The battle for top-six hots up

Inverness are on the road again as they visit Dens Park to take on top six rivals Dundee, who are unbeaten at home in their last six games.

This looks to be a tough test for Inverness with Dundee boosted by recent form, their last game at Dens Park a 5-0 thrashing of Championship side Dumbarton in the Scottish Cup.

Paul Hartley has built a tidy team over the last couple of years. Gary Harkins undoubted technical ability in the creative department has seen the Dark Blues consolidate and build over the last two seasons, and in Kane Hemmings they have a striker who knows his way to the back of the net, his 15 goals so far a testament to that. Former Peterhead and Falkirk forward Rory Loy is another who will provide a threat along with the talented Greg Stewart, and both are capable providers.

Dundee sit just two points above Inverness in the league, and that is enough for them to hog sixth place. They have scored 39 goals compared to Inverness' 33, but the Highlanders hold the upper hand in defence, five goals better than the Tayside club. There's not a lot between the sides, but home advantage could be the crucial factor here.

Inverness gained plenty of plaudits for their tremendous approach and performance at Parkhead, but plaudits don't win matches and Celtic ran out flattering 3-0 winners. That result undid a bit of the good work completed against Aberdeen in our previous league game, but our encouraging forward play will give confidence to the side. The only thing missing against Celtic was a couple of goals our endeavour merited.

The sides have yet to be split this season, two 1-1 draws so far and who would bet against another one. In August, they drew in Dundee, David Raven an unlikely scorer before a late Kane Hemmings goal levelled it and Andrea Mutombo saw red for hacking down Nick Ross (how dare you). In the return fixture in the Highlands, Raven was involved again, this time being sent off after fifty minutes and Rory Loy converting the resultant penalty. However, it was a tale of two penalties and Greg Tansey equalised from the spot.

It's well documented that Danny Williams and James Vincent could be on their way to Dundee after the season closes. I doubt we would miss either player much given Vincent's injury riddled time here, although his most important contribution yet came in last seasons Scottish Cup final. Danny Williams has been a bit part player, although often effective when he has played and is a firm favourite with the fans.

Dundee will be without Jake McPake who is out for the season. Daryll Meggatt is on the recovery trail and Nicky Low is back in training, but won't make this one.

Inverness' season long injured crew are, well, still injured. Most recent injuries are Josh Meekings, Alex Fisher, James Vincent and David Raven who was not risked in the last couple of games. Lewis Horner deputised well in those games while most fans were somewhat wary of his inclusion, but like Tremarco on the other side, he has won over more followers with his displays.

tm4tj Prediction:- With two draws already, and Dundee not the happiest of hunting grounds for us, it would be prudent to put your money on another draw here. Our play last week was worthy of a better outcome and would probably have seen off most other teams in the league, but putting the ball in the net has been a season long problem that needs addressed. Young striker Miles Storey has played well recently but the goals have dried up. He really needs a boost to his confidence right now and a goal or two would not go amiss. Kane Hemmings has 15 goals already this season and we need to keep him quiet. The midfield is where this game will be won or lost, and we are as strong as we have been all season. We could be just the team to end Dundee's good home form, but I will settle for a point. Third 1-1 draw coming up.

Champions v Cup Winners.

Toughest game on the calendar I suppose as Inverness head West to the East end of Glasgow to face Champions Celtic at Parkhead.

It's not worth dwelling too much on this game, and if I'm honest anything we can get from Parkhead is a bonus. It's as difficult as they come with Celtic still looking for points to keep their noses in front of Aberdeen, who were last weeks victims at the hands of Willie Collum, if you listen to Derek McInnes' bleatings. Baaaa, baaaa...........

We have shipped seven goals against Celtic this season, going down 4-2 in Glasgow and 3-1 in the Highlands. We have recovered somewhat from our early season demise and should provide stiffer opposition for the leaders. However, should the lackadaisical side that saw off the mighty East Kilbride 2-0 in the cup turn up, then we have a chance of upsetting the bookies.

Celtic's last outing saw them defeat our good neighbours Ross County 2-0 in Glasgow, Leigh Griffiths scoring his 30th goal of the season in that one.Dedryck Boyata scored the other. County put up some stern resistance until just on half time, that's the same determination we will need to show if we harbour any thoughts of taking something from this game. I doubt it will be pretty, let's hope it is effective though.

Our last game was the 3-1 win against Aberdeen where we fought back from a goal down to win comfortably. Three goals from Willie Collum did the damage, thankfully he is not in charge today.

Ronny Deila should have an unchanged squad to call upon, plus a few million pounds worth of talent just sitting around, some spare Arabs and some new foreign imports.

The usual suspects are out long term, and Alex Fisher, James Vincent, Josh Meekings and possibly Davis Raven are also out.

tm4tj prediction:- It's always an uncomfortable fixture for us and I would expect Celtic to be strong enough to win this game. But should they display any of the qualities that they showed in their last two Cup games, then they will find us eager to take advantage. Miles Storey has been tremendous recently without scoring and Jordan Roberts continued on from where he left off against Motherwell. The focus will be on our defence though and Gary Warren and Danny Devine will be bust lads today. Celtic have the countries top scorer in Leigh Griffiths and he will be a big danger. I would like to predict a win, but we will do well to take a point, although that is looking on the bright side.

ps, I wonder if we will get a glimpse of our own superloon Ryan Christie. A fantastically gifted player and one we would have liked to have kept at Inverness.

It's tough at the top

It's Monday night football at the Caledonian Stadium as we host title challengers Aberdeen who are looking to get back on level terms with Champions Celtic, but it will be a tough task for the Dons.

With Celtic beating Ross County 2-0 at the weekend, it's Aberdeens turn to put the Highland clubs back in their box. However, closer inspection shows that the Dons have yet to beat Inverness this season having lost the first game at Inverness 2-1 and they had to come from behind to draw the reverse fixture at Pittodrie 2-2, the Caley Jags throwing away a seemingly comfortable 2-0 lead with twenty minutes left.

The sheep are on fire just now and are taking the title challenge seriously. They beat Celtic at Pittodrie and put four past St Johnstone in Perth before conceding a couple of late goals.

Inverness have been idle on a couple of occasions recently but our last outing was a deserved Scottish Cup win over Motherwell, the highlight of that was a wonderful winning strike from a now injury free Jordan Roberts. Let's hope there is more of that to come from the former Charlton man who has had his season curtailed by injury since his move North of the border.

Recent form shows that Aberdeen are the favourites, but with Inverness getting more settled despite a new influx of injuries there could be a shock in store for the Dandies. Greg Tansey will no doubt be the centre of attention tonight after Aberdeen failed to get their man in a last ditch deal in the January window. I wonder if he can deliver one his substantial hammer blows to show the Dons what they are missing? Anyway, they already have four of our former players, they don't need another one.

Inverness Captain Richie Foran is back on the injury train, with long term passengers Aaron Doran, Dean Brill, Josh Meekings and James Vincent. Alex Fisher has joined them after injuring his ankle soon after moving here. So, all is not rosey at the home camp, but we have brought in two midfielders in Liam Hughes and Ryan Williams to bolster the squad.

Derek McInnes can call on Willo Flood and Ryan Jack for this one, but Andrew Considine is a major doubt.

tm4tj Prediction:- despite the form book leaning towards Aberdeen, I'm taking Inverness to unsettle the Dons and take the points tonight. Miles Storey is due a goal and he has scored against Aberdeen before, netting in the Inverness fixture. Greg Tansey has something to prove to both sides and should be well fired up for this one. Carl Tremarco has shown he could make the left back position his own with a decent performance against Motherwell in the cup, setting up the opener which Storey would like to claim but it looks more like defender Stephen McManus was the unfortunate scorer. Aberdeen are scoring plenty but have shown some vulnerability at the back, and that is where we should be looking for the openings to get Storey and Danny Williams into. Our own defence is also capable of lapses, but Gary Warren should provide stiff opposition for Adam Rooney. Jonny Hayes has also been in fine form recently and he could be the key player which will determine who comes out on top.

Cup Defence.

It's time to continue the defence of our trophy as the Scottish Cup fifth round draw takes us to Fir Park to face the 1952 & 1991 winners Motherwell.

It's not the most glamorous of ties and certainly a tougher one than we would have liked at this stage, and one that Motherwell will feel they can win, but that's the luck of the draw I suppose.

The transfer window came and went and it caused a bit of a stushie up North with the Greg Tansey affair taking all the headlines. The on off saga detracted slightly from the fact that Inverness did add a couple of players to our squad. Liam Hughes and Ryan Williams are both midfielders and will hopefully add a bit of craft to the squad.

So, rightly or wrongly, Greg Tansey remains an Inverness Caledonian Thistle player for now amid much speculation and guesstimating. Greg's official agent is blaming a third party for all the confusion. We'll not add to the mystique and leave it at that, content that he will be pulling on an Inverness shirt this weekend.

This is a cup game, but as far as league form goes there's not much between the sides and home advantage could be the deciding factor. Inverness sit just three points above Motherwell, the main disparity being a much superior goal difference. We have sored more and lost less showing a difference of 13 goals in our favour.

We have played twice already this season and it's one win apiece. We opened our campaign with a 0-1 defeat to Motherwell in the Highlands. We were in a transition period then, prior to our injury ravaged era and went down rather tamely to an early Wes Fletcher goal. In the reverse fixture at Motherwell we pulled of a surprise but nonetheless welcome 3-1 victory. A Greg Tansey penalty and a Miles Storey deflected strike saw us go in at the break two ahead. Iain Vigurs scored a superb volley after the break before Louis Moult pulled one back for the Well. But that's how it ended, 1-3 for Inverness and a mini revival started in December to boost our points tally.

Motherwell made their way to this stage by thrashing Cove Rangers 5-0. They took just two minutes to open the scoring through Moult and were 2-0 up after six minutes when Scott McDonald scored. Further counters from Marvin Johnson and Stephen Pearson put them in at the break four up and Pearson added his second to end the scoring after the hour. Since that game, the Steelmen have been thrashed 6-0 by Hearts, lost 2-1 to County, drawn with Dundee and lost a late goal when slipping to defeat at Partick.

While Motherwell were cruising into the next round, we made heavy weather of our tie at Forthbank and Stirling Albion fully deserved another crack at their Premier opponents. It took two spectacular goals to see off the Binos in the replay, many Inverness fans just happy to get into the draw, but not overjoyed by another lack lustre performance. Their pessimism justified in our next league game, a drab 0-0 draw with Partick following on from defeat at Kilmarnock.

Carl Tremarco is the latest player to extend his contract. That comes on top of Gary Warren, Ryan Esson and Ross Draper putting pen to paper, so some good news for Caley Jags fans after a nail biting transfer window comes to a close.

Inverness can call on their new signings to boost the squad. Yogi looks likely to flood the midfield given our lack of strikers available. Dean Brill is almost ready to pull his gloves on, but Aaron Doran and Josh Meekings are out. James Vincent has been a recent omission and his box to box play has been missed. Richie Foran and Jordan Roberts continue their rehab on the bench. The unfortunate Alex Fisher is out for six weeks with a chipped ankle bone.

Motherwell have added Morgaro Gomis on loan from Hearts, and he is eligible for this game. A couple of notable outs is David Clarkson who has been loaned to St Mirren and midfielder Liam Grimshaw has returned to Manchester United. There's not much fresh news coming out of Fir Park, but defender Ben Roberts is reported to be struggling to make this one.

tm4tj Prediction:- It's a chance to forget the rigours of league football and serve up a footballing treat for the fans. Inverness as holders will be looking to remain in contention and Motherwell will be hoping home advantage will benefit them. On paper, it should be tight. Louis Moult will be one to keep an eye on. He has scored 13 goals this season and has picked up 5 yellow cards, so one way or another, an exciting prospect. We have been under the hammer recently, struggling to create sufficient opportunities for Miles Storey, but the young striker has been plugging away and the goals will come, eight so far for him. Our last game at Fir Park saw us run out 3-1 winners, it'll be tighter than that and might take a replay to sort this one out.

Of course, we have put Motherwell out of the cup at Fir Park before. Barry Wilson scored with a spectacular goal from all of 75 yards. I believe next season it will be up to 80 yards, gets better with every passing year.

Bring it on!

The romance of the Cup goes on for some teams. Ross County have an intriguing home tie against the first Junior side to reach the 5th round, Linlithgow Rose. They are well travelled in their quest for cup glory having been to Galashiels, Inverness, Wick and Forfar. Good luck to Ross County in that one.

The big tie is the Capital clash that pits Hearts at home to Hibernian, a club looking for their first Scottish Cup triumph in over a century.

And good luck to East Kilbride as they try to inflict Celtic's third domestic defeat in a row. We are all East Kilbride.

Shock troopers Annan Athletic were rewarded with a home tie against Greenock Morton after pumping Hamilton 4-1 in the last round.

There's an early kick off at Ibrox where Championship leaders the Rangers take on Premiership strugglers, managerless Kilmarnock, and an all Premiership game at Tannadice as basement side United play Partick Thistle.

The final tie has Dundee visiting the Sons of the Rock at Dumbarton.

It's Jambo Time

GAME OFF

If you are travelling to this game for the 12:30 kick off, keep an eye open for updates as there will be a pitch inspection at 07:30 We don't want anyone to be marooned. The official ICT twitter account will be your best option https://twitter.com/ICTFC or https://twitter.com/JamTarts

Tough match this Saturday at  the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium in the 12:30 kick off which will see Hearts as our opponents in the Premiership, weather permitting.

The Jambos are having a tremendous season since getting back into the top division and are comfortably in third place with 41 points, 12 ahead of sixth place Inverness. They are also second top scorers with 42 goals and their defence is pretty solid too, conceding just 24, only Celtic and Aberdeen can better that. That gives them a goal difference of plus 18 compared to ours at minus 2.

Last week we drew 0-0 with Partick Thistle in what can at best be described as a below par performance. In truth we were unable to break down a Partick side who had set their stall out to take a point at all cost, and they got that effortlessly as we huffed and puffed but could not blow the house down

Hearts last game was also a 0-0 draw, at Hamilton where the Jambos were reduced to ten men for the whole of the second half, but they still came away with a point.

Some good news for Caley Jags fans is that Gary Warren has signed on again, as have Ryan Esson and Ross Draper.

We have already beaten Hearts up here this season in an entertaining 2-0 win. James Vincent and Miles Storey scored that day as Hearts finished the game with ten men, Juwon Oshaniwa dismissed after a tussle with Tobi Sho-Silva. The reverse game at Tynecastle was called off and has still to be played, Tuesday 1st of March is the re-scheduled date.

Inverness are still plagued by injuries and John Hughes is looking to bring in more firepower given the news that striker Alex Fisher will probably be out for a couple of months with a chipped ankle bone. We have a couple of trialists up this week in the form of striker Victor Zapata-Caicedo and Liam Hughes, an attacking midfielder. Zapata was last with Czech side Banik Ostrava and Hughes has plied his trade for Cambridge United. I'll just call him Zapata, but he was highly thought of at the Tottenham Hotspur Academy before moving on and Hughes has only played for Cambridge United in his career.

Inverness are still without Aaron Doran whose season can be written off. Dean Brill is another and Josh Meekings is catching up with them, apparently about another month at least. James Vincent has missed the last few games as well and new signing Alex Fisher is out for possibly two months. This must be our worst ever season for injuries, it's been non stop since the start of the season. With Esson signing on again, I wonder if we will see Brill back in action at the Caledonian Stadium. We persist with keeping Jordan Roberts and Richie Foran on the bench. I say if they are fit enough get them on the park, if not, get them off the bench.

Hearts will definitely not have King Billy, sorry Billy King on show as he has gone to The Rangers for the rest of the season, masquerading as the Loan Ranger. Blazej Augustyn and Igor Rossi are both suspended and that could open the door for Oshaniwa and or Jordan McGhee to claim that position for themselves. Sam Nicholson and Jamie Walker could be fit enough to be included in the squad.

tm4tj Prediction:- This may sound strange given our reluctance to create much last weekend, but I'm taking Inverness to edge this one. I hear you all laughing and falling off your seats, but here's my reasoning. When we are tasked to break down teams hell bent on keeping a clean sheet, we find that quite a chore and with us lacking some creativity since young Ryan Christie left we struggle to create the openings. However, teams like Aberdeen, Ross County and Hearts are easier for our style of counter attacking and will leave room at the back for us to exploit. So, if our defence can hold firm, I'm taking Miles Storey to hit the net and keep the points in the Highlands.

Anyway, having seen Nat Wedderburn's shoulder dip, nothing can stop us now. See for yourself, I kid you not, we are now invincible...................

Return of the Bogey Men

Inverness' bogey boys Partick Thistle come North to try and pile more misery on our injury riddled squad in this fixture which has been delegated a 'Pay What You Can' occasion.

The Inverness injury jinx has hit again, this time it's new signing Alex Fisher who has been ruled out for a posible two months after chipping a bone in his ankle during the cup replay against Stirling Albion.

We made our way into the fifth round of the Scottish Cup in midweek, but not before huffing and puffing our way past a determined League Two side. Mind you the two goals that saw us through were pretty special, but much of the outfield play was somewhat laboured. Andrea Mutombo was the midweek star and his goal was spectacular to say the least as he danced his way through the Binos defence. The previous weekend saw our six game unbeaten run come to an end at Rugby Park in a disappointing showing, going down 2-1.

Prior to the last two games where they went down to a late Celtic goal and a surprise 4-2 defeat at the hands of Dundee, Partick were undefeated in the previous six League games, including a run of four games either side of a couple of draws. They beat Inverness 2-1 and trounced Kilmarnock 5-2, with 1-0 wins over Dundee United and Ross County.

Scoring goals has been Partick's main concern with only 21 so far against 30 for Inverness. Our normally frugal defence has been disrupted this season and Partick are better in that department, losing 28 to our 32. That leaves Inverness above the Harry Wraggs in 7th place, and four points to the good, but Partick have a game in hand.

Partick seem to hold the Indian sign over Inverness having won four of the last five League meetings, the other being a draw earlier this season. They also won the November fixture 2-1. Our only recent success was a 2-1 Scottish Cup win in February 2015, and we all know where that ended.

Fourth to eleventh in the table are separated by just eight points and all the teams are either battling to avoid the relegation play off spot or trying to get into Europe. It's as tight as a ducks arse, and there is no room for error.

Aaron Doran and Dean Brill are permanent names on the injury list and Josh Meekings and James Vincent have joined them. Alex Fisher will miss at least one month if not two.

Alan Archibald has a couple of major doubts. Mathias Pogba and Gary Fraser are requiring treatment and Liam Lindsay is out suspended. Ryan Edwards is on U23 duty with his Australian squad. Abdul Osman returns after suspension.

tm4tj Prediction:- Bad news about Alex Fisher, so that will leave Miles Storey without a strike partner again. With Partick able to beat us to order it would appear that we will have our work cut out to break their dominance over us. I don't see us abandoning our predictable and pedantic sideways passing game and Partick seem to have that sussed. We will do well to take a point from this game, anything else will be a welcome bonus. Score draw is my best bet.

Another Chance

Cup replay coming up on Tuesday night as Inverness welcome Stirling Albion back to the Highlands. The last time they were here, April 1999, they left Inverness with a point after a 2-2 draw thanks to a double from Alex Bone. Duncan Shearer had scored both Inverness goals.

Inverness held the Binos to a scoreless draw at Forthbank a couple of Saturdays ago and the League Two side deserve another chance to progress in the competition as the Premiership side failed to get the better of their opponents.

Having avoided the banana skin that day, you would have to fancy Inverness' chances of completing the job on Tuesday, but we are fairly inept at getting the better of underdogs and after a drab display at Forthbank, followed by a toothless performance at Rugby Park, one could be forgiven for wondering which club will be seen as the underdog.

Stirling had their game on Saturday postponed at Elgin as Inverness struggled their way to defeat against Kilmarnock and the weather. The game was played out on a snowbound pitch as we once more failed to beat a club floundering at the bottom end of the league. The winning goal was a stunning volleyed strike, but it does not detract from another insipid performance from Yogi's side.

The only bright spot for Inverness to come out of that game was our 1500th competitive goal. That landmark was achieved by Ross Draper. Not a regular scorer, 8 goals in 135 appearances, but nonetheless it's his name that goes into the record books.

We are bereft of creativity at the moment and added to that is more injury woes that we are unable to cope with. Josh Meekings has not played for a month now and can be added to the longer term casualties. James Vincent missed out at Killie and Jordan Roberts once more filled a space on the bench but is yet to feature since his early season injury. Alex Fisher has been brought into the squad but will need time to get up to speed.

Inverness will have Danny Devine back after he missed the Killie game through suspension. Richie Foran is another bench warmer, but not sure if he is ready for a full blooded cup tie yet. Doran, Brill and Meekings will not feature.

Stirling Albion are without hamstring duo Kevin McKinlay and Ross McMillan, and new signing Scott Buist is ineligible, having signed too late for this 4th round replay.

Motherwell await the victors at Fir Park in the 5th round and there's no guarantee that will be Inverness. In fact, given our reluctance to see games out, it would not surprise me if we struggle through this game as well. We should have enough in the tank to see off the Binos, but you could say that about the first game as well. I won't go as far as to say that Stirling will progress, but I will be pleasantly surprised if we can get through without any drama.

Fingers crossed it is then.............