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Motherwell -V- Inverness CT - Report

On the opening day...
 
Motherwell handed us our first defeat of the season, and although we have had a few more since then, there were a few other firsts in this game too .....
In the absence of Richie Foran and vice-captain Ross Tokely, Jonny Hayes captained his first SPL match, Steve Williams made his first appearance for the club as a late sub, Gregory Tade got back to first spot in the ICT scoring tables with the winning goal in this game, our first win in the last 9 attempts at Fir Park, and the best 'first' of all .... Ryan Esson achieved his first clean sheet of the season.
A final 'first' that deserves mention, especially after recent discussions on the message boards about referees, is that this was the first time this season, in any competition, where there were no bookings in an ICT match. There have been a few occasions where ICT players were booked, but no opposition players, and a single match where ICT had no bookings but the opposition did ( -V- Hibs way back in July 11), but this is the first cardless game ... so fair play to Bobby Madden, a ref who is not scared to dish them out (35 cards in 15 games)
Clean sheets help fans sleep better.
A first clean sheet of the season has eased the restless nights of the Caley Thistle support after Motherwell drew a blank against Inverness at Fir Park to ease the Highlanders further away from bottom club Dunfermline.
It may not have been a pretty sight, but it was certainly very welcome as a tremendous strike from Gregory Tade was all that separated the sides in a tense encounter where neither side were able to fashion too many clear cut chances as Motherwell showed why they have only scored seven goals at home this season with a languid display in the final third of the park.
This was a fantastic response by Gregory to social networking harrassment that tried to make life difficult for him the previous week, as he put that behind him and showed magnificent ability and power to lash a ferocious shot into the roof of the net from twenty two yards to silence the home fans and send the small but battle hardened band of followers into raptures.
Capital Caley was on hand to witness the days events and he recounts his day out for your pleasure...........
Well oh well oh well!
Well oh well oh well! It’s been a long time coming but we finally kept a clean sheet. This victory has taken us 8 points clear of Dunfermline. If we can get past them in the cup, and with the potential financial rewards at stake, this could turn out go be a great season! We’ve now gone over 1 month unbeaten and there looks like real team spirit and unity within the squad. Our defensive performance was first class on Saturday. Nothing could get past Roman in the gloamin. Gillet played a blinder and when we attacked, we really had Well on the ropes.
My day started badly when I was short changed by the ticket man at Central Station, losing a fiver. This will seriously eat in to my 10p bowling budget. The Fir Park Social Club was quite quiet for a change before the game – Dewsbury Dude couldn’t make the trip this time. The bar was filled with other Caley Away regulars such as Govan Jaggy, Immortal Howden Ender, Alternative Maryhill, martinskye, Red Card Gringo Jnr, CaleyD, BA, Snow and a few others. On approach to the stadium, we were informed that we were behind the goal for this one. Usually we grace the side of the main stand, but in order to get behind the goals we had to walk about a mile to get there. It was good to get the extra miles in for my Highland March training.
We started strongly and pushed towards Motherwells goal. We were playing good football but struggling to find that final lethal touch in front of goal. Billy McKay worked his socks off throughout and nearly put Caley Thistle ahead on the 29th minute. His low angled shot just went wide after Gregory Tade played the ball through to him. Motherwell went on the counter attack and Thomas Piermayr did well to block an Omar Daly shot from close range.
We were edging towards an opener towards the end of the first half. A Tade shot and then a Tansey chance were both saved by Darren Randolph. But, just before half time, there was a scramble in front of Ryan Essons goal mouth and Tom Hateleys corner looked to be heading straight into the goal, but Esson managed to punch the ball clear. Other than this moment, we were pretty much on top of the game in the first half.
We started the second half similar to the first half. We continued to press the Motherwell defense, who made it difficult for our attackers at times. Tade nearly opened the scoring soon after the break but his shot was blocked by Randolph. Tade then put us 1-0 up on the 67th minute. He collected the ball from far out, ran at the Well defence, opening up a gap and firing into the top corner from 22 yards out. A cracking strike that will be a contender for goal of the month. His celebratory dances are starting to be very common now!
Towards the end, Butcher changed tactics to try and secure the win. Off came Nick Ross for new singing Steve Williams. Then McKay came off for Proctor. The tactics in the last few minutes were straight out of a Craig Levein manual – effectively a formation of ‘10’. It worked, and we defended solidly. With every clearance you could feel the desire for the clean sheet. Motherwell never really troubled us though and we were worthy of the win. A fine performance all round. The Caley Thistle fans walked down to the pitch side at full time for some high fives with Tade. I thought Esson was going to throw his gloves into the crowd, he was that happy. We marched back to the Social Club to the tunes of Caley Away With Terry and Mo! 2012 has started considerably better than 2011. Things can only get better.
 
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By Scotty in Reports 2011-12 ·

Motherwell -V- Inverness CT - Preview

Teaser Paragraph:
Inverness off to wake up the Dossers

Inverness head down to North Lanarkshire this weekend to take on third place Motherwell in a repeat of the opening day fixture, one which saw the hosts win convincingly by three goals to nil. Let's hope Inverness have learned from that experience and are ready to reverse that result to keep the revival going.

It will be a somewhat sombre occasion this weekend as news of the sudden death of vice-chairman Bill Dickie has rocked the Fir Park club. Mr Dickie had been involved with Motherwell for the last thirty years and was Chairman of Motherwell for five years until 2008. Terry Butcher had worked with Mr Dickie in his spell as Motherwell manager and said, "I'll miss Bill when we're there on Saturday." He added "He was a real gentleman of football and Motherwell, he'll be sorely missed by Motherwell and those who knew him, because he was always there." RIP Bill Dickie.

Last weekend saw both clubs at home in the Scottish Cup. Motherwell cruised past Queens Park putting four goals past the Spiders without reply. Henrik Ojamma scored on his debut with Daley and Murphy (2) completing the rout. So, not much of a test for Well, but Inverness were given a sterner examination by the Pars. In poor conditions, the clubs served up a plate of tripe. Two goal-keeping errors epitomised this struggle and neither side could have complained had they been removed from the draw. However they will have to do it all again on the 18th of January to sort out a winner, let's hope the game is more entertaining for the TV audience than it was for those who turned up for the first error strewn kick about. Kenny Gillet was fortunate enough to be sent off and missed an hour of this rubbish, unfortunately I stayed to the end, all six minutes of time wasted additional minutes, just long enough for Hayes to capitalise on keeper Smith's fresh air shot; nuff said.

Hammell, Murphy and Lasley were the scorers back in July and although the scoreline was convincing, Inverness had their moments and hit the woodwork twice through Foran and Tansey but could not find a way back into the match. Lasley's goal was a thirty yard screamer, a feat he would repeat in the return fixture in Inverness. That game in October saw Inverness hammer Motherwell for most of the game, and still end up losing 2-3 with recently departed David Davis opening the scoring only for Shaun Hutchinson to level before half time. The crossbar saved Motherwell again before Andy Shinnie restored the home sides advantage but Lasley once more struck a ferocious shot through Esson into the roof of the net from thirty yards once more. Controversy surrounded the winner as Chris Hogg was sent off for downing Murphy on the edge of the box and from the resultant free kick, Hately smacked the ball off of Jonny Hayes' face/shoulder and the ball diverted beyond Esson and into the net for an undeserved winner for the Steelmen.

That result kept Inverness rooted to the foot of the table whilst Motherwell moved three points clear of Celtic and into second place. Inverness have yet to complete a clean sheet this season.

Recent form suggests that Inverness are relishing the task in hand whereas Motherwell have stuttered somewhat, losing to Rangers and Hearts away, and drawing with St Mirren at Fir Park. Like Motherwell, Inverness have been extremely erratic, but victory over Aberdeen and a draw at Easter Road has given the fans some hope for the future, although the turgid cup encounter against fellow SPL strugglers Dunfermline swiftly brought us back to earth with a thud.

Statomann is telling us that Motherwell are the lowest scoring team at home in the SPL with only seven goals scored this season. (3 of them were against us). This has brought them three wins, three defeats and three draws but only conceding nine goals in the process. Inverness have lost seven games away from home, winning only two with two being drawn. We have the worst defensive record on the road in the division, losing twenty-four goals but yet still scoring sixteen times. Motherwell though have an overall goal difference of zero and we are on minus twelve and that is a good enough reason for them to be sitting third on 34 points while we are third bottom with only 19 points.

Both clubs have lost the services of loan players with Davis and Chippendale returning south from Inverness. Stephen Hughes has departed from Motherwell after McCall opted to strengthen other areas of the squad. He played four times for Well since November.

Ones to watch for Motherwell will be their top scorers Michael Higdon and Jamie Murphy. Higdon leads the way with seven goals and his bustling centre forward style gives the defenders no rest. Murphy on the other hand is a pacey winger full of trickery and troubles defenders with his old fashioned wing play. He has scored six goals so far.

***Latest Team News***

Inverness are still without long term casualties Owain Tudur-Jones and Hogg the Blogg, although Jones has started light ball training and could be ready within the month. Richie Foran misses this one due to his cumulative yellow cards total reaching it's limit. Ross Tokely and Andrew Shinnie have started training again but this game could be too soon for them after both suffered shin/calf injuries at Ibrox. Steve Williams has signed a loan deal until the end of the season. He is a six foot four defender, but his fitness is a concern ahead of this game and he may have to be content with a place on the bench. A young squad played a bounce game away to Hibernian during the week and the likes of Proctor, Meekings and Doran all had a run out to gain some valuable game time.

Motherwell have a fairly consistent squad to pick from. New boy Henrik Ojamma did his prospects no harm with a goal in the cup game last week and will vie with Humphrey for a start. Steve Jennings will return to the squad if he shakes of his injury in time, but Stuart Carsewell is still recovering from illness while Steven Saunders is sidelined. Keeper Lee Hollis is not back to full fitness.

tm4tj Prediction:- This will be a tough fixture to take anything from, but given our recent revival and Well's stuttering home form we will do well to come away with a point. Anything more than that will be a bonus, but I will go for a low scoring draw, 1-1, and a third consecutive SPL game unbeaten.
By tm4tj in Previews 2011-12 ·

Inverness CT 1-1 Dunfermline - ScCup

Well, we are still in the hat for the next round draw, but only just.
 
This was a tale of two keepers, or to be more correct, a tale of two keepers errors. In truth this was in my opinion one of the worst games of football ever witnessed at Tulloch Caledonian Stadium and neither side deserved to go into the next round. I was going to do a report on the game, but if truth be told, there was nothing to report other than two bloopers that led to both goals scored in farcical situations. The Dunfermline goal was even more incredulous when Gillet was given his marching orders for felling Andy Kirk after Tuffey committed blooper number one, and that was even topped off in style when the announcer said that Andy Barrowman was the scorer as the resultant free kick was palmed onto his bonce by Tuffey. Talk about adding insult to injury. Hayes returned the compliment in the sixth minute of stoppage time when Smith wildly sliced/fresh aired a simple rolling ball into the path of a delighted Jonny who rolled the ball into the empty net and that was blooper number two.
Hislopsoffsideagain has saved me the bother of trying to come up with a report about nothing, although I will add that our throw-ins have reached an all time low as Thomas Piermayr was twice halted by the refereee for taking foul throws within the space of a few minutes. What on earth do they teach them in Austria.
I think it's fair to say it is now official - 'Useless' Euan Norris is the worst official in Scottish football. Not content with screwing us over against Rangers, he appeared determined from the outset to allow our opponents to take liberties all over the pitch. The sending off of Gillet looked a bit fishy to me - Kenny appeared convinced he'd won the ball - and certainly there was plenty of protest that Barrowman was offside as he put Dunfermline in front.
Two incidents summed Norris up - in the first half he pulled up Barrowman for his umpteenth foul and clearly gave him a 'final warning' chat; a minute later Barrowman hacks someone else...and Norris stops him for a long chat again. Then, right on half-time Dunfermline's defensive wall refused to retreat for a free kick even when the ref stood where he wanted them to be. Instead of booking one of them, he gave up when he got them 8 yards...and then ignored the fact that one of them raced out so they were about 5 yards from the ball when the free kick was taken.
About the only thing that cretin of a referee got right was adding on six minutes for the obscene amount of time wasting the Pars did in the second half - though I don't know why he can't book the time wasters as well as adding on the time.
If I was a Dunfermline fan, I would be horrified and ashamed by their second half performance. They never had any control over the game, even against ten men, and seemed content simply to camp out on the 18 yard box and see the game out. Entire civilizations have risen and fallen in the time it took them to make one substitution. They managed all of two speculative efforts on goal in the second period, as far as I can recall.
As for us, we were pretty hopeless with eleven men, but I thought we did about as well as you can expect in the second half. Tuffers is the main villain of the piece - it was his horrendous air-shot on a backpass which led to the Gillet dismissal, and then he only managed to palm the resultant freekick straight to Barrowman. Frankly, he had fork all else to do for most of the game.
Our back four did a pretty good job today. Piermayr did well when tucked in at centre-half, though Coxy looked a bit uncertain when he was shunted to right-back. Once again, Golobart was superb. Barrowman took one look at him and clearly decided "I'm not up for taking him on" - so nothing has changed from when he played for us.
Most impressive for me was Foran, who I felt gave a real captain's performance today - he led by example with fantastic effort and seemed to be still urging everyone on even when all was lost. He's had plenty of criticism this season (much of it warranted) but since moved into midfield he has looked like a different man.
The big message to take away from this game is this: If Dunfermline are like this every week, then there is absolutely no chance we are going down.
 
7th Jan 2012 Tulloch Caledonian Stadium SCOTTISH CUP RD 4 Inverness CT 1 - Hayes (90+4) /media/images/club_badges/inverness.png TEAM:  Tuffey, Golobart, Tade, G.Shinnie, Gillet, Piermayr, Cox (Meekings 75), Hayes, Davis (Tansey 80), Foran, McKay (Doran 64) SUBS: Esson, Sutherland. Booked: Cox (51) Sent Off: Gillet (29) Dunfermline 1 - Barrowman (30) /media/images/club_badges/dunfermline.png TEAM:  Smith, Keddie, Boyle, Dowie, Potter, Cardle (Mason 82), Burns, Hardie (Thomson 83), Graham, Kirk (Buchanan 69), Barrowman. SUBS: Goodfellow, Young Booked: Kirk (5), Keddie (15), Hardie (66), Burns (72) Sent Off: none Referee Euan Norris Attendance 1601  
By Scotty in Reports 2011-12 ·

Inverness CT -V- Dunfermline - Cup Preview

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Scottish Cup 4th round action this weekend.

The only all SPL clash in the cup sees two of the relegation favourites battle it out in Inverness as basement club Dunfermline visit the Highlands, Parfect..........weather permitting.

Last weeks first-footers failed to show up at the Stadium as the heavy rain and sleet made the pitch unplayable and the game was postponed by the referee after an eleven fifteen inspection. Unfortunately many fans from both sides had already undertaken the arduous journey and the decision although unpopular was the correct one under the circumstances as blizzards and gales wreaked havoc across Scotland for the next few days.

So, all that means is that Saturday's visitors will be our first-footers this year. A tin of shortbread and a lump of coal will surely be offered as a friendly gesture; can we return the compliment by dumping the Pars out of the competition at the first time of asking?

It's a strange competition the Scottish Cup. League form goes out the window when the cup comes along. Some big names have been known to fall to lesser known opponents and Inverness Caledonian Thistle are well documented in that category, creating their own place in the history books.

Some less well known Scottish Cup exploits go back to before the merger, when Inverness Caledonian triumphed against League opponents on no less that 19 occasions. Beating Airdrie in 1990 was a notable achievement, but embarking on a cup run in '92 by beating league sides Stenhousemuir 4-1 and Clyde 3-1 before losing out to St Johnstone 3-0 at the 'Fancy Dan' all seater stadium in Perth after a replay goes down as a real feel good factor moment.

However, probably the greatest Cup upset of them all came at Kingsmills on February 9th 1985, the home of Inverness Thistle. The Jags were third bottom of the Highland League at the time and had struggled to beat Spartans in the previous round. Kilmarnock were the visitors, themselves struggling in the Second Division. But goals from Dave Milroy, Gordon Hay and Brian Fraser sent Thistle through in front of 2,500 fans at Kingsmills Park. The Polis were required to intervene as Killie fans sought the head of manager Eddie Morrison. How dare these teuchters beat an established team from the Central Belt. Thistle were amply rewarded with a trip to play Celtic in the next round. Although they lost 6-0, the sum of £7,626 was well received for their endeavours at Parkhead.

But what of Dunfermline?
They suffered their worst ever Cup defeat at the hands of Hibernian in October 1889, losing 11-1 in a replay, the first game had ended 4-4 at East End Park. (That defeat is not their all time record loss, 17-2 to Clackmannan in a Midland League clash in 1891). However, fast forward some seventy-odd years and the Jock Stein era took the Pars to a new level. In 1961 they won the Cup for the first time, beating Celtic 2-0 after a replay. And so began a golden era for the Pars, regularly featuring in European matches. They narrowly missed out in the Cup Final in 1965, losing 3-2 to Celtic, who had by now secured Jock Stein as their new manager, and finished third in the league behind Kilmarnock and Hearts. A certain Alex Ferguson being a prominent player between '64-'67. In 1968, George Farm emulated the success of Stein and the Pars beat Hearts 3-1 to lift the Scottish Cup for the second time, and then went on to the semi-final of the European Cup Winners Cup before losing 2-1 to eventual winners Slovan Bratislava. It took Dunfermline a further 36 years to reach another Scottish Cup Final, this time losing 3- 1 to Celtic with Jimmy Calderwood in charge, who immediately resigned to join Aberdeen.

Stats count for nothing in the Cup, one off games where the winner takes all. On the face of it, Inverness would appear to be on the up and the Pars are sliding slowly towards the first division, but as I said, the Cup spurs players on to greater things. I don't expect anything other than a tough encounter where in this Cup game the winner will take more than just entry into the next round as their prize. It will be a massive confidence boost over one of the candidates for the drop, so everything to play for in this one.


The teams have only met once before in the Scottish Cup, well twice if you count the replay, and that was in 2004 when Inverness went out at the semi-final stage to the Pars. A certain Mr Brewster taking the game to a replay at Pittodrie with a headed goal in the second half after Paul Ritchie had opened the scoring for the Caley Jags. Barry Nicholson scored an Archie Gemmill of a goal as he danced through the Inverness defence to score the decisive goal that would take the Pars into the final for the first time in 35 years.

Brings a tear to your eyes.......

***Latest Team News***

Inverness have secured the services of Roman Golobart until the end of the season. However that has been countered by the news that David Davis will return to Wolverhampton Wanderers after a productive spell in Inverness where he had become a fans favourite with his robust and creative midfield performances in his fourteen games. He could feature tomorrow if selected, but that would be his last game for ICT. Chippendale, and Proctor have resumed full training and Jones is slightly behind in terms of recovery. Andrew Shinnie and Ross Tokely needed that extra week to recover from knocks and captain Richie Foran will be eligible to play in the Cup game. He misses the Motherwell fixture next week. Hogg the Blogg is out for the season, see The Fightback at http://chrishoggthef...k.blogspot.com/

Dunfermline goalkeeper Paul Gallacher is out for the remainder of the season with a shoulder injury sustained during the 4-0 defeat to Hearts a couple of weeks ago. Chris Smith will continue to deputise. Austin McCann, Nick Phinn and Steven Bell are still sidelined, but Kevin Rutkiewicz and striker Steven McDougall have returned to training and could be included in the squad for the cup-tie. McIntyre's injury list is looking healthier, but he is on the look out to strengthen his squad in the January sales. Jason Thomson has left the building and returned to Hearts
.
Euan Norris is the man in the middle for this game.

tm4tj Prediction:- Cup games are special days and anything goes. Inverness are still getting back to full strength and the loss of Davis is a blow should he not get a start, however I do expect Inverness to have just enough to see off the Pars, but it will be tough. Inverness to be in the hat come Saturday evening for the fifth round draw.
By tm4tj in Previews 2011-12 ·

CTO Player of the Month - December

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<p>It's definitely good news that Roman Golobart has extended his loan deal from Wigan till the end of the season.</p>
<p>The centre-back opened his goalscoring account with a header against Aberdeen on Christmas Eve, in one of a string of good performances last month which make it no surprise that the Spaniard was CTO's player of the month for December.</p>
<p>Jonny Hayes has also been in top form - the Irish wide man picked up the most votes in the St. Mirren, Dundee Utd and Hibs games - but Golobart was the star man in the defeat by Rangers, and in the victory over the Dons he was selected by every single voter in the poll. His 68 votes put him nine ahead of Hayes, with David Davis in third.</p>
<p>Golly becomes the fifth different player to win player of the month this season, following Ryan Esson (July), Graeme Shinnie (August and September), Andrew Shinnie (October) and David Davis (November).</p>
<p>Hayes and Golobart move up to ninth and tenth in the overall Player of the Year standings, which are still led by Graeme Shinnie. The young left-back continues to enjoy a healthy lead over Gregory Tade and Ross Tokely after a blistering start to the season.</p>
<!-- This HTML code has been optimized by http://www.iwebtool.com/html_optimizer --> <table width="95%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="50%" align="center" valign="top"><table width="90%" border="0" align="left" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;" colspan="2"><h4><strong>DECEMBER VOTING</strong></h4></td></tr><tr> <td width="95%"><strong>Player</strong></td> <td style="text-align: center;"><strong>Votes</strong></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="95%">Roman Golobart</td> <td style="text-align: center;">67</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="95%">Jonny Hayes</td> <td style="text-align: center;">58</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="95%">David Davis</td> <td style="text-align: center;">32</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="95%">Richie Foran</td> <td style="text-align: center;">30</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="95%">Kenny Gillet</td> <td style="text-align: center;">26</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="95%">Billy McKay</td> <td style="text-align: center;">23</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="95%">Gregory Tade</td> <td style="text-align: center;">17</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="95%">Ross Tokely</td> <td style="text-align: center;">16</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="95%">Lee Cox</td> <td style="text-align: center;">11</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="95%">Ryan Esson</td> <td style="text-align: center;">9</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="95%">Andrew Shinnie</td> <td style="text-align: center;">9</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="95%">Graeme Shinnie</td> <td style="text-align: center;">9</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="95%">Chris Hogg</td> <td style="text-align: center;">2</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="95%">Thomas Piermayr</td> <td style="text-align: center;">2</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="95%">Greg Tansey</td> <td style="text-align: center;">1</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></td> <td width="50%" align="center" valign="top"><table width="90%" border="0" align="right" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2"> <tbody> <tr> <td colspan="2"><h4 style="text-align: center;"><strong>OVERALL STANDINGS (to end Dec)</strong></h4></td> </tr> <tr> <td><strong>Player</strong></td> <td style="text-align: center;"><strong>Points</strong></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Graeme Shinnie</td> <td style="text-align: center;">35</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Gregory Tade</td> <td style="text-align: center;">22</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Ross Tokely</td> <td style="text-align: center;">21</td> </tr> <tr> <td>David Davis</td> <td style="text-align: center;">17</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Ryan Esson</td> <td style="text-align: center;">16</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Richie Foran</td> <td style="text-align: center;">16</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Greg Tansey</td> <td style="text-align: center;">15</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Andrew Shinnie</td> <td style="text-align: center;">15</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Jonny Hayes</td> <td style="text-align: center;">15</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Roman Golobart</td> <td style="text-align: center;">13</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Josh Meekings</td> <td style="text-align: center;">3</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Gavin Morrison</td> <td style="text-align: center;">3</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Thomas Piermayr</td> <td style="text-align: center;">3</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Owain Tudur-Jones</td> <td style="text-align: center;">3</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Chris Hogg</td> <td style="text-align: center;">2</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Aaron Doran</td> <td style="text-align: center;">1</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Kenny Gillet</td> <td style="text-align: center;">1</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Nick Ross</td> <td style="text-align: center;">1</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Jonny Tuffey</td> <td style="text-align: center;">1</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2"><table width="95%" border="0" align="center" style="background-color: #e5e5e5; width: 100%;"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="text-align: center;" colspan="2"><h4><strong>Previous Player of the Month awards</strong></h4></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="50%" style="text-align: center;"><strong>Month</strong></td> <td width="50%" style="text-align: center;"><strong>Player</strong></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="50%" style="text-align: center;">July 2011</td> <td width="50%" style="text-align: center;">Greg Tansey</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="50%" style="text-align: center;">August 2011</td> <td width="50%" style="text-align: center;">Graeme Shinnie</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="50%" style="text-align: center;">September 2011</td> <td width="50%" style="text-align: center;">Graeme Shinnie</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="50%" style="text-align: center;">October 2011</td> <td width="50%" style="text-align: center;">Andrew Shinnie</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="50%" style="text-align: center;">November 2011</td> <td width="50%" style="text-align: center;">David Davis</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></td> </tr> </table>
By hislopsoffsideagain in News 2011-12 ·

Inverness CT -V- ST Johnstone - Preview

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Hair of the dog? ***Game Postponed - Waterlogged Pitch***

Hangover cure on the 2nd of January at 2:00pm is the fixture in Inverness as the home side seek to extend their unbeaten run to three games against the surprise packet of the season, St Johnstone. The lads from Perth come first footing at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium and will be looking to continue their good form into the new year.

Inverness remained unbeaten for the second game after a deserved point at Easter Road in midweek, achieved without the services of top scorer Andrew Shinnie and defensive stalwart Ross Tokely. Both players were sidelined with calf injuries since the narrow defeat at Ibrox and not risked since then with the hectic festive fixtures coming
.
While Inverness were drawing in Edinburgh, the Perth Saints were beating Kilmarnock 2-0 and securing back-to-back wins and consecutive clean sheets. That's why they sit in fourth place in the league 13 points above Inverness. It has been a tremendous season for St Johnstone so far, with Steve Lomas continuing the good work started by Derek McInnes who departed for warmer climes in October.

Inverness' home form has been a bit erratic with 3 wins, 2 draws and 5 defeats, conceding 16 goals in the process with zero clean sheets. Much of these stats have come in our darker days from this season and Butcher will be glad to see the back of 2011 which has seen the club suffer a spate of long term injuries. This, coupled with some major decisions going gainst us in some crucial games have meant it has been difficult to gather some momentum and get some consistency in our performances, and the result of this leaves us entrenched in the lower quarter of the league with a goal difference of -12. Not the worst in the division, but not one to be proud of.

St Johnstone have the best defensive record in the SPL away from home, only Rangers equalling their miserly loss of five goals. That has given them a platform to build on and their away record is a dream for the Perth men, 5 wins, 4 draws and a solitary defeat to Hibernian at Easter Road. Their last two matches saw them score 5 goals without reply with Sandaza notching 3 of them. Saints won the first encounter this season 2-0, beating a below par Inverness during our poor early season form, Sandaza on the scoresheet in that game as well with Mackay getting the second goal. That result left us rooted to the bottom of the table on eight points and Saints in fifth with eighteen.

Head to Head at Inverness:- Including Scottish Cup and First Division games we have a healthy 5 to 1 advantage over the Super J's with only one draw. In terms of SPL games it's one win and one draw. Highest score was the 3-1 win that clinched promotion in 2004, a game which incidentally saw one of the best goals ever at the stadium. It was Keigan Parker who scored it with a stunning 35 yarder on the run into the top corner; some strike. That was however overshadowed by the result and susequent promotion to the SPL, after some off field antics by the Harry Wragg's was put to bed.

***Latest Team News***

Inverness captain Richie Foran is suspended for this game and top scorer Andrew Shinnie remains a major doubt with a calf injury. Ross Tokely could recover in time and will be thrust straight back into central defence as we are a bit threadbare in that department. Aaron Doran returned to action at Hibs following a serious shoulder injury and will be loking for more game time.

St Johnstone midfielder Chris Millar is struggling with a hamstring problem and Frazer Wright and Cillian Sheridan remain out, (must be that jumper) but midfielder David Robertson could be added to the squad after his concussion.

tm4tj Prediction:- We appear to be over the worst of our troubles and with the squad list getting healthier I expect us to be able to handle the Perth men on our own patch. They have been excellent on the road but I am going for a narrow win, maybe without that elusive clean sheet, but a win all the same and three points to get the new year off to a flyer.

Happy New Year from all at the editorial team.
By tm4tj in Previews 2011-12 ·

Hibernian -V- Inverness CT - Report

Caley Thistle headed to Easter road for post-Christmas league duty hoping to heap more misery on Pat Fenlon who has yet to earn a point as Hibees manager. Perhaps the CaleyJags could also end the year with a cleansheet?
The cleansheet was gone early doors as Garry O'Connor opened the scoring with a great free-kick after 8 minutes, but not to be outdone, Jonny Hayes stepped up in the 41st minute, beat 3 or 4 men before unleashing a 22 yard drive into the net to equalise.
A classic game it was not, but either side could have grabbed all three points on numerous occasions but in the end the points were shared as it finished 1-1
Alternative Maryhill provides the match report ......
A trip to Easter Road is always one of the most enjoyable on the Caley Away itinerary, and with Terry Butcher’s team facing a struggling Hibs team on the back of two fine performances against Rangers and Aberdeen, and with peace, goodwill to all men and fair amount of Christmas and Boxing Day spirit probably still in the bloodstream, it was an unusually optimistic group of the usual away day suspects who turned up at Easter Road via the Brass Monkey and the Iona.
However, in truth this was a pretty patchy game briefly illuminated by two quite beautiful goals, and while a draw away from home is never a bad result, ultimately it was probably a frustrating night for Caley Thistle’s players, who dominated possession but never managed to kill off a Hibernian side clearly lacking in confidence and creativity.
Ross Tokely and Andrew Shinnie were again sidelined and despite having Josh Meekings available, Terry Butcher opted to go with the same line-up that defeated Aberdeen on Christmas Eve, with Kenny Gillet partnering Roman Golobart in central defence and Graeme Shinnie and Thomas Piermayr at left and right back respectively. Richie Foran was again deployed as a deeper-lying central midfielder alongside David Davis and Lee Cox, and Gregory Tade and Jonny Hayes performed the attacking wide roles, supporting lone striker Billy Mackay.
The early running in the game was made by Caley Thistle, in particular Gregory Tade, who was ruled offside in the first minute, then shortly afterwards created a threat when he ran onto a long diagonal ball from Thomas Piermayr and pressurised Hibs ‘keeper Graham Stack into fumbling as he tried to pick the ball out of the air. In the seventh minute, however, Hibs were presented with their first opportunity when Roman Golobart, who otherwise had an outstanding game, bundled Danny Galbraith over from behind twenty yards from goal. Garry O’Connor stepped up and swung a perfect free kick into the top left hand corner of Esson’s goal. Although in a pre-match interview one of the Hibs players had spoken of the team being ‘scared’ to take the lead, the Edinburgh side briefly seemed to take some heart from the early lead and were the better team for the subsequent ten minutes, forcing another couple of free kicks which, thankfully, did not trouble Esson.
As the game approached the twentieth minute, however, Caley Thistle began to take more control, with the midfield trio of Foran, Davis and Cox particularly influential in their willingness to outfight and outmuscle their Hibernian counterparts. A typical piece of determination from Foran almost brought the equaliser in the twenty-second minute, when he dispossessed Lewis Stevenson on the edge of the box and crashed a left-footed shot off the post. From the rebound, Cox, Davis and Hayes combined to keep the pressure up and Hibs were only granted a respite when Jonny Hayes curled a shot across the face of the goal and narrowly wide from the right hand edge of the penalty area. These two near misses signalled the start of a period of concerted ICT pressure: a Hayes free kick into the wall from just outside the area was deflected for a corner, with Hayes claiming that O’Connor had handled the ball; this corner was followed by two more in quick succession, as Hibs struggled to deal with Caley Thistle’s attackers.
Just after the half hour mark there was an incident that might, on a different night, have changed the game. Richie Foran won a header in the Hibernian half, and as he ran forward to try to bring the loose ball under control, Sean O’Hanlon brought his full weight down, studs first, on the ICT captain’s outstretched shin. Giving O’Hanlon the benefit of the doubt, he might simply have mistimed his challenge, but there is no disputing that it was a highly dangerous tackle that could have broken Foran’s leg and merited a red card. Somehow referee Steven Mclean missed it altogether and allowed play to continue, until it became clear that Foran was in real pain. From the restart, Billy Mackay gave possession back to Hibs; in hindsight, he would have been justified in taking a shot.
A few minutes later, Caley Thistle’s superiority was finally rewarded, in some style. Garry O’Connor, during a rare Hibernian attack, was dispossessed by Golobart, who passed to Piermayr, who in turn fed the ball to Hayes, midway inside his own half. The winger set off at pace down the right, evading a challenge from Danny Galbraith before cutting inside, weaving between Richie Towell and Lewis Stevenson and then, from twenty yards, steering a beautifully-controlled low shot beyond Stack’s outstretched left hand before the Hibernian central defenders could get out to close him down. Sublime.
Hibs did try to muster some sort response before half time, and made an appeal for a penalty when O’Connor went down in the area trying to control a high, dangerous long ball from David Stephens. The referee, however, thought otherwise and booked O’Connor for simulation, and the TV replays show that he probably got it right: while Gillet did have his leg across O’Connor’s body, O’Connor already seemed to be leaving his feet when the challenge came in.
The second half followed a pattern similar to much of the first, with Caley Thistle continuing to dominate the midfield and Hibs’ chances largely limited to a few long-range efforts, such as Danny Galbraith’s chip over the bar around the fiftieth minute, and an effort from Leith Griffiths that flew harmlessly over just a few minutes later. For all their superiority of possession, however, ICT’s players created very few clear-cut chances of their own: the team’s biggest shortcoming last night was its inability to bring the front men, and Billy Mackay in particular, into play more effectively. This was also true of the Aberdeen game, and it could be that the difficult weather conditions were partly to blame; certainly Tade, Mackay and Hayes showed they could link well as a front three against Rangers at Ibrox. Hopefully it is something that can be improved upon before we face St Johnstone at home on Monday, as it was this that probably made the difference between a draw and a win last night.
In the seventy-third minute Terry Butcher made his first change, with Greg Tansey replacing the impressive Lee Cox, and two minutes later Aaron Doran made his long-awaited return to first team action when he came on for Billy Mackay, with Tade moving into the central striker’s role for the final quarter of an hour. In contrast to some of his earlier games for the club where looked a little tentative, Doran immediately showed a willingness to get involved, but his first action almost cost the team, as he gave away possession in front of goal to set up a Hibs attack that the ICT defence managed to scramble clear. Normal time drew to a close with Jonny Hayes having a couple of long-range attempts that did not trouble Stack, then, as three minutes of stoppage time were announced, Hibs belatedly showed a real appetite to win the game, forcing three corners in quick succession and leaving the 250 ICT supporters chewing their fingernails. The second almost brought an undeserved winner as Sean O’Hanlon, who arguably should not have been on the field, directed a close-range header on goal, but Richie Foran, capping a fine performance, was there to block with his head.
Overall, then, it was a third consecutive Caley Thistle performance with much to admire, but one which still leaves a few questions unanswered about how the team will progress in 2012. After a stuttering first half-season, Terry Butcher seems to have found a system that suits the personnel he has at his disposal and has allowed the team to build more consistency in terms of performance if not necessarily results. However, two of the key players in this system, David Davis and Roman Golobart, see their loan deals expire in January, and it is still unclear how likely it is that either will be extended. If we lose both, will, say, Tansey and Tokely be able to slot into their roles without affecting the team’s performance, or will the manager be forced to do some rethinking? And although he has showed some neat touches in the box, is Billy Mackay really the right man to play as alone striker should Butcher stick with this system, or will the manager try to bring in a more physical striker? Finally, if a January bid comes in for Jonny Hayes, outstanding since his return from injury, will the ICT board be strong enough to resist it? I’m certainly a lot more optimistic about the team’s prospects than I was when I wrote my last match report just one month ago, but with January just a couple of days round the corner, it looks like interesting times lie ahead.
 
 
28/12/11 : Easter Road Stadium, Edinburgh
Hibernian: 1 - O'Connor (8)
TEAM: Stack, Booth, O'Hanlon, Stephens, Towell (Palsson 75), Wotherspoon, Galbraith, Stevenson, Sproule, O'Connor, Griffiths (Scott 63) SUBS: Brown, Murray, Welsh, Stanton, Sodje Booked: Stephens (25), O'Connor (44), O'Hanlon (87) Sent Off: none I.C.T.: 1 - Hayes (41)
TEAM: Esson, Golobart, G.Shinnie, Gillet, Piermayr, Cox (Tansey 73), Hayes, Davis, Foran, Tade, McKay (Doran 75) SUBS: Tuffey, Meekings, Ross, Morrison, Sutherland, Booked: Golobart (37), Davis (88) Sent Off: none Referee: Steven McLean
Attendance: 6923
By Scotty in Reports 2011-12 ·

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