Life after Billy

It's derby day on Saturday and Inverness have been dealt a couple of hammer blows in the last week with the news that Graeme Shinnie is off to Aberdeen at the end of the season. It get's even worse with Billy, small K Mckay signing a two and a half year deal at English Championship club Wigan Athletic.

Whilst Shinnie is still around for the foreseeable future, Mckay has been bought for around £150k plus and will be a big miss for the Inverness club as we look to build on five straight wins, a run that started at New year with a 3-1 win in Dingwall. Our opponents are trying desperately to gather enough points to steer clear of relegation, but it's eleven games since County last tasted victory.

It's not only transfers that have upset the apple cart. Dean Brill was stretchered off at the end of the Hamilton game. The early prognosis was that he had damaged his knee on landing and at the time it looked as though he might have to sit out a few games. The good news is that Ryan Esson will be an able deputy should he be required to play against County.

Inverness hold the upper hand this year over our neighbours. The first game at our stadium ended in stalemate, a 1-1 draw. It was the proverbial game of two halves, and two keepers really. Dean Brill pulled off a handful of excellent saves in the first half but was helpless to stop Yoann Arquin opening the scoring. County could have been out of sight by the break, but the second half belonged to Inverness. Marley Watkins levelled early in the half but Mark Brown was in tremendous form to deny Inverness thereafter with a string of superb saves. Neither of these keepers look like making the game with Tony Reguero the favoured option at the moment for County and Brill nursing a sore knee. The second meeting saw County take a pounding from the eager Inverness forwards and a deserved 3-1 victory for the visitors in Dingwall flattered County somewhat. Aaron Doran does like a goal against the County and he scored twice before Jackson Irvine powered home a header. However outgoing striker Billy Mckay scored a sublime third for Inverness to settle the game with seventeen minutes left and that ended County's hopes of a comeback.

The transfer window has been kinder to County though and this will be a whole new ball game. Defender Cameron Burgess has signed from Fulham, along with Marcus Fraser, a 20 year old from Celtic. So that's two young central defenders to help shore up the Staggies suspect defence. The have also acquired Darvydas Sernas, a Lituanian international midfielder with 35 caps. He is an experienced player having plied his trade across Europe and Australia. Striker Craig Curran has signed until the end of the season from Nuneaton Town looking to add some much needed fire power. Another plus for County is that the lackadaisical Arquin has been sent packing. He lasted only 33 minutes of the New Year derby before being hooked by a less than impressed Jim McIntyre. His first role as a St Mirren player was to get sent off against County in the relegation six pointer, but that was not enough to help County out as the ten man Buddies scored a late winner to pile on the misery in Dingwall.

Latest Team News for Inverness is a tad worrying. Dean Brill and Marley Watkins could be out and the possibility of Inverness carrying on without Billy Mckay is a matter of concern. The positives are that Ryan Christie may well get the opportunity to shine in an advanced position and Aaron Doran will be looking to start, along with the new improved version of Nick Ross.

The Staggies will be boosted by the new additions to their squad as they look to scramble their way off the foot of the table. Jackson Irvine and Terry Dunfield return after missing the defeat by Celtic.

It has been a hectic week for Inverness and Yogi has made a feature length film to update us on some of the goings on at the Caledonian Stadium

tm4tj prediction:- More difficult than normal to get this one right with County having additional staff and us in the process of losing two influential players. That could have a detrimental effect on our performance, but when Mckay had a lean spell, others were chipping in and we need that to happen again. Great to see Nick Ross adding a goal to his recent promising displays and Marley Watkins is another that knows what it feels like to score in this derby. Aaron Doran seems to keep his best for these games and will be an important player, let's hope he can manage another this Saturday. Another loss could see them slip further behind St Mirren and that will give them the incentive to be in our face this Saturday. Maybe the new arrivals will upset any rhythm County have and that is only good for us, and with that in mind, I'll go for a home win, might be tight though.

Take a look at how it all worked out in the two games earlier this season............