tm4tj

Anybody else want to contribute a paragraph for the CTO preview...

Saves me having to spout the same sh1te every week.

Where's yer paragraph for the preview...

Goal by @CameronHarper01 to win today's game. @ICTFC away at Hampden vs @queensparkfc #ictfc pic.twitter.com/kKBn5Ip2SS

— Ken Selkirk (@KenSelkirk1) April 13, 2024

Take plenty of fluids...

Here's how the table looks after Dundee United thrashed Morton 4-1 at Cappielow last night.

We're off to Hampden~den~en~n

It's a trip to a less than full Hampden Park for us in the next stage of the relegation battle after we dodged a bullet last week against Arbroath. Goal difference wise we are the best placed of the bottom four clubs. Our defence is also better than the other bottom four, in fact we are second equal defensively in the Championship, however what has let us down is scoring goals and in that department we are second worst in the league, only two goals better off than relegation certainties Arbroath. We did put four goals past Queens Park last time we were there. Unfortunately that was followed by three defeats and two draws in our next five games and we lost at Inverness when the Queens visited back at the beginning of February. The only certainty here is that the Hampden Park crowd record of 149,415 from 1937 won't be broken.

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Match/Ticket/Travel Info

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Only the last eight games since Queens Park came up into the Championship and QP are streets ahead of us since then. The 3 - 0 win was a League Cup encounter 14 years ago courtesy of these guys with goals from Lee Cox (20), Eric Odhiambo (55), Ross Tokely (58) Ryan Esson; Ross Tokely, Grant Munro, Stuart Golabek, Kevin McCann, Russell Duncan, Lee Cox, Nick Ross, Gil Blumenshtein, Adam Rooney, Dani Sanchez. Subs: Jonny Tuffey; Chris Innes, Roy McBain, Eric Odhiambo, Shane Sutherland

Full report on that one came from hislopsoffsideagain (click on the 3-0 scoreline above)

0 - 1 (H)

4 - 1 (A)

1 - 2 (H)

1 - 2 (A)

0 - 2 (H)

0 - 0 (H)

1 - 2 (A)

1 - 1 (H)

3 - 0 (H)

1 - 2 (H)

Hampden Success:  4 - 1  Danny Devine had recovered from the knock that saw him limp off against Raith Rovers on the hour last week. Sean Welsh and Luis Longstaff were on the bench. Grant Savoury, Charlie Fox and Craig Napier missed out for the Spiders. Jack Turner put Queens Park ahead early in the first half before Max Anderson levelled the match ten minutes later. Jack Thomson hit the bar, Mckay deemed offside when putting a loose ball into the net after Wotherspoon's header was saved and that prompted some words of comfort for the referee for which Big Dunc eventually ended up in the stands at the break. After the interval Inverness eased themselves up into sixth place in the league with goals from Nikola Ujdur, his first for the club, David Wotherspoon and a Billy Mckay penalty. (For Full report click on 4-1 scoreline above)

Last Time Out

Inverness made hard work of taking the points from all but relegated Arbroath. We dominated the first half and but for some brilliant saves from Max Boruc we could have gone in three or four goals to the good at the break. As it was Wallace Duffy scored on half time and that should have given us something to build on against a poor Arbroath who were simply going through the motions. As per usual, we failed to take full advantage of the numerous opportunities and paid the price when Leighton McIntosh hammered home a wind assisted shot from the edge of the box. We huffed and puffed somewhat thereafter before the energetic MotM Alex Samuel turned and thrashed in the winner from fifteen yards for a belter of a goal. It was a crucial strike that has all but relegated Arbroath and it keeps our hopes alive of avoiding the play-offs. Last Five: D L D L W 

Queens Park had a day to forget last weekend at Hampden as Champions in waiting Dundee United put five past them. It didn't look likely after the first half when they trailed by a single goal from Fotheringham on the stroke of half-time. However four goals in a fifteen minute spell from Moult, Graham, Fotheringham again, and Sibbald put Queen's back in trouble and United on track for the Premiership. Last Five: D D W L L 

•  FRIDAY 12TH APRIL
•        Morton v Dundee Utd
•       SATURDAY 13TH APRIL
• Airdrieonians v Dunfermline 
•   Ayr Utd v Arbroath
• Queens Park v Inverness CT
•   Raith Rovers v Partick Thistle

Latest Team News

Duncan Ferguson has much the same squad to select from as last week. Luis Longstaff came off the bench on Saturday after being out for a couple of months with a knee injury and will be back in the squad again for Saturday. Carragher, although he did play, and Ujdur had a bit of a bug last weekend.  However Carragher is now a doubt after feeling his hamstring. Other than that not much has changed apart from Remi Savage, who has not recovered after he got a boot in the face from Cammy Kerr. Apparently Kerr's boot is OK but Savage is suffering from minor concussion and will miss the next couple of games. Maybe that was Kerr ensuring he gets a game this weekend. 

Here's our underfire Gaffer>>>

Callum Davidson will be smarting after the drubbing they took last week. That's seven goals in their last two games with none scored. Word of warning though, they still have Ruari Paton who has sixteen goals this season. They also have our often broken ex-captain Sean Welsh and Cillian Sheridan who surprisingly has bagged a couple of goals since leaving us. He looked like an unfit Sunday League pub player when at the Caledonian Stadium. Dom Thomas, who scored the winner last time Queens came North, has scored eight, but he was missing last week. He does enjoy a goal against us. Could Davidson be keeping him under wraps for the six-pointer against us this weekend?

Use stronger together topic as both topics running side by side. Meeting over, stronger together is the topic going forward.

This topic is now closed

The goals from today's 2-1 win against Arbroath at the Caledonian Stadium pic.twitter.com/RBdqasJGZc

— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) April 6, 2024

Absolutely, I hope Kerr's foot is OK.

Bring a fiend for a Fiver.

I'll take Johndo 

It's Now or Never

That's what Elvis used to say. We are in deep trouble up to our necks with no signs that we can turn this around. Defeat to Arbroath could be the final nail in our coffin with only fifteen points available to us ahead of this game. The play-offs are looking more likely by the minute, but it's not beyond the realms of possibilty that automatic relegation is still an option should Arbroath beat us on Saturday. With the long suffering fans rapidly losing faith in Big Dunc, it's crunch time as Arbroath head North to the venue they won at the last time they were here. Sadly they come to the Caledonian Stadium off the back of a 2-1 midweek defeat to Airdrie, and we could all but relegate them on Saturday with a win. However, that's nothing to gloat about as we could be next...

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Match/Ticket Info

Bring a friend for £5

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Big advantage to us at home over the years, but there's a different feel about our squad this season. Many feel it's the worst squad we have ever had. There's no hiding place now, it's time to stand up and be counted. We lost our last home game against Arbroath, and that gives many of us the fear given our struggles to score goals and turn things around. The 3-2 win at Gayfield was Ferguson's first game in charge. To be honest, it's been downhill shortly after the new manager bounce wore off. 

1 - 1 (A)

1 - 2 (H)

3 - 2 (A)

2 - 4 (A)

2 - 0 (H)

4 - 1 (A)

1 - 1 (H)

0 - 0 (A)

0 - 0 (A)

0 - 0 (H)

Should we need one, here's a reminder of our last home game against Arbroath: 1 - 2  Looking Down:  With both sides losing in midweek, this game took on more significance for Big Dunc's side and Jim McIntyre was also looking to get away from the bottom of the table after he replaced Dick Campbell. David Wotherspoon was fit enough to start and good to see Keith Bray return to the squad alongside Robbie Thompson. Arbroath came North with only four on the bench with Michael McKenna and Ricky Little still out injured and O'Brien suspended. As it turned out we are now looking down the table instead of up after back to back defeats to the two teams who were below us only four days ago as Arbroath won 2-1. That was new manager Jim McIntyre's first win and it moves Arbroath off the bottom of the table. one point behind Inverness. All the goals came in the first half from Jay Bird, Billy Mckay and two minutes later David Gold. Looks like a few will be going cheap in the January sales.

Last Time Out

After an encouraging point at Tannadice we were looking for more of the same at Firhill. Alas we went down to the only goal of the game from Robinson to leave us staring into the Abyss. We gave as good as we got at Firhill but that age olde problem of not scoring goals was evident once more. To add insult to injury Cammy Kerr was red-carded after an hour although we will be appealing this decision as his first booking for simulation seemed unwarranted, therefore his red card could be rescinded. Last Five: W D L D L 

Arbroath have lost twice over the last week. Defeat by Partick Thistle last weekend was quickly followed by a 2-1 loss at home to Airdrieonians on Tuesday night. Jay Bird hit a late consolation for the Smokies and Leighton McIntosh saw his penalty saved just before the interval. However two second half strikes from Fordyce and McGill were enough to give Airdrie all three points in a game they pretty much dominated, and that's five defeats on the bounce for Arbroath. Last Five: L L L L L 

      Saturday 6th April

• Airdrie v Morton
•  Dunfermline v Partick Thistle
• Inverness CT v Arbroath FC  
• Queen's Park v Dundee Utd  
• Raith Rovers v Ayr United   

Latest Team News

Cammy Kerr has had his first yellow card rescinded which in turn makes his second yellow (still stands) and the subsequent red card that followed null and void. The correct decision and Cammy will be available for selection this weekend. However, it does not get us back the points that we may have got as a result of his sending off. In saying that, we performed better with ten men. 

Big Dunc said: So, this weekend we need to treat it like an away game. With that in mind the team will leave the Caledonian Stadium at 09:00 on Saturday morning and go for a three hour run in a D&E bus, returning at 12:00 to prepare for the game where we will start with just ten men. Ferguson said in his press conference that "this could be key to our survival and we will give it a go, won't we. We were excellent, we're no in trouble yet but it's getting close, isn't it".   

Carragher and Ujdur have picked up a sickness bug and will need to be assessed. Other than that no major changes expected.

Here's what he actually said>>>

Looks like the Smokies time in the Championship is up even if they avoid defeat on Saturday. They have had some great results in their five season stint in the Championship and have proven to be difficult to beat at times, especially at home. However, all good things come to an end. Five defeats in a row since they beat Raith Rovers 3-2 on the 1st of March has them 9 points adrift at the foot of the table and heading into League 1. With a massive minus goal difference of -37 that's worth another point and I can't  see even the Caley Jags throwing that away over five games........ fingers crossed

It's not that I don't have any friends. It's just that nobody wants to come and watch this dross 

12 hours ago, ICTPaisley said:

Ridgers

Duffy Devine Harper

Carson Welsh McGregor

Doran McKay Samuels 

10 players that we had when Dodds was 45 minutes away from the Premier League. Ferguson had all of these players at his disposal when he joined and couldn’t do anything.

I don’t think we can now blame Dodds for this, he was sacked in September.

Of that 10 players, only Ridgers, Mckay and Harper have escaped injury since Dunc came in. His first game at Arbroath: Lineup:  Ridgers; Carson, Ujdur, Boyes, Harper, Longstaff (Davidson 75), Gilmour, Anderson, Doran (Samuels 55), Shaw, B Mckay (Delaney 64)

Lucky to have Doran for that one as he flits in and out of injury. He also lost Carson, Ujdur, Boyes, Longstaff, Gilmour, Davidson, Samuels, Shaw. That leaves just the three.

For what it's worth, I see where IHE is coming from, but the buck stops with the off-field management team and that transmits down to Ferguson and Bollan.

It's still possible for us to finish 11th in a ten man league...

Big week ahead for the Caley Jags...

Tuesday 2nd April

       Arbroath FC v Airdrieonians

Saturday 6th April

•      Airdrieonians v Greenock Morton
• Dunfermline v Partick Thistle
•    Inverness v Arbroath FC
• Queens Park v Dundee Utd  
• Raith Rovers v Ayr United