Glasgow Times:

Given the manner in which St Johnstone’s live starts, a combination of suspensions and injuries was designed to increase the pressure on the Cali side, missing five players, most notably Danny Devine and Shane Sutherland.

With the match only 40 seconds away, Rooney gave a warning that he was able to take advantage of any pockets of space when he broke to the right and attempted a dip cross that caused rapid breathing among locals. It was close enough to the target. ,

Mark Ridgers was then called in to put up a fine defense from Middleton before Murray Davidson made a fine effort.

Kelly appeared unable to defuse the pressure, although this seemed to be a case of St Johnstone’s superior skill, rather than a willingness to invite the opposition to play deeper.

When Ridges was forced to take a shot from Rooney, the play showed no sign of changing direction. So it was no surprise when St Johnstone scored after 18 minutes of one-way traffic.

Glasgow Times:

When Lewis Hyde attempted to tackle James Brown, Hallberg enjoyed a stroke of luck, allowing him to deliver a cross to the back post for Rooney to score with a header from about 10 yards. Got it.

Now Cali players were in dire need of preparing themselves and coming up with a new game plan in an effort to keep their hopes alive.

It became a hopeless hope when St Johnstone extended the lead within six minutes of taking the lead.

Ridges managed to get past Callum Hendry’s shot, but his fellow defender could not stop the ball from reaching Hallberg in a goal-of-mouth scuffle and the midfielder ended up finding the net from a handful of yards.

It was becoming increasingly clear that the Championship side was playing for pride as the extent of the damage and any realistic hope of turning the situation around had vanished.

Inverness coach Billy Dodds looked perplexed as he headed to the dressing room at half-time, which was hardly surprising given the circumstances, given how clearly his team had been outnumbered.

Dodds attempted to effect change upon the resumption of the game by replacing Aaron Doran and Joe Hardy with Logan Chalmers and Austin Samuels. But the newcomers did not have much effect on the flow of the game.

This was largely a case of Groundhog Day, although St Johnstone’s players allowed their opponents to pass the ball a bit more, resulting in Jamie McCartt going past the dangerous Billy McKay cross.

It seemed that the Cali players had given new hope and with McKay in the lead, they started asking questions of defense and suddenly St Johnstone looked much less confident and controlled.

Callie dug deep and unearthed a remarkable comeback in the span of seven minutes.

McAlear twice stunned the opposition, who must have felt he had more or less done the job when he scored two goals with 17 minutes remaining and a home advantage for the second leg.

His first result came from a cross from Samuels from the left after McKay flicked the ball toward Samuels, who swung a pass to the edge of the box to complete a finish in the roof of the net for McIlroy.

Suddenly it was play again and when McKay won a free kick as a result of being fouled by Davidson, McIlroy stepped up to hit a full stunner in the postage stamp corner of the net and gave his club the hope they had promised. can reach the land. of premiership.

Dodds said: “Never knew we were beaten up is something I knew we had – that was a given.

“We didn’t have to prove it but we did it again. It’s an incredible thing to be in football.

“Sometimes you have to put your hand up. We tried something different by matching St. Johnstone’s, which is man for man.

“They pushed us, they’re used to their system. I didn’t think we did the right thing within it. We didn’t pass the ball well, we forced it, so I had to do something.

“Sometimes the manager has to get it on the chin. I put my hands up because 3-5-2 doesn’t work. I turned it around and put on some momentum. When they came on the sub great and a There were dangers.

“I knew the next goal was so important when it was 2-0. If we take it out, we can scare them and that’s what we did.

“I don’t like to mention individuals but Scott Allardyce was nothing short of remarkable when it came to someone who didn’t play for that long. He showed restraint.

“I told Rees before the game that he hadn’t scored in a while. He’s a top lad. He bowled the ball a few times but my word is he’s special when it comes to hitting the ball. He proved it time.” Done and again this season. It’s nothing short of ridiculous when you put it all together.

“I still wanted to be in a tie at McDiarmid. I thought we were out of the tie at half-time. I thought we didn’t believe and then we got the target and all of a sudden it changed and confidence is flowing in the team.” I thought we could match if not better than him.

“St. Johnstone were great in the first half with their movement, they were Premiership class. When to turn it 2-0 against a Premiership team, I’ve told you throughout the season how strong my team is mentally.”