Celtic - Preview

Caley Thistle will be hoping to record their first ever (league) win against Celtic this weekend at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium. In 6 league meetings so far, Caley Thistle have only managed a single draw (18/12/05) with Celtic winning all the other games. Gordon Strachan will be in the stand for this game, serving the first of a two match touchline ban.

  ICT V CELTIC 

Date: 20.08.2006 at 14:00 Tickets: This game is all-ticket. TV-info: LIVE on Setanta Sports at 1.30pm. Highlights available on ITV1 Scotsport SPL at 11pm on Monday evening. DETAILS Inverness CT v Celtic Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, Sunday 20th August at 2pmSPL Referee: Craig Thomson Others: Gordon Middleton, Steven Craven (Assistants), David Somers (4th official). FIXTURES Saturday 19th August: Dundee Utd v Dunfermline (3pm) Falkirk v Kilmarnock (3pm) Hibernian v Motherwell (3pm) Rangers v Hearts (3pm) St Mirren v Aberdeen (Setanta, 12:30pm) Sunday 20th August: INVERNESS CT V CELTIC (Setanta, 2pm) SPL ROUND-UP Only 6 goals were scored in 3 games in the SPL last weekend with the other 3 goalless. Inverness CT v Hibernian, Hearts v Falkirk and Kilmarnock v Dundee Utd all ended with no score. Although Lee Miller was sent off for Dundee Utd, Kilmarnock couldn’t take advantage of the extra man. St Mirren lost their 100% winning start at Celtic Park as they went down 2-0. Goals from McManus and Petrov gave Celtic the deserved three points. Aberdeen beat Motherwell at Motherwell thanks to a Darren Mackie double. The surprise of the weekend came on Sunday when Rangers failed to impress anyone as they stumbled to a 1-1 draw away to Dunfermline. Buffel’s opener was quickly cancelled out by Morrison. The Pars deserved their point at least. Hearts and Falkirk lead the table with 7pts after 3 games and Motherwell are rock bottom with still no points. RECENT SPL FORM Inverness CT: LDD Celtic: WLW PAST MEETINGS The teams have played a total of 9 times (6 League, 3 Cup) with 28 goals (10 Inverness CT, 18 Celtic) between them. Inverness CT: 2 wins (0 League, 2 Cup) Draws: 1 (1 League, 0 Cup) Celtic: 6 wins (5 League, 1 Cup) A GAME TO REMEMBER For this weeks game to remember we take you back to one of the biggest cup shocks of all time. After Inverness CT won 3-1 at Celtic Park, nobody thought the achievement could be repeated on the 23rd March 2003 in the Scottish Cup Quarter-final. This was due to a much stronger Celtic now with Martin O’Neill in charge had just reached the UEFA Cup Semi-Finals. But nobody told Inverness CT this as there defending was rock solid throughout. Mark Brown was solid in goals as was the whole defence especially McCaffrey who man-marked Henrik Larsson out of the game. The whole team were playing really well and when Dennis Wyness was on hand to slot Richie Harts cross into the net, people across the world were wondering, could Caley go ballistic again? After heavy pressure by Celtic in the second half, they held out deservedly and marched onto their first every Scottish Cup Semi-final where Dundee would wait at Hampden. The attendance on the day was 6050 and the man of the match was Mark Brown. The teams were as follows: INVERNESS CT: Brown, McCaffrey, Munro, Mann, Golabek, Tokely, Hart, McBain, Robson, Wyness, Ritchie. Subs- Christie (for Robson), Keogh (for Ritchie), Stewart, Bagan, Fraser. CELTIC: Sanchez Broto, Valgaeren, Varga, Laursen, Smith, Lennon, McNamara, Fernandez, Guppy, Maloney, Larsson. Subs- Hartson (for Maloney), Douglas, Balde, Healy, Miller. The referee was Alan Freeland and there were three bookings on the day: Hart (Inverness CT), Lennon and McNamara (Celtic). Eight of the Inverness players who started the match still play for the club. Only Bobby Mann, Barry Robson and Paul Ritchie have left the club. All three play in different divisions. FACTS BETWEEN THE TEAMS • All League meetings between the teams have taken place in the SPL. • Inverness CT have never won a league match against Celtic. • John Hartson is the top scorer in the fixture with 7 goals. Dennis Wyness is the top scorer for Inverness CT with 3 goals. • The last meeting was on 22/3/2006. Celtic won 2-1 in the midweek fixture. The attendance was 57451. McManus and Maloney scored for Celtic as Hart could only get a consolation for Inverness CT. TOP SCORERS 7 goals: John Hartson (Celtic) 3 goals: Dennis Wyness (ICT) 2 goals: Barry Wilson (ICT), Craig Beattie (Celtic), Alan Thompson (Celtic), Shaun Maloney (Celtic) 1 goal: Sheerin, Ritchie, Moravcik (own goal), Dargo Hart (all ICT), Burchill, Petrov, Sutton, Bellamy, McManus (all Celtic). PLAYERS TO WATCH Dennis Wyness (Inverness CT): Wyness signed again for the club during the summer after a successful loan spell last season. Dennis has not scored in 11 games and there is no better team to break the duck against. His last goal was at Tannadice in February. If Wyness doesn’t start scoring soon, Graham Bayne may well be due a starting place. However Wyness is a player capable of scoring goals in the SPL and I have every confidence he will start scoring again very soon. He is the top scorer for Inverness CT in this fixture. Kenny Miller (Celtic): The ex-Hibernian, Wolves and Rangers player has yet to score for his new club since joining for free in the summer. He made a brave decision in moving back to Glasgow on the other side of the Old Firm but he believes he was right. The Scotland forward is a Bayne-like player who doesn’t just score goals but can cause trouble for the opposition defence and can unsettle them. He is the sort of player I think that once he scores one, he will score for fun, just like Craig Dargo. As long as he doesn’t start this weekend I will be happy. FUTURE FIXTURES 18th Nov 2006 at Parkhead 28th Jan 2007 at Tulloch Caledonian Stadium