Can we get three on the trot

 

Back to League business this weekend at the Caledonian Stadium with Dick Campbell's Arbroath the visitors. It's another covid restricted game meaning no fans will be allowed in the stadium but the game can be caught on Caley Jags TV by streaming the action live from 3:00pm, with Inverness looking for their third Championship win on the bounce.

Contrasting results in the Scottish Cup in midweek when Inverness edged out Highland League side Buckie Thistle in a five goal encounter. Sounds exciting but in truth it was a poor game and performance with Buckie taking all the plaudits but not the win. A late winner by Daniel Mackay ended Buckie's brave attempt to get to Dingwall despite giving their all against a much changed Inverness side who did just enough to get through (2-3). Arbroath dropped out of the cup after the beaten finalists in the 2015 showpiece upstaged the Championship side 1-2 at Gayfield. Yes, Falkirk are through to the third round and face a trip to Parkhead.

OFFICIAL PREVIEW

STREAMING INFO

LEWIS TOSHNEY STATEMENT

		Pld	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	Pts
1.	Hearts	21	14	4	3	48	21	27	46
2.	Raith Rovers	20	8	6	6	33	26	7	30
3.	Dunfermline	19	8	6	5	27	20	7	30
4.	Dundee	20	8	6	6	37	35	2	30
5.	Inverness CT	21	6	9	6	27	23	4	27
6.	Queen of the South	21	8	3	10	33	42	-9	27
7.	Ayr United	21	6	7	8	26	25	1	25
8.	Morton	21	6	7	8	19	26	-7	25
9.	Arbroath	21	5	7	9	17	26	-9	22
10.	Alloa Athletic	21	4	5	12	24	47	-23	17

Last 10 Competitive Meetings with Arbroath

1 - 1 (A)

3 - 1 (H)

0 - 1 (H)

0 - 3 (A)

2 - 1 (H)

0 - 3 (H)

7 - 0 (H)

2 - 0 (A)

2 - 2 (A)

3 - 1 (H)

In the League, Arbroath have slipped to second bottom After defeats from Queen of the South and Dundee, but a creditable draw against leaders Hearts will give them the confidence that they can beat the drop. We have struggled to perform at times against the bottom sides in the table although we did win 3-1 earlier in the season against Arbroath. A win on Saturday would fire us in the right direction and make it three in a row after good away wins at Raith and Dunfermline.

A worried Gringo summed it up on CTO

I just hope the lack lustre performance at Buckie hasn't affected the lads too much. Yes, it was a much changed side but could still have an effect. Fingers crossed this won't be the case and we can get the much needed three points. Arbroath have given us some tough games and will be up for the fight against relegation...or is it the fact I worry too much? 

Championship games at 3:00pm Saturday 

Alloa Athletic v Ayr United

Hearts v Queen of the South

Inverness CT v Arbroath

Raith Rovers v Morton

Dundee v Dunfermline 7:20pm

***Latest Team News***

After what seems like eternity, we don't need to list Lewis Toshney as an injured player anymore. Yes, he is off the injured list, and off down the road. The unfortunate Lewis has left the building by mutual consent after two injury prone seasons. He made four appearances in season 19/20 and zero this season. Good luck to Lewis after what has been a difficult time for him since he came North. No such fortune for Daniel Mackay who has been added to the crocks list after the cup win at Buckie. Kevin McHattie was also subbed in that game by Cameron Harper, who returned to action after a six game lay-off and played for the last half hour. 

Arbroath have signed former Aberdeen player and East Stirlingshire captain Nicky Low on loan til the end of the season. Good signing for the Lichties who have also been hit with a spate of injuries. Gavin Swankie, Bobby Linn and Luke Donnelly look likely to be miss the rest of the season. Defender Jake Davidson has returned to Dundee United after being injured in training. Experienced Berwick Rangers striker Calum Smith has also been added to Dick's squad for the final push to avoid relegation.

 

The return of the Highland derby

Next up for the Caley Jags after the Arbroath Fixture is a visit to the quaint market town of Dingwall where we will take on the village team in the third round of the Scottish Cup. That was the prize for defeating Buckie Thistle last Wednesday. Unfortunately covid restrictions are still in place and that has ruled out a great away day for the fans who would no doubt have been pleased to see John Hughes and offered him some words of encouragement in his new job 

 

 

 

Ground it out, great 3 points when not playing that well tho.

Thought Storey was going to slip Allan in for debut goal....thought Allan looked decent.

Good work chaps👍

A few weeks ago we were staring a relegation battle in the face. 9 points in 3 games and we are in the play-off spot. Terrific turn around, and something to build on. Be great to see an upbeat finish to the season. Well done, lads.

The team can relax a bit now. A free hit at county on Friday; all the pressure on county. Look to keep the league form going after that. 🤸‍♂️

Another good win for us. At this stage of the season I couldn't care less about performances. All that matters is grinding out 3 points. I'd gladly take scrappy 1 nil wins every game until the end of the season.

Excellent result, well done chaps!

Only fly in the ointment today is the QotS win - even Raith winning is a bonus as it puts Morton further behind us giving a wee bit of a cushion below us.

CTO report published to be updated when highlights available

 

3 hours ago, Gowans said:

Match centre wont even let me log in. The game is on hesgoal with no commentary though. 

You would have missed Andy Bannerman signing off then, when he said: "The final score here at the Caledonian Stadium in the SPFL Championship: Inverness Caledonian Thistle 0, Arbroath 1."

This was a huge win for us today.  At the start of the season the number 1 objective must simply have been survival as a club and then maintaining our position in the Championship.  It has been a difficult season in so many ways, but this run of 10 points from 4 games means that a win away at Morton in the next league game should dispel any lingering concerns of relegation.  

We've looked pretty nervy at times in these last few games, but the hard graft has taken us to a position where we've really nothing to lose. It's been a great effort.  Time now to do our neighbours OTB a good turn and knock them out of the cup so that they can focus on their relegation battle. 

1 hour ago, ilpadrino said:

You would have missed Andy Bannerman signing off then, when he said: "The final score here at the Caledonian Stadium in the SPFL Championship: Inverness Caledonian Thistle 0, Arbroath 1."

I'm sure he also said at one point that our away game at Morton is this coming Tuesday (30 Mar), when it is actually the following week, 6 Apr.

Certainly a better week to be an ICT fan than a Hearts fan...

I missed today’s livestream, the only one I’ve missed apart from the Hearts away game and the home game with Dundee as I was in the crowd that day.

I was driving from just before full time until Sportsound finished at 1800, and am disgusted with the BBC coverage. All we got was a few seconds of headlines around the news at 1700, then an interview with Neil McCann was broadcast at 1750 (he came across well and praised the guys for getting the win whilst dead on their feet after nine games in March), but absolutely no report on the game and no reference to us being fourth (at that time) after the good run. In fact, they gave the impression we were sixth as they listed us last of the teams on 30 points.

And why? They spent nearly an hour talking about Hearts and how they should sack their Manager. Well seeing there were no games in the top flight: it would hardly have rated a mention normally. They said they would have build up to tomorrow’s Scotland game, but that got two minutes at the very end.

Anyway, rant over, and credit the guys for grinding out a vital win. Whilst not mathematically safe, it would take a collapse and remarkable run of results to get us down to 9th, whilst we have a fighting chance of the top four. It won’t be easy, but we have momentum for probably the first time this season.

If we can get a result in Greenock, then what seemed unlikely just a few weeks ago may become possible.

Thanks for the comments on the match. It sounds that it was a pretty poor game but, as others have said, results are more important than performances. Earlier in the season we were drawing or losing when  we should have won, so it is good we are now able to win. Four clean sheets in the league is a great achievement.

The signing of Scott Allan is hopefully a sign that the Board have ambitions to see the club progress.

Well done to one and all involved!

 

 

Edited March 27, 20215 yr by Robert

43 minutes ago, Caley Mad In Berks said:

I'm sure he also said at one point that our away game at Morton is this coming Tuesday (30 Mar), when it is actually the following week, 6 Apr.

He did because I checked after the game 

Before we play Morton, Raith play Dunfermline in midweek and Dunfermline play Hearts on Saturday.

A draw and a Hearts win probably best for us?

5 hours ago, ilpadrino said:

You would have missed Andy Bannerman signing off then, when he said: "The final score here at the Caledonian Stadium in the SPFL Championship: Inverness Caledonian Thistle 0, Arbroath 1."

He also said at the start Falkirk is in Fife!!

Hot Toddy...

We could do with a few more of them! 

That defending  

13 hours ago, IBM said:

He did because I checked after the game 

Moi aussi.  Was surprised and a bit concerned that we had a Tuesday game before the Friday cup-tie!

Ground out a really decent result against an Arbroath team that were very well organised and put us under lots of pressure all over the park. However aside from one header just before half time that needed a good save from Ridgers, and a hilarious scramble in the second half we weren't under much threat from them, and yet another clean sheet from a defence that had been getting some stick. Personally I think Devine is having a decent season, and Deas rarely lets us down. What a great goal from Toddy from a terrific free kick from Harper. Again Todorov is doing much better this season than I expected, and is being just a makeweight, the run of games has done him a world of good, and although he was less effective tioday, the way he got his goal is almost Harry Kane-like (steady on!). All the youngsters did well, Daniel Mackay is surprisingly strong, MacGregor went on some good runs and Harper solid again.

Securing Scott Allan in the morning, who I knew little about (but seems to have excited people) and seeing how he played, is a real bonus...full credit to the management team and Board for securing this loan, which could be crucial in the run in. Another sign for me that the club is better run than some people give credit for. Amazing to think that just two weeks or so ago we were really worried about a relegation scrap, now we are still in the hunt for a promotion play-off place....although probably it's a tall order, we would need to win 4 out of the last 5, including Dundee, although 3 wins and  draw might do it. If we fail, but we retain key players, next season looks promising

15 hours ago, ilpadrino said:

You would have missed Andy Bannerman signing off then, when he said: "The final score here at the Caledonian Stadium in the SPFL Championship: Inverness Caledonian Thistle 0, Arbroath 1."

Yes that was hilarious...but on the whole I enjoyed the livestream, and using a pair of commentators works well for me....I know Andy Bannerman isn't everyones favourite, but he compares well to one of the main Sky EPL presenters (can't remember his name) who spends most of every match rambling away in a soft voice, so you can't hear him properly and just becomes annoying

Dreadful game, dreadfull performance, dreadfull referee but great 3 points. Not a lot more to say other than will take that evef week until the end of the season. 

Not the easiest performance on the eye. But a great 3 points and hopefully we can continue the push into the play offs, allan looks a great addition.

One game tonight in the Championship, Raith Rovers -V- Dunfermline 7:05pm kick-off. A two goal win for Raith would put us fourth. Might be on BBC Scotland channel.

 

		Pld	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	Pts
1.	Hearts	22	14	4	4	50	24	26	46
2.	Raith Rovers	21	9	6	6	34	26	8	33
3.	Dundee	21	9	6	6	40	37	3	33
4.	Dunfermline	20	8	6	6	29	23	6	30
5.	Inverness CT	22	7	9	6	28	23	5	30
6.	Queen of the South	22	9	3	10	36	44	-8	30
7.	Ayr United	22	6	8	8	28	27	1	26
8.	Morton	22	6	7	9	19	27	-8	25
9.	Arbroath	22	5	7	10	17	27	-10	22
10.	Alloa Athletic	22	4	6	12	26	49	-23	18

Ooft, Fon Williams saved that one like a painter 

Pars getting pumped.