No Rice

 

We would have locked horns with one of our olde gaffers sidekicks this weekend as Inverness travel to the Fountain of Youth Stadium (NDP) in South Lanarkshire. Brian Rice was the man who took Accies down, and not before time if you ask me as they have been flirting with relegation for years, but he resigned in August. Former player and assistant manager Stuart Taylor is the man tasked with reshaping the Accies. Good luck with that. This one kicks off at 3:00pm on Saturday with Inverness looking to continue their tremendous start to the season and Accies looking to kick start theirs as they sit second bottom with only one win and two draws to their name so far.

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Venue Head 2 Head

Pld

Won

Drn

Lst

For

Agst

+ / -

Home	13	4	4	5	20	17	+3
Away	9	6	1	2	15	10	+5
Neutral	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	22	10	5	7	35	27	+8

First Competitive Meeting

Jan 25th, 1997

Scottish Cup (Rd 3)

(H)

1 - 3

Most Recent Competitive Meeting

May 6th, 2017

League

(H)

2 - 1

Last 10 Competitive Meetings

2 - 1 (H)

0 - 3 (A)

1 - 1 (H)

1 - 1 (A)

1 - 0 (A)

0 - 1 (H)

4 - 3 (A)

0 - 2 (H)

2 - 0 (A)

4 - 2 (H)

Biggest Victories

Feb 22nd, 2003

Scottish Cup (4th Round)

(H)

6 - 2

Heaviest Defeats

Jan 31st, 2017

League

(A)

0 - 3

Highest Attendance

Jan 24th, 2015

League

(A)

5,089

Highest Home Attendance

Aug 28th, 2010

League

(H)

3,851

Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts   1. Inverness CT 7 6 1 0 9 2 19 2. Kilmarnock 7 5 1 1 8 1 16 3. Arbroath 7 4 2 1 14 4 14 4. Raith Rovers 7 3 2 2 11 9 11 5. Partick Thistle 7 3 0 4 13 13 9 6. Ayr United 7 2 2 3 7 8 8 7. Q.O.S. 7 2 0 5 8 12 6 8. Morton 7 1 2 4 5 10 5 9. Hamilton Ac. 7 1 2 4 6 14 5 10. Dunfermline 7 0 4 3 4 12 4

Other fixtures this weekend, all 3:00pm on Saturday. 

Killiemarnock v Raith - Chance for Raith to get in the mix.

Morton v Arbroath - Can the Smokies keep the run going.

Partick Thistle v Ayr Utd - cCan Ayr leapfrog Partick into 5th.

Queens v Pars - Joust at the bottom end, time for Pars to get the finger out.

Surprisingly, Accies have a better record than us at the Caledonian Stadium overall, but we have been more productive in the away fixture with six wins and a draw out of the nine fixtures. It's four years since our last meeting when we won 2 - 1 at the Caledonian Stadium in what was a difficult season for Inverness culminating in relegation. Brad Mckay and Greg Tansey scored for Inverness whilst Danny Redmond notched a late consolation for the visitors. However, three weeks later we were relegated 

From the Archives: Rare win for Inverness gives hope: Inverness threw themselves a slender lifeline with a deserved 2-1 win over Hamilton Accies in the relegation scrap at the foot of the table. It was only our second win in twenty-four games and our fourth of the season. This win closes the gap to Accies and Well to four points with only three games left. We should have been out of site by half time and Accies could have had no complaints had we been four or five up at the break. As it was, an early goal from defender Brad Mckay and a penalty by Greg Tansey was all we had to show from numerous attempts. Accies left a bitter sweet taste in the mouth as they notched a goal through Redmond with the last kick of the game as we got ourselves in a fankle. Pity about that but it was a welcome three points that gives us a glimmer of hope and keeps our premiership status alive for another week at least.

Inverness dug deep last weekend to overcome a stubborn but mainly toothless Queen of the South 2-1 with goals from Sean Welsh and Michael Gardyne. Lee Connelly scored a stunner for Queens out of nothing. That victory put Inverness back on top of the table after Killie and Arbroath played out a scoreless draw on the Friday night. 

Raith Rovers and Dunfermline played out a 1-1 draw in the rescheduled Fife derby on Wednesday night to bring the table up to matchday eight for everyone. Raith are up to fourth in the table with the Pars still bottom.

Here's the three goals; all superb strikes...

Accies only success this campaign was a 1-2 win over Queen of the South on matchday four. Their opening fixture against Raith Rovers offered much promise as they came from four nil down to snatch a dramatic 4-4 draw after scoring four goals in the final twenty-two minutes. Their last game was a 0-0 draw with Dunfermline at EEP, similar to us. Arbroath put four past them without reply three weeks ago. They have failed to score in their last three Championship matches. All this means that at the moment, like Dunfermline, they find themselves at the wrong end of the table.

Latest Team News

Billy Dodds will have more choice this Saturday as Aaron Doran and Shane Sutherland remained on the bench last week after recovering from injuries picked up at Dunfermline.

Stuart Taylor has had a few knocks to contend with over the last couple of weeks. Lewis Spence is out with a knee injury that Taylor hopes is not requiring surgery. Shaun Want,  Luke Matheson, Kieran MacDonald and Andy Ryan were all noticeably struggling and could be doubts for this weekend. Accies have secured Hearts defender Mihai Popescu on loan for the entire season. Striker David Moyo could return this weekend. Miko Virtanen is optimistic insisting "Accies are ready to inflict a first defeat on Inverness". He has based this on the number of opportunities Accies have created against Ayr United and Dunfermline and claims of being unlucky.

Dodds looking forward to the Accies challenge

 

2 minutes ago, snorbens_caleyman said:

You got that right!  Care to predict 3 goals for us now?

OK, we will score 3!!

Not convinced on what I’ve seen so far though. 

Only positive from the first half is that Killie are also losing. Can we do what we did against Partick and turn things round in the second half? We will need to play much better to do that.

Hamilton have not been particularly good which makes it worse that we are 2 behind. 

Mckay on for Duku at start of second half. 

McDonald on for Duffy. Allardice at right back now it looks like. 

Edited October 2, 20213 yr by Robert

Consolation goal by Gardyne. We’ve bossed the second half but struggled to break them down.

Good effort.

In the 92nd minute. 

Very poor too little far too late.Especially against ten men for two thirds of the game.

The only positive to take from today is that Kilmarnock also lost and we are still top of the league However, even that crumb of comfort is tampered by the loss of the opportunity to give ouselves a comfortable cushion at the top.

Hopefully, an aberration and we can put this behind us and get back to winning ways for our next league outing.

Well done Hamilton. Toothless as has been said but they defended well. Really good commentary. We move on

3 hours ago, Naelifts said:

 

Happy Birthday to Roddy and Robbo - STILL Top of the league 

Deserved win for Accies. We were rotten for too much of that game to deserve anything. Nice finishes for both of their goals but really poor defending from our point of view.

After the sending off it was almost all ICT but we created pretty much nothing of note. Half hearted penalty appeals in the second half and a wonderful strike from Gardyne, easily our best player, were all we had to show for our possession.

Accies defended well and easily coped with our timid attempts to get back into the game. We had to lose sometime but I am very disappointed at how poor we were today. 

A disappointment today but Gardyne is shaping up to be possibly our best signing since relegation.

Our title prospects could well hinge on him remaining fit throughout the season.

Disappointing performance and result. In the first half, the early goal rocked us and gave Hamilton confidence, then they got their second with a good finish.

Once they went two ahead and down to 10 men, they packed their defence and we struggled to break them down, although their defenders had a lot of last ditch defending and blocks.

However, other than Harper hitting the bar and chances for Sutherland and Welsh, I’m struggling to recall many clear cut opportunities.

Gardyne deserved his goal as he was our most dangerous player, and linked up well with Harper on the left.

We need to be more potent as we are not scoring enough goals and our league position flatters us on recent performances.

Worryingly we have beaten the teams in 2nd to 7th and dropped points against 2 of the bottom 3, with the other team in the bottom 3 to come next.

It just highlights how any team can beat any team in this league so we need to be on our game every week.

Still, despite today’s disappointment, before the season started we’d all have taken being 3 points ahead at the top after 8 games!

6 minutes ago, Robert said:

We need to be more potent as we are not scoring enough goals and our league position flatters us on recent performances.

Agreed.  I was thinking that the next few games - maybe up until the end of the year - could be sink or swim.

We still have the problem that has existed since Billy Mckay left for the first time - we have no reliable goalscorer.

Duku is ineffectual, Sutherland lacks ball-control skills, and Mckay himself never seems to get near the ball.

Blue-skies thinking - when Carson is fit again, I would be tempted to see just how far forward he can play.  Start him in midfield again, and then see if he can play higher up the park.

Agree with the above, we are playing like a team that does not believe they are capable of winning this league and have been waiting for the bubble to burst. Well, it's now burst, how quick can we repair it.

I know Walsh hasn't been playing great recently but I was surprised when he was subbed. Putting MacGregor wide right nullified him for almost an hour and he continuously drifted inside leaving Duffy with no one ahead of him to work with. Our whole right flank became redundant.

7 minutes ago, tm4tj said:

Agree with the above, we are playing like a team that does not believe they are capable of winning this league and have been waiting for the bubble to burst. Well, it's now burst, how quick can we repair it.

I agree. The last time we wete relegated Terry Butcher instilled in the team a belief that they could win the league despite  at one point, being double figures in terms of points behind Dundee.

This squad might not be quite so experienced or talented but, if they can summon up the same degree of confidence and belief, they are good enough to win the title and, with it  promotion.

19 minutes ago, RiG said:

I know Walsh hasn't been playing great recently but I was surprised when he was subbed. Putting MacGregor wide right nullified him for almost an hour and he continuously drifted inside leaving Duffy with no one ahead of him to work with. Our whole right flank became redundant.

Taking Walsh off was the right move, he has been very poor for weeks and results and lack of a fit option kept him in team. Would have brought McDonald on earlier and given him a decent chace to get at Hamilton. McKay been awful as well since resigned but Gardyne and Mcdonald wide will create a lot of chances. Today Hamilton sat very deep and we played in front of them. 2 or 3 touches instead of 1-2. Playing 10men we should have moved them quicker and tired them but waiting to 65 to go to 3 at tge back was weird. Should have done that at ht and really gone at them, just looked lije hopeful balks into box. Oh and Duku was brutal as well...

39 minutes ago, ForresJag said:

Taking Walsh off was the right move, he has been very poor for weeks and results and lack of a fit option kept him in team. Would have brought McDonald on earlier and given him a decent chace to get at Hamilton. McKay been awful as well since resigned but Gardyne and Mcdonald wide will create a lot of chances. Today Hamilton sat very deep and we played in front of them. 2 or 3 touches instead of 1-2. Playing 10men we should have moved them quicker and tired them but waiting to 65 to go to 3 at tge back was weird. Should have done that at ht and really gone at them, just looked lije hopeful balks into box. Oh and Duku was brutal as well...

Think you are being a bit unfair on Billy. He’s never really had the chance coming on as a sub other than the Buckie game. He needs to be starting a run of games to get back to goal scoring ways 

Walsh has been poor since he returned. I expected a lot more from him, he seems to have lost the ability to drift past defenders. Billy was as culpable as the rest of them.

Duku is an awkward customer but needs better service or he will end the season scoreless.

They need to show a lot more intent if they are to remain at the top of the table until May.

1 hour ago, jagster said:

Think you are being a bit unfair on Billy. He’s never really had the chance coming on as a sub other than the Buckie game. He needs to be starting a run of games to get back to goal scoring ways 

An experienced player who like Gardyne shoukd be leading by example. I accept he needs games, all players do but results have hidden failings. I would like to see McKay\Sutherland up top with Gardyne\Mcdonald wide. Natural goalscorers and creative wide players. Walsh been a passenger for weeks, needs a timeout to refocus his mind and get his desire back, now mcdonald fit it puts pressure on him and thats good

Mckay and Sutherland would be my preferred options as well. Duku  is never going to score enough goals to get us up. I think billy would guarantee as 10-15 and with others chipping in it could be enough. 

On a side note being from Forres where is the place to go for drinks next week Thunderton house maybe or other reccomendations

Edited October 2, 20213 yr by jagster

I’ve been saying for a few weeks that I’d like to see Mckay and Sutherland together. They got the second half today but I’d start them both at Elgin to see if they can form a partnership with a view to them starting against Morton in a fortnight.

Duku is a menace and works hard, but we are not getting the goals we need, so time to change things.

I also think we missed Devine today.

A word about the referee today. He was too card happy, self inflicted by punishing the first dodgy tackle. According to the BBC stats, there were 21 fouls, but somehow he booked 7 players and sent 1 off, which did not reflect the nature of the match. I think Duku was subbed at half time due to the high risk he would get penalised again and sent off.

Edited October 2, 20213 yr by Robert

Cheers Johndo

3 hours ago, jagster said:

Think you are being a bit unfair on Billy. He’s never really had the chance coming on as a sub other than the Buckie game. He needs to be starting a run of games to get back to goal scoring ways 

Don't see why coming on as a sub makes any difference.  Unless he needs 60 minutes to warm up....

1 hour ago, snorbens_caleyman said:

Don't see why coming on as a sub makes any difference.  Unless he needs 60 minutes to warm up....

Always harder to get into a Game As a sub like joining your mates for  a **** up half way  through  Who knows  what they are laughing about 

 

Edited October 2, 20213 yr by jagster

2 hours ago, jagster said:

Always harder to get into a Game As a sub like joining your mates for  a **** up half way  through  Who knows  what they are laughing about 

 

The only funny thing from today!