Football: BOSS GHS LEFT RED WITH RAGE BY ROOKIE REFEREE AND A COWIE GOAL; Inverness C.T. 1 St Mirren 0.

IF this is what the younger breed of referees are all about, they've succeeded already in putting years on Gus MacPherson.

The St Mirren manager is no stranger to run-ins with officials - and rooke ref Crawford Allan got it in the neck from MacPherson in the wake of 10-man Saints' defeat in the Highlands.

Allan brought further notoriety to his fledgling career by booking goal-scorer Don Cowie before realising it was David Proctor who was the real offender as Inverness held on towards the end of Saturday's match, which was played out in awful conditions.

What irked MacPherson most of all was Inverness defender Proctor getting off without so much as a warning for a first-half lunge on Billy

Mehmet before their own Will Haining walked for two yellow-cards later in the match.

The only thing MacPherson didn't do was hammer on the referee's door demanding an explanation for his decisions. He said later: "I know the younger referees need experience but it's just annoying the way the teams near the bottom usually have to put up with it. I actually like the referee. He's one you can talk to." Cowie's fourth goal of the season, the culmination of a swift sequence of passes involving Dennis Wyness, Barry Wilson and Roy McBain, was enough to see the home team avoid a third straight defeat.

But from the sixth minute onwards when the decisive strike bulged Chris Smith's net it was more or less a constant stream of St Mirren surges which followed in the hope of carving out an equaliser. Oh, and a bit of extra shooting practice this morning wouldn't go amiss for Stewart Kean and Gary Mason, who both missed gilt-edged scoring chances right in front of Michael Fraser's goal.

When you're hovering around the relegation zone you can't afford to squander any openings but that was about the only thing wrong with their overall display. While some have labelled them at times negative, St Mirren were easy on the eye the way they sprayed the ball about with some accuracy.

It wasn't to be, though, and when Haining was sent for an early bath in 76 minutes for a second yellow card for scything down Romanian striker Marius Niculae, it made their task almost impossible.

51% POSSESSION 49%

5 SHOTS ON TARGET 1

5 SHOTS OFF TARGET 4

0 OFFSIDES 2

3 CORNERS 6

12 FOULS 9

1 YELLOW CARDS 2

0 RED CARDS 1

ATTENDANCE: 3,699

MAN OF THE MATCH: D uncan

CAPTION(S):

SAINTS' Will Haining sees red