Surprise Surprise

 

East End Park is the venue on Saturday as surprise Championship leaders Inverness visit the Kingdom of Fife to take on surprise packet Dunfermline Athletic.

I say surprise packet, as that is exactly what The Pars have become under the guidance of former Alloa Athletic manager Peter Grant. I fully expected the Pars to be challenging at the opposite end of the table given their financial backing and the assumed quality of their squad. Unfortunately for them they find themselves languishing at the foot of the table and winless after four games with only a draw against Morton  to show for their troubles. They do have a Fife derby to come against Raith Rovers, but that won't be easy either. They have shipped three goals against Partick, Arbroath and Ayr United and their fans are now talking boycotts in an attempt to use fan power to force the board to act now before their season is completely ruined. Look out for the mass exodus on the hour. However, beware the scalded cat!

In stark contrast, Inverness are on a winning run of five games on the bounce in the Championship, have the manager of the month in Billy Dodds, and sit top of the table having already beaten three of the favourites in Raith, Kilmarnock and Partick Thistle. What could possibly go wrong?

PPV Stream @ ParsTV £12

OFFICIAL PREVIEW

ROBBO BOOK

VIDEO WATCH

SUPPORTERS BUS

Stat Attack

First Competitive Meeting

Aug 7th, 1999

League

(A)

0 - 4

Most Recent Competitive Meeting

Mar 20th, 2021

League (Championship)

(A)

1 - 0

Last 10 Competitive Meetings

1 - 0 (A)

1 - 1 (H)

1 - 3 (A)

2 - 1 (A)

2 - 0 (H)

1 - 0 (A)

1 - 0 (H)

0 - 1 (A)

2 - 2 (H)

3 - 0 (A)

Biggest Victories

Jul 26th, 2016

League Cup (Group C)

(A)

5 - 1

Heaviest Defeats <ouch>

Aug 12th, 2017	League	(A)	1 - 5
Aug 7th, 1999	League	(A)	0 - 4

Highest Attendance

Apr 10th, 2004

Scottish Cup (Semi-Final)

(N)

13,255

Head 2 Head

Venue

Pld

Won

Drn

Lst

For

Agst

+ / -

Home	21	9	8	4	27	19	+8
Away	22	9	8	5	28	25	+3
Neutral	2	0	1	1	3	4	-1
Total	45	18	17	10	58	48	+10

Overall stats sway in our favour with the last ten meetings showing that Inverness have been more dominant in recent years. A far cry from the 4-0 thrashing dished out on our first venture into the Championship back in August 1999 when the Pars brushed aside the upstarts from the Highlands who dared to move up through the leagues to challenge the central belt dominance. In our defence we were reduced to ten men and conceded two late goals.

 

		Pld	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	Pts
1.	Inverness CT	5	5	0	0	7	1	6	15
2.	Kilmarnock	5	4	0	1	6	1	5	12
3.	Arbroath	5	3	1	1	12	4	8	10
4.	Partick Thistle	5	3	0	2	11	8	3	9
5.	Queen of the South	5	2	0	3	7	8	-1	6
6.	Raith Rovers	4	1	1	2	6	6	0	4
7.	Ayr United	5	1	1	3	5	8	-3	4
8.	Morton	5	1	1	3	5	9	-4	4
9.	Hamilton Academical	5	1	1	3	6	12	-6	4
10.	Dunfermline	4	0	1	3	3	11	-8	1

Other fixtures this weekend, all 3:00pm Saturday

Hamilton v Ayr United

Morton v Raith Rovers

Partick v Kilmarnock

Queens v Arbroath

LATEST TEAM NEWS

Michael Gardyne missed out last week having picked up a knock in training prior to the Buckie Thistle cup game. Looks like we are mostly free from injury with Billy Mckay and Lewis Jamieson champing at the bit as they remained on the bench last week. Look for a relatively unchanged squad this weekend. If it's not broke, don't fix it! We have also recruited someone to watch videos. Good work if you can get it.

Dunfermline will have Owain Fon Williams, Nikolay Todorov and Kai Kennedy in their squad as they look to get off the bottom of the table.

 

Aaron Doran will make his 300th appearance this weekend. Let's see if he can add to his 50 goals he has scored for the Caley Jags

Back scoring goals on Saturday, Aaron Doran is a Highland hero! 🦸‍♂️

With an impressive back catalogue of screamers, which is your favourite strike from the Caley Thistle man? 🔴🔵#SPFLHeroes | @ICTFC pic.twitter.com/8Cr9UYgPu9

— SPFL (@spfl) September 15, 2021

 

 

View full article

 

Sorry Mark 🤣     ridgers 🤣

6 minutes ago, the cat said:

Sorry Mark 🤣     ridgers 🤣

Or, as the programme calls him, "Marc"

The internet is saying that a guy called Gordon Banks once made a save that was almost as good as Mark’s today.

Didn't really get going. Thought we were popping it about quite comfortably first half and building to something but the departure of Shane really shook us. Seems weird to say it because he's not one of our best technical players and it's taken him a while to establish himself but so much of what we've acheived so far this season is built around what Shane does. Saw a bit of squad weakness for the first time in having to play Harper in left mid for a half and he was truly awful. Still, great penalty box defending and the best keeper in the league (maybe in the country?) saw us through. It's a point we would've been delighted with at the start of the season.

Edited September 18, 20213 yr by Caley Stan

A point gained rather than two lost.

I thought we shaded the first half, but Dunfermline definitely were the better team after the break, with Ridgers keeping them out although we had one shot that grazed the post.

Had we got ahead before the break we would have gone on to win, but we were hanging on in the last 15 minutes or so.

I didn’t see any fans walk out. Whilst our support was vocal in the first half they were quite muted when we were holding on towards the end.

Dunfermline are better than their league position and I’m happy with the point the way things turned out.

I hope Sutherland and Doran are ok. I’d like to see how Sutherland and Mckay do together as I suspect it may be our best combination. Our defence is solid, with only one goal conceded in six games, but we need to be more potent up front, with only seven scored in those six games despite our ability to pass the ball.

After full time, Toddy went to greet most of our players, and it looked like they all had good relationships with him, which was nice to see.

Kennedy was quiet in the first half, but Dunfermline tried to play everything through him after the break and Carson had his hands full and was lucky to escape the wrath of the referee at one point when he wiped him out. Overall though I thought he dealt with him quite well.

We have beaten the other five teams currently in the top six, whilst our next three are against the teams in seventh to ninth so hopefully we can get back to winning ways.

As I say, I see today as a point gained. 

Edited September 18, 20213 yr by Robert

9 hours ago, Caley Stan said:

Didn't really get going. Thought we were popping it about quite comfortably first half and building to something but the departure of Shane really shook us. Seems weird to say it because he's not one of our best technical players and it's taken him a while to establish himself but so much of what we've acheived so far this season is built around what Shane does. Saw a bit of squad weakness for the first time in having to play Harper in left mid for a half and he was truly awful. Still, great penalty box defending and the best keeper in the league (maybe in the country?) saw us through. It's a point we would've been delighted with at the start of the season.

Great summation! However I still feel drained this morning. A really invested supportive Caleyaway crowd who kicked every ball with them. 

Well done Dunfermline too with low key friendly stewarding and fantastic catering stand which even had a contactless payment device. 

In some ways I felt the stewarding was worse than that bastart at Cove ("git yer mask oan"). Myself, Anthony McDonald and a couple of his mates were shifted off the concourse at the top behind the empty section nearest the usual away stand, where we were causing no problems at all by standing there, and upon questioning him came the response along the lines of "just cos". The stand was absolutely heaving and we were allocated far too few seats. No exits blocked or anything, just think the stewards have a stick up their arses this season...

2 hours ago, Jack Waddington said:

In some ways I felt the stewarding was worse than that bastart at Cove ("git yer mask oan"). Myself, Anthony McDonald and a couple of his mates were shifted off the concourse at the top behind the empty section nearest the usual away stand, where we were causing no problems at all by standing there, and upon questioning him came the response along the lines of "just cos". The stand was absolutely heaving and we were allocated far too few seats. No exits blocked or anything, just think the stewards have a stick up their arses this season...

I think its common practice to sit in the allocated area? 

The stand was in no way full with plenty empty seats. 

I dont usually stick up for stewarding companies but no club will let you sit outside allocated areas. Our own included 

Is this the only away ground where over the years we’ve been put in 3 different stands?

1 hour ago, old caley girl said:

I think its common practice to sit in the allocated area? 

The stand was in no way full with plenty empty seats. 

I dont usually stick up for stewarding companies but no club will let you sit outside allocated areas. Our own included 

Forgot to mention it, but it wasn't exclusively for just standing the whole match, they said you were fine to stand on the concourse if you'd gone to the food bar, but then you'd have to go to your seat. It's not a case of "f*ck the rules, I obey no-one", it's more a case of the stewards making an issue over nothing. Does it matter that me and a handful of other people are leaning against some railing? I'd understand if we'd been sitting in the seats past the tape, cos you'd have to wipe down the entire row, or had we been blocking the entire path but literally just beyond us was the exit of the gents toilets, so the entire fenceline was bound to be wiped down and there was more than enough room to pass.

It was either plonk myself down against the fence or squeeze past an entire row of people to get to an empty seat cos one steward is on a power trip. A good handful of stewards passed myself, Anthony and Co. and not one said a word about it, almost as if they realised we weren't causing any issue worth calling us out on.

The club’s report is now available:

https://ictfc.com/match-report-dunfermline-ath-0-0-ictfc

Pretty entertaining game and a draw was fair on the balance of play. I feel like we had more chances over the piece but they were not particularly clear cut. A goalmouth scramble and a Mckay shot which flashed by the post were as close as we came. Dunfermline had the two best chances of the game which drew wonder saves from Ridgers. The block from the Toddy header was outstanding and we were definitely up against it for large parts of the game particularly after we lost Sutherland and Doran to injury which really knocked our rhythm. 

Another good performance from Roddy with his classic Cruyff turn. He really is oozing confidence at the minute and it's great to watch him play. Allardice and Deas also did well for us but I feel they faded as the game went on. Harper and Welsh didn't offer much when they came on and Mckay struggled when we started going more direct as the game wore on. 

Referee was some laugh. So inconsistent in deciding what warranted a yellow card and what didn't.

Disappointed and at the same time happy with a point.

Edited September 19, 20213 yr by RiG

On 9/19/2021 at 3:47 PM, Yngwie said:

Is this the only away ground where over the years we’ve been put in 3 different stands?

Firhill.

19 hours ago, TheMantis said:

Firhill.

C*unty too(?) Know we've had the away end (duh), the one that backs onto the training pitches, and surely at some stage we must've been put in the far end of the Main Stand...