere else, and give someone else the problem. Those players should listen to Jim Jefferies words. When I asked if there would be a number of changes next week? "Definitely".

ICT: Fraser, Tokely, McBain, Wilson, Imrie, Munro, Cowie, Hastings, Niculae, Wyness, Proctor

Kilmarnock: Combe, Fowler, Hay, Lilley, Locke (Hamill), Wales (Dalglish), Invincibile, Fernandez, O'Leary, Clancy, Flannigan