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Hearts 1-0 Inverness CT - League Cup

Over and Out
 
Inverness slumped out of the League Cup in unsurprising fashion after a 1-0 defeat at Tynecastle, Jamie Walker with a second half goal enough for the dominant Jambo's. Michael Gardyne was sent off just before the ninety minutes for a rash scissors tackle on Walker to add to our woes. The League Cup; its not for everyone, meh!
A promising start to the game became more diluted as time passed and Inverness had Mark Ridgers to thank on numerous occasions for keeping the scoreline blank. He saved from Boyce, Pollock twice and Gnanduillet in a more even first half. Craig Gordon was quieter but still had to make vital saves from McAlear, and Walsh. After the break the visitors were rarely seen as an attacking force with Mackay-Steven forcing Ridgers into action and Gnanduillet and Pollock both hitting the same post within the same move.  Gnanduillet and Boyce put substitute Jamie Walker through and he won the tie with an excellent drilled finish from the edge of the box. Ridgers denied Walker a second two minutes later parrying the ball away and minutes later he used his legs to thwart the same player. We had time for another Ridgers save from Walker before Gardyne had seen enough of him receiving a straight red for his rash challenge.
Suffice to say Mark Ridgers was our MotM and Jamie Walker's introduction gave Hearts more of a cutting edge.

A wee flavour from the game...
 
 
Date: 25/07/2021  Venue: Tynecastle Park  Attendance: 2989  Referee: Nick Walsh 
 
Hearts: 1
Manager: Robbie Neilson Lineup:  Gordon; M Smith, Halkett, Kingsley, Cochrane, Pollock (Walker 66), Halliday (Haring 66), Mackay-Steven, Boyce, Gnanduillet (Henderson 84), Ginnelly Subs (not used):  Stewart; McEneff, C Smith, Popescu, Watson, Denholm Scorers: Walker (75) Booked: Ginnelly (6), Pollock (56) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 0
Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup:  Ridgers; Duffy, Devine (Fyffe 76), Broadfoot, Deas (Harper 76), Walsh (McDonald 81), McAlear, McGregor, Gardyne, Sutherland (Jamieson 81), Duku (Allardice 70) Subs (not used): C Mackay; Hyde, Cairns, Hennem Scorers: none Booked: none Sent Off: Gardyne (88) a
By tm4tj in Reports 2021-22 ·

Hearts -V- Inverness CT - League Cup

Hearts league cup
 
Our involvement in this seasons opening event will come to an end once we face Hearts at Tynecastle on Sunday in a 17:15 kick-off in our final Group A game. It's been another disastrous League Cup campaign after the optimism of the opening encounter against Peterhead. Subsequent flaky performances against part-time lower league sides have seen the optimism replaced by despair. Not so much the defeats, but the performances have been poor leaving new gaffer Billy Dodds the daunting task of breathing new life into this rapidly deflating side. This game will be broadcast by Premier Sports.
OFFICIAL PREVIEW
Premier Sports
Group A     HOME AWAY   POS.   P W D L GF GA W D L GF GA GD PTS 1 Heart of Midlothian 3 1 0 0 3 0 2 0 0 4 0 7 9 2 Stirling Albion 3 0 0 1 0 2 1 1 0 5 4 -1 5 3 Inverness Caledonian Thistle 3 1 1 0 4 2 0 0 1 1 3 0 4 4 Peterhead 3 1 0 1 3 3 0 0 1 0 2 -2 3 5 Cove Rangers 4 1 0 1 5 4 0 0 2 1 6 -4 3
Stirling Albion finish second after beating Peterhead in the other Group A game this weekend. (Final Score 3-1)
Dodds talking after the defeat to Cove Rangers
So, having said he has not done any work with his defenders, Doddsy has promptly gone shopping and brought in another striker to bolster his misfiring forwards. Nineteen year old Lewis Jamieson has come in for a season long loan from Premiership side St Mirren. Quite what he has to offer compared to our own academy graduates has yet to be seen, but good luck to him anyway.
Sean Welsh is still out but David Carson who missed the Cove game could feature. Lewis Jamieson will be included in the squad with Billy Mckay and Anthony McDonald still sidelined. Young right back Harry Nicolson has been loaned to Elgin City until January 2022 and gets a start on Saturday against East Fife.
 
By tm4tj in Previews 2021-22 ·

Cove Rangers 3-1 Inverness CT - League Cup

Cove cruise
 
Inverness' dismal run of League Cup results continued with defeat at Cove.
This was a must win game for Inverness if they were looking to progress in the competition. Sean Welsh was out after rolling his ankle against Stirling Albion and David Carson missed out after taking a knock against Albion. There were some 'friendly' faces in the Cove ranks with Vigurs, Draper and McAllister in opposition.
Manny Duku had a shot cleared off the line in the tenth minute after intercepting the ball and driving into the box. Ten minutes later Mark Ridgers was called into action to deny Neill after a corner. Play moved to the other end and Gardyne and Doran combined to play Duku through on goal but he shot wide. Half an hour gone and Sutherland and Duku combine to give Allardice an opportunity but he lashed the ball over. Cove opened the scoring in the 35th minute when Leighton McIntosh scored. A couple of minutes later and Cove doubled their lead through Mitch Megginson. Megginson then shot over the bar before Sutherland shot over at the other end and then keeper Gourlay denied Duku after McAlear found him in the box with an excellent ball. Plenty of action but no goals for Inverness at the interval.
Sutherland went close five minutes into the second half after Gourlay fluffed a clearance. Ridgers tipped a Scully shot over the bar as play moved to the other end and Ridgers also saved from Megginson on the hour. Sutherland headed over after Walsh put a tremendous cross into the box with twenty minutes left. With ten minutes left Sutherland headed another Walsh cross onto the post and wide. Walsh himself had an effort scrambled off the line as Inverness pressed for a lifeline. However Yule completed the embarrassment for Dodds duffers with a third goal five minutes from the end after shambolic defending. A penalty to Inverness in the 90th minute offered little consolation for the Caley Jags but Duku duly converted from the spot.

Plenty of work for Dodds to do before the league campaign begins in earnest.
RIG of Wyness Shuffle fame was not impressed: That was grim. Despite a first half that was arguably quite even in terms of chances created as soon as Cove were two goals up the game was over. Duku and Sutherland both passed up decent chances for us with Duku perhaps missing the best opportunity when he rounded the keeper and decided to take about 74 touches in the box before having a shot. Neill and Draper looked quite suspect at times. Unfortunately for us our entire defence looked even worse with Broadfoot and Deas really struggle to understand where one another was. Duffy looked incredibly rusty at RB and was continuously beaten by Leitch down the Cove left side whilst Harper, although reasonable enough getting forward, is a little suspect defensively for me.

Wonderful opening goal for the home side. nice little dinked ball over the top of the ICT defence and McIntosh sent a superb curled effort beyond Ridgers into the net. Barely a moment later Cove had a second. Another ball over the top found Megginson and he easily beat Ridgers for number two. With this the game was pretty much over as we struggled to get anything going in the second half. Walsh had the best chance when Duku sped past a Cove defender and cut the ball back from the bye line but Walsh saw his effort blocked and then cleared off the line. Cove's third goal looked, from the opposite end of the pitch, a little similar to the chance Walsh had missed. Bursting run into the box, ball cut back and Yule finished well to wrap things up. Although a penalty from Duku saw us get on the scoresheet it did nothing to mask a pretty desperate performance.


I don't particularly care about going out of the League Cup, we have been dreadful in it since this new format was introduced, but I am bothered about the poor performances against Stirling and Cove Rangers. The latter had nothing to play for, only had 14 fit players available and were absolute toilet for their first three games yet they cigared past us no problems. I'm also worried that there were evident problems on the pitch which Dodds did nothing to address. The players still seem to be adjusting tot his 442 / 4411 setup Dodds is trying to implement. Last night we were outnumbered in midfield and struggled in the centre of the pitch for long periods yet nothing was done to change it which was a concern. When we did look threatening it was when we had the ball on the deck and were passing it around but too often we were sending high balls up towards Duku and Sutherland who struggled to control them under pressure from Draper and Neil. It was evident this wasn't working yet it seemed to be our main way to "attack". 

We need to improve and quickly. <<understatement alert>>
Full highlights from Cove
 
Date: 20/07/2021  Venue: Balmoral Stadium, Cove Attendance: 319 Referee:  Chris Graham
 
Cove Rangers: 3
Manager: Paul Hartley Lineup:  Gourlay; Neill, Milne, Scully, Yule, Megginson, McIntosh (McAllister 72), Draper, Vigurs, Leitch (Watson 46), Fyvie Subs (not used):  McKenzie Scorers: McIntosh (35), Megginson (38), Yule (85) Booked: Milne (46) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 1
Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup:  Ridgers; Duffy, Deas, Broadfoot, Harper, Gardyne (Walsh 60), Allardice (MacGregor 60), McAlear, Doran, Sutherland, Duku. Subs (not used): C Mackay; H Nicolson, Fyffe, Hennem, Cairns, Devine Scorers: Duku (92 pen) Booked: Doran (23) Sent Off: none a
By tm4tj in Reports 2021-22 ·

Cove Rangers -V- Inverness CT - Preview

Welsh Woe
 
A visit to Balmoral Stadium to face Cove Rangers on Tuesday night brings fresh urgency after a lacklustre draw against Stirling Albion ended with the Bino's taking the bonus point after a penalty shoot-out. We will have to do it without the injured Sean Welsh. The Cove game kicks-off at 19:45 with live streaming available from Cove Rangers TV for a tenner.
PPV Stream
Official Preview
Attendance info
Both sides had the wind taken out of their sails at the weekend with Stirling Albion causing an upset at the Caledonian Stadium after winning the bonus point in a penalty shoot out following a 2-2 draw after ninety minutes. Mackin and Moore had given the visitors an early lead before Roddy MacGregor pulled one back before the break. Shane Sutherland quickly restored parity after the break but no further scoring saw the tie being decided on penalties where the Bino's took the bonus point.
Cove surprisingly went down to a rejuvenated Peterhead by 3-1. Brown put Peterhead in front after only three minutes before Megginson levelled ten minutes later. However Cameron and McLean scored either side of the break to give Peterhead their first win of the competition. Surprise surprise; Vigurs and Draper both booked.
Cove starting XI v Peterhead:
McKenzie; Ross, Neill, Higgins, Yule, Vigurs, Draper, Scully, Megginson, McAllister, Leitch
League Cup Group 'A'
Stirling Albion v Hearts Tuesday 7:45pm
    Team P GD Pts 1   Hearts 2 5 6 2   Stirling 2 1 5 3   Inverness CT 2 2 4 4   Peterhead 3 -2 3 5   Cove Rangers 3 -6 0  
 
Latest team news
Captain Sean Welsh looks likely to be out for at least a month. The often injured midfielder turned his ankle at the weekend and will miss the next few weeks. Leaves the door open for another midfielder to stake a claim for a start, or push David Carson forward and see if Wallace Duffy is ready to fill the right back slot. Still waiting for Billy Mckay and Anthony McDonald to surface, although Mckay could be ready sooner rather than later.
 
By tm4tj in Previews 2021-22 ·

Inverness CT 2 (2p)-2 (3p) Stirling Albion - League Cup

Bino's Bonus
 
Kevin Rutkiewicz took his Stirling Albion side North for the second group 'A' match for both teams who were looking to continue their winning starts to the League Cup. Something was going to give and it did with the Bino's taking the bonus point after a 2-2 draw. Stirling took an early lead with a superb free kick by Dylan Mackin from twenty-three yards. Kieran Moore stunned the hosts on the counter with a second before Roddy Macgregor pulled one back before the Interval, linking with Duku. Shane Sutherland levelled the tie early in the second half, again Duku the provider. Jack Leitch hit the post for the impressive Bino's as they continued to cause problems. Chances went abegging at both ends and when Doran missed a great opportunity at the end, the game went to penalties to decide the bonus point. When Currie brilliantly saved Sutherland's penalty it was the Bino's that prevailed 3-2, and no one could grudge them that.
Penalty scorers
Inverness CT: 2 - Walsh ❌, Allardice ✔️, McAlear ✔️, Carson ❌, Sutherland ❌
Stirling Albion: 3 - Carrick ✔️, Leitch ❌, Flanagan ✔️ Omar ✔️, Banner ❌

 
OFFICIAL REPORT FROM ICTFC
 
CTO RIG has this summary: We had a lot of the ball but didn't create too many clear cut chances. From an ICT perspective the defending for the second goal was a shambles. Carson completely switched off and let his man run off him. Nice free kick for the opener but I can't help but feel we didn't defend that set piece particularly well either. A couple of nice passing moves at the edge of the box saw us score two decent goals and although we dominated in terms of attacking with Stirling content to sit back and hit on the counter we struggled to really test the keeper. Doran had the best chance to win it when he sclaffed a shot wide with only the keeper to beat. That said, Stirling looked decent on the counter and although Broadfoot was pretty decent for most of the game he did have a comedy mishap with Deas (I think) where the two of them went for the ball and both missed it leading to a clear chance for Albion to grab a winner but they hit the post / bar. That penalty shoot out was pretty rotten. Almost as bad as the one between the two sides back in 2017 in the same competition. 

That's us possibly out of the competition already as we will probably need to do our usual of get at least a point from Hearts or avoid losing 3 - 0 only to contrive to lose 4 - 0. Meh.

On the plus side it was great being back at a game again.
 

Pragmatism at it's finest
CTO Doofers Dad: We played some tidy football at times with good ball retention and interplay in midfield, but there was a lack of movement up front, we were rarely able to find the defence splitting passes and any crosses into the box were generally poor.  As for the defence; being lucky to concede only 2 goals at home against a part time team 2 divisions below us tells its own story.  But hey.  It was back to watching live football and that is a real positive.
CTO Robert: Not our finest day, and once again we look to be failing to get out of the group stages, but we need to use the next two games to sharpen up so we are ready for the league campaign. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Date: 17/07/2021  Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: **** Referee: Alan Newlands 
 
Inverness CT: 2 (2 pens)
Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup:  C Mackay; Carson, Fyffe (Deas 46), Broadfoot (Devine 63), Harper, MacGregor, Welsh (Allardice (38), Gardyne (Doran 63), Walsh, Sutherland, Duku (McAlear 83) Subs (not used):  Ridgers; H Nicolson, Duffy, Cairns, Scorers: MacGregor (27), Sutherland (49) Booked: Devine (72) Sent Off: none Stirling Albion: 2 (3 pens)
Manager: Kevin Rutkiewicz Lineup:  Currie; Cummins (McGeachie 74), McLean, McGregor, McNiff, Laird (Banner 83), Moore (Heaver 90), Omar, Leitch, Flanagan, Mackin (Carrick 74) Subs (not used):   Law; Roberts, Heaver, Bikey Scorers: Mackin (4), Moore (20) Booked: Omar (58), McGregor (80) Sent Off: none a
By tm4tj in Reports 2021-22 ·

Inverness CT -V- Stirling Albion - League Cup

League Cup
 
Second game of the season has Stirling Albion coming North to face the Caley Jags with both sides getting off to a winning start in their opening group 'A' fixture. The Bino's went to Cove and came away with an excellent 3-2 win and Inverness defeated Peterhead 2-0 in Billy Dodds first game flying solo. The match is a 3:00pm kick-off on Saturday afternoon with home fans only allowed in the stadium under current covid restrictions.
PPV Streaming from ICTV
OFFICIAL PREVIEW
INFO
 

We comfortably beat Peterhead on Tuesday night thanks to two fantastic second half strikes. Manny Duku opened his account with a tight finish from sixteen yards and Aaron Doran thundered in a swerving 30 yarder to complete the scoring. Inverness were rarely troubled and eased home with Peterhead winless after two games.

Stirling edged out Cove in an entertaining five goal game at Balmoral Stadium. Rabin Omar put Stirling in at the break a goal to the good. Nathan Flanagan doubled the advantage early in the second half but a Fraser Fyvie double looked likely to take the tie to a penalty shoot-out. Note that Vigurs is credited with the assists for both Cove goals. However Flanagan scored again in stoppage time to win the game for the visitors.
Bino's starting XI v Cove Rangers:
Currie; Cummins, McLean, McGregor, McNiff, Laird, Leitch, Omar, Flanagan, Moore, Mackin
Latest Team News
Robbie Deas has returned to full training and Billy Mckay will return to full training, possibly next week. Anthony McDonald has been on light training and will be stepping up his rehab with full training soon.
Looks like we will be along similar lines to the Peterhead game. Manny Duku and Kirk Broadfoot caught the eye on Tuesday night with Aaron Doran, Sean Welsh and Tom Walsh looking spritely.
Other fixture in group A
Peterhead play Cove Rangers on Saturday.
By tm4tj in Previews 2021-22 ·

Inverness CT 2-0 Peterhead - League Cup

Winning start for Dodds
 
The season kicked off in earnest tonight for the Caley Jags with a group 'A' League Cup encounter against Peterhead. It was a winning start for Billy Dodds in his first competitive game in charge of Inverness. It was a second defeat for Peterhead who been beaten in their opener by Hearts at the weekend. 
After a cautious start Inverness began to control the pace of the game but chances were at a premium. The best chance came when Aaron Doran spectacularly flicked a cross goalwards but Brett Long dived to his right to prevent a goal. Tom Walsh blazed a strike over on the run after a dummy from Duku put him through. Manny Duku was causing problems on the ground and in the air. Sean Welsh missed a tremendous opportunity as he headed just over when it looked easier to score, but it remained goalless at the interval. Early in the second half Duku broke the deadlock with a drilled effort from just inside the box and Aaron Doran doubled the advantage with a stunning thirty yard shot into the top corner four minutes later. The hosts saw out the remainder of the game well in control with Peterhead rarely threatening.
New signings Kirk Broadfoot, Manny Duku, Reece McAlear and Tom Walsh all started with Michael Gardyne coming on from the bench.
Kirk Broadfoot and Manny Duku both impressed on their debut's with Tom Walsh and Aaron Doran playing with a spring in their step.

Match Reaction
CTO Robert said: 
"Enjoyed that. Very dominant and two early goals in the second half secured the win.
A couple of thoughts driving home. Broadfoot and Fyffe swapped centre half roles at half time. The whole defence clearly had confidence in Fyffe which was good to see.
We looked stronger down the right with Carson and Walsh than down the left with Harper and Doran, but then Doran turned up with his goal!
A word for Sutherland. He put a real shift in and didn’t give Peterhead a minute.
MOM for me was actually Welsh. He was pulling the strings in midfield.
A very encouraging start and we still have Deas, McDonald and Mckay who have not featured so far."
CTO Jaggernaut said: 
"I thought the first hour was very encouraging. We were closing them down well when they had possession and our passing was brisk and on point. We lost a bit of our rhythm with all the subs, but there were a lot of good performances out there tonight."

Date: 13/07/2021  Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 300ish Referee: Peter Stuart 
 
Inverness CT: 2
Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup:  Ridgers; Carson, Fyffe, Broadfoot (Devine 65), Harper, Doran (Gardyne 57)  Welsh, McAlear (MacGregor 57), Walsh (Hyde 78), Sutherland, Duku (Allardice 66) Subs (not used):  C Mackay; Nicolson, Duffy Scorers: Duku (50), Doran (54) Booked: none Sent Off: none Peterhead: 0
Manager: Jim McInally Lineup:  Long; Mulligan, Conroy, Jason Brown, McDonald, Ritchie (Strachan 86), S Brown, Cook (Ferry 55), Kesson (Cameron 46), Jordon Brown (Payne 55), Lyle (McLean 55) Subs (not used): Wilson; Mushanu Scorers: none Booked: Jason Brown (86), McLean (89), Conroy (90) Sent Off: none a
By tm4tj in Reports 2021-22 ·

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