Dons looking to cement second place

The best of the rest battle it out at Pittodrie on Wednesday night as the race to finalise Euro places hots up before the top-six kicks in.

Inverness travel to Aberdeen eight points behind the Dons as both sides stutter their way towards the top-six games clear of fourth placed Dundee United. A home win would surely cement Aberdeens position in second place and defeat for Inverness would put the cat amongst the pigeons for the third Euro slot.

Neither side were able to steal a march at the weekend with Aberdeen being held by our bogey boys Partick Thistle and Dundee coming North to take a point off us in a dour affair. It was 0-0 at Pittodrie with Derek McInnes relieved that Partick had not taken all three points given the opportunities they had. Inverness had to settle for a point with Dundee and Graeme Shinnie earned that point showing great tenacity to drive home the ball. The draw was the right result however, after David Clarkson had opened the scoring barely two minutes earlier, but it was clear to see Dundee's game plan was to keep us out with less emphasis on using their own ability to create something. It worked and 1-1 was the result.

The sides have met twice already this season and Aberdeen have won both games. The first game in September saw Inverness level twice before Jonny Hayes scored what proved to be the winner in an even contest. The other scorers were Rooney and Logan for the Dons with Meekings and Watkins countering for Inverness. The return fixture in the Highlands was another tight tussle and Peter Pawlett scored the only goal. Despite being under the cosh for the rest of the game, Aberdeen held on for all three points. Inverness should have taken something from this game and had the better opportunities, but they paid the price for their inability to stick the ball in the net.

Inverness have struggled to create recently since the departure of Billy Mckay. Marley the stop gap striker although scoring initially, has not filled that void. It's not his fault, but he is not the natural finisher we would have liked. He is a better provider and it's possible that big Edward Ofere will get a start at Pittodrie as he looked more threatening when he came off the bench against the Dark Blues. Nick Ross and Aaron Doran also showed up well and could start again. That would be tough on the likes of Danny Williams who has been one of our more consistent performers in recent weeks.

Aberdeen are the new buyers in the Premier division snapping up players to bolster their squad when almost every other club are just breeding grounds. Adding Kenny Maclean and Andrew Driver to their squad will not do them any harm, and with the likes of Hayes, Rooney and soon to be Shinnie at Pittodrie then they are assembling a useful squad which looks like maintaining their high profile over the next couple of years.

The Scottish weather takes it's toll on the pitches at this time of the season and going from soft surfaces to hard and bobbly ones in the space of a few weeks is not conducive to fluent passing moves, something we were able to implement earlier in the season. It is however the same for everybody, but it's a great leveller and we are being caught up in the kick and rush style more suited to council parks and pub leagues.

John Hughes has a full squad to tinker with. Richie 'forever injured` Foran being the exception. I think he was born injured to be honest. It's possible that they are replacing him bit by bit and like the six million dollar man, maybe we can rebuild. We have the technology. Aye, if only he could run at 60mph...........

Derek McInnes has a long term ansentee as well in the shape of Russell Anderson. Coincidentally, both are the current captains of their respective clubs. But apart from that he too has no other doubts, not even a suspension to interfere with his team selection.

An audio interview with Yogi can be listened to on the official Inverness Caledonian Thistle facebook page right here

https://www.facebook.com/ICTFC?fref=ts

tm4tj prediction is predictable this week and I can see both sides stuttering to a no scoring draw at best. The last few weeks have brought out the worst of the season and points have gone abegging. There is plenty at stake, I hope someone tells the players because some of them look as though their season has ended already. Here's hoping we can end this winless sequence, but it looks like it could be another long night.