ICT V Motherwell - Preview

DETAILS Inverness CT v Motherwell Tulloch Caledonian Stadium Saturday 2nd December at 3pm SPL Referee: Eddie Smith Others: Keith Sorbie, Mark Doyle (Assistants), Anthony Law (4th official)

Tickets: Cash gates available on the day for north/south stands. Main stand all ticket. TV-info: LIVE commentary on BBC Radio Scotland. Highlights on Monday on Scotsport SPL. FIXTURES Saturday 2nd December: Celtic v Aberdeen Hibernian v Dundee Utd Inverness CT v Motherwell Kilmarnock v Dunfermline St Mirren v Hearts Sunday 3rd December: Falkirk v Rangers (Setanta, 2pm) SPL RESULTS Saturday 25th November: Dunfermline 0-3 Aberdeen (Mackie 2, Miller) Inverness CT 0-0 Hearts Motherwell (Foran 2, McDonald (5000th spl goal), Elliot) 4-2 Falkirk (Stokes, Latapy) Sunday 26th November: Dundee Utd (Hunt) 1-0 St Mirren Hibernian (Sproule, Thomson) 2-2 Celtic (Sno, McGeady) Rangers (Adam, Prso, Boyd) 3-0 Kilmarnock RECENT SPL FORM Inverness CT: DLLDD Motherwell: WLLDD PAST MEETINGS The teams have played a total of 12 times (8 League, 4 Cup) with 28 goals (16 Inverness CT, 12 Motherwell) between them. Inverness CT: 6 wins (5 League, 1 Cup) Draws: 2 (1 League, 1 Cup(won by well on penalties)) Motherwell: 4 wins (2 League, 2 Cup) A GAME TO REMEMBER For this weeks game to remember we take you back another one of Inverness’s great cup killing shocks. On the 6th March 2004 in the Scottish Cup Quarter finals, Inverness CT were drawn away to Motherwell. Inverness were going strong in the league and we full of confidence heading to Fir Park. What we didn’t know was that Barry Wilson was to score a wonder goal. Both teams started the game well but after 10 mins, Inverness took the lead thanks to goal of the season by Wilson. Barry received the ball 35 yards+ from goal and he chested it and striked a half volley that dipped over Marshall. By far goal of the round. Motherwell never really got going throughout the match and Inverness CT had a few chances to finish the tie in the second half but they eventually held out to reach the semi-finals for the first ever time in their history. The look on Barry’s face at the end of the game showed how much it meant to him as he was delighted. The attendance was 7930. The teams were as follows: INVERNESS CT: Brown, Tokely, Mann, McCaffrey, Golabek, McBain, Duncan, Thomson, Wilson, Ritchie, Keogh. Subs- Munro (for Thomson), Proctor (for Ritchie), Fraser, Hart, McMillan. MOTHERWELL: Marshall, Quinn, Corrigan, Craigan, Hammell, Lasley, Adams, Fagan, Burns, McDonald, Clarkson. Subs- O’Donnell (for Fagan), Wright (for Clarkson), Corr, K.McDonald, Kinniburgh. The referee was Kenny Clark and there were NO bookings on the day. Eight of the Inverness players who started the match still play for the club. FACTS BETWEEN THE TEAMS • All League meetings between the teams have taken place in the SPL. • Only twice has a team scored 3 or more goals in this fixture and both teams have had the joy. Inverness CT were the latest in the last fixture winning 4-1 away at Fir Park. • In games between the two teams, not a lot of goals have been scored so don’t expect a goal fest this weekend, but if the last game is anything to go by, we may see a few goals. OVERVIEW This is a big match for both teams. Motherwell bounced back last week after getting hammered 6-1 by Hibs the week before. They beat Falkirk 4-2 after another high scoring game. Motherwell are putting in a mixture of different performances and know that they need to get a run of victories to ease any relegation worries. Scott McDonald managed to score the 5000th SPL goal last week which will give him confidence. They have had 16 bookings in their last 6 games but no player has scored in two consecutive games in these 6 games. Inverness CT have not won since they beat Falkirk 3-2 at home on the 21st October. This sounds like a worrying statistic but Inverness are still in a contention for a top six and to be fair, their fixtures in November (Aberdeen, Hibs, Celtic and Hearts) were very tough. Christie will be looking for his players to turn some draws into wins in December with a decent set of fixtures against teams around about them. Inverness CT haven’t scored in 283 minutes of football and they will be looking to end this early in the match on Saturday. They have had 24 bookings in their last 12 games and one red card. I don’t think Christie cares who scores on Saturday, as long as somebody does and it gives the Highlanders the three points. FUTURE FIXTURES 17th Feb 2007 at Fir Park Squad: Mark Brown, Jonathon Smith, Michael Fraser, Darren Dods, Stuart Soane, Ross Tokely, Guy Kerr, Richard Hastings, Stuart McCaffrey, Stuart Golabek, Grant Munro, John Rankin, Ian Black, Roy McBain, Zander Sutherland, Alan Morgan, Richie Hart, Barry Wilson, Russell Duncan, Craig Dargo, Rory McAllister, Dennis Wyness, Graham Bayne Injured: Gary McSwegan (ankle) Liam Keogh (doubtful) Suspended: Nobody.