Easter Road, Leith, on a bleak midwinter night is not the ideal evening out, but Inverness will be doing just that on Wednesday night as they face fellow strugglers Hibernian in another six-pointer.

Back to back wins are not so common this season and Inverness will be looking to break the mould and keep their distance from the sleeping Edinburgh giants after overcoming Aberdeen on Xmas Eve in a gruelling encounter played out in the teeth of a storm.

Inverness have gradually eased themselves away from the foot of the table and sit four points ahead of the bottom pair of Dunfermline and Hibs. Both of these clubs have a game in hand but it is getting rather congested down there as Aberdeen are still inconsistent enough to warrant a place just above Inverness and are still in the mix for the drop as we type.

Alternative Maryhill has been busy on the train home and has conjured up his own pantomime to add some festive cheer to the dark depressing nights ahead...........read on and enjoy

Curtain Call for Caley Jags

Hibernian FC is renowned as the club of choice for some of Scotland’s most eminent contributors to the arts: Irvine Welsh, Fish and Pat Nevin, to name but three. Perhaps the greatest of them all, however, is Grant Stott, a true giant of light entertainment thanks to much-loved TV shows such as Scotsport, Fully Booked and Wemyss Bay 90210. Grant, sadly, will miss tomorrow’s match as he is starring as Gobina McPhlegm, arch-villain in the King’s Theatre production of Cinderella. If he had time to stop and reflect, however, Grant would realise that a remarkably similar story is unfolding down Leith way...

Easter Road Stadium on a cold winter’s night. A single floodlight illuminates the centre circle. Enter CinderFenlon, dressed in green and white rags and playing a mournful version of ‘Sunshine on Leith’ on a tin whistle.

CinderFenlon (stops playing and tearfully addresses the empty stands😞 Oh, if only I could go to the Season 2012-13 SPL ball. I’ve been here a month and all I’ve done is try to clean things up, but there still seems to be sh*te everywhere I look.

Pow! There is a puff of green smoke and Eoin Doyle appears, clad in a sparkly emerald mini-dress.

Eoin Doyle: CinderFenlon, you SHALL go to the SPL Season 2012-13 ball!

CinderFenlon: Who are you?

Eoin Doyle: I’m your fairy godmother. You signed me from Sligo Rovers.

CinderFenlon: So I did... hang on, though, aren’t you ineligible until the transfer window opens?

Doyle/Godmother: Feck it. I’ve come in early again. Oh well, you’ll just have to rely on Griffiths and O’Connor.

CinderFenlon: Ah Jaysis. Griffiths’ loan spell is almost up – he’s going back to Wolves next month. And O’Connor’s injured again ... I think the fecker must have glass feet or something.

Doyle/Godmother: Sorry Cinders – you’re on your own then.

CinderFenlon: Some fairy godmother you are. Could you not at least turn a couple of pumpkins into players for me?

Doyle/Godmother: It’s already been tried. Didn’t work. Where do you think Paul Hanlon and Danny Galbraith came from?

And with that, Doyle/Godmother vanishes in another puff of green smoke and CinderFenlon sinks to his haunches in the centre circle, head bowed, fingering his tin whistle. As the light on him dims, two more floodlights come up on opposite corners of the far end of the ground. There is a panic-stricken cry of ‘Behind You!’ from the Hibs Coaching Staff on the sidelines, but CinderFenlon is so absorbed in his own misery that he does not hear, and so does not notice, as the Pantomime Horse and the Ugly Sisters enter from either side of the far end of the field and come to halt facing each other in front of the Famous Five Stand goal. The Pantomime Horse is first to speak: the nasal voice coming through its neck-grille is immediately recognisable as that of Derek Adams.

Pantomime Horse / Adams: Agent Scott. Agent Brown. Half a season down, and all is going to plan. I am delighted with your work.

The light comes up fully on the Ugly Sisters, revealing the hellish features of Martin ‘Jimmy’ Scott and Mark Brown.

Sisters Scott and Brown (in unison😞 Thank You, Master. We are keeping our side of the bargain. Hibernian are joint bottom, with two more games against Dunfermline still to come. However, how can we be sure, O Master, that you will honour your part of the agreement? You are, after all, the living embodiment of evil...

Pantomime Horse / Adams: Don’t worry, Jimmy. You will always be a hero to our supporters; moreover, as someone given to assaulting his own team-mates, you are clearly a man from the same mould as me. Your transfer back north is assured, as soon as we replace Hibs in the SPL. And Mark, fear not: as you are an ex-ICT player, we are required by law to sign you for Ross County. Just make sure Hibs keep losing. (From the sidelines, the Hibs Coaching Staff shout ‘Boooo! Hiss!’ for all they are worth. The villains pay no attention.)

Sisters Scott and Brown (in unison😞 We hear and obey.

Pantomime Horse / Adams: Splendid. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to get back to Dingwall, and out of this suit. Iain Vigurs is playing my hind quarters tonight, and I’m getting sick of having his head stuck up my arse... (Pantomime Horse / Adams / Vigurs turns and exits stage left; the Ugly Sisters exit stage right.)

Will CinderFenlon ever go to the SPL Season 2012-13 ball, or will diabolical horse Adams and his hideous inside agents Scott and Brown triumph and send Hibernian FC into the fizzy-pop league? Tune in again in May and find out...

So much for the Easter Road pantomime. Up in Inverness, meanwhile, Caley Thistle have managed to cover the whole spectrum of theatrical genres this season: tragedy, comedy, farce, mystery... and that was just the Dundee United home game. Having taken the season’s habit of losing beautifully to new heights at Ibrox the following weekend, however, last Saturday ICT finally rediscovered the habit of winning ugly when they beat Aberdeen 2-1. Before kick off the signs weren’t encouraging: our bogey team had hit a bit of form, strong winds and rain ensured that flowing football would be impossible, and suspensions and late injury call-offs meant that a central defence and midfield that have already swapped partners more frequently than the Krankies this season would again have to bed in new combinations. Yet in spite of this, a Caley Thistle team inspired by Roman Golabart and David Davis ground out a difficult win to take the Inverness club four points ahead of Dunfermline and next opponents Hibernian and leave the ICT supporters wondering if a corner has finally been turned. One thing that this game and the Rangers game that preceded it reassured the supporters of was that this ICT team, for all its fragility, is absolutely unified and committed to the cause, something that Hibernian supporters have been unable to claim of their players this season. Managing to chalk up consecutive wins for the first time this season would surely represent the overcoming of a big psychological hurdle for the Inverness players; yet Hibs’ supporters will feel that Pat Fenlon must sooner or later get his first win as Hibernian manager and will see playing Caley Thistle, a team against which they have a strong home record, as a great opportunity to do so.

Assuming, that is, that they are even aware that their team is playing ICT. Clearly the perception of Hibs as ‘big team’, ICT as ‘diddy club’ is still strong. Over on ‘hibeesbounce.com’ there are several threads already in existence about the Edinburgh derby on January 2^nd but none on the ICT fixture tomorrow night, and if Terry Butcher’s players need any more motivation than putting seven points between them and Pat Fenlon’s side in order to beat Hibs, then all they need to do is witness the presumption of Hibernian supporters such as ‘jimmyhibs’ who dismisses the game with the line, ‘Of course, we still have to see to ICT. Which I believe we will.’ Cheers, Jimmy. I hope your words come back and choke you.

Team News

For tomorrow’s game, ICT will be without long-term injury victims Owain Tudur-Jones, Chris Hogg and David Proctor; Aaron Doran was on the bench against Aberdeen, hopefully signifying a return to full fitness, while Josh Meekings should hopefully be fit enough to be considered for selection. The biggest questions marks are over Ross Tokely and Andrew Shinnie, both key players so far this season, who missed the Aberdeen game with calf injuries. Terry Butcher has been quoted as saying that he will ‘give them every chance’, but with the game against St Johnstone coming only five days after this one, he may not risk returning them too early. Although Kenny Gillet lacked a little presence in the centre of defence on Saturday, Butcher may well be happy to stick with a winning team: I would expect the formation utilised in the Rangers and Aberdeen games, with Foran in a deeper role, Tade playing wide left and Billy Mackay playing as a lone striker, to be retained against Hibs.

Hibs cannot really point to injuries as a significant factor in their poor form this season: rather, there seems to have been a failure of the personnel, many impressive-looking as individuals, to gel into a team. The squad is close to full strength for tomorrow’s game: Isaiah Osbourne is the only certain absentee, but Caley Thistle could be given a boost if Garry O’Connor, absent from the Dundee United game with a bruised toe, is again missing. With new signing Eoin Doyle still ineligible, the talented but unpredictable Leigh Griffiths is almost certain to start up front, but beyond that this team is anyone’s guess. Pat Fenlon has tinkered with the system, but it seems that players who quite recently looked like great prospects, such as David Wotherspoon, Calum Booth, Lewis Stevenson and Danny Galbraith, are simply not playing to their potential. After their recent defeat to Dundee United, Pat Fenlon admitted that the players did not look fit enough: hopefully Terry Buthcer will have taken note of this and will encourage the likes of Hayes, Davis and Tade to run the legs off the Hibs players.

Prediction

Strong winds are once again forecast for tomorrow night, and these could play a part in influencing the game’s outcome, but Caley Thistle proved on Saturday that they could cope with difficult conditions. Moreover, although the team has still to notch up consecutive wins, there is no denying the fact that they have notched up consecutive great performances in the past eleven days, and this should be boost to their confidence. By contrast, Hibs have lost four league games on the bounce and haven’t won in seven, and the team looks shot of confidence and lacking in direction. Hopefully I won’t put a jinx on them by doing so, but I am predicting an ICT win and a resounding curtain call in front of the travelling support at the end of an interesting but difficult year.

Hibernian 1 – Inverness Caledonian Thistle 2

It beats Xmas shopping (hopefully)

Aberdeen call early on Xmas Eve for a 12:30 kick off at Tulloch Caledonian Stadium for a Xmas cracker as the festive events get under way.

The SPL are offering all clubs an early Christmas present in the shape of standing areas at all grounds. I thought we already had that; especially when the Old Firm are in town as the entire away support stand for the full ninety minutes in the South Stand with police and stewards looking on admiringly. Merry Xmas!

Terry Butcher was left bemused once more as his Inverness side gave Champions Rangers a doing at Ibrox and still came away pointless after an enthralling encounter ended 2-1 for the Glasgow giants. "We don't get penalties" was the cry after referee Bobby Madden waived away two big shouts for spot-kicks in favour of the visitors. That's twenty games without a penalty he mused. Despite going down at Ibrox, Butcher can be proud of the whole teams efforts as they took the game to Rangers after going behind only to be denied inside the last ten minutes by a Lafferty sucker punch. But that was not before McKay missed an open goal and struck one straight at McGregor, Foran had a header agonisingly chalked off for offside and Jonny Hayes burst through the Rangers defence only for his stabbed effort to be miraculously cleared off the line by Lee Wallace with no margin for error. It was a great attempt by the Inverness lads to change the rules as they had Rangers on the ropes for long spells, and this with eight players out of the squad and playing first choice left back in the right back position, a role Gillet performed rather well as did Graeme Shinnie his deputy at left back. Young Spaniard Roman Golobart showed his talents at Ibrox as he contained the threat of Jelavic for most of the game; ole! But plaudits are no consolation when it's points that we need, so it's onwards we have to look for the next game.

This was a much improved performance from the United game where our Jekyll & Hyde characters overshadowed our Superman traits, and more performances like this will surely be enough to maintain our SPL status long enough to see the advent of the standing section.

Craig Brown has managed to get a mini-revival going at Pittodrie as the Dons have taken seven points from a possible nine in their last three games to ease them away from the foot of the table. A hard fought draw with St Mirren was followed by a comfortable away win at Perth and last weeks 1-0 win over fellow strugglers Hibernian. These points are borne out of desperation and the need to get off the foot of the table, but it shows how quickly your fortunes can change with a couple of back-to-back wins, something we should have completed with the United game, unfortunately we blew that chance to edge further away from the bottom and are paying the price for it. Aberdeen's win over Hibs was not without controversy, the sending off of young star Peter Pawlett for a tackle that was not a tackle if you know what I mean. He slid in to block a clearance by Lewis Stevenson and as the Hibs player rode the tackle, the linesman flagged for the referee to red-card Pawlett, a decision the Dons will contest. Pawlett was the centre of attention in this game as it was he who gained the penalty that led to Scott Vernon scoring the winner, going down rather easily under a challenge from Ivan Sproule.

Scott Vernon has scored three of Aberdeen's goals in the revival and will be a threat to our under fire defence which as reported last week will be without the unfortunate Chris Hogg for the season. What we did see at Ibrox though, was the quality of Roman Golobart alongside Ross Tokely, a pairing that will need to gel quickly as they would appear to be our last realistic options for centre back. It has been well documented that we have not kept a clean sheet all season and the statistic of 38 goals lost in 19 games is exactly 2 goals per game. That was not for the want of trying at Ibrox though as Ryan Esson pulled off a magnificent diving save (think Gordon Banks) to deny Whittaker in the first half. Our defence on the day also played well to a man and hopefully a clean sheet would be a welcome early Xmas present for Butcher and the fans. Dunfermline are now the team with the worst goal difference stat at minus 20, compared to Hibs and ourselves at minus 13.

Anoraks Corner:- Since Inverness joined Scotland's elite in the SPL in season 2004/2005 the sides have met twenty times on league business, and twice on cup duty, the Dons winning both cup games. It took Inverness fifteen competitive games to get the better of Aberdeen and they did it in style with two collectors items in that game, an Andy Barrowman goal and a Roy McBain goal in a 2-0 win at Pittodrie in August 2008. A new era perhaps for football in Inverness? Not so as Barrowman flopped and Inverness were relegated at the end of the season. The omens are heavily in favour of Aberdeen for this Tulloch Caledonian Stadium fixture as they have a total of 7 wins against a solitary win for Inverness with 2 games drawn. We have scored three goals against Aberdeen in Inverness, unfortunately they scored four with a last gasp Maguire winner, and a Russell Duncan red-card at half-time was followed by one for Grant Munro after the full time whistle. Russell Duncan only ever scored spectacular goals for ICT and this one was no different as he lashed a low drive beyond Soutar from 25 yards, his celebration being deemed worthy of a yellow card by the ref. His second on the half time whistle was for taking his anger out on the ball and thumping it high into the main stand; bye bye Russell. Roy McBain had shown his prowess in this game as well by scoring ICT's third goal. Dave Bus had scored the opener for Inverness as he diverted a header past his own keeper; taxi for Bus. Other scorers for Aberdeen that day were the diver Sone Aluko who started the ball rolling, Nicholson with the second, Lee Miller the third and that Maguire sickener in the 93rd minute. Our only home victory came in the first encounter last season when Hayes and Rooney scored in each half for a comfortable 2-0 win that saw Aberdeen's Michael Paton red carded for a foul on Hayes. That was Inverness' first home points of the season and saw us climb to fifth in the table, two above Aberdeen after seven games played. Aberdeen have scored twice as many goals as the home side, only nine for Inverness and eighteen for the Dons.

tm4tj Prediction:- The stats weigh heavily on the side of the visitors, but the reality might be closer to the truth. Inverness' defensive fragility combined with Aberdeen's shot shy away day form tells me that a low scoring game is on the cards, although Scott Vernon has eight goals to his credit this term. Jonny Hayes is getting back to full fitness and Andrew Shinnie is showing his talents in front of goal and if Inverness can steady the ship at the back then we might sneak a narrow win, but can we keep a clean sheet? If we can stop Aberdeen scoring then I can see a home win coming, if not then we are looking at a draw.

***Latest Team News***

Inverness have David Davis back after suspension, but David Proctor and Josh Meekings are still unavailable to add to the longer term crocks of Jones, Doran and Chippendale. Meekings is closest to a return and Piermayr was on the bench at Ibrox and will be in the squad. Chris Hogg can be found at his Fightback blogg as he continues to pour his heart out after his serious injury and will be out for some considerable time. At the time of publishing, there is some dubiety over the eligibility of Richie Foran who has exceeded the bookings threshold, but he may still be included as he is not on the SFA discipline list of banned players yet.........confused.com?

Aberdeen's *Peter Pawlett won't have to worry about beating the beaks regarding his red card as he was given a two game suspension for simulation to earn the penalty which won the game. Is it something they teach them at Pittodrie as Aluko suffered the same fate a couple of weeks ago. Fraser Fyvie is back into contention after his suspension. Rory Fallon might not make this one as he is suffering from a groin problem, and Yoann Folly and Mo Chalali are out injured

*Pawlett did beat the red card for the sending off as it was reduced to a yellow, but the simulation has cost him a two game ban starting tomorrow. Some you win, some you lose Pete!

Other SPL News

Hearts have managed to pay the taxman a six figure sum which will keep the winding up order away for a while, let's hope they pay the players what they are due before Xmas. Ryan Stevenson has told Hearts he won't be back unless they pay him what he is due. Eggert Jonsson will join Wolves for a fee believed to be in the region of £200k. Andrew Driver is also creating interest after his Hearts career has come to a standoff. It's all happening down Gorgie Road.

Rangers will no doubt show an interest in Kris Boyd as he has now left Turkish club Eskisehirspor, (not easy to say if you have been drinking). A proven scorer in the SPL, this could be a good move for player and club.

Celtic will have to make do without Englands record goal scorer Daniel Majstorovic after he suffered a fractured cheek bone against St Johnstone. He is expected to be out for around six weeks.

Stand up for the Caley Jags:- Standing at SPL games..........what next. Plans are in place for SPL clubs to allocate safe standing areas within the stadiums. Well at least the scope for continued discussion has been approved, but it's not as straightforward as it appears. Terracing here we come? http://ictfc.com/new...-standing-areas

Promotion Watch:- Falkirk narrowed the gap slightly on runaway leaders Ross County after thrashing QotS 5-1, as County battled for a 1-1 draw with the other contenders Dundee. County however, have a game in hand over both clubs and lead Falkirk by six points, but the sting in the tail could come this weekend as County head to Falkirk for what will be a testing time, whilst Dundee take on lowly Morton. The race for promotion hots up as the mercury plummets.

No Xmas Cheer at Inverness

After last weekends disappointing result, Inverness head to Glasgow to take on champions Rangers at Ibrox.

Maybe not the easiest of places to go after the obligatory handing over of three points last week and the loss of Hogg and Davis has just compounded our misery; not the Xmas present we were hoping for.

Yes it's been a long week to ponder over the happenings of the United game. An even longer one for the unfortunate Chris Hogg who's season has finished now after the results of his scan were revealed and David Davis can reflect on his stint at right back which ended with him seeing red. All in all, a disastrous week for Inverness, let's hope we can use the trip to Ibrox to recharge our batteries for the relegation tussle ahead.

Capital Caley has sorted a preview out for us before he heads to Brechins Bar for the pre-match entertainment, read on...............

He's making a list, checking it twice, gonna find out who's injured tonight.......Terry Butchers coming to town

Terry Butcher has more injury worries again ahead of this game, but it's that time of the year again. The Caley Away Christmas party! Tynecastle was the venue this time last year. The hard fought point secured the unbeaten away run in 2010. A year on and things don't feel quite so festive on the park. We head to Castle Greyskull with yet more injury and suspension worries. With the devastating news that Chris Hogg will be out for the rest of the season we are now looking as fragile as ever at the back. Josh Meekings and David Proctor may also be missing again and the influential David Davis will be missing for this one following his red card against Dundee United. Caley Thistle have been incredibly inconsistent over the last month. A wonderful 6-3 victory at Kilmarnock, followed by a spirited performance against Celtic, then a dire game against Hearts and a solid hard fought victory against St Mirren. It was back to square one last week with the collapse against Dundee United. What Caley Thistle team will turn up in Govan on Saturday? That question could be asked literally and metaphorically! Terry Butcher has had to make more changes than a gremlin in a snow shower.

Although we sit awfully close to the bottom of the SPL, no doubt the Caley Thistle faithful will have a joyous time on Saturday. The Official Festive Fun bus looks like it will have everyone in Yuletide spirit, whilst most of the Glasgow based crew will be drinking beer and scoffing mince pies in Brechins Bar pre and post match. No doubt we'll be looking up the Christmas songs for the Saturday night karaoke!

Rangers have other problems to worry about over the festive period. With the meeting with HMRC looming as well as stuttering SPL performances, a Caley Thistle victory could still be achieved. Some would argue that Rangers deserve a lump of coal for Christmas. Their years of overspending has finally caught up with them. Can that lump of coal be delivered a week early in the form of a Caley Thistle victory? Possibly" but i'm not holding my breath!

Caley Thistle lost out to Rangers the last time the clubs met. Two 'penalties' for the men from Glasgow won the game. Both penalties looked dubious and Terry Butcher unsuccessfully appealed Ross Tokelys red card. A harsh outcome considering all the camera angles pointed to a good challenge. There have been some great memories from our games at Ibrox in the past. In 2005, a long punt by someone called Grant Munro found Brian Prunty who scored one of the worst goals in an ICT shirt, but it felt like the best, earning a point in injury time. Ian Black scored a last minute winner from the penalty spot in 2009 to win the game and take us off bottom. Terry Butchers celebrations that night aggravated the Rangers loyal; well the ones that hadn't left from the 70th minute onwards. Last season we earned a point away to Rangers. An 81st minute Eric Odhiambo leveler kept the unbeaten away run going. Although I've still not figured out why Odhiambo ran to celebrate in the wrong corner!

Unfortunately, our last trip to Govan wasn't as successful as Rangers scraped a 1-0 victory. The game was rescheduled twice and the second one was rescheduled less than a week before the new date, leaving Terry and Mo with little time to prepare properly for the match. Caley Thistles first competitive game against Rangers occurred in March 1996 in the Quarter Final of the Scottish Cup. We lost out 3-0 at the neutral Tannadice Park in Dundee. Rangers were hoping for a repeat of their 10-1 victory against Keith from the previous round. However, a spirited Caley Thistle performance kept the light blues at bay and the score line flattered Rangers. Many media commentators at the time predicted Caley Thistle would rise to the top flight one day based on what they saw of the club, the team and the fans that day. Brian Laudrup and Paul Gascoigne played that day up against the likes of Mike Teasdale and Brian Thomson.

The shrewdness of Steve Patersons signings has taken us steadily up the leagues all the way to the SPL. In contrast, Rangers flamboyant signings in the 1990's and early 2000's have kept them in the upper echelons of the SPL and in Europe until late September most seasons. The question has to be asked, was it worth it? It certainly won't be if HMRC gets its way in January. They will be meeting Hector the Tax Man in administration heaven. If proceedings go as bad as they could, they will be replaced by our neighbours from the other side of the Black Isle. The last time Ross County brought a sizeable amount of supporters to the Central Belt, a caravan jam had blocked the whole of the A9 between Dingwall and Perth. The Central Belt based SPL teams are wary of this happening in their neck of the woods but it is starting to look more and more likely.

Capital Caley's Prediction:- Our past performances and results at Ibrox have been impressive. We have beaten Rangers on their own turf whilst we were bottom of the league. We have shown in a few games this season that we can play well and are capable of scoring. Rangers have dropped more points at home than away this season. They are starting to struggle and if we can contain them early on, they will get restless. If the Caley Thistle team performs to their best standard on Saturday, then we can get something from the game. Although I would like to say we'll get all 3 points, the odds are against us, but there's no reason why we can't get a point, so I'm going to predict a 1-1 draw. I believe in Santa Butcher. I believe in the team â€" whoever happens to be picked on Saturday! Now lets don red and blue Santa hats, get caught up in the festive spirit and hope Jonny Hayes can fire a festive cracker for all 3 points!

***Latest Team News***

Inverness are once again ravaged by injuries, none moreso than the extremely disappointing news about Chris Hogg, resulting in the rest of his season being written off and a prognosis of at least nine months out of the game after sustaining a serious knee injury when he clashed with Gary Mackay-Steven and David Davis in last weeks match. Davis also misses this game after his red card against United. Meekings is struggling to shake off a calf injury, Proctor (ankle) and Piermayr (back) making all three doubtful for Saturday, although the Austrian looks to have the best chance of making the squad. Chippendale is still out making a total of seven injuries and one suspension when you add on the two long term casualties, Doran and Tudur-Jones. Chris Hogg has put pen to paper after his injury, as a sort of self therapy, and you can follow the story on his Blog, The Fightback http://chrishoggthef...t.com/?spref=tw It is an insight into how he will cope with this devastating blow to his career, let's hope he makes a comeback from this, all the best Chris.

Rangers have less problems than the threadbare Highlanders and a much greater squad to choose from. Like Hogg, Steven Naismith is out for the season and Sone Aluko is spared the embarrassment of showing his face on the park after his attempt to cheat the system failed on review and he rightly received a two match ban, (not enough in my book). Kyle Lafferty (back) and Dorin Goian (bug) are doubts and Jamie Ness is out. The depth of squad at Ibrox means that these absentees are a drop in the ocean compared to that of Terry Butcher's squad, such is life.

Other News

SPL News:- Aberdeen crawled above Inverness in midweek after defeating St Johnstone 2-1 in Perth. Celtic left the Europa League after a 1-1 draw with Italian side Udinese was not enough to see them progress. Hearts have paid Novembers wages now; somone tell them it's nearly Xmas please. Anti bigot law's have been passed by the Scottish Parliament, so behave or stay away. The legislation will create two new offences relating to behaviour deemed to "incite religious, racial or other forms of hatred". You have been warned!

Promotion Watch:- Proof of the pudding time this weekend should their game go ahead. Ross County take on a resurgent Dundee and should they see off the dark blues, then they will go eleven points ahead of the challengers. Falkirk are still interested and should maintain their challenge with 3 points from QotS.

You could be forgiven for thinking that United fans coined that phrase as their team struggles to launch their season after a spate of indifferent results sees them hovering just above the danger zone.

Weather permitting, the Arab's will be here on Saturday for an SPL fixture that could see Inverness draw level on points with the Taysiders.

Inverness are gradually starting to achieve lift-off after overcoming St Mirren 2-1 in Paisley last weekend, a result that was hard fought for as the players dug deep to secure the points.  Billy McKay was given his first start and maybe the heavy conditions favoured his fleet footed endeavours as the bustling Gregory Tade was consigned to the bench for eighty-five minutes.  The defence, although not achieving that elusive clean sheet, battled bravely as Saints tried to find a way back, but Ross Tokely and Roman Golobart stood firm to deny the Saints, and Jonny Hayes curled home a sublime winner.

United appeared to be inert as they succumbed rather meekly to Neil Lennon's Celtic at Tannadice, a result that put's them in eighth spot in the league, one place above Inverness.  Gary Kenneth sees his future elsewhere and expects to leave at the end of the season.  Changed days for the giant stopper after his boast of last season when he thought United could split the Old Firm.  Dream on big boy.

Weather Report:-  It has been a week when Scotland shivered as the mercury plummeted below freezing and the first noteworthy snowfall of the season left the landscape looking more like the frozen Tundra.  Giant Panda's landed at Edinburgh Zoo, although they possibly went missing from New St Mirren Park last weekend and Misha 'B' was voted off the X Factor; yes it was an extraordinary week indeed.  It's the weather that could have the last word on this game as more than six inches of snow has fallen around the Highland Capital early in the week, and if it turns milder then surface water has been known to make life difficult for award winning groundsman Tommy Cumming.  Thursday morning and the snow is disappearing fast as Hurricane Bawbag whips the North of Scotland, most bridges closed because of the high winds.  Let's see what the next couple of days brings, brrrrrrrrrr.................... at the moment, it's 2-0 to the weather.  Friday morning and it's the calm after the storm as Hurricane Bawbag has blown over, 2-1 now, but 15:00 brings more heavy snow showers to Inverness, flakes the size of the back page of the Oban Times; 3-1 to the weather.  Have faith.

Closer inspection of this fixture shows that out of ten SPL games, United have four wins to Inverness' two, and they have won three of the last four fixtures in Inverness, although Inverness won the last two cup games here.  United are the highest scorers in these games, scoring three goals on two occasions.  The last home victory was in March 2007 when 10 man Inverness scored with the last kick of the ball.  Grant Munro had been sent packing in his 200th game after a cynical foul on former ICT favourite Barry Robson in the 90th minute, but another great, Barry Wilson knocked home the winner at the death..........where are they now?  That result put Inverness above United into 7th place in the SPL and Charlie Christie would eventually guide Inverness to 8th position, 4 points above United.  Take a look at the sides from that game. (only two Inverness players still here)

Inverness:- Fraser, Tokely, Dods, Munro, Hastings, Wilson, Black, Duncan, Rankin (Paatelainen 73), Bayne, McAllister (McSwegan 64). Subs not used:- Ridgers, McCaffrey, Hart, Morgan, Sutherland.

United:- Stillie, Dillon, McCracken, Wilkie, Kalvenes, Robertson (Samuel 46), Kerr, Gomis, Robson, Daly (Robb 73), Hunt (Goodwillie 81):- Subs Not Used: McLean, Mair, Watson, McCord.

Current form shows that Inverness have won 2, lost 3 and drawn 1 from their last six games.  The defeats were against Celtic, Motherwell and Hearts.  The Well and Celts games saw Inverness controversially finish with ten men countered by that magnificent 6-3 win at Kilmarnock and last weeks 2-1 win at Paisley.  United have won, lost and drawn 2 games apiece.  The highlight for them was a 4-1 away day thrashing of Dunfermline, the lowlight being last weeks dour encounter with Celtic where they failed to muster any opportunities which was the reason Mr Houston was not a happy Arab.

David Davis has endeared himself to the Inverness fans with some exceptional energetic performances of late and the Wolves loanee would be happy to extend his arrangement to the end of the season, as long as his parent club are in agreement.  Terry Butcher would welcome this and if Inverness continue their upward trend he would be content with the squad he has, including the flashy Roman Golobart and the speedy winger Aidan Chippendale.  However, should we revert to type, then he also has an eye on the January transfer merry-go-round just in case.  With Tudur-Jones and Aaron Doran back in training, things are looking a lot brighter for Terry's all stars and with Billy McKay at last getting some game time and little Jonny Hayes nearing full fitness then the future is certainly better than it looked a couple of weeks ago.  It's great what getting off the foot of the table can do for confidence all round.

 tm4tj Prediction:- Another tight game ahead as two teams not exactly setting the heather on fire so far this season do battle for 8th place in the SPL.  However, Inverness seem to be over the worst in terms of player availability and United are struggling to find any consistency and cohesion in their play.  These are the two worst defensive records away from home, but Inverness must surely get that clean sheet they have been looking for since the start of the season, and along with Jonny Hayes and new striker Billy McKay like new signings, I am picking Inverness to shut out United and pile more misery on Houston in a 3-0 to leapfrog the Arabs into eighth in the league.

***Latest Team News***

Inverness are as strong as they have been all season and the difficulty arises for Butcher as he decides who to leave out instead of who is available.  The two long term absentees will not be in the squad, along with Aidan Chippendale, Josh Meekings and David Proctor.  Thomas Piermayr could return to the squad after injury.  Look for a similar team to last weekend starting against United, with the options of Tade or Cox pushing to begin the match, depending on the weather and conditions underfoot.  If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

Dundee United midfielder Danny Swanson has been referred to the specialist sports injury clinic at Lilleshall in a bid to move his recovery on a bit quicker.  His medial ligament injury has kept him sidelined for two months and has not responded as well as had been hoped. Scott Severin will also miss out but United have no fresh injuries to contend with and the same squad that faced Celtic could be given the opportunity to atone themselves.

Other SPL News

Sone Aluko has been handed a two game ban for blatant cheating, however Rangers are backing their new player in this one.  To me, this means that Rangers would appear to condone the actions of Aluko, and his actions are what is wrong with the game.  Cheating like this should be stamped out and a two game ban is a start, but in reality a joke.  Six months out of the game would maybe make them think twice about cheating.  The tribunal upheld the decision and his meagre two game ban sticks.  No room for cheats in this game, and we won't get the chance to boooo him at Ibrox.  Cheery chappie Ally McCoist must feel pretty stupid now having backed Aluko all the way.

Celtic have scooped all the SPL awards for November.  Lennon wins the manager of the month, Hooper player of the month and Forrest young player of the month as Celtic close the gap on Rangers to four points with four wins.

Not such a merry Christmas down Gorgie way as Hearts players have not been fully paid yet again.  Hard up Hearts are struggling to make ends meet and Vlad the Impaler seems to be sucking the lifeblood from the Heart of Midlothian.

Pa Broon has told BBC Scotland that his side are in a false position.  (where have I heard that before).  Aye right, but for the grace of Dunfermline Broony, yer Aberdeen side are the worst in years.

Promotion Watch:-  No it's not a gold plated timepiece to commemorate an occasion, although it would be some occasion if County were to join us in the SPL.  It's about keeping an eye out at the top of the first division, and once more County are making the headlines with a 4-2 win over Raith Rovers.  Dundee have thrust themselves into distant contention with a 6-1 thrashing of Hamilton Accies and Falkirk pipped Morton to remain 9 points behind the Gudgies.  The bubbles no burst yet........................Tomorrow's game for Champions elect Ross County at Ayr has been called off after some damage to the Somerset Park stands.

Inverness head to Scotlands largest town this saturday for an SPL fixture that has in the past proved to be a testing encounter. 

Yes, it's the home of the Paisley Pattern, Paisley Panda and Saint Mirrin, the Irish monk. 

More recent Buddies are the late great Gerry Rafferty, Paolo Nutini, Kenneth McKellar and Kelly Marie; she of  'Feels Like I'm In Love' fame.  A diverse lot indeed.

I suppose the monk kind of gives it away, It's St Mirren in Paisley this weekend and points are now starting to get more precious as the weeks slip by and clean sheets are like good singers on X-Factor.

Inverness were the sinners last weekend as another week slipped by without a clean sheet and boss Terry Butcher is at his wits end as to how to stop the rot.  Kenny Gillet and Gregory Tade felt the wrath of the Butcher as he bemoaned lapses at either end of the park.  Gillet posted missing for Hearts first goal and Tade not taking full advantage of another one-on-one with a keeper.  There is a fine line between success and failure and with Inverness, Butcher sees no middle ground as more points went abegging.  Disappointing result when you consider the way the entire team played at Kilmarnock a couple of weeks earlier.  All of this has prompted Butcher to challenge his players to shape up or ship out as the January transfer window beckons, Ross Tokely being the only defender to escape criticism after the Hearts defeat.

Saints were on the wrong end of a drubbing last weekend as Celtic went nap.  The battle of the Lennon's ended as a contest within the hour as Celtic went four up before rising starlet Dylan McGeouch scored a superb individual goal as the eighteen year old dribbled past the entire Paisley defence and their fans before slotting home the goal of the game.  St Mirren's defending was woeful at times and they could have had no complaints if Celtic had reached double figures.

All of this however pales into insignificance as news of  the death of Welsh soccer legend Gary Speed rocked the footballing world.  A young man with everything to live for has been driven to take his own life and leave behind his devastated family and friends.  Football has sadly lost one of the nicest guys you could meet and you will struggle to find anyone who had a bad word to say about him.  His family, likeability, positive future and esteemed position in life were not enough though, and for whatever reason he decided to leave this world at the age of 42. 

RIP Gary Speed MBE, 08/09/1969 - 27/11/2011

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Proctor is our previewer for this game as both sides try to get back on track.............................

Inverness Caledonian Thistle travel to New St Mirren Park hoping to finally leave the foot of the table.

Last week The Caley Jags were minutes from climbing above 11th Placed Aberdeen in the SPL Table. A tremendous comeback by the Dons to draw 3-3 against Dunfermline coupled with an Eggert Jonsson winner for Hearts ensured the Highlanders were still holding up the league.

Despite ICT’s 2-1 loss at Tynecastle last weekend, they will consider themselves fortunate when comparing themselves to their opponent’s most recent score-line.

Danny Lennon took his St Mirren side to Parkhead last Saturday where they were demolished 5-0 by an efficient Celtic side. The Paisley side will be keen to bounce back and show that result was a minor blip in their push for top six football.

Inverness have their own defensive issues, having not kept a clean sheet all season. This week Terry Butcher read the riot act to the defence saying they had five weeks to save their skin.

Both Caley Thistle’s Terry Butcher and St Mirren’s Danny Lennon have recently extended their respective contracts and with just 8 points separating 6th placed St Mirren and 12th placed Inverness CT, a lot can change in a few games and neither side can afford to lose on Saturday.

Stats:- Inverness hold a slight advantage over Paisley in this fixture with three wins to two from eight SPL games.  Both sides have score eleven goals with the 3-3 draw last season being the highest scoring one.  Highest victory margin was a 2-0 win for Saint's in December 2008.

Team News St Mirren’s injury worries David Barron and Aaron Mooy both appeared on the bench against Celtic with Barron playing half an hour at Parkhead. Danny Lennon mentioned in a recent interview for the St Mirren site that Hugh Murray is also nearing full fitness. Could any of these three feature on Saturday?

Inverness CT’s two long term injury worries Aaron Doran (shoulder surgery) and Owain Tudor-Jones (knee cartilage surgery) are making good progress with their respective ailments. Both have resumed light training but will not feature on Saturday.

Memorable Game:- 9th February 2008 – St Mirren 1 – Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1

Having recently lost 3-0 at Easter Road to Hibernian in the Scottish Cup, Inverness were desperately seeking their 1000th competitive goal in the clubs 14 year history. Caley Thistle legend Grant Munro netted the monumental goal in the 28th minute. The Buddies would pull one back through Billy Mehmet (now at Perth Glory in Australia). This was to be one of the last meetings between the two sides at the historic Love Street Stadium.

Key Players Steven Thompson (St Mirren) – You can take your pick as to which Steven Thompson to watch. One is a midfielder, the other is a striker. Steven Thompson the striker has scored five goals for his club so far this season making him St Mirren’s top goal scorer.

Andrew Shinnie (Inverness CT) – The Caley Jag’s new arrival is proving to be a valuable addition to the squad. Shinnie looked dangerous against Hearts last Saturday and scored his first career hat-trick in a thrilling 6 – 3 win over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park a few weeks ago.

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***Latest Team News***

Inverness gaffer Terry Butcher has welcomed news that Welshman Owain Tudur-Jones and Aaron Doran are starting to train but both are some way off from a return to action.  David Proctor and Josh Meekings are doubts after suffering knocks at Hearts.  Ross Tokely dislocated a finger at Tynecastle, no doubt wagging it at the floundering defenders round about him, but will be able to play this weekend.  The time could be right for Lee Cox to return to the starting eleven as Butcher looks to protect his fragile back four from shipping more goals.  Striker Billy (who?) Mckay is eager to start after scoring a couple of goals in a closed doors game against Ross County, which the ICT eleven won 3-0, Ryan Watson being the other scorer.

Butcher has played down misfiring GregoryTade's press boast that Inverness are better than the other strugglers saying : "It's alright talking about what we're going to do. What matters is regularly getting points on the board."

St Mirren are looking to bounce back after last weeks thrashing at the hands of Celtic, and were hoping to re-assess their squad, but Danny Lennon had to call off the midweek bounce game with Hibs due to the inclement weather.  Midfielder Steven Thomson has a calf injury and misses out along with long term absentee Darren McGregor.  Hugh Murray is close to a comeback after knee surgery.  Other than that, Lennon has no fresh injuries to contend with.

tm4tj Prediction:-  Most of these games are very tight with only one goal separating the sides on all but one of their SPL contests.  This has all the makings of a low scoring draw and a point each will no do us any harm.

Other SPL News

Friday Night Soccer again this week and Motherwell could keep Hibs new manager Pat Fenlon winless and still in the relegation zone if they can beat the struggling capital side.  Hibs had announced in midweek that Billy Brown would be staying on as number two for new manager Fenlon.

Celtic have closed the gap to four points on leaders Rangers who lost 1-0 at Kilmarnock last weekend.  As their SPL aspirations soared, they were taken back down to earth when they lost 0-1 to Atletico Madrid in their Europa League encounter in Glasgow.

Minor League stuff:- Ross County continued on their merry way with another three points in their quest for SPL action.  Nine points clear at the top of the first division and eight straight wins see the distinct possibility of SPL action looming larger than life itself.  Let's hope they get those seats in place pronto.

It's off to the capital this weekend as in the red Hearts take on red card Inverness.

Vladimir Romanov has slapped a £50m price tag on the maroons allegedly, and when asked again he retorted "that's five zero"; let's hope that's not the scoreline this Saturday.

Inverness were involved in headlines themselves after last weekends game with Celtic when bemused midfielderGreg Tansey was sent packing after challenging for a high ball with Celtic's Greek striker Georgios Samaras.  This was the third controversial sending off for the Caley Jags this season, and each one has cost the club dearly in terms of points lost.  Greg's alleged crime was for elbowing the Greek, in the opinion of referee Steven O'Reilly, who was the only person in front of a few million watchers who saw the incident that way.  It was no more than a careless challenge as Tansey's finger tips caressed the hirsute Samaras' cheek and long flowing locks, ooerr Greg, steady on.

Inverness fan Donnie Matheson of D&E Coaches felt so aggrieved by this decision he contacted the club and offered to pay the costs of an appeal to help offset any outlay incurred, a fantastic gesture from this committed fan, even from his sunbed in Lanzarote.

The appeal was discussed on Thursday by the beaks at Hampden, and knock me down with a feather, but it was successful as referee O'Reilly agreed with the rest of the world that he had made an error, having seen footage that vindicated Tansey.  This means that Greg will be free to play if selected at Tynecastle and he never even received a yellow for the challenge...... nuff said. 

However, let's just be happy that this dream that Yngwie had never materialised:-  zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

The SFA is delighted to confirm that the red card issued to the player will not be overturned, and our only regret is that we can’t somehow pin this one on Ross Tokely. And believe me, we tried.  The referee’s match report noted that the Highland thug launched a rapid and unprovoked assault on poor Georgios Samaras comprising an elbow in the face, followed by a double uppercut, a karate kid style crane kick and then to add insult to injury, a humiliating wedgie. Brave Georgios was miraculously able to continue with the game after only a few minutes rolling around clutching his battered face.  The speed of the attack on Samaras was too fast to be properly recorded by any recording equipment present at the crappy little ground, but still images captured clearly show Tansey “looking at him in a funny way” followed a few seconds later by the victim having more than one hair out of place. The referee has provided some crayon sketches to fill the gaps, which conclusively prove his version of events. 

On the plus side, one of our forum users was almost added to the beaks committee.........We also considered an application to join the panel from a Mr DalneighCaley, but internet research revealed his opinions on the incident were far too sympathetic and reasoned to be suitable for us. But we did like his point that Butcher himself used the term “assault” and gave him a much needed green dot. Blimey, that poor fella’s picked up more reds than ICT.  (any similarity to persons and events elsewhere are purely coincidental and nobody was injured in the making of this dream).........ZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Wake up Yngwie!

It's all happening down Tynecastle way just now.  Players not being paid on time, hints at a player cull being on the horizon and news that Romanov will sell the club or take on a new investment partner, have unsettled the Hearts fans.  All this in the face of a £33m tax bill does not make for encouraging reading for the rest of Scottish Football.  When clubs like Hearts are struggling to make ends meet, it's comforting to know that some are willing to live within their means to achieve relative success. 

Success is what you make of it, expectations are a dangerous thing and failure to meet expectations can ruin a club.

Some light relief was unveiled for the 7th of January as Inverness received the Parfect draw in the Scottish Cup 4th round.  The only all SPL tie as they were paired with fellow SPL strugglers Dunfermline Athletic.  Oh well, at least it is a home tie, but after witnessing the performance against the Pars in the last SPL game in Inverness, not a forgone conclusion that we will overcome them in the Cup.  Contrast this with Junior Football side Auchinleck Talbot being Hearts opponents at Tynecastle:  Aye, that's the romance of the Scottish Cup.

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Alternative Maryhill tries his hand at his first Tynecastle preview and has plenty of ammo to whet your appetite.....

 Heart of Midlothian v Inverness Caledonian Thistle, 26th November 2011

Heart of Midlothian. A name which, when first heard, must be one of the most romantic-sounding anywhere in football. Yet its origins are anything but. The name was first coined ironically to describe Edinburgh’s tolbooth prison, which stood for nearly four centuries beside St Giles’ on the Royal Mile and was notorious as a place of execution and torture, with spikes adorning the outside walls to display the heads and body parts of its most recent victims. In his 1818 state-of-the nation novel The Heart of Midlothian, Sir Walter Scott tried to rehabilitate the name by using it to describe his heroine Jeannie Deans, the humble cow-feeder’s daughter who is supposed to symbolise the innate virtue of the Scottish people, but who is in reality one of the most annoyingly pious characters ever to have made it onto a page. There is no clear consensus over whether the football club of the same name founded in 1874 took its name from the prison or the novel, and Hearts today seem to embody aspects of each: the torture of sitting through 300-odd minutes since the team last scored; the ‘Hearts Legends’ banners of the likes of Steven Pressley and Paul Hartley leering from the floodlight stanchions like disembodied execution victims; and the smug self-regard of (some of) its supporters, who flood onto popular Scottish football websites and spray meaningless gifs all over them.

Recently, of course, the name has taken on a whole new set of associations, most of them related in some way to Hearts’ owner, the submarine-piloting, Loch-Ness-swimming, with-the-stars-dancing Vladimir Romanov. Hearts have boasted some interesting characters at boardroom level in the past, notably Wallace Mercer, who madly tried to merge the club with Hibs, and rotund policeman-punching MP George Foulkes, but in his seven years in charge, Romanov has taken ‘interesting’ to a whole new level. Having arrived in Edinburgh claiming that he would make Hearts a team capable for challenging for the SPL title and European trophies, Romanov has worked his way through several hundred Eastern-European loan players and at least nine managers, the most successful of whom was sacked with the club sitting on top of the league and unbeaten after ten games, with rumours flying of Romanov trying to select the team himself; he has accused Hearts players of being targeted by ‘criminals’, ‘maniacs’ and ‘the mafia’, and the SFA and referees of waging a seven-year campaign against Hearts (no-one connected with ICT could ever be so paranoid...); and while taking the club into a debt of £30 million, with an outlay of a quarter of a million per week for wages whose payment is not always certain, he has presided over the winning of one trophy, via a penalty shoot-out against Gretna. Hardly Chelsea. In the past month, Romanov has announced that he wants out of Scottish football and that Hearts are up for sale at the knock-down price of £50 million. Surprisingly, potential buyers have not been knocking down his maroon doors...

So, with Hearts’ finances allegedly in disarray and future allegedly in doubt, should Caley Thistle be confident of beating them on Saturday? On the basis of history, probably not. In twenty league games, ICT have won only three times. Two of these were among the most entertaining and dramatic of the fixtures – a 2-1 win in Inverness in September 2007 with Craig Brewster scoring the winner in the final minute to end a season-opening sequence of six straight defeats, and a 3-2 win at Tynecastle three days before Christmas in the same year, when Graeme Bayne scored the winner in injury time after Hearts had equalised with a ninetieth-minute penalty – but the majority of games between the sides have been stupefyingly dull. Six of Hearts’ ten wins have finished 1-0, and there have been three 0-0 draws and four 1-1 draws, including the last three games between the sides. The odds on a fourth successive 1-1 are probably not particularly long.

Team News

With Thursday’s news that Greg Tansey’s red card against Celtic has been rescinded, Caley Thistle’s squad is probably as strong as it has been all season. Owain Tudur-Jones is still injured, and although Aaron Doran is thought to be back in training, this game will come too soon for him. Although the team created few clear-cut chances against Celtic, they played a lot of good football, and it is likely that Terry Butcher will pick the same team that started against Celtic: Esson in goals, Meekings, Hogg, Tokely and Gillet in defence, Davis and Tansey lying deeper in midfield and Tade at the head of what is approximately an attacking diamond also featuring Hayes, Andrew Shinnie and Foran.

The BBC has no up-to-date team news for Hearts, and trying to pick through the acres of gifs and Hibs-Hearts name-calling on P&B has simply become too tedious, so I have no clear idea of what Hearts’ player availability is like for Saturday. What is apparent, however, is that Hearts’ manager Paulo Sergio has aimed for more stability of team selection than Hearts have been known for in recent years. In their last four games, despite the team having lost three and drawn one without scoring a single goal, the team selection has been remarkably consistent: against Kilmarnock and Rangers the teams were identical; against St Mirren Ryan McGowan came in for the injured Danny Grainger and Mehdi Taouil for the suspended Ian Black; and against Dundee United Taouil was replaced by John Sutton. Having seen Sutton, David Templeton and Ryan Stevenson tear Caley Thistle defences apart at different times over the last few years, it seems amazing to me that Hearts have not scored in the league in 376 minutes; if they decide to start finding the net on Saturday, let’s hope that Shinnie, Tade and Hayes are in a Rugby Park kind of mindset...

Prediction

As always with ICT, who can say? This games pitches the second best defence in the league (Hearts, ten goals conceded) against the second worst (ICT, thirty goals conceded), and the team with the worst goal tally in the league (Hearts, thirteen goals scored) against the team with the sixth best (ICT, nineteen goals scored). Hearts’ form is dreadful, ICT’s is all over the place... I’m taking the easy option:

Heart of Midlothian 1, Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1

Latest Team News

Inverness will be without the long term casualties for another few weeks, although Owain Tudur-Jones is ahead of schedule and is training lightly.  Aaron Doran is also doing fitness training and both could feature early in the new year.  Nick Ross and Lee Cox can be added to the squad and it is now down to the managers discretion who to involve and who to leave out.  Horses for courses spring to mind.  Greg Tansey will be included in the squad after his successful appeal .  So, it could be along the same starting line up for Butcher's boys.

Hearts manager Paulo Sergio has plenty of issues going on in and around Tynecastle to contend with, including his own 5 match dugout ban which started last week at Tannadice.  Nineteen senior players are apparently out of contract this summer and that will make for uncertain times down Gorgie way, but nobody can doubt the talent that the club has on the field of play, with super talented kids like Ryan Stevenson and David Templeton at their disposal.  Nemesis, Kevin Kyle is out long term, and Darren Barr, Gary Glen, Suso Santana and Danny Grainger are all sidelined.  Former ICT midfielder Ian Black completes the last of his three match suspension today.

Other SPL News

Dunfermline failed to take advantage of their game in hand at the bottom of the table as they lost 2-1 to Celtic in midweek who have moved to only 7 points behind table toppers Rangers.  The Pars stay 1 point ahead of Inverness and Aberdeen at the foot of the league but their goal difference is now 4 worse than Inverness' tally.

Hibernian have confirmed that Pat Fenlon will take over the reins from Colin Calderwood and he has signed a two and a half year contract.  Forty two year old Fenlon arrives from Irish outfit Bohemians, who only managed fifth last year.  Fenlon played all of his senior career in Ireland.

Rangers have also confirmed a signing, that of former Aberdeen winger Sone Aluko who has signed on at Ibrox until the end of the season after agreeing compensation with the Dons.

Celtic and their singers will be out in force in Inverness this Saturday, just after noon, for the early kick-off against a rejuvenated Inverness, fresh from their fireworks at Kilmarnock.

The Glasgow club have recovered some form after a shaky period which has seen champions Rangers open up a twelve point gap at the top of the table.  Europa league victory over Rennes and an SPL win in the crunch game for second place over Motherwell has boosted their confidence, and their fans expectations are recovering somewhat.  Neil Lennon, he of the Juanjo incident, is not out of the woods yet and defeat in the Highlands would not best please the Celtic board.

Once again the international break disrupted the flow of the SPL games as Scotland went to Cyprus for a break, and won 1-2 with a brilliant finish from Kenny Miller the pick of the goals as the Cypriots rattled the woodwork around McGregor.  Celtic's Daniel Majstorovic got himself into the record books in the England v Sweden international match.  His header was the 2000th goal scored by England.  Congratulations Daniel, it took England 43 years to beat Sweden, you must be so proud. 

Not to be outdone on the international front, Terry Butcher has become the first Englishman to be inducted into the Scottish Football Museum's Hall of Fame.  A great accolade for Singapore born Butcher who has spent something like half of the last twenty-five years plying his trade north of the border.  Terry played at Rangers for four and a half seasons and has manager of Motherwell and Scotland assistant manger to add to his CV.

But, we are here to look forward to this weekends game, weather permitting, at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, scene of some dramatic encounters between these two sides.  Who can forget the second Scottish Cup win for Inverness when a Dennis Wyness goal put Celtic out of the competition, or Michael Fraser's outstanding save as we came from two goals down to win 3-2, with ten men, and of course the game that decided last seasons destination for the SPL trophy as an inspired Inverness took the wind out of Celtic's sails with another sensational 3-2 win.  There are however, some games we would rather not be reminded of, such as the cup game in 2007 when after leading the Hoops for 71 minutes, eventually losing 1-2 as Pressley and Miller scored 89th and 90th minute goals to ruin Graeme Bayne's 18th minute strike.  Annoyingly, Celtic duplicated the scoreline in 2010 as Ledley scored a brace after Rooney had netted a penalty before half-time.  Aye, there has been some wonderful games between these two sides, let's hope it's football that makes the headlines this weekend and not the karaoke, or is it more like the X-Factor.

Remember this is a 12:30 kick off for this televised game

GingerJaggy is looking ahead to this game and has put together this preview for you..............

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 The last international break is over; it is time for the major push before the festive period. Caley Thistle still sit bottom of the table but things are now looking like they are coming together for Terry Butcher's new lads. After the debacle at St Johnstone when it looked like 11 men had been picked up off the street prior to kick-off, Inverness has slowly but surely started to hopefully turn the corner. It has been frustrating so far this season with Caley Thistle not picking up the points that some of their performances have merited. This is reflected by the brilliant performance against Motherwell with no reward, Rugby Park though, we hope, was the day when CaleyThistle made the breakthrough. That 6-3 result has given everyone a huge lift as Celtic lies in wait to become Inverness's next victim, fingers crossed. 

The history of this fixture will have been regurgitated so many times because of our ability to shock the club from the east end of Glasgow. Everyone will always remember the 8^th of February 2000, and Dennis Wyness against Martin O Neil's European finalists. For all of Craig Brewster's failings in his second spell he still gave us one of the best comebacks in our history. Celtic were 2-0 up before the half hour mark and looked like there was very little hope of securing any points. But a John Rankin penalty, a David Proctor header and a neat finish from Don Cowie turned the tie on its head. We even managed to hold on to the lead with 10 men for about 20 minutes. They were three great results and this hoodoo we seem to have over the Parkhead club has continued under Terry Butcher's leadership. Celtic at home in his first match always looked hard but a battling performance meant we came away with a point. That was a taster of things to come with Butcher master minding a 2-0 deficit into a point at Parkhead last season. But this was eclipsed by a performance that can only be described as heroic. The game had no meaning for an Inverness team that were safe from relegation and looking pretty comfortable to finish top of the bottom six. Add in the news that two of the club legends were being released, suddenly Caley did have something to play for; pride to wear the badge. It ended 3-2 but in truth the score line flattered Celtic who could have been on the end of an absolute tanking. This season has seen the teams play only once. That was in Glasgow with the home side ending up 2-0 winners but the result wasn't as comfortable as it suggests as Caley Thistle put in a real good shift and were unlucky not to at least have our name on the score sheet.

The form of the Hoops this season should be an encouragement for the homesters. Celtic has conceded a lot more goals than they are used to and have dropped points in unexpected games this season. Hibs and St Johnstone have already been and taken points off them at Parkhead with the latter actually winning the game. They have also been beaten at Hearts and had to come back from 3-0 down at Kilmarnock to rescue a point. Obviously our form hasn't been too consistent so far this season but our home form has been pretty decent. We should have picked up a few more points from some of our home performances this season, but things are hopefully looking up.

The 6-3 a couple of weeks ago was just what the doctor ordered and after a slow start it looks like we have got ourselves a gem in attacking midfielder Andrew Shinnie. He has now scored 5 in the league with his last four coming in the last 2 matches. Inverness always gives the Old Firm a tough game in the highlands and I don't see any different here as all the pressure will be on Celtic who vitally need the win to try and reduce Rangers lead down from 12points. The pressure certainly isn't on us, even if we are still languishing at the bottom of the table after this match the gap between us and 4^th place is only 7 points. We won't get relegated losing this game and so here is hoping we can excel again and get off the bottom of the table. 

This game won't be easy; it is one of the Old Firm after all. But what the last game has shown all the supporters is that we are a better side than what the league table currently suggests. We have had some really good performances this season and not reaped the reward that some of them have deserved. Celtic haven't been at their best so far this season and so should give us optimism to write another chapter in this remarkable story of being Celtic's bogey team.

Latest Team News

Inverness' hall of fame & Doctor of Sport, Terry Butcher, will still be without long term absentees Aaron Doran and Owain Tudur-Jones.  Doran has begun some light work, but neither will figure until after the new year.  Lee Cox and Nick Ross played in a bounce game against Aberdeen this week and could come into contention, as will Chris Hogg and Thomas Piermayr, both ready after suspension.  Forgotten man Billy McKay (who?) did not feature.  Butcher's problems are now metamorphing from who to play to who to leave out, but after the scintilating performance at Rugby Park he should be cautious to tinker with the team selection too much.

Celtic's under fire manager Neil Lennon has Kris Commons and Gary Hooper itching for a start.  One man not on the team sheet will be Mohamed Bangura who may require an operation to repair a knee problem.  Ki Sung-Yueng and Cha Du-Ri both hobbled back from international duty and are struggling for this clash.  Charlie Mulgrew and Glenn Loovens are still missing, but Joe Ledley returns after a calf injury.  On the brighter side, England's landmark 2000th goal scorer Daniel Majstorovic is fresh though, and that should be a bonus for Gregory Tade.

Karaoke or X-Factor, let's look forward to an entertaining days sport and the possibility of moving off the foot of the table could be enough for Inverness to remain undefeated on the day, X factor for me.  Scoring draw on the coupon.

SPL News

The SPL will require a new sponsor in 2013 as the Clydesdale Bank will end it's handouts at the end of next season.  The bank has been dishing out the money since 2007.  Neil Doncaster believes that all the controversy surrounding the game north of the border is positive publicity..........Aye right, does he also believe in Santa?

Billy Brown has thrown his name into the mix for the vacancy at Easter Road.  He was the current number two to the deposed Colin Calderwood and feels the time is right to step up to the managers position.  Brown has served a long apprenticeship following Jim Jeffries around for some 23 years.  He will be in charge for this weekend's game against Kilmarnock.  Pat Fenlon and Michael O'Neill are thought to be among the top candidates out of ninety plus applicants.

Hearts have a novel way of keeping the wage bills down.  For the second month running the players have not received their wages on time, allegedly due to the club trying to pay off a £1,000,000 tax bill.  On top of this, Paulo Sergio has received a five match ban and even worse, rumours abound that Vladimir Romanov is about to sell Hearts............trouble ahead methinks.

Dunfermline are jumping on the cost cutting bandwagon and expect to save £20,000 per season by closing their North Stand.

Rangers date with the tax man has been put back to the middle of January as her majesty's revenue and customs man tries to recover a staggering total of £49,000,000.  Administration beckons if the Ibrox club lose this one in the courts.

Robbie Neilson & Stephen Hughes have joined Dundee United and Motherwell respectively.  Both former Hearts players, Neilson has signed on at Tannadice until the end of the season and midfielder Hughes signs on at Motherwell until the new year.

Sone Aluko has gone on trial at Ibrox.  The former Aberdeen player is without a club at present and is training with Rangers this week.  Aluko had scored 13 goals in four seasons at Pittodrie.

Minor League news

Meanwhile, back in Scotland during the international break, a Grant Munro inspired Ross County continued their march towards the SPL with a fine 3-1 victory over nearest challengers Falkirk, which sees them open up a six point gap at this stage of the season; better get those extra seats installed pronto gudgies. Whatever next.