ICT V Celtic - Preview

DETAILS

• Tulloch Caledonian Stadium
• Sunday 25th February at 12.30pm
• Tennents Scottish Cup Quarter-Final
• Referee: Douglas McDonald
• Others: George Drummond, Steve Pullar (Assistants), Alan Freeland (4th official).
• Tickets: This match is an all-ticket affair.
• TV-info: Live coverage of the match is on Sky Sports 1 or live commentary on BBC Radio Scotland.

QUARTER-FINALS Saturday 24th February: Dunfermline 2-0 Partick Queen of the South 1-2 Hibernian Sunday 25th February: Inverness CT v Celtic (Sky Sports, 12:30pm) Wednesday 28th February: Motherwell v St Johnstone (BBC, 8:05pm) HOW THE SCOTTISH CUP TEAMS FAIRED LAST WEEKEND Saturday 17th February: Dunfermline 1-1 Kilmarnock Livingston 0-1 Partick Thistle Airdrie 0-3 Queen of the South Dundee Utd 0-0 Hibernian Aberdeen 1-2 Celtic Motherwell 1-0 Inverness CT St Johnstone 4-2 Hamilton So out of the 8 quarter finalists of the Scottish Cup, only 1 team lost last weekend (sadly it was Inverness CT), 5 teams won and 2 teams drew. PAST MEETINGS The teams have played a total of 12 times (9 League, 3 Cup) with 36 goals (12 Inverness CT, 23 Celtic) between them. Inverness CT: 2 wins (0 League, 2 Cup) Draws: 2 (2 League, 0 Cup) Celtic: 8 wins (7 League, 1 Cup) THE TWO FAMOUS NIGHTS 08/02/2000 (Scottish Cup 3rd Round) Celtic 1-3 INVERNESS CT: This game will always be remembered for all Inverness fans as this is regarded as the biggest result of Caley Thistle’s history so far. The original game was postponed due to apart of the roof falling off. In 16 minutes Barry Wilson headed in Paul Sheerin’s cross to the home fans shock. Mark Burchill scored a minute later but Bobby Mann restored the lead (some people say it was an own goal, but I call it Bobby’s goal!!). 10 minutes into the second half Paul Sheerin slotted home a penalty to the travelling fans delight. Steve Patterson was quoted as saying- “I think this is the moment Inverness arrived in Scottish football”. It sure was with the headline from the Sun reading “Super Caley Go Ballistic, Celtic Are Atrocious!!!!!!!”. The team for Inverness was as follows- Calder, Teasdale, Golabek, Mann, McCulloch, Hastings, Sheerin, Tokely (Byers 89), Wilson (Glancy 87), Christie and Wyness (Bavidge 79). 23/03/2003 (Scottish Cup Quarter-Final) INVERNESS CT 1-0 Celtic: Was lighting going to strike twice? It certainly was as even though Celtic had just beaten Liverpool, Inverness always believed they could do it. Even Bobby Mann mentioned before the game that he thought there would be another Highland Fling!! The only goal of the game was when Richie Hart pulled the ball across for Dennis Wyness to slot home. The second half seemed to last a life-time but eventually John Robertson had copied the heights of Steve Patterson. Two people’s performances I want to mention are Stuart McCaffrey for marking Larsson sensationally well and Mark Brown for making good saves and getting the Man of the Match. 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. • Inverness CT have only lost twice to Celtic at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium in the 5 matches played in Inverness. Inverness have won 1, drawn the last 2 and lost 2. • This fixture produces an average of 3 goals per game. 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), Vennegor of Hesselink (Celtic) 1 goal: Sheerin, Ritchie, Moravcik (own goal), Dargo Hart, Munro, Bayne (all ICT), Burchill, Petrov, Sutton, Dods (own goal), Bellamy, Jarosik, McManus, Pearson, Riordan (all Celtic), AN EXCITING WEEKEND With 3 non SPL teams still in the competition, the quarter-finals could through up a few more surprises. However, we could end up with 4 SPL teams in the semi-final, but that’s not going to happen, is it?? Firstly, on Saturday, 2 ties are taking place and both could produce shocks. Dunfermline, a team that just can’t find the net in the SPL have already knocked out Rangers and last year’s champions Hearts, and so will be looking to progress to the semi-finals at the expense of Partick Thistle. Both teams have already got experience of Scottish Cup semi-finals since the year 2000 so both are keen for a return to Hampden. I think Dunfermline will progress by the odd goal. At a packed Palmerston Park, Queen of the South will be looking to knock out one of the tournament favourites, Hibernian. If Celtic do get knocked out this weekend, Hibernian will become favourites to lift the cup and with already a CIS-cup final to look forward to, John Collins would be delighted to reach 2 cup finals in his first season in charge. However, Queen of the South will believe that having home advantage can help them produce a shock. I think this may well end in a draw, but Hibs again might just snatch a victory. On Sunday, live on sky sports, it is no doubt the tie of the round when Inverness CT take on Celtic for the 3rd time in this competition, and Celtic are still looking to progress at the expense of the Highlanders. In 2000 and 2003, Inverness produced 2 famous nights by beating Celtic 3-1 and 1-0 respectively. Inverness have never beaten Celtic in the league since their arrival in the SPL however the cup always has a different story, and Inverness will be looking to prove that lighting does strike 3 times!! Both teams didn’t want this tie but this is going to be an exciting match, due to the history these 2 have in the Scottish Cup. Will Caley go Ballistic again? St Johnstone have been impressive in the cups this year, after reaching the CIS-cup semi-final and just losing to Hibernian. Motherwell will have to be careful after St Johnstone knocked out Falkirk in the last round 3-0!! Owen Coyle’s side have already knocked out Dundee United and Rangers in the CIS Cup and will be looking to add Motherwell to their SPL scalps this season. Malpas will have his squad ready for this difficult tie but I believe a draw is on the cards for this game. Squad: Ally Ridgers, Jonathon Smith, Michael Fraser, Darren Dods, Stuart Soane, Ross Tokely, Guy Kerr, Richard Hastings, Stuart McCaffrey, Grant Munro, John Rankin, Ian Black, Roy McBain, Zander Sutherland, Richie Hart, Barry Wilson, Russell Duncan, Gary McSwegan, Rory McAllister, Graham Bayne Injured: Dennis Wyness (dislocated shoulder- out for season) Craig Dargo (dislocated shoulder) Alan Morgan (struggling to be fit) Suspended: Markus Paatelainen (cup-tied)