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Stale Mates These two sides looked as though they could play for the whole of March without scoring. In terms of opportunities, the hosts probably shaded it, but when we did miss the first defender, crosses invariably went behind the incoming strikers. On the one occasion we got on the end of the ball Billy Mckay's flicked header was cleared away from goal by Kanayo Megwa. Harper brought about the only save of note in the first half from either keeper when Josh Rae kept his shot out from a tight angle and the follow up from Duffy was blocked as he shot. Rae went off injured as he rushed out to save at the feet of Pepple as he sped into the box, the keeper coming off worst to be replaced by Hutton for the final twenty minutes. Danny Devine headed over a couple of times as he does regularly and we did exert a bit of pressure on the visitors box over the final fifteen minutes, but the clear cut opportunities were difficult to come by and there was always the danger of being caught on the break by the diminutive but lively McStravick and the awkward gangly Todorov. As it was, the game ended all square to retain the status quo at the bottom end of the table. It's very tight down there. FULL TIME: 0-0 Not the worst 0-0 draw ever, but scoring opportunities were at a premium. Neither keeper was overly troubled and this game had scoreless written all over it given the evidence of the first twenty minutes. Decent debut from Samson Lawal but our MotM by a country mile was Cammy Kerr who was involved in everything. Max Anderson put in a good shift as well but we need more directness from the wide areas with Harper turning back practically every time he was given the ball wide left. Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts 1. Dundee Utd 28 17 7 4 55 17 58 2. Raith Rovers 27 16 6 5 48 36 54 3. Partick Thistle 27 10 10 7 53 47 40 4. Morton 27 10 7 10 34 31 37 5. Airdrieonians 27 10 6 11 28 30 36 6. Queens Park 28 8 8 12 41 47 32 7. Dunfermline 28 8 8 12 30 38 32 8. Ayr United 27 9 5 13 38 50 32 9. Inverness CT 28 7 10 11 32 32 31 10. Arbroath 27 6 5 16 28 59 23 Date: 09/03/2024 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 2035 Referee: Calum Scott Inverness CT: 0 Manager: Duncan Ferguson Lineup: Ridgers; Carragher, Devine, Savage, Duffy, Kerr, Lawal, Anderson, Harper, Alex Samuel, B Mckay (Pepple 68) Subs (not used): C Mackay; Ujdur, Boyes, Austin Samuels, Brooks, Doran Scorers: none Booked: Kerr (90) Sent Off: none Airdrieonians: 0 Manager: Rhys McCabe Lineup: Rae (Hutton 73), Megwa, Watson, Fordyce, Hancock, McCabe, Telfer, Frizzell (Lyall 73), McStravick, McGill (Gallagher 32), Todorov Subs (not used): Donnell, Dunlop, G Gallagher, McMaster, O'Connor, Taylor-Sinclair Scorers: none Booked: Todorov (29) McCabe (86) McStravick (86) Telfer (90+4) Sent Off: none a

Diamondonians Promoted Airdrie are sitting in fifth place in the table, just below the play-off places with former Caley Jag Nikolay Todorov getting amongst the goals and he will provide a big test for our central defence. We have found Airdrie a difficult proposition at times this season but we did win the last home encounter against them. Our off-field problems are out in the open now after a meeting with fans on Wednesday evening. See the responses below from the CTO forum page 16 onwards. Suffice to say it is worth a lot of money and it does have a massive part to play in the future of our club. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket Info Battery Farm - CTO Topic Chairmans Response after meeting ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 9 5 0 4 14 12 +2 Away 8 2 2 4 9 17 -8 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 17 7 2 8 23 29 -6 Only this season's games are relevant as prior to the 2-3 defeat in the League Cup group stages, our previous game against Airdrie was in 2002 when a Martin Bavidge strike was the only goal of the game. Not only that, it keeps our record thrashing of 0 - 6 out of sight as though it never happened. (just for the record, Owen Coyle scored a hat-trick, Neil McFarlane planted a header behind Nicky Walker, Lee Gardiner drove in from the edge of the box and Paul Armstrong ended the rout five minutes before the end. Gubbed!) This season's Competitive Meetings 0 - 2 (A) 1 - 0 (H) 1 - 2 (A) 2 - 3 (H) Not much success for us this season against the Diamonds although we did win the last home game against them thanks to a superb finish from the long gone Spoony: FULL TIME: 1 - 0. The fabulous execution of his goal was a great introduction for David Wotherspoon but for me the Man of the Match and new version of Bobby Mann was Nikola Ujdur. The Aussie defender is solid, strolled through the game unflustered and can pick a pass. Good graft in midfield but Sheridan and Big Harry need some work done. Shaw picked up a booking at the end when Big Dunc sent him back onto the pitch to get treatment. Last Time Out Inverness extended their unbeaten run to four games (3xD & 1xW) with an excellent result at Cappielow that ended Morton's 14 game Championship undefeated run. Clinical strikes from Billy Mckay, his 110th goal for the club, and a first from Sean McAllister (video below) ensured we grabbed all three points in a crucial game at the bottom end of the table given Arbroath's unexpected win over Raith Rovers the night before. Last Five: L D D D W Airdrieonians played twice this week. A 1-1 draw last Saturday at home to Queens Park was followed in midweek by a stunning 2-0 win at East End Park. Mason Hancock scored the leveler against QP with two former Dunfermline players Nikolay Todorov and Gabby McGill (video below) sinking their old team. Manager Rhys McCabe said on BBC Sport: "We knew coming here it was about playing the percentages really well, doing the basics really well. We never really felt in danger towards the latter stages of the game." Last Five: L L W D W Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Only four games this weekend as Morton are on Scottish Cup duty 1. Dundee Utd 27 16 7 4 51 17 55 2. Raith Rovers 26 15 6 5 46 36 51 3. Partick Thistle 26 10 9 7 51 45 39 4. Morton 27 10 7 10 34 31 37 5. Airdrieonians 26 10 5 11 28 30 35 6. Dunfermline 27 8 8 11 30 36 32 7. Ayr United 27 9 5 13 38 50 32 8. Queens Park 27 8 7 12 39 45 31 9. Inverness CT 27 7 9 11 32 32 30 10. Arbroath 26 6 5 15 28 55 23 SATURDAY 9TH MARCH Dundee Utd v Arbroath fc Inverness CT v Airdrieonians Queen's Park v Partick Thistle Raith Rovers v Dunfermline Latest Team News Inverness beat the injury woes last weekend to take all three points at Morton. New loan signing Samson Lawal from Livingston remained on the bench. We have a number of long term casualties in Charlie Gilmour, Luis Longstaff, Chilokoa-Mullen, Harry Lodovica and Lewis Nicolson. Roddy MacGregor, Nathan Shaw and Morgan Boyes were shorter term injuries. Austin Samuels has yet to be unleashed after his return to the bench and the similarly named Alex Samuel has been through the wars but has continued to feature despite a broken hand and numerous stitches about his body. He's a warrior. A number of players have also been carrying injuries so we will have to wait and see what Big Dunc is saying. Dunc's Update: Sean McAllister out for at least a couple of weeks (thigh). Boyes and Ujdur might make the bench. Dunc's loon (Cameron) might be a signing option. And surprise surprise, even our trialists are picking up knocks aren't they! Airdrie had a good week picking up four points. Calum Gallagher and Nikolay Todorov are their top scorers this season so far with seven goals each. Despite that, they are the lowest scoring side in the Championship with only 28 goals, four less than Inverness. Defences are similar with Airdrie two goals better off although they have played one game less than us. Airdrie team v Pars: Rae Megwa Watson Fordyce Hancock McCabe Telfer Frizzell McStravick (McMaster 72) McGill (Donnell 66) Todorov (Gallagher 72) Subs Not Used: Hutton; Lyall, Dunlop, O'Connor, Taylor-Sinclair

The Chairman of the club Ross Morrison and the Board of Directors would like to invite Caley Thistle fans, shareholders and sponsors to an open meeting regarding the club’s Battery Farm application on this coming Wednesday 6th March 2024 at 7pm in the Highlander Lounge at the Caledonian Stadium. This Open Meeting will be a great opportunity for all fans to voice their concerns and hear straight from the horses mouth what is happening and why??? Be there to keep up to date with the process and why it means so much for our club. Plenty of discussion on CTO regarding this. You can read through the topic HERE LINK to ICTFC STATEMENT The meeting will be lead by Ross with the club’s full board and CEO also in attendance. The meeting will consist of a full presentation from the Chairman giving the latest on the club’s Battery Farm application with an open question and answer session following the presentation for those in attendance.

Billy Answers His Critics On the injury front we go from bad to worse. This time our midfield engine room has been disrupted with Charlie Gilmour out for the season and Nathan Shaw out with a hamstring injury to add to those already on the treatment table. Samson Lawal, on loan from Livi, comes into the squad. Both sides had sparse benches. Morton had doubts ahead of this clash over main striker George Oakley, midfielder Iain Wilson and keeper Ryan Mullen. As it happened, all three missed out as did. Jai Quitongo. With Robbie Muirhead on the park, they would still pose a formidable threat up front and long throw expert Lewis Strapp will provide plenty of ammunition for him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What a start for Inverness and Billy Mckay, who answered his abusers from last week by opening the scoring in the second minute, firing into the top corner after an assist from Cammy Harper. Robbie Muirhead looked to respond but Mark Ridgers was equal to his effort in the fifth minute. Ten minutes before the interval Sean McAllister curled in a low free kick from the edge of the box to double our advantage and open his scoring account at Inverness. Plenty of bookings but no further scoring saw Inverness pick up a vital three points in the relegation battle although we still remain in ninth spot but only two points from Dunfermline in fifth. FULL TIME: 0-2 What a crucial result that is after Arbroath won last night. Only two points separate 5th and 9th. Two excellent goals from Inverness in the first half paved the way for victory to end Morton's tremendous unbeaten run of fourteen Championship games. The hosts had a flurry of activity around our box towards the end of the game with Robbie Muirhead heading just wide and from a corner the ball was headed off a congested line aswel. They also had a goal disallowed in the 90th minute after a scramble in our box. However, Inverness held out for their second consecutive clean sheet to make it four games without defeat to remain seven points above Arbroath. We won didn't we>>> Here's wee Dougie>>> Date: 02/03/2024 Venue: Cappielow Park, Greenock Attendance: 1933 Referee: Graham Grainger Morton: 0 Manager: Dougie Imrie Lineup: MacDonald; French, Baird, O'Connor, Strapp, Crawford, McGrattan (Broadfoot 54), Power (Gillespie 86), Blues, Garrity (Bearne 76), Muirhead Subs (not used): Murdoch; Waters Scorers: none Booked: French (45+1) Power (60), O'Connor (76), Muirhead (88) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 2 Manager: Duncan Ferguson Lineup: Ridgers; Duffy, Carragher, Devine, Savage, McAllister (Brooks 84), Kerr, Anderson, Harper, Alex Samuel (Doran 79), B Mckay (Pepple 69) Subs (not used): C Mackay; Austin Samuels, Lawal Scorers: B Mckay (2), McAllister (34) Booked: Carragher (45), Duffy (45+1), Kerr (48), Savage (88) Sent Off: none a

A visit to the form team Morton host Inverness on Saturday at 3:00pm. They are unbeaten over ninety minutes in their last 17 outings, including a 5-0 pumping of the Pars, a 3-2 win at Tannadice and they also knocked Motherwell out of the Scottish Cup. It wasn't that long ago Morton were below us in the table and now they are in contention for a play-off place at the top end of the table. Us, on the other hand, have slumped to ninth in the table with the distinct possibility of making a play-off place as well. Unfortunately, that's at the relegation end of the table. Arbroath beating Raith Rovers last night shows that anything is possible. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Bus Info Samson Lawal ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue H2H v Morton Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 22 12 6 4 48 20 +28 Away 20 11 3 6 38 26 +12 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 42 23 9 10 86 46 +40 We hold a fair advantage over Morton but most of that will be historical. More recently the pendulum has swung towards the Greenock club although we did take a point from the last encounter with them played at the Caledonian Stadium 0 - 0 Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Morton 0 - 0 (H) 1 - 2 (A) 2 - 1 (A) 2 - 2 (H) 0 - 4 (A) 0 - 1 (H) 1 - 0 (A) 0 - 1 (H) 6 - 1 (A) 1 - 1 (A) Our last meeting at Cappielow ended in a 1 - 2 victory for the hosts. Sloppy Stuff in Greenock: Wallace Duffy missed out with a calf injury with Jake Davidson getting a rare start and the paternal David Carson was still on maternity leave. Good to see Roddy Macgregor was on the bench following another lengthy layoff through injury alongside Sean Welsh and Nathan Shaw. Morton had three players that were on our books recently. Defender Kirk Broadfoot, wide player Stephen Boyd and striker George Oakley. And it was that man Oakley that gave Morton the lead after errors in defence. Jack Baird smashed in a second ten minutes from time. Adam Brooks added a late consolation, but it was too little too late in Greenock as the revolution ground to a halt. Last Week Inverness have failed to beat two of their relegation candidates over the last week. A 1-1 draw at Arbroath, thanks to a late Cammy Harper strike, was followed by a goalless draw at home to Dunfermline in a rather turgid encounter as injuries curtailed the quality of both sides. Last Five: W L D D D Morton have no such issues after 17 unbeaten games. This week saw them gain four points with a win against Airdrie and a draw at Stark's Park against promotion chasing Raith Rovers, where Morton were unlucky not to come away with all three points having created the better chances. Last Five: L L D W .D It's not difficult to spot that none of the Inverness players feature in the top scorers list. However Robbie Muirhead and George Oakley of Morton are included. Ferguson has massive injury problems ahead of this game. The latest disaster has Charlie Gilmour out for the rest of the season. Just what we need with only ten games left to save our season. Nathan Shaw will miss a couple of weeks with a hamstring injury. Max Anderson should return after suspension. Portugese and Czech players on trial this week, we'll see how that goes. In the meantime, the Caley Jags are delighted to announce the signing of midfielder Samson Lawal on loan from Livingston until the end of the season. Lawal, 19 years-old, joined Livingston on a 3-year deal in August 2023 from Nigerian side Katsina United. We've got injuries, haven't we>>> Unbeaten in 17 games, Morton are on a high just now and are looking to get into second place soon. Morton team at Raith Rovers in midweek MacDonald French Baird O'Connor Strapp Power Blues Crawford Wilson (Gillespie 38) Quitongo (Garrity 82) Muirhead Subs Not Used: Murdoch; Bearne, McGrattan, Broadfoot, Waters