Previews 2016-17

Killie Challenge for Caley Jags   It's the long haul this Saturday as we head for Rugby Park to take on sixth place Kilmarnock, a mere three points ahead of us in eleventh spot. With seven teams vying for the last top-six space and relegation at the same time, it's anyone's guess as to who is the favourites for these positions. Often a fruitful day out in previous years, but we have faltered in the last two fixtures at Rugby Park going down on both occasions. The first encounter o

Winning Ugly Will Do   Due to results last week, we find ourselves looking up the table at the rest of the teams in the league and the visit of Hamilton takes on a bit more significance given the respective position of both teams. It doesn't have to be pretty, it's points that matter. We have hit rock bottom after defeat at Perth and from here on, the only way is up. It's still early days, but given our indifferent form and injury problems then it's difficult to see an instant sol

Time to have a go.    Relatively short trek on Saturday as we head to Perth to face St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park for a 3:00pm kick off. It's been a sad week for football with the Associação Chapecoense de Futebol disaster, where only five of eighty-one passengers are reported to have survived the plane crash that has all but wiped out an entire football club. I'm sure all supporters throughout the world will take a moment to pause for thought and pay tribute to those that perish

Time to get back on track   Off to the city of discovery on Saturday to see if we can rediscover that winning feeling. It's four games since we had something to cheer about when we beat Motherwell at Fir Park and results have seen us slip perilously close to the bottom end of the table. Dundee put a stop to a horrific run of six straight defeats, including a 3-1 win for us, by beating Hamilton and Motherwell before a narrow defeat at Ibrox last time out. Those defeats saw them slu

A visit from our second string   Aberdeen are the visitors on Saturday as domestic football returns after the international break. It's a distraction from the domestic scene that we could do without, although sometimes it enables one or two to recover from injuries. Unfortunately, not in our case with Polly and Raven sidelined and Tansey falling foul of the beaks. Sounds more like an aviary than a dressing room. I'm sure the Dons will be showcasing a handful of our ex-players as t

Bhoys Zone   Tough task this weekend as Foran takes his side down to the Bhoys Zone, Parkhead, to face domestically dominant Celtic, still the only side to take a point off Brendan Rodgers' side. I'm sure that's a statistic not lost on the Celtic manager, and he will be out to make sure they don't slip up this time. Last midweek game was away to Motherwell and we surprised many by coming away with our first clean sheet and a 3-0 win. Goals from Carl Tremarco, Lonsana Doumbouya and

Time for revenge     The visitors this Saturday are a team we have a wee score to settle with. We were trounced at Tynecastle earlier in the season and it would be nice to reverse that and possibly get our goal difference back to level par. It has taken us since then to get back into the top-six as our goal difference took a pounding that day. Justice would be done if we can get a win, and even better by two goals, that would see us retain our top-six status for now. Old C