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Smoked by the Smokies A visit to Arbroath in the SPFL Trust Trophy saw both sides make a few changes from their Championship personnel. It would appear that Arbroath were taking this more seriously than Inverness although Campbell made four changes to the starting line up this week with Adams replacing Gaston in goals and Jacobs, Hylton and Baldé starting in place of Slater, Dow and the injured Bird. Inverness made eight changes to their side in the spirit of the competition and rested Billy Mckay, Max Anderson and Danny Devine with Doran in for his experience along with youngsters Brooks, Bray and Thompson with Big Harry on the bench. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Little to talk about in the opening exchanges but Arbroath were looking the hungrier side and trying to create with the visitors lacking penetration. David Gold opened the scoring ten minutes before the break smashing the ball in from a Hylton cross. A second followed just before the break after Cammy Mackay produced a spectacular save to deny a Turan header, but from the corner Tam O'Brien tapped in at the second attempt after a scramble in the box. That prompted a rapid response from Inverness when Adam Brooks replied for the visitors two minutes later after goog possession and a cross from Longstaff. Before the whistle Wallace Duffy left the field to be replaced by Cammy Harper in stoppage time. Half Time: 2-1 Charlie Gilmour replaced Austin Samuels at the interval but it was the hosts that went straight onto the front foot. On the hour Doran hit the crossbar after he got on the end of a Longstaff cross to volley from six yards. Big Harry and Nathan Shaw were introduced with Bray and Doran making way with around half an hour remaining. Harry's game was short. He was sent off a couple of minutes after coming on for a reckless challenge on McKenna, lordy lordy Ross Stewart restored the two goal cushion with a vicious strike from just outside the box in the 70th minute. Aaron Steele knocked in the fourth in another melee in the box as we struggled to stop the rot. The smokies could have had a fifth when substitute Slater beat Mackay from eighteen yards but his shot bounced off the post and across the face of the goal. Lewis Hyde reduced the deficit in the final minutes with a header off a Harper free kick to end the scoring. An eventful but unsuccessful afternoon for the Caley Jags. Do I hear the word untennable being passed around? Full Time: 4-2 Regardless of the eight changes made, it was another poor day at the office... The stats don't lie no matter what team you put on the park. That's now seven defeats and one draw in our last eight big boy games (excluding the Inverness Cup Final). Where does Billy Dodds go from here? Most fans, if not all, are bringing out the untennable option. And along with Dodds, is it time for the whole board to resign. By the end of October, it should be clearer. We face Raith Rovers (a), Dundee United (h) and Arbroath (a) again. If we take nothing from these games, then there will be only one option. Date: 09/09/2023 Venue: Gayfield Park, Arbroath Attendance: 780 Referee: Steven McLean Arbroath: 4 Manager: Dick Campbell Lineup: Adams; Steel, O'Brien, Little, Stewart, Jacobs (Slater 72), Cande Balde (Dow 58), Hylton (Stowe 72), McKenna, Gold (Norey 79), Turan (McIntosh 72) Subs (not used): Gaston; Scorers: Gold (34), O'Brien (41), Stewart (70), Steele (84) Booked: O'Brien (75) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 2 Manager: Billy Dodds/Barry Wilson Lineup: C Mackay; Davidson, Duffy (Harper 45+4), Boyes, Delaney, Thompson (Hyde 74), Doran (Shaw 61), Bray (Lodovica 61), Longstaff, Brooks, Samuels (Gilmour 45) Subs (not used): Ridgers; Scorers: Brooks (43), Hyde (90+2) Booked: Boyes (83) Sent Off: Lodovica (63) a

Diamond geezers do it again Inverness were without Aaron Doran and Sean Welsh but Danny Devine returned to the defence and Keith Bray started. Hat-Trick Harry was on the bench with young Adam Brooks. Airdrie had new signing Gavin Gallagher on the bench alongside Nikolay Todorov but Colin Telfer missed out with player manager Rhys McCabe. Top scorer Calum Gallagher is the man to keep an eye on. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WTF! Inverness went behind in the first minute when Cammy Harper scored an own goal. So much for cutting out errors at the back. We chased the game thereafter without creating too much and Calum Gallagher doubled our deficit after half an hour to make our task even more onerous. Austin Samuels hit woodwork and another shambles of a half closed at 2-0 for the hosts with Frizzell booked on the whistle. Depressing stuff from the visitors with no cutting edge. Five minutes after the break Airdrie were reduced to ten men when Adam Frizzell received his second yellow card. Nathan Shaw scored to half the deficit with twenty minutes remaining. We threw everything at Airdrie but Rae was equal to all our efforts and we slumped to our sixth defeat in a row. What now Billy? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WTF! Inverness go behind inside the first minute when Cammy Harper tries to cut out a deflected cross from Lewis McGregor but knocks it into his own net under challenge instead. So much for cutting out errors at the back. Wallace Duffy responded in the third minute but his drive went high and wide and sinner Harper put a good cross into the box but Keeper Josh Rae did well to gather confidently. The hosts were looking for a penalty when Aiken went down in the box and Gallagher fired wide. Nothing given. Keith Bray got on the end of a Nathan Shaw cross but his effort was blocked as we looked to get back on level terms. Just after the half hour Bray was close to getting on the end of a David Carson through ball. Surprise surprise! Chasing the game from thirty-five seconds in, we lost a second goal when Calum Gallagher shot into the bottom corner from inside the box, Danny Devine culpable this time, although the pass from Jake Davidson caught him unawares. Is there no end to our error strewn defending? Austin Samuels hit woodwork, Taylor-Sinclair had blocked his effort onto the post as we struggled to get a foothold in this game with half-time approaching. A great run from Gallagher almost added a third and Samuels was booked as his frustration showed five minutes before the interval. Charlie Gilmour curled over after Rae's clearance fell to him and Shaw missed the target as we desperately searched for a way back. HALF TIME: 2-0 Luis Longstaff replaced Jake Davidson at the break and Billy Mckay was denied by Rae at his near post five minutes into the second period from Longstaff's cross. From the resultant corner Devine's header came off the post and was saved by the keeper then Moments later Frizzell was red carded for his second bookable offence, a late challenge on Bray, having been booked in time added on at the end of the first half. Mckay went close again but was blocked as Inverness looked to take advantage of their superior numbers. Airdrie re-jigged after the sending off with Todorov and O'Connor entering the field. McGregor brought Mark Ridgers into action and likewise at the other end with Shaw on target. Shaw did pull a goal back from close range after seventy minutes when Longstaff's shot came back off the post as we went for broke. Ridgers cut out a cross from Aiken as he broke forward with ten minutes left. Airdrie were living dangerously and Shaw went close again with five minutes left on the clock and he was denied by Rae a minute later. In time added on Sub Robbie Thompson was denied by Rae as he kept Airdrie ahead. Despite a big effort in the second half it ended with Airdrie taking all three points. FULL TIME: 2-1 Chasing the game after more defensive blunders, we squandered numerous opportunities to get back into it before Shaw scored. Alas, Rae was in good form and a combination of him and poor finishing means we are now bottom of the league on our own after six successive defeats, (three in the league), and the errors keep coming. All this against ten men for near 40 minutes. The long knives are well and truly drawn... Date: 26/08/2023 Venue: Excelsior Stadium, Airdrie Attendance: **** Referee: Dan McFarlane Airdrieonians: 2 Manager: Rhys McCabe Lineup: Rae; Ballantyne, Watson, Fordyce, Taylor-Sinclair, Frizzell, McMaster, Aiken, McGregor (Hancock 82), McGill (O'Connor 58), C Gallagher (Todorov 58) Subs (not used): Hutton; McCabe, Dunlop, Cassidy, G Gallagher Scorers: Harper (35sec og), C Gallagher (32) Booked: Frizzell (40+2, 50), McMaster (90+3) Sent Off: Frizzell (50) Inverness CT: 1 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers; Davidson (Longstaff 45), Duffy, Devine, Harper, Samuels (Brooks (59)), Carson (Delaney 72), Bray (Thompson 83), Gilmour, Shaw, B Mckay (Lodovica 72) Subs (not used): C Mackay; Hyde Scorers: Shaw (70) Booked: Gilmour (28), Samuels (40), B Mckay (66) Sent Off: none a

Tears of Pride Celtic were big favourites to lift the Cup and with it complete the Treble. Inverness have been here before and have put Celtic out of the Cup on three previous occasions. However, it's a big ask and the bookies agree with Celtic's favourites tag. Scotland's number one side against this seasons eighteenth best side. It was pretty much a clean bill of health for Billy Dodds after a month of relative inactivity for his squad with just long term casualties Shane Sutherland and Tom Walsh missing. Celtic were without Aaron Mooy and Cameron Carter-Vickers but such is their wealth of talent it would matter not a jot. At the end of the day Celtic would win the treble and lift the Scottish Cup. Inverness stuck to their game plan and battled hard, but it was one scalp too many. However there was only tears of pride at the end. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After the pre-match entertainment enjoyed by the fans the game kicked off in bright sunshine. Celtic got the game underway in 21° Celsius. Could anyone outdo Man City who had earlier scored in 12 seconds in the FA Cup Final. The answer was an emphatic NO. A tentative opening from both sides as Inverness tried to play their way into the game with Celtic trying to force the pace. Fifteen minutes gone and the pattern remains the same with Celtic forcing the pace but over eager with their final ball. O'Riley bounced a volley wide in the first half chance of the game with almost nineteen minutes gone. A defensive misplaced pass offered Celtic an opportunity but Jota ran out of space as the defence recovered to shut him down. Ten minutes before the break Ridgers made his first save as he dropped on a low strike from 15 yards. A minute later Celtic went in front when Kyogo smashed in from eight yards. He almost added a second five minutes before the break but he chipped wide of Ridgers right hand post as Celtic turned the screw. Half Time: 1-0 Inverness were looking to get forward more at the start of the second half but Celtic were still dominating possession although Nathan Shaw was a half yard away from getting on the end of a low ball into the Celtic box. However Celtic were starting to flow better and the danger signs were there for Inverness. In the 65th minute Celtic doubled their advantage. They rode a couple of rash challenges before Abada stroked the ball into the net. VAR took a look and after some deliberation the goal was given, by mm looking at VAR. It was tight, but 2-0 it was. Ridgers made amends for a botched clearance when he clutched a shot out of the top corner from O'Riley. Cue plenty of substitutions with the game seemingly safe. Inverness got a lifeline with five minutes to go and it was a replica goal from Dan Mackay from a Wallace Duffy cross (think semi-final v Falkirk). Absolutely tremendous bulleted header again from Dan. Ridgers saved with his legs as Celtic looked to finish the tie off through Haksabanovic. They did moments later when Jota scored from close range after good work by Abada. Game over, maybe Ange's last one in charge but Celtic march on and we head back to the Championship with our heads held high. Full Time: 3-1 Best for Inverness on a difficult day was Wallace Duffy. What an invitingly sumptuous cross for Dan Mackay to power in a diving header. Cammy Harper on the other flank was equally impressive against Celtic's wide players and in midfield David Carson and Sean Welsh battled hard to stem the possession that Celtic were always going to dominate. We struggled up front working off scraps but substitute Dan Mackay scored that brilliant late power header to give us hope, albeit only fleeting. In general our defence stood firm for large parts of the game, seemingly working to a plan. Much better than many Premiership teams fared this season. Nobody hid in this game but we were restricted to what we could do by a quality treble winning side. Blood, sweat and tears of pride. As the season draws to a close we will not see so many of these guys here next season, but it has been an abstract pleasure reporting on our once again rollercoaster of a season. See you all back refreshed for 23/24. Duplication Dan, what a cross, what a goal! Stunning! Here's Dodds What they said on BBC Sport Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou: "I'm very proud. It's been an extraordinary season by the boys. We caught people by surprise last year. It's always hard defending things. The challenge was, 'can we be better this year and we push on?' "We've won the trophy that eluded us last year, so it feels great, it's the last day of the season. It's an occasion and it was nice to finish it off that way." Inverness Caley Thistle manager Billy Dodds: "I was always going to have a go but we lost goals at bad times. I'm so proud of the boys. They gave me everything. "Talks are ongoing (on a new contract) and we hope to get things tied up, so we'll see what happens over the next few days. I love working with these players and you can see the team spirit we have." Date: 03/06/2023 Venue: Hampden Park Attendance: 47247 Referee: John Beaton Celtic: 3 Manager: Ange Postecoglou Lineup: Hart; Johnston, Iwata, Starfelt, Taylor, McGregor, Hatate (Haksabanovic 76), O'Riley (Turnbull 76), Jota (Forrest 90+2), Maeda (Abada 45), Kyoga (Oh 59) Subs (not used): Siegrist, Bernabei, Ralston, Welsh Scorers: Furuhashi (38), Abada (65), Jota (90+1) Booked: none Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 1 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers; Duffy, Devine (Delaney 75), Deas, Harper, Henderson (D Mackay 68), Carson, Welsh, Allardice (MacGregor 81), Shaw (Doran 81), B Mckay (Samuels 75) Subs (not used): C Mackay; Hyde, Woods, Boyd Scorers: D Mackay (84) Booked: Carson (43), Duffy (70) Sent Off: none a

Scottish Cup Warm-Up This hastily arranged kick-about ahead of the Scottish Cup Final on June 3rd was an effort to keep the season jaded legs turning before we head to Hampden Park on June 3rd to take on another Irish outfit, Glasgow Celtic. The Swifts were also needing a run out as they may yet have a relegation battle to play out, depending on the outcome of the Warrenpoint appeal. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ahead of the meeting, here's the tidy playing field @ Stangmore Park Inverness would start with a strong selection. Robbie Deas was on the bench along with Dan Mackay, Aaron Doran, Nathan Shaw and Roddy MacGregor. Zak Delaney will fill Robbie Deas left centre back position. Mark Ridgers started in goal and Wallace Duffy and David Carson were on at the same time with Austin Samuels also starting. It turned out to be a worthwhile exercise at Stangmore Park with all the players getting a run out after the interval. Inverness were quick out of the blocks and were two up after 16 minutes through Cammy Harper and Wallace Duffy. Ridgers saved from Ethan McGhee as Swifts looked to hit back and Billy Mckay had an effort blocked on the half hour. 2-0 at the interval and that was the cue to get some subs on. Steven Scott pulled one back ten minutes after the break but Austin Samuels restored our two goal lead two minutes later. Play was broken thereafter with all the players getting some game time and it ended 3-1 to the visitors. Full Time 1-3 A good workout for all involved in the build up to the Scottish Cup Final and great to see Roddy MacGregor getting some twenty minutes on the park. Austin Samuels got back on the scoresheet after his lengthy lay off with Harper and Duffy scoring in the first half.

Ayr never read the script The final game of the regular season would decide who went into the play-offs and who ended their league campaign now. It couldn't be tighter across the Championship on Winner Takes All Weekend. David Carson was a surprise omission from the starting XI after his Cup suspension with Wallace Duffy retaining his place at right back. Billy Mckay was hoping to be a record breaker as he searched for his 101st goal for the Caley Jags. Only a win would be good enough for Inverness who could finish third or sixth, depending on results elsewhere. A win would end speculation and put Inverness in the play-offs. As it turned out we ended the season in sixth place and Ayr, Queen's Park and Partick Thistle will battle it out in the play-offs for a Premiership place alongside Champions Dundee. Ayr United never read the script properly and deservedly took the plaudits in a 2-1 win at the Caledonian Stadium. A first half goal from Josh Mullin who looked close to being offside and Nathan Shaw in a crowded box with ten minutes left looked to be enough for the Honest Men. However Mark McKenzie ensured it would be Ayr's night with an 88th minute strike to shatter our hopes after such a strong finish to the season. Alas we fell at the last hurdle and now have a month to wait for a Scottish Cup Final appearance. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On a perfect evening for a game of football, Inverness failed to turn up for the first forty-five which Ayr totally dominated. Ayr had numerous efforts that went close from distance or Ridgers was able to fend away and they should have scored but for a timely if unintended block inside the six yard box. They did open the scoring though when Josh Mullin was given the benefit of a marginal decision to run through on Ridgers and tuck the ball away. No more than Ayr deserved to be honest as we were not at the races in the first half. With Carson and Samuels on in the second half, we were instantly more aggressive and had a number of efforts. Samuels had a half blocked shot cleared off the line by Musonda. He was also close to connecting with a low ball into the box. Carson did connect with one but volleyed it a couple of yards wide. Shaw slotted in after good pressure in a crowded box as we saw a glimmer of hope. Delaney headed over from ten yards following a corner as we pushed for a winner. Alas it came at the other end when O'Connor teed up Mark McKenzie to slot home from twelve yards as Ridgers moved to cover the other side of his goal line. Samuels had the ball in the net after Albinson pushed away a shot, but he was adjudged offside by a less than impressive standside linesman. Game over, too little too late and another season in the Championship incoming. Meh! FULL TIME 1-2 Inverness paid the price for a jaded looking first half as Ayr went about their business with intent. The benching of Carson was not the most popular decision Dodds has ever made and he should carry the can for that. We could not muster anything of note in a shocker of a first half and Ayr could have been three up at the interval. Nathan Shaw offered us some hope but it was too little too late and we suffered a late sucker punch as Ayr celebrated. Looks like our heavy schedule eventually took it's toll or did we really look like a team that wanted to go up a league? Much better second half with Carson and Samuels getting stuck in, but half of the team in that first half could have sat in the stands and watched. Maybe they did as Ayr were all over us like a rash in the first forty-five. Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts After the dust settled, Dundee go up & Cove go down and we slip to sixth. Meh! 1. Dundee 36 17 12 7 66 40 63 2. Ayr United 36 16 10 10 61 43 58 3. Queens Park 36 17 7 12 63 52 58 4. Partick Thistle 36 16 9 11 65 45 57 5. Morton 36 15 12 9 53 43 57 6. Inverness CT 36 15 10 11 52 47 55 7. Raith Rovers 36 11 10 15 46 49 43 8. Arbroath 36 6 16 14 29 47 34 9. Hamilton Ac. 36 7 10 19 31 63 31 10. Cove Rangers 36 7 10 19 38 75 31 RiG summed up pretty accurately: Ayr fully deserved that win last night. All over us from the get go and looked better all over the pitch for most of the game. We did get on top for a period in the second half but even then they still looked a threat on the break. Thought at the time the opener may have been offside but the videos above clearly show he was on. Bizarre from Dodds to watch us shell long balls forward to Mckay (but most of the time it was no one) and think this was okay. So many players fell flat at a time when we needed them. Worst was Allardice who had an absolute nuke of a performance. Taking on Woods instead of Doran was laughable. Just more bizarre Dodds moments that sum up our season. As I've said before results recently have been good but performances have been poor for a good number of weeks. We were able to shitfest our way past jobbers like Cove but when a decent team like Ayr comes along we're found wanting. The league next season could be the most difficult in a while and it's hard not to feel we've missed our best chances to get out of here now. Lee Bullen, Ayr United manager on BBC Sport: "I think both teams played a massive part in that game, [it was] an emotional rollercoaster. I do feel for [Inverness manager] Billy [Dodds], yes obviously we are absolutely delighted to get there. "But his team in that second half, I thought we controlled the first half, but his team in that second half deserve a lot credit." Date: 05/05/2023 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 3435 Referee: Don Robertson Inverness CT: 1 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers; Duffy (Carson 45), Devine (Delaney 73), Deas, Harper, Henderson, Welsh (Woods 79), Allardice (Hyde 73), Shaw, D Mackay (Samuels 45), B Mckay Subs (not used): C Mackay; MacGregor, Boyd, Doran Scorers: Shaw (81) Booked: Henderson (17) Sent Off: none Ayr United: 2 Manager: Lee Bullen Lineup: Albinson; Hewit, Musonda, McGinty, Reading (O'Connor 86), Mullin (McKenzie 76), Dempsey, Murdoch (Brydon 86), Ashford (McAlear 64), Maguire (Mitchell-Lawson 76), Akinyemi Subs (not used): McAdams; Smith, Jenkins Scorers: Mullin (35), McKenzie (88) Booked: Albinson (90+4) Sent Off: none a

Semi-Final Joy It was an early start for most Inverness fans on the Saturday morning as they headed to the National Stadium to get behind the Caley Jags. The first train out of Inverness saw some weary eyes on the 05:30 to Queen Street. Wiser ones went down the night before to savour the occasion. Falkirk fans? Well they were subject to a gruelling half hour journey before the scheduled kick-off time of 12:15pm. Alfredo's was a popular choice for pre-match aperitif's before heading in the direction of the National Stadium. Hampden Park was less than a quarter full as these two teams met once again in the Scottish Cup. The winner will go on to the final where either Rangers or Celtic will be the prize for getting there. Inverness were in their first choice home strip and the Bairns were in their dark blue on a brisk but dryish Saturday lunchtime. With a VAR assisted penalty, Billy Mckay opened the scoring early in the first half. Dan Mackay headed in the second from an inviting Jay Henderson Cross. Falkirk had their moments, Callumn Morrison hitting the post after some defensive indecision on the edge of the box. However, we did our own post hitting and Billy Mckay wrapped up the victory in the second half with a well taken finish, his 100th goal for the Caley Jags. That ensured our progress into the final. Nathan Shaw was unfortunate twice off the post and Falkirk were denied a consolation by some dogged defending. All in, comfortable in the end and Hampden calling once more. Key moments: 6th minute: Jay Henderson's cross from the right deflects off the hand of defender Leon McCann. VAR went into action and after a quick check Nick Walsh pointed to the spot. Billy Mckay stepped forward to send a clinical penalty high to the keepers left. 1-0 10th minute: A lofted ball over the head of Devine makes him chase back towards Ridgers. Burrell in hot pursuit forces Devine and Ridgers to hesitate and the keepers clumsy clearance falls to Callumn Morrison. He rolls the ball goalward from outside the angle of the box but it bounces away from goal off the base off the post before Duffy and Deas block and the finger wagging begins in the Inverness defence. 24th minute: Maksym Kucheryavyi heads into Mark Ridgers midrift from the centre of the box. 34th minute: Jay Henderson curls a sumptuous cross into the box and Daniel Mackay heads downwards emphatically into the bottom corner. Spectacular cross and finish. 2-0 57th minute: All over bar the shouting. A long diagonal ball to the far post from Dan Mackay picks out a supercool Billy Mckay who calmly guides the ball behind Kinnear for another superb goal. That's 100 now for Billy Mckay. 63rd minute: Nathan Shaw smacks the post with a deflected shot that has the keeper beaten. Unfortunately it bounces clear. 65th minute: Comedy defending as Inverness try to help Falkirk to a consolation goal. Robbie Deas was short with a pass back as he tried to knee the ball back to his keeper. Gary Oliver picked up the loose ball but his cut back was blocked. It came back to him on the byeline but his second effort was headed clear by Danny Devine who was already lying full length on the deck, his head on the byeline to knock the ball away. 68th minute: Nathan Shaw weaved his way into the box and opened up his body to curl a low shot goalwards. It beat the keeper but bounced off the same post before agonisingly rolling along the line and clear of goal. 77th minute: Last throw of the dice from the Bairns saw Ridgers make a comfortable save from Ola Lawal to keep a clean sheet and the wind was now well and truly out of the Bairns sails. 93rd minute: Nick Walsh closes the game with a few peeps of his whistle. Game over at 3-0, Final v Celtic to come on June 3rd after they beat Rangers 1-0 on the Sunday. Highlights can be seen on BBC Sport Falkirk manager John McGlynn: "You can't give Inverness a goal start. They are the type of team that lap that up. But you can't legislate for such a soft goal as well. I'm not the first to be in this situation [with VAR]. "We had opportunities. I'm proud of the way the players played. But we didn't have the quality Inverness did." Inverness CT striker Billy Mckay: "We're delighted, it couldn't have gone much better. Roll on June. I thought we were ruthless. It's a weird feeling because we could've been out. Now we're in the final. "I knew [the third goal] was my 100th [for the club]. I wanted to stay on for my hat-trick. All round it's a pleasing day." Whist we were at Hampden, some important Championship games were played out. So, it's all to play for in the final league games of the season next Friday night. Friday night: Dundee 0-0 Cove Saturday 3:00pm: Ayr Utd 1-0 Raith Morton 2-1 Queen's Partick 2-0 Arbroath Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Couldn't be tighter at both ends of the table 1. Dundee 35 16 12 7 61 37 60 2. Queens Park 35 17 7 11 60 47 58 3. Partick Thistle 35 16 8 11 63 43 56 4. Ayr United 35 15 10 10 59 42 55 5. Inverness CT 35 15 10 10 51 45 55 6. Morton 35 14 12 9 51 42 54 7. Raith Rovers 35 11 9 15 44 47 42 8. Arbroath 35 6 15 14 29 47 33 9. Cove Rangers 35 7 10 18 37 73 31 10. Hamilton Ac. 35 7 9 19 31 63 30 Friday night 7:45pm Arbroath v Accies Cove Ran v Morton Inverness CT v Ayr United Queen's v Dundee Rovers v Partick Date: 29/04/2023 Venue: Hampden Park Attendance: 12877 Referee: Nick Walsh Falkirk FC: 0 Manager: John McGlynn Lineup: Kinnear; Williamson (Yeats 67), Donaldson, Mckay, McCann, Henderson (Lawal 77), McGinn, Kucheryavyi, C Morrison (Wright 61), Burrell (Oliver 61), Kennedy (Nesbitt 61) Subs (not used): P Morrison; Rowe, Allan, McGuffie Scorers: none Booked: none Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 3 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers; Duffy (Delaney 79), Devine, Deas, Harper, Henderson (Boyd 84), Welsh, Allardice, Shaw (Hyde 85), D Mackay (Doran 73), B Mckay (Samuels 78) Subs (not used): C Mackay; Ram, MacGregor Scorers: Mckay (7 pen, 57), D Mackay (37) Booked: Deas (45+1) Sent Off: none a

As you Were Dundee came North looking to all but wrap up the title. Inverness were on a six game winning streak and looking to force their way into the play-offs with this late run. There was a blow for Inverness with influential captain Sean Welsh missing, although defender Wallace Duffy was the mystery returnee this week. Jay Henderson returned after suspension with Austin Samuels, Dan Mackay and Aaron Doran on the bench with Duffy. Dundee had their big guns out for this one with perennial pest Paul McMullan on the bench. Strike pairing of Jakubiak and Robinson would be a handful. A magnificently observed minutes applause for Tommy Cumming set the scene on a dry but breezy afternoon. As it panned out it ended all square. Dundee were quick out of the blocks and pestered Mark Ridgers early on without creating the clear cut chance to open the scoring. Level at the break, the Dark Blues continued in the same vein after the break and made the breakthrough on the hour when Lyall Cameron scored. However we have been resilient of late and substitute Austin Samuels earned us a point with fifteen minutes remaining as we came back at Dundee to quieten their raucous support who firmly believe Billy is a short rotund person born out of wedlock! Morton and Cove were the only winners today, so as you were at the top of the table as we hang on to third place. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dundee started briskly and forged an opportunity in the opening minute when Luke Hannant's cross was not dealt with convincingly and the ricocheted shot from Luke McGowan had to be caught at the second attempt by Mark Ridgers. Alex Jakubiak should have done better when Zach Robinson sent an inviting low cross into the box but Jakubiak almost fresh aired and the ball trundled well wide. Dundee were in the ascendency with Inverness mostly firefighting and reacting to the waves of attacks. Despite their dominance, Ridgers was rarely troubled. In a rare foray forward Robbie Deas tried to improvise a shot from eight yards out but Legzdins pounced to catch the ball and the defenders head at the same time. Just before the interval Robinson headed a couple of yards wide from a good position. HALF TIME 0-0 The second half started similar to the first, Dundee using pace and passing, Inverness using last ditch tackles and blocks to keep the eager visitors at bay. On the hour we lost possession twenty-five yards into the Dundee half. They transferred it swiftly forward through Robinson and Jakubiak. When the latter's shot was blocked the ball fell behind Lyall Cameron who had the presence of mind to step over it before backheeling into the net. Dodds made some game saving substitutions thereafter which paid off as all three were involved in the eqalising goal. It all began in our own penalty box from Ridgers. The main ingredients were Dan Mackay who turned well before driving thirty yards forward then delivering a dangerous ball into the box. Wallace Duffy who had already been involved two or three times in the move seemed to flick it towards the back post where Austin Samuels had arrived to tuck it behind Legzdins with his second touch. A superb team goal which was in stark contrast to the shelled balls Billy Mckay had been expected to deal with over the first hour. Ridgers made a save low down from a miscued clearance and Samuels turned and shot but it was straight at Legzdins and both sides had to settle for a point apiece. Temwork works>>> FULL TIME 1-1 From BBC Sport: Inverness CT manager Billy Dodds: "Dundee edged the first-half without glorious chances. They looked the hungrier, we looked a bit jaded. "We go a goal down and then there's another fightback and we finish quite strongly for a team that are quite tired. We finish with a flourish. My subs made an impact and that's what I want. " Dundee manager Gary Bowyer: "We dominated the first half, but we needed to be better with our final pass and the decision making. We didn't work the goalie enough. "The second-half the game became a bit scrappy but we scored a good goal. We had the domino effect of mistakes for their equaliser. It's something for us to keep working on and improving." Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Table after todays games 1. Dundee 34 16 11 7 61 37 59 2. Queens Park 34 17 7 10 59 45 58 3. Inverness CT 35 15 10 10 51 45 55 4. Partick Thistle 34 15 8 11 61 43 53 5. Ayr United 34 14 10 10 58 42 52 6. Morton 34 13 12 9 49 41 51 7. Raith Rovers 34 11 9 14 44 46 42 8. Arbroath 34 6 15 13 29 45 33 9. Hamilton Ac. 35 7 9 19 31 63 30 10. Cove Rangers 34 7 9 18 37 73 30 Date: 22/04/2023 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 3822 Referee: Euan Anderson Inverness CT: 1 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers; Carson, Devine (D Mackay 68), Deas, Delaney, Boyd (Samuels 62), Allardice, Harper, Henderson (Doran 76), Shaw, B Mckay (Duffy 62) Subs (not used): C Mackay, L Nicolson, Hyde, Woods, Scorers: Samuels (75) Booked: Delaney (56), Duffy (88) Sent Off: none Dundee FC: 1 Manager: Gary Bowyer Lineup: Legzdins; Mulligan, Sweeney, Ashcroft, Marshall (Clampin 81), McCowan (McMullan 68), Maguire, Cameron (Williamson 85), Hannant (Reedy 81), Jakubiak (Thomas 81), Robinson Subs (not used): Lawlor; Fisher, Byrne, Kerr Scorers: Cameron (60) Booked: none Sent Off: none a

He Scores When He Wants A long trip on a Tuesday night to face your bogey team is not ideal, especially when it gets to the business end of the season. That's what faced the Caley Jags as we looked to win our sixth game on the bounce against struggling Hamilton Accies who have already beaten us four times this season. Inverness could go third, but Accies would be hoping to put some distance between themselves and bottom side Cove Rangers. As it turned out it remained goalless at the interval with Deas seeing a header saved by Fulton just before the break. Connor Smith scored direct from a free kick after the interval but Nathan Shaw equalised three minutes later. Billy Mckay won all three points with a poachers goal in off the post with three minutes left and that's how it ended. Phew! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A beautiful evening greeted the sides at the ZLX Stadium for the third last game of the regular season. Billy Dodds had three changes from the side that won at Cove. Deas, Doran and Boyd started with Harper, Samuels and Dan Mackay dropping onto the bench. Fergus Owens missed out for Accies with De Bolle and Winter dropping to the bench. Mimnaugh and JP Tiehi started. Steven Boyd and Billy Mckay combined well early on with Mckay forcing Ryan Fulton into a save as he palmed his shot away. Zak Delaney fired over the bar from the left side as the visitors probed for an opening when Sean Welsh played him in. Billy Mckay was prominent around the hosts box and he intercepted a pass from Ryan McGowan. He managed to get a shot away from a tight angle after rounding the keeper but he could only find the side netting. Accies responded and Connor Smith tried to find the top corner but his curling effort was just a coat of paint too wide. Just before the break Robbie Deas was unfortunate with a header as Fulton saved low down to deny the Caley Jags defender after a Nathan Shaw corner, and Ridgers saved in the last action of the first forty-five. HALF TIME: 0-0 Aaron Doran brought Fulton into action five minutes after the restart as he met Delaney's cross in the box, the keeper saving well in the bottom corner. Ridgers saved with his legs from Seal as the action went to both ends and Doran shot wide. Boyd followed suit as well, missing the target and did similar again with twenty minutes left. Accies opened the scoring through Connor Smith from a dubious free kick. Nothing wrong with his execution though from 25 yards which was clinical into the top corner. Their success only lasted three minutes when Nathan Shaw scored from close range. Substitute Dario Zanatta went close as we entered the final fifteen minutes. It got even better for the visitors in the 88th minute when Billy Mckay scored a typical 'he scores when he wants' goal. In off the post. That's how it all ended as the late run goes on. FULL TIME: 1-1 What a result for Inverness after going a goal behind with twenty minutes left. Nathan Shaw's contribution has been invaluable of late and Billy Mckay should be knighted and given the freedom of the Highlands. That's his 98th goal for Inverness CT. Up to third in the table for now after six wins on the bounce. Great night for the 165 Caley Jags fans. Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Gosh, the table looks better now 1. Dundee 33 16 10 7 60 36 58 2. Queens Park 33 17 6 10 59 45 57 3. Inverness CT 34 15 9 10 50 44 54 4. Partick Thistle 33 15 7 11 59 41 52 5. Ayr United 33 14 9 10 58 42 51 6. Morton 33 12 12 9 48 41 48 7. Raith Rovers 33 11 9 13 44 45 42 8. Arbroath 33 6 15 12 29 44 33 9. Hamilton Ac. 34 7 8 19 29 61 29 10. Cove Rangers 33 6 9 18 36 73 27 Pic from Johndo of the goal celebration>>> Date: 18/04/2023 Venue: New Douglas Park Attendance: 1316 Referee: Graham Grainger Hamilton Accies: 1 Manager: John Rankin Lineup: Fulton; Sparrow, McGowan, O'Reilly, Tumilty (Winter 69), Martin, Lawson, Mimnaugh (De Bolle 62) C Smith, Tiehi (Zanatta 68), Ashley-Seal Subs (not used): J Smith; McGinn, Spence, Easton, Stephenson, L Smith Scorers: C Smith (72) Booked: Martin (45), O'Reilly (59) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 2 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers; Carson, Devine, Deas, Delaney, Boyd (Samuels 73), Welsh (Woods 89), Allardice, Shaw, Doran (D Mackay 73), B Mckay (Harper 90) Subs (not used): C Mackay; L Nicolson, Hyde Scorers: Shaw (75), B Mckay (88) Booked: Devine (24) Sent Off: none a

Crucial Three Points Whilst we have not had our own troubles to seek on the injury front, Cove Rangers were facing a similar crisis to what we went through as the relegation battle continues. With Accies losing to Queens Park last night, Cove had the opportunity to get off the bottom of the table should they win today. We were looking for a win to keep in the hunt for a play-off place and keep the pressure on those above us. Inverness were without the suspended Jay Henderson with Danny Devine starting in place of Robbie Deas who was on the bench for a rest. Neither side had a full bench and Iain Vigurs started for Cove. After a goalless first forty-five of anti football Inverness came from behind in the second period through a Billy Mckay penalty and Cammy Harper who drilled home the winner with twenty minutes left. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The first chance fell to Scott Ross but he headed wide from an Iain Vigurs corner. A minute later Billy Mckay was flagged offside as he netted after meeting Nathan Shaw's pass in the box. Cammy Harper saw Kyle Gourlay tip a free kick onto the top of the bar and behind for a corner. However it was mostly grim stuff with so much at stake for both clubs and it was no surprise it remained goalless at the interval. HT: 0-0 Iain Vigurs opened the scoring in the 56th minute with a trademark free kick but Billy Mckay levelled from the spot after Doran was tripped by Morgyn Neill. Cammy Harper then put the Caley Jags in front with twenty minutes left, shooting home from the edge of the box. Ridgers denied Ross as he headed goalwards from a corner but Inverness held on to record their fifth win in a row. Booooom! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FULL TIME: 1-2 A tough Saturday afternoon across the Championship, but at the end of the day Inverness were the only winners as others faltered. It's still in our own hands over the final three games. Billy Mckay is now just five goals short of our all time record set by Dennis Wyness (102) Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts 1. Dundee 33 16 10 7 60 36 58 2. Queens Park 33 17 6 10 59 45 57 3. Partick Thistle 33 15 7 11 59 41 52 4. Ayr United 33 14 9 10 58 42 51 5. Inverness CT 33 14 9 10 48 43 51 6. Morton 33 12 12 9 48 41 48 7. Raith Rovers 33 11 9 13 44 45 42 8. Arbroath 33 6 15 12 29 44 33 9. Hamilton Ac. 33 7 8 18 28 59 29 10. Cove Rangers 33 6 9 18 36 73 27 *COVE RANGERS 1-2 INVERNESS CT* DUNDEE 3-3 MORTON PARTICK 1-1 AYR Utd ROVERS 1-1 ARBROATH Date: 15/04/2023 Venue: Balmoral Stadium Attendance: 959 Referee: Gavin Duncan Cove Rangers: 1 Manager: Paul Hartley Lineup: Gourlay; Scully (Glass 90), Reynolds, Ross, Neill, O'Halloran, Longstaff (Dunne 76), Vigurs, Longridge, McIntosh, Megginson (Weston 76) Subs (not used): Demus; Naismith Scorers: Vigurs (56) Booked: Neill (16) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 2 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers; Carson, Devine (Deas 75), Delaney, Harper, D Mackay (Doran 59), Welsh, Allardice, Shaw, Samuels (Boyd 70), B Mckay Subs (not used): C Mackay; L Nicolson, Hyde, Woods Scorers: B Mckay (67 pen), Harper (71) Booked: Devine (55) Sent Off: none a

Four in a row Two of the Championship form teams clashed at the Caledonian Stadium with both clubs on good runs, Arbroath unbeaten in seven games and Inverness just the one defeat over the last seven. Both clubs needing the win for different reasons, and both clubs capable of taking the points. After a dismal first half goals from Nathan Shaw and a Scott Allardice penalty settled the points in our favour. The downside was a red card for Jay Henderson A beautiful afternoon gave way to an overcast but calm evening ahead of kick-off. One minute into the game and keeper Derek Gaston was called into action to punch away a shot and Sean Welsh shot wide from a free kick just after as the Caley Jags showed their intent in the opening minutes. Lewis Banks brought Mark Ridgers into the game as he saved his low angled shot after seven minutes. João Baldé had an effort saved by Ridgers midway through the half then picked up a booking minutes later. There was a distinct lack of goalmouth action in the first quarter of the game. Strange given what's at stake for both clubs. Just on the interval Tam O'Brien headed wide from a corner and that brought a poor first half to an end. HALF TIME 0-0 Ten minutes after the break they did it again. Nathan Shaw scored after the Caley Jags broke forward from their own box. Three or four passes later and the final ball through from Jay Henderson saw Shaw scoring at the near post to give the hosts the advantage, his eighth of the season. Billy Mckay headed a Shaw cross over on the hour. Sean Welsh fired one over the bar from twenty-five yards and in the 77th minute Henderson won a spot kick after being brought down in the box. Scott Allardice crashed home from twelve yards to double our advantage. Henderson's joy was short-lived as he was sent off for a clumsy challenge on McKenna a couple of minutes later. Ridgers saved from Bobby Linn but Arbroath were unable to penetrate the home defence and it ended 2-0 to the Caley Jags. FULL TIME 2-0 The win puts Inverness within two points of fourth place Ayr United. A rubbish first half followed by a two goal second half to take the points. That will do at this stage of the season, grinding out results for another four games... Cove up next on Saturday, bring it on Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Updated table after tonight's results 1. Dundee 32 16 9 7 57 33 57 2. Queens Park 32 16 6 10 58 45 54 3. Partick Thistle 32 15 6 11 58 40 51 4. Ayr United 32 14 8 10 57 41 50 5. Inverness CT 32 13 9 10 46 42 48 6. Morton 32 12 11 9 45 38 47 7. Raith Rovers 32 11 8 13 43 44 41 8. Arbroath 32 6 14 12 28 43 32 9. Hamilton Ac. 32 7 8 17 28 58 29 10. Cove Rangers 32 6 9 17 35 71 27 Other games tonight Dundee 3-1 Rovers Morton 2-0 Accies Inverness CT 2-0 Arbroath FC Date: 11/04/2023 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 2038 Referee: Gavin Duncan Inverness CT: 2 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers; Carson, Deas, Delaney, Harper, Henderson, Welsh, Allardice, Shaw (Boyd 82), Samuels (D Mackay 74), B Mckay (Woods 66) Subs (not used): C Mackay; L Nicolson, Devine, Hyde, Doran Scorers: Shaw (53), Allardice (78 pen) Booked: Shaw (32) Sent Off: Henderson (79) Arbroath : 0 Manager: Dick Campbell Lineup: Gaston; Banks, Little, O'Brien, Hetherington, Baldé (Tait 45), Gold (Olusanya 65), Stewart (Linn 65), McKenna, Dow (El-Mhanni 65), Hilson (Komolafe 82) Subs (not used): Gill; Jacobs, Allan, Adarkwa Scorers: none Booked: Baldé (21) Sent Off: none a

Up to 5th Jay Henderson was deemed fit enough to start but Danny Devine only made the bench. Wallace Duffy and Roddy MacGregor missed out again. That made it the same starting XI that won at Cappielow. Raith had a sparse bench with only three outfield players, but their starting XI still carried plenty of threats, making four changes from the side that lost to Hamilton in midweek. With Partick thrashing Queens Park last night this was a must win for both sides. In the end it was first half goals from Henderson and Shaw that gave Inverness all three points. The ball was in the net early doors but Aaron Doran was flagged offside. First real action saw Aidan Connolly shoot from distance with Mark Ridgers making the save. The hosts went ahead after twelve minutes when Cammy Harper fed Jay Henderson in on the right and he buried his shot from fifteen yards across MacDonald. With twenty minutes gone Nathan Shaw scored a peach into the top corner to double our advantage after persistent work by Billy Mckay. Great left footed strike by Shaw. McBride and Lewis Vaughan had efforts that missed the target as Rovers looked to get back into the game and five minutes before the break Aaron Doran shot from inside the box but MacDonald saved low to his right. HALF TIME 2-0 Chances were at a premium in the second half and Billy Mckay shot over before being substituted for Austin Samuels with twenty minutes left. Mark Ridgers saved well from Vaughan. Inverness did what they had to do to see out the game and a series of substitutions littered the closing stages as Inverness kept a lacklustre Raith Rovers at bay. A lack of bookings maybe gave the game away that they have already downed tools. They now look destined for another season in the Championship while we hang on in the belief that we can still make the play-offs. FULL TIME 2-0 We did enough to justify the three points without over exerting ourselves. Good contributions from Carson, Ridgers, Henderson and Shaw who scored a belter. We are still getting the results required and are still hanging on by a thread to our promotion hopes, albeit a long shot. Rovers wait for a win enters a 24th season. The goals>>> Date: 08/04/2023 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 2198 Referee: Craig Napier Inverness CT: 2 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers; Carson, Deas, Delaney, Harper, Henderson (Boyd 77), Welsh, Allardice, Shaw (Hyde 82), Doran (Woods 77), B Mckay (Samuels 69) Subs (not used): C Mackay; Devine, Nicolson, D Mackay Scorers: Henderson (12), Shaw (21) Booked: none Sent Off: none Raith Rovers: 0 Manager: Ian Murray Lineup: MacDonald; Millen (Young 52), Brown, Nolan, Ngwenya, Connolly, Easton (Ross 81), Stanton, McBride, Vaughan, Akio (Goncalves 81) Subs (not used): Thomson; Scorers: none Booked: none Sent Off: none a

Vital three points at Morton Danny Devine was missing again along with Roddy MacGregor and Walllace Duffy for this vital clash at Cappielow which could define our season. That left us with a sparse bench. For Morton, Brian Schwake was given the gloves despite his blunder against Arbroath and condemnation from his gaffer. George Oakley started up front against his old club. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It goes from bad to worse. Ten minutes gone and our most productive player recently Jay Henderson limped off with an ankle injury to be replaced by Austin Samuels. George Oakley and Nathan Shaw exchanged efforts once the game resumed and Mark Ridgers did well to parry a shot from Calum Waters as the hosts looked to take charge of proceedings. Cammy Harper had a pop from a tight angle saved and Robbie Muirhead brought Ridgers into action again as he saved low down. Sean Welsh was sending probing balls into the box almost picking out Aaron Doran and then providing an opportunity for Robbie Deas which the keeper held onto. Best chance of the first half fell to Ali Crawford who failed to convert when it looked easier to score. HALF TIME 0-0 Welsh shot over after the restart, however, in the fifty-fourth minute Scott Allardice opened the scoring with a tremendous half-volley, drilling a precision shot low into the bottom corner from outside the box. Aaron Doran appeared to be fouled in the box by Schwake two minutes later, but nothing given by David Dickenson. He's not the real deal methinks. Harper then saw Schwake save his free kick from distance before Oakley's effort was matched by Ridgers at the other end. Ridgers was involved minutes later again, but this time it was giving away a disputed penalty after bringing down Muirhead. Grant Gillespie scored from the spot to level the game with over twenty minutes remaining. Robbie Muirhead shot over as Morton tried to get their noses in front. He had a shot blocked by Zak Delaney after this and with five minutes left he hit the bar with a long range free kick from around 38 yards. Some strike and a let off for the Caley Jags. After that break, David Carson popped up with the winner in the 88th minute to take a valuable three points North. Nathan Shaw did well to win the ball in his own half before sending a long diagonal ball forward that was helped onto Carson by Boyd for the wee man to finish well from inside the box after a great run forward. That win moves us to within a point of fifth placed Morton. FULL TIME 1-2 Top performers were Allardice, Deas, Shaw and Carson with everyone giving their all for the cause. Bit of a cufuffle off the pitch with cards being shown to management teams for some verbal spats. All in, a good day for the Caley Jags Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Table after todays games 1. Queens Park 31 16 6 9 58 41 54 2. Dundee 30 15 8 7 54 32 53 3. Ayr United 31 14 7 10 56 40 49 4. Partick Thistle 31 14 6 11 54 40 48 5. Morton 30 11 10 9 42 37 43 6. Inverness CT 30 11 9 10 42 42 42 7. Raith Rovers 29 11 8 10 41 37 41 8. Arbroath 30 6 13 11 28 41 31 9. Cove Rangers 31 6 8 17 34 70 26 10. Hamilton Ac. 29 6 7 16 25 54 25 Date: 01/04/2023 Venue: Cappielow Park Attendance: 1958 Referee: David Dickinson Morton: 1 Manager: Dougie Imrie Lineup: Schwake; O'Connor, Baird, Gillespie (McGrattan 77), Waters, Blues (Miller 45), Grimshaw, R Crawford, Muirhead, Oakley, A Crawford (Quitongo 58) Subs (not used): Green; Pignatiello, Roy, Ambrose, Garrity, King Scorers: Gillespie (69 pen) Booked: Gillespie (52), O'Connor (63), R Crawford (72) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 2 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers; Carson, Deas, Delaney, Harper, Henderson (Samuels 11), Welsh, Allardice, Doran (Boyd 74), Shaw, B Mckay (D Mackay 77) Subs (not used): C Mackay; Hyde, Wood Scorers: Allardice (54), Carson (88) Booked: Carson (76), D Mackay (79), Samuels (90) Sent Off: none a

Backs to the wall win for ten man Caley Jags Lewis Hyde was a late replacement for Inverness with Danny Devine pulling up in the warm up which prompted a reshuffle of the pack with Delaney covering for Devine and Harper dropping back into defence with Hyde going into midfield. Roddy MacGregor and Wallace Duffy missed out for Inverness but Sean Welsh returned to the midfield. Attacking options of Dan Mackay, Aaron Doran and Austin Samuels were on the bench for the Caley Jags. Partick Thistle had sent a strong squad North with the dangerous Scott Tiffoney and Brian Graham the big threats up front. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After a flat calm afternoon, the heavens opened an hour before kick-off and patches of surface water greeted the teams as they took to the field under the floodlights. Inverness got the game underway and the first real action came when a long ball forward from Nathan Shaw after six minutes saw Billy Mckay control then offload a shot from the edge of the box which keeper David Mitchell beat away from goal. Good effort, good save. Mckay looked dangerous on a few early occasions and his persistence up front won him a corner after twelve minutes. From the corner the ball fell to Robbie Deas but his volley was gathered under the bar by Mitchell. Mark Ridgers produced a superb save to deny Brian Graham as Partick cut us open through the middle. The big striker was favourite to score as he opened up his body but Ridgers dived full length to his left to get his fingertips to the netbound ball and tip it round the post. Sensational save! There followed a midfield battle until three minutes before the interval when Ridgers blocked a near post effort from Scott Tiffoney and then David Carson made a crucial clearance moments later. Here's the reason it was goalless at the interval>>>> HALF TIME 0-0 No changes at the break with Inverness now playing towards the North Stand. In the fiftieth minute Inverness broke down some Partick possession in midfield. Jay Henderson skipped forward and his low cross into the box was converted by Nathan Shaw sliding in ahead of the defender. Either way it was 1-0 to the hosts. Mckay combined with Welsh in the box but he never connected properly with the ball and Mitchell's save was made easier. Moments later Welsh was sensationally sent off as Tiffoney took off down the left and Welsh tripped him late. Grant Irvine saw it as a red and Welsh was off. Ridgers saved a ten yard scuffed shot from Graham on the line as Partick went for broke against the ten men. Could be a long night now for the fans and the defence with over half an hour to go. Partick were piling the pressure on the hosts and Ridgers denied a Graham shot at the expense of a corner with fifteen minutes remaining. Despite Partick pressing hard, the Inverness defence held out for the three points, putting bodies on the line when it mattered and MotM Mark Ridgers kept his sheets clean. FULL TIME 1-0 Mark Ridgers was MotM with a confident display including one absolutely superb save from Brian Graham in the first half, and when the backs were against the wall he commanded his area taking the pressure off his overworked defenders. Welsh red card looked to be harsh, not heard the last of that yet. Tremendous workrate by everyone who blocked Partick time after time in a desperate second half. Get in Nathan Shaw>>> Match Reaction Inverness manager Billy Dodds tells BBC Scotland: "We knew we had to win tonight or the playoff dreams were probably over. "We say the word proud a lot in the dressing rooms but I am tonight as we had to win it the hard way. "We started well, then they took control as we just started launching it straight away, I'd have liked us to pass it a bit more. "We had to hang on. "I don't have to [see the red card challenge again], it’s cynical, it’s a trip. "I want to move on from it as we’ve had a lot of hard luck, and I know everyone had but we probably have more than most, and I'd rather move on as if I say something I'll get into trouble. "We’ll be appealing it." Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Updated table after tonight's games 1. Queens Park 30 16 6 8 58 39 54 2. Dundee 29 14 8 7 47 32 50 3. Ayr United 30 14 7 9 56 38 49 4. Partick Thistle 30 13 6 11 49 40 45 5. Morton 29 11 10 8 41 35 43 6. Inverness CT 29 10 9 10 40 41 39 7. Raith Rovers 28 10 8 10 39 37 38 8. Arbroath 29 5 13 11 26 41 28 9. Cove Rangers 30 6 8 16 34 65 26 10. Hamilton Ac. 28 6 7 15 25 47 25 Ayr 3-0 Cove Queens 0-1 Arbroath Caley Jags 1-0 Partick Jags Date: 24/03/2023 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 2075 Referee: Grant Irvine Inverness CT: 1 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers; Carson, Hyde (Boyd 90+3), Deas, Delaney, Henderson (Doran 85), Welsh, Allardice, Harper, Shaw (Woods 69), B Mckay (D Mackay 70) Subs (not used): C Mackay; Samuels Scorers: Shaw (50) Booked: Delaney (14), Hyde (65), Woods (81), Hyde (84) Sent Off: Welsh (55) Partick Thistle: 0 Manager: Kris Doolan Lineup: Mitchell; McMillan, Holt, Brownlie, Milne (Hodson 60), Tiffoney, Turner (Mullen 79) Bannigan (Fitzpatrick 79), Docherty, Lawless (Dowds 56), Graham. Subs (not used): Sneddon; Smith, Muirhead, Owens, MacKenzie Scorers: Shaw (50) Booked: Milne (25) Sent Off: none a

All but ended Sean Welsh was the mystery injured player this week with Dan Mackay starting. Inverness' play-off hopes all but ended at Ochilview after we surrendered a half time advantage once more at the same venue. Both sides had gone close early on before Daniel Mackay drilled home a tremendous low strike from around twenty-five yards after the ball broke back to him off Billy Mckay on the edge of the box. Twenty minutes after the interval the Spiders pressure saw them level when Grant Savoury headed home unchallenged. They went in front some five minutes later when Stephen Eze headed into the top corner, once more unchallenged. Substitute Roddy MacGregor limped off to be replaced by the even lesser spotted Ben Woods. Both sides created opportunities as the game entered the final phase and Duffy and Samuels went close to an equaliser deep into time added on but it was Queens that took a massive step towards the Premiership as we took a massive step back into the Championship pack. Good luck to them. If it's any consolation, Falkirk, our semi-final opponents lost 1-0 at Queen of the South today. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ More match reaction to follow>>> From BBC Sport Queen's Park manager Owen Coyle: "We didn't perform to the level we're capable of first half, but second half we certainly stepped it up. "It's a young group and a lot of them haven't been round about where we are, so there was an edginess to them but at half-time I asked them to relax and get back to what we're known for." Inverness CT manager Billy Dodds: "We didn't set about the second half the way we should. If we had just kept it simple and neat and tidy, I think we would've got them. "We were denied a penalty when Billy Mckay felt he got a shove in the back. But we handed Queen's Park the game." Massively disappointing result for the Caley Jags after the euphoria of the Scottish Cup exploits. Queens can rest easy knowing we have been unable to beat them in five attempts this season, a fact that has not gone unnoticed amongst the Caley Jags fanbase. Anyway, our secretary is better than theirs...... Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Table not looking good for the Caley Jags 1. Queens Park 29 16 6 7 58 38 54 2. Dundee 28 13 8 7 44 31 47 3. Ayr United 28 13 7 8 52 35 46 4. Partick Thistle 29 13 6 10 49 39 45 5. Morton 29 11 10 8 41 35 43 6. Raith Rovers 28 10 8 10 39 37 38 7. Inverness CT 28 9 9 10 39 41 36 8. Cove Rangers 29 6 8 15 34 62 26 9. Arbroath 28 4 13 11 25 41 25 10. Hamilton Ac. 28 6 7 15 25 47 25 Our remaining Championship fixtures. I'm afraid it will take a miracle to make the play-offs. 24th Mar 19:45 - PARTICK THISTLE (H) 01st April 15:00 - MORTON (A) 08th April 15:00 - RAITH ROVERS (H) 11th April 19:45 - ARBROATH (H) 15th April 15:00 - COVE RANGERS (A) 18th April 19:45 - HAMILTON (A) 22nd April15:00 - DUNDEE (H) 05th May 19:45 - AYR UNITED (H) Date: 18/03/2023 Venue: Ochilview Park, Stenhousemuir Attendance: 627 Referee: Alan Muir Queens Park: 2 Manager: Owen Coyle Lineup: Ferrie: Oakley (Jarrett 56), Eze, Fox, Robson, Thomas, Davidson, Savoury, Boateng (Longridge (44)), Henderson (Healy 76), Shields Subs (not used): Heraghty; Bruce, McPake, Williamson, Bannon, Biggar, Scorers: Savoury (64), Eze (69) Booked: none Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 1 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers; Duffy, Devine, Deas, Harper, D Mackay (MacGregor 61, Woods 74), Carson, Allardice (Samuels 71), Henderson, Shaw, B Mckay Subs (not used): C Mackay; Delaney, Hyde, Doran, Boyd, Scorers: D Mackay (27) Booked: Devine (8), Shaw (65) Sent Off: none a

Welsh Likes a Belter Inverness had their strongest squad of the season for tonight's quarter final against Kilmarnock. Samuels, MacGregor, Woods and Dan Mackay were all on the bench as Dodds went with an unchanged starting XI. Killie had a strong XI with Liam Polworth starting with Armstrong, Donnelly, McKenzie, Vassell and Doidge as attacking threats. As it happened, it was Inverness that eventually dominated proceedings and are in the Semi-Final after goals from Billy Mckay and Sean Welsh ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Inverness got the game underway but two minutes in and from an Armstrong corner the ball ended up in the net behind Ridgers, Vassell credited with the goal after a near post flick on. Disastrous start for the hosts. Billy Mckay forced Walker into a great save from a close range header as Inverness responded in the tenth minute. Sean Welsh skimmed the top of the bar with a header from a superb ball into the box from Jay Henderson. Inverness got the break they deserved though when a Wallace Duffy cross from the right was handled by Joe Wright as he attempted to intercept the ball. Billy Mckay hit the spot kick down the middle as Walker dived to his left, the ball going in off his feet and it was game on. Henderson was played through on goal but his shot was blocked by the now overworked Sam Walker. Carson was harshly booked for bringing Armstrong down as Killie sprung out of defence. Doidge made a hash of a half chance when he found the ball at his feet in the six yard box, but he ran it out of play. Robbie Deas headed over from a corner as Inverness continued to press. Liam Polworth came off second best in a challenge from Deas just before the interval and his day was over. HALF TIME 1-1 Three minutes into the second half Henderson did well to control the ball and get his shot away but it cannoned back off the post. Moments later, with heavy snow falling; he did it again. Sean Welsh picked the ball up thirty yards from goal. He stepped forward and rifled a low shot into the bottom corner from over twenty-five yards. What a strike. We could have gone further ahead, twice. Once when Shaw made space for himself to get a great delivery in but Welsh was just short of connecting with it in the six yard box. Secondly, Mckay did well to wriggle his way into the box but he was halted a couple of times before the defence cleared. Ridgers then flapped at a ball into the box and had to snatch at he ball as it bounced towards the line. A timely snatch if ever I saw one. Austin Samuels almost grabbed a third with two minutes left when running through on goal but his low shot was saved by Walker. Aaron Doran came on as four minutes of added time was shown by the officials. Inverness saw out the game on top and a thoroughly deserved trip to Hampden is now a reality. FULL TIME 2-1 What a performance from the Caley Jags. Heroes to a man and well deserving of their trip to Hampden again. For me, Scott Allardice was tremendous with Jay Henderson having a field day in the first half and unlucky not to score at the start of the second. Sean Welsh does likes a strike against Killie from around twenty-seven yards. On another day we might have scored four or five, but for now, two will do. Big shout out for the young team, great noise all night. Come again please. More match reaction to follow... Inverness CT manager Billy Dodds on BBC Scotland: "I was quite calm. I trusted my players. I thought we were the better team. Kilmarnock put us under pressure with long balls in the second half. "But I just stood back and enjoyed watching my players tonight. I would like a shot in the Premiership. "A lot of my players could do it. I think that's the case. If you do it [beat a top-flight side] once, people say it's a one off. But if you do it two or three times, it's self explanatory. "I want them to enjoy it and realise what they've done. But we still have an opportunity in the league as well. We want to have a wee go of getting to the play-offs, it'll be difficult but we're capable." After full time Derek McInnes was still in his dressing room and BBC gave up on his interview He eventually said: "I'm really disappointed. I expected more from the team. We got off to a good start. "I thought from there on in, we stopped playing. We got too complacent and made too many errors." Highlights from The Scottish Cup Date: 10/03/2023 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 2902 Referee: David Dickinson Inverness CT: 2 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers; Carson, Duffy, Devine, Deas, Henderson (MacGregor 85), Welsh, Allardice, Harper, Shaw (Doran 90), B Mckay (Samuels 82) Subs (not used): C Mackay; Delaney, Hyde, Woods, Boyd, D Mackay Scorers: Mckay (24, pen), Welsh (50) Booked: Carson (33), Duffy (69) Sent Off: none Kilmarnock: 1 Manager: Derek McInnes Lineup: Walker; Mayo, Taylor, Wright (Dorsett 76), Chambers (Robinson 77), Armstrong, Donnelly, Polworth (Power 45+2), McKenzie (Murray 76), Vassell, Doidge (Jones 45) Subs (not used): Hemming; Alebiosu, McInroy, Alston. Scorers: Vassell (3) Booked: Vassell (36), Donnelly (75) Sent Off: none a

Red Oh Daire Three points would have been a welcome diversion from off-field issues for the Caley Jags. Inverness missed Cammy Harper from last week and Austin Samuels dropped to the bench as Billy Mckay returned from suspension. Frankie Musonda was on the Ayr bench and 15 goal striker Dipo Akinyemi led their attack with Josh Mullin and Ben Dempsey backing him up. At the end of the day it was Inverness that picked up a valuable win. First Half Billy Mckay was keen to get going again after his suspension and he hit one from distance in the opening moments but it went over the bar and he followed that with another that went wide after seven minutes. Ten minutes in and Sam Ashford replaced the injured Josh Mullin and two minutes later Dipo Akinyemi scored his sixteenth of the season to put United ahead. The lead lasted just seven minutes when Sean Welsh scored after a Jay Henderson cross fell to him in the box to level the game. Charlie Albiston was quick off his line to deny the eager Mckay as he honed in on goal and five minutes later he was close to getting on the end of a Shaw cut back after Albiston made a mess of a clearance. Before the half hour Daire O'Connor was sent off for a challenge on Wallace Duffy. Duffy then shot over before Mckay had an effort deflected over the bar and Duffy headed the resultant corner over as well. Just on the break the keeper saved well from a Duffy shot into the top corner, just after Paddy Reading had gone close at the other end. Half Time: 1-1 Ayr began the second half on the front foot with McKenzie and Akinyemi shooting wide before Billy Mckay was blocked in the box at the other end and Scott Allardice fired one over. Ashford shot over on the hour after some good possession from the hosts and Duffy shot wide after finding himself in an advanced position again. More profligacy from the visitors as Henderson missed the top corner after a burst into the box. Welsh was blocked then had another effort deflected behind for a corner with twenty minutes left. The chances eventually paid off when Henderson connected with a Nathan Shaw cross at the back post to fire home. Mckay then shot wide after being played through ten minutes from the end. Inverness saw out the game to put themselves on the outer fringes of a play-off spot. Full Time 1-2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Inverness got a vital three points on the road against 10 man Ayr United to move up a place in the table as Partick beat Raith Rovers 3-0. Wallace Duffy was the pick of the bunch today finding time to get forward and help out in attack, ably assisted by David Carson and Jay Henderson. RIG on CTO: At times we played some nice football. Most of the threat seemed to come down the right especially after Henderson and Shaw rotated and, with the extra man, Duffy and Delaney started pushing further up the pitch to offer support. Ayr tended not to double up on the wide men so it meant that Henderson or Shaw had to beat just one man and they had a chance to get a cross in. Henderson in particular was tormenting the Ayr defence and he had the best chance for us before we scored when he wriggled through a ruck of players at the edge of the box and lashed an effort over the bar. Some solid performances from us to win that one today with Duffy, Carson and Henderson probably the pick of the bunch. Duffy was helped out by Mullin going off injured and also the fact that Ayr played a lot of the game a man down. Carson took a bit of time to adapt to the 10 position but he carried the ball forward well and could have had a goal himself had he been more selfish and taking a shot instead of passing to a team mate. Date: 04/03/2023 Venue: Somerset Park, Ayr Attendance: 1820 Referee: Scott Lambie Ayr United: 1 Manager: Lee Bullen Lineup: Albinson; McAllister (Musonda 72), Kirk, McGinty, Reading (McGuire 84), O'Connor, Mullin, McAlear, Dempsey, Akinyemi, McKenzie (Hewitt 84) Subs (not used): McAdams; Bilham, Ashford, Smith, Bryden, Houston Scorers: Akinyemi (12) Booked: McAllister (35), McGuire (89) Sent Off: O'Connor (29) Inverness CT: 2 Manager: Bily Dodds Lineup: Ridgers; Duffy, Devine, Deas, Delaney, Carson, Welsh, Allardice (Doran 63), Henderson, Shaw (Boyd 90), B Mackay Subs (not used): C Mackay; Thompson, Cairns, Hyde, Harper, D Mackay, Samuels Scorers: Welsh (19), Henderson (74) Booked: Deas (49), Welsh (77) Sent Off: none a

Dens Point Inverness were without the suspended Billy Mckay and still had five players on the crocked list. However, David Carson is made of stern stuff and took his place at right back. Zak Delaney returned to the defence with Cammy Harper in midfield and Austin Samuels as striker. Dan Mackay dropped to the bench alongside Robbie Deas. Dundee had Zach Robinson back from Wimbledon on loan, and he is still their top scorer with nine goals, as they looked to bolster their challenge for top spot in the table whilst Inverness were now looking over their shoulders at the three teams below them. Robinson and perennial nuisance Paul McMullan were in the Dundee starting XI and striker Alex Jakubiak was on the bench along with midfielders Ben Williamson and Max Anderson ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ First Half The hosts got the game underway and first action was an early booking for captain Sean Welsh followed by Legzdins saving a deflected Jay Henderson cross/shot. Cammy Harper had an effort saved and Ryan Sweeney saw Mark Ridgers save his header soon after. Alas, Danny Devine fouled Zach Robinson in the box and Robinson himself took the penalty to score his tenth of he season and put Dundee in front with Devine yellow carded. Harper shot from a tight angle after a break forward on the left but Legzdins was alert to it. Paul McMullan went close to a second after he had won a corner, the ball bouncing just past the post. Robinson was close to connecting with a cross into the area after good work by Cammy Kerr and Lyall Cameron. We managed to get to the break without any further damage and Nathan Shaw sent a drive at Legdzins which he held comfortably as half time arrived. Half Time: 1-0 Fortune favours the brave, and ten minutes after the break Inverness drew level. Carson, Shaw and Henderson combined well down the right, and when Henderson cut infield to feed Harper his low drive from the left corner of the penalty box took a big deflection off Sweeney to end up in the net leaving the keeper wrong footed. They all count! Billy Dodds made a triple substitution thereafter bringing on Robbie Deas, Steven Boyd and Dan Mackay with Devine, Harper and Samuels going off. Ridgers denied Josh Mulligan as he shot from inside the box and then blocked the follow up with twenty minutes to go. Bowyer did his own triple sub: Triple sub for Dundee - Clampin, Hannant & McCowan for Marshall, Mulligan and McMullan. Shaw shot over and with five minutes remaining a McGhee header came off the top of the bar and over. Cameron hit the bar as well with a looped header as Dundee pressed for a winner with Inverness defending desperately. Fortunately we saw out the game for a valuable point on the road. Full Time: 1-1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A battling performance from the Caley Jags earns a point at Dens Park. That keeps Inverness ahead of the relegation battle with Cove and Hamilton losing and Arbroath drawing with Partick. Queens Park stretch their lead at the top after that 4-1 win at Accies. How do they do it? Six bookings for Inverness as we defended our lines. Way to go! The downside for Dodds is the fans have not forgotten how rank rotten we have been lately and chanted his name throughout. Match Reaction to Follow>>> Table after todays games Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Battling draw for the Caley Jags as Queens stretch their lead. 1. Queens Park 26 14 5 7 53 35 47 2. Dundee 25 12 7 6 41 28 43 3. Ayr United 25 11 7 7 46 32 40 4. Morton 25 11 7 7 37 29 40 5. Partick Thistle 25 11 4 10 43 38 37 6. Raith Rovers 26 9 8 9 33 33 35 7. Inverness CT 26 8 9 9 36 38 33 8. Cove Rangers 26 6 8 12 33 53 26 9. Hamilton Ac. 26 6 6 14 25 45 24 10. Arbroath 26 4 11 11 24 40 23 Arbroath 0-0 Partick Thistle Dundee1-1 Inverness CT Hamilton 1-4 Queen's Park Morton 2-1 Cove Rangers Date: 25/02/2023 Venue: Kilmac Stadium, Dens Park Attendance: 4447 Referee: Chris Graham Dundee FC: 1 Manager: Gary Bowyer Lineup: Legzdins; Kerr, Ashcroft, Sweeney, Marshall (Clampin 79), McGhee, McMullan (McCowan 78), Mulligan (Hannant 78), Cameron (Anderson 88), McGuire, Robinson (Thomas 88) Subs (not used): Sharp; Tolaj, Williamson, Jakubiak Scorers: Robinson (13 pen) Booked: none Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 1 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers; Carson, Duffy, Devine (Deas 59), Delaney, Henderson (Doran 90), Welsh, Allardice (Hyde 88), Harper (Boyd 59), Shaw, Samuels (D Mackay 59) Subs (not used): C Mackay; Thompson, Cairns Scorers: Harper (56) Booked: Welsh (7), Devine (13), Allardice (54), Boyd (73), Henderson (89) Carson (90+2) Sent Off: none a

Mid Table Draw Morton were looking for their third win over Inverness this season but were on a run of seven games without a win. Inverness had started the new year in fine form but were looking for three points to create a gap between the two sides in mid table. Sean Welsh was missing for Inverness but Scott Allardice and Cammy Harper started. New signings Calvin Miller and Calum Waters started for Morton, but there was no sign of George Oakley. The curse of the Caley Jags was having an effect. It ended all square with young Inverness substitute Ethan Cairns rescuing a point with his first touch of the ball when it looked like Morton were going to take all three points. On Loan Calvin Miller picked up a loose pass from Delaney in the fifth minute to drive forward and drill the ball into the bottom corner from just outside the box for the opening goal. Great strike and a great start for the visitors. Aaron Doran was at it again when one on one with the keeper, and like last week he got his feet in a tangle and the chance was lost. Calum Waters volleyed just wide of the post after twenty minutes as the visitors dominated the opening quarter of the game. Mark Ridgers saved from Miller as he cut in from the left with Inverness struggling to make any impact on proceedings until the half hour when Billy Mckay shot and then Zak Delaney failed to hit the target after Jay Henderson recycled the ball. Henderson fired a free kick into the keepers arms as the play became more even but it was Morton that led at the interval as their hosts flattered to deceive. Half Time: 0-1 Nathan Shaw replaced Aaron Doran and Lewis Hyde replaced Zak Delaney at the interval as Inverness were looking for a way to turn the game around. Both keepers were called into action in the opening minutes of the half through Cameron Blues and Dan Mackay and Scott Allardice shot over. A brighter start for the hosts and they were soon level just after Henderson had shot over the bar. Billy Mckay knocked in a rebound from the keeper after a long range shot from Allardice fell to him inside the box. Good pressure from the hosts leading up to the goal but Morton were far from finished with O'Connor and Blues having efforts saved by Ridgers. Dan Mackay turned and volleyed over with twenty minutes left. Blues and Miller had more efforts with the keeper denying Miller as the game entered the final ten minutes. In a frantic finale, Robbie Muirhead restored Morton's lead after holding off Duffy to slot through Ridgers but substitute Ethan Cairns knocked in another equaliser three minutes later with his first touch of the ball a minute after coming on. Cairns did well to find the net after Shaw's cross had been headed on by Boyd for him to hook home from a tight angle. Still time for Muirhead and King to go close but it ended all square and a point apiece. And breathe.... Full Time: 2-2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A scramble to get a point in the end but we still gained a point on Partick Thistle. Great to see Ethan Cairns get his first goal for the club, and a vital strike it was. Billy Mckay (93) also edged closer to Dennis Wyness' all time scoring record (102). The countdown is on. From BBC Sport Inverness CT head coach Billy Dodds: "It was a hard watch at times but I don't want to be too negative because my players found a way to find something from the game. "We weren't good enough first half. The goal we gave them in the second half was a gift again and they've got to stop. But we are still hanging in there." Greenock Morton manager Dougie Imrie: "It was tough with the wind but I thought we played really well. The first 15-20 minutes of the second-half we weren't at the races, we were a bit nervous. "But we dug deep and got the second goal. Unfortunately we lose a poor goal at the back post. Three points would have been great but we didn't manage to see the game out." Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Queens Park stretch their lead as all around them falter and Raith go above Inverness. 1. Queens Park 23 13 4 6 46 30 43 2. Ayr United 23 11 6 6 46 31 39 3. Dundee 22 11 6 5 37 26 39 4. Partick Thistle 23 10 3 10 42 38 33 5. Raith Rovers 24 9 6 9 32 32 33 6. Inverness CT 23 8 8 7 34 32 32 7. Morton 22 8 7 7 31 26 31 8. Cove Rangers 23 6 7 10 31 47 25 9. Arbroath 24 4 9 11 23 39 21 10. Hamilton Ac. 23 4 6 13 19 40 18 Date: 04/02/2023 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 1852 Referee: Calum Scott Inverness CT: 2 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers; Carson, Duffy, Devine Delaney (Hyde 45), Henderson (Boyd 75), Allardice, Harper, D Mackay (Cairns 84), Doran (Shaw 45), B Mckay Subs (not used): C Mackay; Strachan, Thompson Scorers: B Mckay (57), Cairns (85) Booked: Carson (65), Hyde (67) Sent Off: none Morton: 2 Manager: Dougie Imrie Lineup: Schwake; O'Connor, Grimshaw, Baird, Waters, Blues, Gillespie, Quitongo (McGrattan 61), Miller, Crawford (King 77), Muirhead (Roy 87) Subs (not used): Green; Pignatiello, Ambrose, Garrity Scorers: Miller (5), Muirhead (81), Booked: Crawford (45), McGrattan (83), Gillespie (86) Sent Off: none a

Spiders out despite win on the night *** Breaking News. Queens Park ejected from Scottish Cup for fielding an ineligible player*** Seventeen days after their Championship no scoring draw at the Caledonian Stadium, Queens Park and Inverness battled it out in the 4th round of the Scottish Cup with a tie away to Livingston the unglamorous reward for the victor. This game was originally scheduled for the 21st of January but a serious dump of snow and frost put paid to that. After a day of heavy showers the game would get underway with the threat of strong winds building from around kick-off. Big news before kick-off was that Simon Murray has joined Ross County and will not be in the Queens Park squad. Scott Allardice and Cammy Harper started for Inverness and Queens had new signing Euan Henderson starting in Murray's absence. And that may yet be their downfall. The rules clearly state that a player has to be signed before the date of the original tie. That was 21st of January. Henderson was only signed on the 27th of January and came on as a sub against Dundee in the Championship the following day. In all honesty Queens Park deserved to go through but as they say, thems the rules. Maybe the Spiders will be caught in their own web of deceit. Queens Park started the liveliest and Stephen Eze fired over after fifteen minutes with Sean Welsh replicating a minute later at the other end. Jay Henderson struck the post from just outside the box as Inverness got up to speed and Cammy Harper tested Ferrie in the visitors goal. New signing Euan Henderson broke clear and brought Mark Ridgers into action and the keeper did well to keep the scores level. Queens shoot on site policy meant Ridgers was the busier keeper and he would deny Henderson again as half time approached followed by a save from Tommy Robson and then Dom Thomas as Queens pressed for the opening goal. Louis Longridge was next up to have a go and Ridgers was there once more to ensure it stayed level at the break with Queens having the better of the first 45. HALF TIME: 0-0 Aaron Doran replaced Cameron Harper at the interval and seven minutes later he passed up a good opportunity as he lost his footing when fed through on goal by Billy Mckay. The two Henderson's had efforts shortly after with Ridgers blocking Euan's with his legs when through on goal before Jay shot over. He would shoot over again after 65 minutes. The dangerous (and ineligible) Euan Henderson was replaced with twenty minutes remaining. Thomas saw Ridgers save his effort and Danny Devine headed just wide after a corner. Thomas would not be denied though and he curled Queens Park in front with an excellent strike from outside the box after a loose pass out of defence was intercepted. Minutes later, Scott Williamson was next to be denied after hitting the post with a header as Queens looked to kill the tie off. Billy Mckay latched onto the ball in the box but Callum Ferrie was equal to it. Mckay then scooped a ball from Welsh over the bar as the game slipped away from Inverness. With five minutes remaining it certainly did just that as Williamson swept home number two after outmuscling Devine. A poor night for the hosts defensively who never really got to grips with the pace of the game. FULL TIME: 0-2 Result pending the outcome of enquiry regarding Queens Park fielding Euan Henderson who was ineligible according to the rules. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Spiders were too good for a sluggish Caley Jags even without Simon Murray. Mark Ridgers was the busier keeper throughout and kept the score down. A really disappointing night in the Highlands as the wind started to get up ended with Queens Park heading for Livingston in the next round unless the fielding of Henderson sees them knocked out of the cup. That's life! Back to the drawing board for Inverness who can now concentrate solely on the league table. More match reaction to follow>>> From BBC Sport Euan Henderson joined on loan from Hearts after the tie was postponed on 21 January, but Scottish FA rules state that only those registered before the initial date are permitted to play. It remains unclear what the punishment might be but it could render this victory, earned with goals by Dom Thomas and Scott Williamson, moot. Queen's Park thought they had set up a tie at Livingston but it may be that the top-flight side will welcome Inverness Caledonian Thistle instead next weekend. Inverness CT head coach Billy Dodds: "Queen's Park had a lot of possession and a few chances. But we had really good chances - if we take the lead then it's a different game. "We made two big errors and lost two bad goals and you are never going to win games if you make those type of errors." Queen's Park manager Owen Coyle: "Inverness are a very good team. I think that's three times we've been up now this season and there's not many teams leave unbeaten over the three games. "Our level of performance was excellent tonight. We scored two very good goals. We thoroughly deserved to win and to move into the next round of the cup." As it stands, this is the draw for the fifth round of the Scottish Cup. However, as we all know now, Euan Hendersons participation might change that. <<<Hmmn, we should know on Friday who will face Livi. *** Breaking News. Queens Park ejected from Scottish Cup for fielding an ineligible player*** Official Statement This means that Inverness will play Livingston next Saturday 11th February in the 5th round of the Scottish Cup. From BBC Sport: Queen's Park president David Hunter said: "An error was made regarding the eligibility of a player who featured in Tuesday night's game with Inverness Caledonian Thistle and we have accepted the SFA's decision. "It is a regrettable mistake. One we will learn from. Our team put on a tremendous display on Tuesday to win the tie and obviously today's result is a hugely disappointing outcome. As upsetting as this matter is, it's vital that we put this behind us quickly, move on and focus on our league campaign." Oh well, another few of these errors and the cup is ours once more. Date: 31/01/2023 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 869 Referee: Chris Graham Inverness CT: 0 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers; Carson, Duffy, Devine, Delaney, Shaw (D Mackay 65), Welsh, Allardice (Hyde 65), Harper (Doran 45), Henderson, B Mckay Subs (not used): C Mackay; Strachan, Boyd, Scorers: none Booked: Duffy (39) Sent Off: none Queens Park: 2 Manager: Owen Coyle Lineup: Ferrie; Davidson (Bannon 77), Longridge (Biggar 89), Eze, Fox, Robson, Boateng, Thomas, Henderson (Williamson 69), McPake, Savoury Subs (not used): Heraghty; Kilday, , Healy Scorers: Thomas (74), Williamson (84) Booked: Longridge (81) Sent Off: none a

Spiders draw a blank League Leaders Queens Park came North in fine form to face Inverness who had also started the new year well. Simon Murray had scored four in his last game against Cove; that's 18 for the season, and Billy Mckay had put three past them the week before. Who would come out on top today? All will be revealed at ten to five. A great afternoon for a game of football saw an even first quarter with half chances at both ends. Calum Ferrie denied Billy Mckay with a great save from a close range header as the hosts forced the pace of the game. Aaron Doran lashed a great opportunity to score on the half hour just wide of the target. Ridgers saved at the back post ten minutes before the break as the visitors began to show more intent. As half time approached the game was now more even. H/T 0-0. Ten minutes after the restart Danny Devine blocked Simon Murray and at the other end Ferrie saved well from Billy Mckay, he would save from Mckay again ten minutes later. Plenty of effort and plenty of half chances, but with 18 goals between them over the last two games, alas this one ends goalless. No major damage done with only Accies winning today, but maybe an opportunity missed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Inverness had new signing, midfielder Ben Woods in the squad and Nathan Shaw returned after injury, but both started on the bench. Daniel Mackay was fit enough to start. Queens had made eight or nine changes to their Championship squad for the midweek Challenge Cup defeat by Raith Rovers, but it was business as usual for the Spiders as they looked to consolidate their lofty position in the Championship. Overall a draw was just about right with both clubs believing they could have won it. Henderson squandered an opportunity off a long ball out from Ridgers missing the opportunity to lob the keeper on the first bounce and there was a massive save from Ferrie to deny a Billy Mckay snap header from six yards. Dan Mackay was also denied by Ferrie with a full length diving save. Aaron Doran flashed a half volley wide from the right side of the box whilst Inverness were on top. Queens Park came back into the game before the break with Simon Murray prominent and Josh McPake was a constant threat on the wing. Davidson might have done better with his header at the back post but Ridgers got across his line to block his weak effort. McPake saw an inviting ball across the box cleared just before the interval. In the second half Ridgers thwarted Murray on a break forward as he shot from the right edge of the box. Ferrie saved with his legs to deny Billy Mckay as he burst into the box at the other end and Danny Devine produced a timely block to deny Queens. Ridgers pulled off another couple of good saves before the comedy moment arrived when Lee Kilday stood on the ball five yards out with the goal at his mercy, Kilday ending up on his arse instead of scoring. Mckay shot high into the keepers gloves from a great position on the edge of the box as play swung back and fore and Kilday produced another ground swallowing moment when he scooped the ball over from eight yards with the goal at his mercy after a defensive lapse. Lewis Nicolson had the final half chance when his volley from twenty yards brought out another fine save from Ferrie. Fitting maybe the last close thing was dealt with by a goalkeeper as both on display were in fine form to deny high scoring strikers at both ends. Like Billy Mckay, Simon Murray is in fine scoring form. Mckay covered every blade of grass and Murray was quick to offload when an opportunity came along. Different style of strikers, but both know where the goals are. Ridgers and Ferrie were imperious and Devine, McPake and Boateng the pick of the rest. All to do again next week in the Scottish Cup at the same venue. From Queens Park TV Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts TABLE AFTER TODAYS GAMES (Dundee v Partick postponed) 1. Queens Park 21 12 4 5 44 27 40 2. Ayr United 21 10 6 5 41 29 36 3. Dundee 20 10 5 5 33 25 35 4. Partick Thistle 21 10 3 8 42 36 33 5. Morton 20 8 6 6 28 22 30 6. Inverness CT 21 8 6 7 30 28 30 7. Raith Rovers 22 8 5 9 28 29 29 8. Cove Rangers 21 5 7 9 30 42 22 9. Arbroath 22 3 9 10 20 36 18 10. Hamilton Ac. 21 3 5 13 17 39 14 Date: 14/01/2023 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 2038 Referee: Steven McLean Inverness CT: 0 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers; Carson, Duffy, Devine, Delaney, Henderson (L Nicolson 83), Welsh, Hyde (Boyd 71), Doran (Woods 71), D Mackay (Shaw 45), B Mckay (Oakley 80) Subs (not used): C Mackay, Strachan, Thompson, Cairns Scorers: none Booked: Delaney (21), Welsh (56) Sent Off: none Queens Park : 0 Manager: Owen Coyle Lineup: Ferrie; Davidson, Kilday, Fox, Robson, Thomas, Thomson, Savoury, Boateng, McPake (Jarrett 67), Murray Subs (not used): Heraghty; Naismith, Longridge, Biggar, Williamson, Healy, Bannon, Eze Scorers: none Booked: Kilday (50) Sent Off: none a

Smokies Smoked Both clubs had big wins in the first games of 2023 and it was Inverness that continued in style with a 4-1 win at Gayfield. Billy Mckay, who scored a hat-trick last week, opened the scoring at the back post in the ninth minute but Ben El-Mhanni levelled fifteen minutes later when he slotted into the bottom corner. Jay Henderson put us ahead just before the break as he lifted a shot high into the net from inside the box. Twenty minutes into the second half Dan Mackay shot into the bottom corner to double our advantage. Substitute Lewis Nicolson concluded the scoring in the 86th minute with a header from sub Steven Boyd's cross. Great win on the road for the Caley Jags that moves us into sixth place in the table, eleven points behind table toppers Queens Park who we face next week. Great start to 2023 for the Caley Jags with two big wins on the bounce. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wallace Duffy returned to the starting XI after suspension and Zak Delaney showed no adverse reaction to continue at left back. Jay Henderson played his second game for the club. No other returnees and Max Ram looks to have been added to the still extensive injury list. Arbroath had four new signings in the squad with Ben El-Mhannie, Balde and Adarkwa all starting. Arbroath got the game underway but it was the visitors that took an early lead. Good work by Lewis Hyde down the right and his low cross saw Dan Mackay take a swipe at the ball. He sclaffed it somewhat but one again it was poacher extraordinaire Billy Mckay who reacted best to get to the ball at the back post to knock it in from less than a yard. Great start for the visitors. Sean Ardarkwa cut in from the left but his curling shot from the edge of the box dipped just over the bar. However the hosts were level when the tidy Yasin Ben El-Mhannie met a low João Baldé cross into the box to slot home from around twelve yards, his first goal for Arbroath after two great assists last week against Dundee. Inverness almost regained the lead immediately but for Thomas O'Brien with a goal line clearance from Billy Mckay. Five minutes before the interval the bustling Ardarkwa shot just wide across the face of Ridgers' goal with the keeper scrambling across his line to cover his far post. Just on the break Jay Henderson opened his Caley Jags account after a corner fell to him around the penalty spot. It appears that his knee made contact with the ball and it lifted into the top of the net above the floundering defenders. Maybe Inverness could consider themselves slightly fortunate to go in ahead at the interval, but thems the breaks. HALF TIME: 1-2 After half time it was encouraging to see Inverness looking to build on their first half advantage. Sean Welsh fired a free kick at Gaston, the keeper gathering the curling ball at the second attempt. Gaston did brilliantly to deny Billy Mckay from six yards after Aaron Doran flashed a low ball into the box from the right side. From the resultant corner, Gaston again did brilliantly to deny Mckay as tried to divert Sean Welsh's header into the net, the keeper clawing the header away from danger. Inverness looked likely to run away with the game early in the second half. Dan Mackay gave us the cushion to do just that as he slotted home a through ball from Welsh after we broke play up in the right midfield area. Unfortunately Mackay was replaced by Lewis Nicolson with fifteen minutes remaining after taking a sore one, hopefully just bruising as hinted at by Billy Dodds after the game. Ben El-Mhannie drilled a shot just the wrong side of the post as Arbroath tried to respond, but it was a bit of too little too late and Aaron Doran did well down the left before drilling a dangerous low cross into the box that was heading for a tap-in before a defender sliced it over his own bar. The last goal was the icing on the cake when substitute Lewis Nicolson nudged a header back across the six yard box and into an unguarded net. Mckay and then Steven Boyd combined to set up the chance which Lewis executed exquisitely, his second goal for the club enjoyed muchly by the 143 away fans at Gayfield. FULL TIME: 1-4 Downside of this win was another injury for Dan Mackay. Great to see Jay Henderson and Lewis Nicolson getting amongst the goals and another for Billy Mckay as he chases Dennis Wyness' scoring record of 102 goals. Billy is now on 91. Arbroath is never an easy place to get a win, never mind a big one, we'll take that. Date: 07/01/2023 Venue: Gayfield, Arbroath Attendance: 1803 Referee: Gavin Duncan Arbroath: 1 Manager: Dick Campbell Lineup: Gaston; Oakley (Linn 67), Bitsindou (Hilson 67), O'Brien, Hamilton, Ben El-Mhanni (Dow 77), Mckenna, Gold (Little 45), Balde, Stewart, Adarkwa Subs (not used): Gill; Hoti, Allan Scorers: El-Mhanni (26) Booked: Gold (35), Hamilton (55) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 4 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers; Carson, Duffy, Devine, Delaney (Strachan 88), D Mackay (A Nicolson 75), Welsh, Hyde, Doran (Boyd 84), Henderson (Thompson 88), B Mckay (Oakley 88) Subs (not used): C Mackay; Cairns Scorers: B Mckay (9) Henderson (45), D Mackay (65), L Nicolson (86) Booked: Devine (16), Duffy (33), Henderson (61), Sent Off: none a

Happy New Year Inverness began 2023 with a crushing win against Cove. Two first half strikes from Billy Mckay and one from Danny Devine countered the opening goal from Jack Sanders. Two quickfire own goals within five minutes of the restart put the hosts 5-1 ahead. Mckay notched his hat-trick from close range as we ran away with the game. Big win to start the year, just what we needed. Jay Henderson started in his first game for the Caley Jags after signing on loan for the rest of the season. Zak Delaney returned after injury but he was the only returnee with a sparse bench, Oakley and Boyd were the only senior outfield players on it with returning loan youngsters. Gilmour and Logan missed out for Cove who had Iain Vigurs on the bench. After a minutes silence for the legend that was Pele, the game got underway on a crisp afternoon in the Highlands. Billy Mckay struck the post in the first minute from twenty yards. Megginson flicked a header just over five minutes later and Longstaff shot over after fifteen minutes as Cove got to grips with the pace of the game. Doran has a shot blocked by McKenzie and Billy Mckay put the rebound just wide. Hyde then saw McKenzie block with his legs as Mckay put him through on goal. Jack Sanders headed in the opener after twenty two minutes. Doran went close soon after, his deflected shot sliding past for a fruitless corner. Just after the half hour Billy Mckay drew Inverness level with a diving header from six yards after a Sean Welsh cross. Danny Devine put Inverness ahead five minutes before the break with a half volley into the bottom corner, Sean Welsh again the provider. A minute before the half time whistle, it was 3-1 when Billy Mckay netted from the spot after hand ball by Jack Sanders. Just after the interval a Dan Mackay shot/cross ended up in the net via Kyle McClelland. It's raining own goals now and Scott Ross was next to put through his own net. Mark Ridgers denied Fraser Fyvie and Luis Longstaff with excellent saves and Dan Mackay went close on the hour. Billy got his hat-trick and Dan Mackay went close to number seven. The three returning youngsters came on for the final ten minutes and more followed as we saw out the game. Who saw that coming??? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Not many saw that result coming, probably not even Billy Dodds but it's a badly needed flying start to 2023. Six goals and a hat-trick for the evergreen Billy Mckay. As much as we have criticised the team on here, surely nobody can have any complaints after that result, our biggest of the season. Good to see Mark Ridgers back between the sticks and Zak Delaney back after injury. Billy Mckay, poacher extraordinaire back to his best. That's his fourth Hat-Trick for the Caley Jags. What's not to like! Happy Days are here again... Hat-Trick Hero... it's my ball All the Goals Date: 02/01/2023 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 2052 Referee: Craig Napier Inverness CT: 6 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers; Carson, Ram (Strachan 85), Devine, Delaney, Doran (Nicolson 81), Welsh, Hyde, D Mackay (Boyd 73), Henderson (Thompson 81), B Mckay (Cairns 81) Subs (not used): C Mackay; L Nicolson, Oakley Scorers: Mckay (32, 44 pen, 64), Devine (40), McClelland (50 og) Ross (52 og) Booked: none Sent Off: none Cove Rangers: 1 Manager: Jim McInally Lineup: McKenzie; Ross, Sanders, Reynolds (McClelland 45), Scully, Longstaff, Yule, McIntosh, Fyvie, McDonagh (Masson 34), Megginson Subs (not used): Gourlay; Towler, Vigurs, Leitch, Dunne Scorers: Sanders (22) Booked: Ross (33), Sanders (44), Scully (69) Sent Off: none a

Xmas Grinch's Inverness went to Glasgow for their pre-Xmas fare looking for three points for their Xmas stocking. In the end we were stuffed like Turkeys and got our chestnuts roasted. We looked like Turkeys in the first half as Partick knocked in two simple goals through Brian Graham and Kyle Turner. Meanwhile Inverness were at sixes and sevens as they tried to stem the flow without success whilst failing to make an attacking contribution to the game. After the interval McKinnon and Muirhead added early goals like the Grinch to completely ruin Xmas for the Highland folk. Doran nicked a consolation but Mullen added a fifth immediately. To add insult to injury, Duffy was red carded, probably too embarrassed to wait until the end. A few more should have walked with him. Embarrassing stuff from Inverness. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Billy Dodds was still without a squad of injured players as we went to Firhill on the Friday before Xmas hoping for a wee present from the West End. Sean Welsh, Zak Delaney and Billy Mckay returned after injury but Danny Devine, Cammy Harper and Nathan Shaw were now missing and only five on the bench including Mark Ridgers who is still on the naughty boy step. Sounds like plenty of work for our new director, alphabet man, to contend with. For Partick, Scott Tiffoney has been out for a couple of months and has been missed as Partick floundered. Still, a strong squad with a full bench for the Maryhill Magyars. Inverness were in their red'nblack away strip for this one as Partick kicked off in a mostly yellow kit. There appeared to be a false dawn following good pressing by the visitors in the opening exchanges but it was Partick that forced the first corner where Brian Graham snatched at his opportunity and hit it wide into the side net at the back post. That was just a warning. Who else but Brian Graham tapped in the opener after an Aiden Fitzpatrick cross picked him out inside the six yard box. All too easy for the big striker. Almost a second from a similar break down the left five minutes later but the defence scrambled it clear. It had been all Partick since the opening five minutes as Inverness failed miserably to build anything whatsoever, totally devoid of any attacking intent. As if by magic, Dan Mackay managed to get a cross into the middle where Billy Mckay spun but his shot from the edge of the box was weak and easily gathered by Sneddon. Dan Mackay was looking our man most likely to succeed with the limited time he was having on the ball, but his moments were fleeting to say the least. The replica second goal came from Kyle Turner after a tremendous diagonal ball from Lawless found Harry Milne whose low cross was turned into the net by Turner five minutes before the interval. HALF TIME: 2-0 Aaron Doran came on at the interval replacing the ineffective Steven Boyd. Mind you, they were all ineffective, or maybe just defective. Max Ram continued where he left off in the first half, in fact he went one better picking out absolutely nobody for a throw in to Partick out of nothing. Men against boys as Partick scored a third after Graham unselfishly knocked down a ball for Cole McKinnon to drill home from fifteen yards. FFS, a fourth followed minutes later after a corner was met early by Muirhead at the near post and planted firmly behind the keeper to surely loosen the shoogly peg holding Dodds' coat. We have been an absolute shambles for seventy minutes here and it will get worse. We got a consolation goal from Aaron Doran but that just angered Partick who went up the park and scored a fifth goal through Danny Mullen moments later. Wallace Duffy saw red when he tugged back a player bursting forward. Just what we needed on top of all our injuries. To be honest it could have been more as we failed to participate in the game. A late goalline clearance denied Partick number six as the game petered out. As it was, that was our heaviest defeat by Partick Thistle who didn't need to be anything other than competent. FULL TIME: 5-1 Match Reaction from Alsy: ICTFC playing like a team assembled from random characters found in the car park 20 minutes before kick off. What’s going on here? From CTO: 5-1 is embarrassing, and now down to 10 men. Something is beyond wrong. It can’t all be blamed on injury and bad luck, surely it is managements job to manage and motivate ???? That’s what’s lacking Here's a cutting assessment from the Immortal Howden Ender Any match report simply has to focus on the 109 supporters who had to suffer this total embarrassment. Even if 10-20% left before the final whistle which in itself is a rarity and basically sums the whole night up. I did stay until the final whistle just to ensure that I had witnessed the worst ICT performance ever. I usually include comments on the tactics and the formation but I couldn’t suss out who was playing where and what their roles were. The main one to confuse me was Carson as he appeared to be just roaming around the midfield area and rarely where the play was taking place. Welsh meanwhile was the man looking for the ball to be played to him but usually lobbed the ball forward to Billy McKay surrounded by four defenders!! It may be cruel but Ridgers is the biggest miss of the lot. MacKay looks to have lost all his confidence and that evidently affects the defence in front of him. And add to that the system of holding a line is unknown as is pressing the ball. Who scouted Barrett who makes Djebi-Zadi look like Carlos Alberto. Duffy was unfortunate to get a red but probably looked at it as a blessing. Billy McKay tried but he simply looks fed up as does Dan. He intermittently held his hamstring and he must have been hoping that it will keep him out for a few weeks. And why were our players slipping so often and why was Oakley kept on the bench and why were there more of a smattering of the kids who apparently did us proud at Hamilton. At least Doran showed glimpses of his old self. I am going to stop as I could go on and on. It is absolutely obvious that Dodds has lost the dressing room and the support. Sure there are injuries but selection and tactics are non existent. We will survive but is that enough? It may cost to get rid of Dodds and his supporters but a deal has to be done sooner than later as the support will surely dwindle. To me seeing fellow supporters and the social aspect is what will keep me going at the moment. At this time of year Dodds is Ebenezer Scrooge and we need a Jacob Marley to haunt him as soon as possible, OR, we will all be stuffed. Merry Christmas to you all - well apart from?? From CTO: I think it's not unreasonable to say that was probably the weakest starting XI the club has ever put on the field (recent Hamilton game aside) and I'm including 3rd division days here. A number of these guys are simply not professional footballers, and these are Dodds' signings. 9-1 on aggregate from our two visits to Firhill this season is quite the statistic yet Gardiner and Co. will do nothing. The club is in terminal decline and we need radical change NOW! Cringe... Date: 23/12/2022 Venue: Firhill, Partick Attendance: 2243 Referee: Peter Stuart Partick Thistle: 5 Manager: Ian McCall Lineup: Sneddon; McMillan (Holt 62), Brownlie, Muirhead, Milne (MacKenzie 68), Turner, Bannigan, McKinnon, Lawless (Mullen 68), Graham (Weston 80), Fitzpatrick (Lyon 79) Subs (not used): Mitchell; Smith, Stanway, Dowds Scorers: Graham (16), Turner (39), McKinnon (53), Muirhead (57), Mullen (74) Booked: none Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 1 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: C Mackay; Barrett, Duffy, Ram, Delaney, Boyd (Doran 45), Welsh, Carson, Hyde (Strachan 80), D Mackay, B Mckay Subs (not used): Ridgers; Bray, Oakley Scorers: Doran (73) Booked: none Sent Off: Duffy (77) a

Banana Skin Avoided A potential banana skin encounter was made all the more plausible given the 2015 Scottish Cup winners permanent injury crisis. Stirling Albion are on a roll at the top end of League Two whilst we are struggling to get players on the park recently. With that in mind we made a late swoop into the transfer market to snap up right back Ryan Barrett on a short term loan until January. He was thrust into the squad for this Scottish Cup game having been training with the squad this week. Dale Carrick scored a first half brace with Wallace Duffy and Max Ram replying for Inverness who only woke up after the opening goal. After the break Aaron Doran restored the hosts lead and we held on to go into the draw for the fourth round. Not pretty, but we got there. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ New loan signing Ryan Barrett was on the bench alongside Dan Mackay who was reappearing after injury. Sean Welsh was given more recovery time. Dale Carrick would spearhead the Binos attack and hot prospect Kai Fotheringham would be one to watch. One change from last week as Harrison Clark comes in to replace Ross Davidson. Robert Thomson returns to the bench after serving his suspension. Cammy Clark remains suspended. After the heavy rain and wind earlier in the week it was a pleasantly calm and mild afternoon for a kick-about. Thirteen goal striker Dale Carrick was prominent early on as he shot wide, but it was a low key start to the game. Kai Fotheringham sliced wide after twenty-five minutes with the hosts not really threatening. A couple of corners for the visitors brought about the opening goal when Carrick bulleted a header high into the net after Fotheringham had chipped a ball into the box. No surprise really given our negative start to the match as we have offered very little so far. Was there a shock on the cards? Maybe not, the lead lasted little more than five minutes as Wallace Duffy levelled the tie from a Nathan Shaw cross with an excellent headed goal of his own, his downward header bouncing high into the net. Fotheringham and Aaron Doran exchanged efforts with Currie called into action to deny Doran before Max Ram put us ahead five minutes before the interval as he shot into the bottom corner from close range assisted by Billy Mckay. We can't hold on to the lead either and Dale Carrick scored his second of the game in stoppage time before the whistle as he slotted the ball past Cammy Mackay from close range after a defensive blunder by the recovering Devine. HALF TIME 2-2 A couple of early second half corners came to nothing for the hosts. Ten minutes after the break the tricky Fotheringham went close again with an effort from outside the box. The Bino's were fancying this one with Inverness not looking particularly threatening. George Oakley replaced Steven Boyd on the hour and Dan Mackay replaced Billy Mckay soon after. His first contribution was a header that went wide, which was more positive than Oakley who conceded a foul inside a minute of entering the park. Inverness retook the lead when Aaron Doran scored from close range with twenty minutes left, Shaw again with the assist as he cut along the byeline before picking out Doran. Mackay saved from Fotheringham, tipping the ball over as Stirling looked to stay in the tie and Harrison Clark had an effort blocked as we struggled to contain the Binos who were forcing their hosts onto the back foot as they gave away more corners. It was going to be a long last ten minutes for the home fans. Ryan Barrett made his debut with ten minutes to go with Max Ram giving way and still we looked fragile as Stirling tried to force an equaliser with Mackay denying Davidson's deflected shot and Carrick. Obligatory booking for David Carson as we clung on to what we had. And we just got over the line... MotM for Inverness was Nathan Shaw once more with Cammy Mackay also ensuring we went into the hat for the 4th round draw. Date: 26/11/2022 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 738 Referee: Dan McFarlane Inverness CT: 3 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: C Mackay; Duffy, Ram (Barrett 81), Devine, Harper, Shaw, Carson, Hyde, Doran, Boyd (Oakley 60), B Mckay (D Mackay 64) Subs (not used): Ridgers; Strachan, Cal Mackay, Nicolson Scorers: Duffy (32), Ram (40), Doran (69) Booked: Ram (71), Carson (87), Harper (90+2) Sent Off: none Stirling Albion: 2 Manager: Darren Young Lineup: Currie; McGeachie, McLean, McGregor, H Clark (Cooper 82), Dunsmore, Leitch (Moore 72), Banner (Davidson 22), Denholm (Thomson 72), Carrick, Fotheringham Subs (not used): Law; Burns Scorers: Carrick (27, 45+1) Booked: Davidson (88) Sent Off: none a

Shaw shank redemption Nathan Shaw earned Inverness an unlikely point as he scored his second of the game with three minutes left. That levelled the score after Dipo Akinyemi had put leaders Ayr United ahead with his 14th goal of the season less than ten minutes from the end. Shaw had given the hosts an early lead which they held until the 66th minute when Mark McKenzie bundled into the net from close range. This was a better point for Inverness who still had nine players missing although Danny Devine came into the back four before going off after being injured with fifteen minutes remaining. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ayr came out of the blocks quickly and had a couple of early half chances through Daire O'Connor and Dipo Akinyemi, Cammy Mackay saving the first well and Dipo heading over from the resulting corner. However, it was Inverness that got off to the perfect start when Nathan Shaw put them ahead in the sixth minute firing home from the heart of the box into the bottom corner after stepping round the keeper. It started with a long ball forward from Danny Devine which possibly got a flick on before Shaw controlled and beat the keeper brilliantly. David Carson shot over and Sam Ashford brought Cammy Mackay into action once more saving his effort from distance. After half an hour Akinyemi saw Mackay save his header as Ayr looked to get back on level terms. Before the break Nick McAllister also had a header saved by Mackay who was looking assured in the hosts goal. Just before the interval a game changer for Ayr as Logan Chalmers was met with the obligatory boos as he replaced the injured O'Connor. HALF TIME: 1-0 The introduction of Chalmers was the boost Ayr had been looking for as he relished the chance to have a go at his former team mates. He continued from where he left us with his shoot on site policy and his intentions were there for all to see as Mackay stopped his first shot five minutes after the interval. Akinyemi dragged a shot wide but at the other end Aaron Doran went closer when his shot from around twenty-five yards hit the top of the crossbar with the keeper beaten and went behind. Chalmers again went close when he tried to find the top corner and just when Inverness looked to be getting up to speed in the second half Ayr United equalised when Mark McKenzie knocked in from close range after good work by Chalmers. Danny Devine seemed to take a knock and was replaced by Lewis Hyde with fifteen minutes remaining which disrupted our defence again. Steven Boyd and Akinyemi exchanged misses, but Akinyemi would get another chance immediately which he buried into the back of the net. Good strike from the powerful front man to give United the lead with around ten minutes left. George Oakley came on for one final push as we looked to salvage a point and was instrumental in the assist for Nathan Shaw to shoot early across the keeper into the corner with three minutes plus remaining. Still time for Chalmers to be denied once more by Cammy Mackay and that was the last effort in a decent game where we deserved our point. FULL TIME: 2-2 Well done to Nathan Shaw who had said ahead of the game he was looking forward to it. He has been one of the more positive players in recent weeks. Cammy Mackay did well and denied Ayr a winner at the end and Danny Devine was a welcome returnee after weeks out until he was replaced towards the end after taking cramp. Given our circumstances many would have bitten your hand off for a point before the game started. Ayr's goals were possibly avoidable, but in Akinyemi they have the top scorer in the league and he doesn't need a second invitation. There's him, complete with croakey voice... From BBC Sport Inverness Caledonian Thistle head coach Billy Dodds: "It was a collective but there were some good individual performances. "I was delighted with the spirit and the quality. We had to ride our luck at times in the second-half. I thought we deserved more out of the game but we'll take a point." Ayr United manager Lee Bullen: "I think there were spells where both teams felt they weren't going to get anything out of it. "When you go 2-1 up with six, seven, eight minutes to go you hope to see it out. But it didn't happen that way. To be honest with you, it would have been harsh on Inverness." Date: 19/11/2022 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 2066 Referee: Grant Irvine Inverness CT: 2 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: C Mackay; Duffy, Ram, Devine (Hyde 76), Harper, Shaw, Carson, Welsh, Doran, Boyd (Oakley 84), Mckay Subs (not used): Ridgers; Strachan, Nicolson, Calum Mackay Scorers: Shaw (6, 87) Booked: none Sent Off: none Ayr United: 2 Manager: Lee Bullen Lineup: Albinson; McAllister, Kirk (Ecrepont 90+3), McGinty, Reading, Dempsey, Murdoch, Ashford (McKenzie 61), Mullin (Young 61), Akinyemi, O'Connor (Chalmers 44)) Subs (not used): McAdams; Bilham, Bangala, Bryden, Smith Scorers: McKenzie (66), Akinyemi (82) Booked: McAllister (78) Sent Off: none a