Xmas is coming

 

We face Hamilton Accies on Saturday in the Championship, fresh from our mauling of Morton last weekend, but can we sustain that level of intensity as we enter the heavy winter schedule? The game kicks off at 3:00pm at the Caledonian Stadium with live streaming available from ICTV at £15 if you are unable to get to the stadium. We are due Accies a doing after our lousy performance down there on 2nd October against ten men for over an hour. Let's hope we can continue to build on our performance from last weekend. If not, Raith, Arbroath, Killie and Partick are waiting in the wings...

OFFICIAL PREVIEW 

MATCH INFO*TICKETS*STREAMING

Venue - Head 2 Head

Pld

Won

Drn

Lst

For

Agst

+ / -

Home	13	4	4	5	20	17	+3
Away	10	6	1	3	16	12	+4
Neutral	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	23	10	5	8	36	29	+7

First Competitive Meeting

Jan 25th, 1997

Scottish Cup (Rd 3)

(H)

1 - 3

Most Recent Competitive Meeting

Oct 2nd, 2021

League (Championship)

(A)

1 - 2

Last 10 Competitive Meetings

1 - 2 (A)

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)

The first meeting of the clubs this season saw Inverness fail to beat ten man Accies at NDP despite the hosts playing over half the game a man short. Lewis Smith and Andy Ryan had put Accies two up inside twenty-six minutes before Reegan Mimnaugh was red carded after half an hour. We huffed and puffed for the next hour before eventually getting an injury time consolation by he who shall not be named, but it was too little too late to retrieve the situation. That was our first League defeat of the season at the Fountain of Youth, but it left us three points clear of Kilmarnock in second place at the beginning of October. Since then we have gained a further fifteen points and remain top, but with Raith Rovers and Arbroath breathing down our neck. Accies have added nine points since that first meeting and are heading the bottom half of the table in a League where anyone can beat the rest on their day.

Other fixtures this weekend

Arbroath v Morton

Kilmarnock v Dunfermline

Partick v Rovers

Queens v Ayr Utd

Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts   1. Inverness CT 17 10 4 3 25 12 34 2. Raith Rovers 17 9 6 2 27 16 33 3. Arbroath 17 8 7 2 28 13 31 4. Kilmarnock 17 9 2 6 20 11 29 5. Partick Thistle 17 8 4 5 29 16 28 6. Hamilton Ac. 17 4 5 8 15 30 17 7. Ayr United 17 3 6 8 16 29 15 8. Dunfermline 17 2 8 7 18 28 14 9. Q.O.S. 17 3 5 9 16 26 14 10. Morton 17 2 7 8 15 28 13

Last Time Out

We trounced a hapless Morton 6-1 at Cappiellow. Doran, Sutherland (2), Mckay, McAlear with a screamer and Jamieson scored the goals in a one sided affair. Ugwu replied for Morton just on the break from the spot. 

Accies drew 1-1 at Somerset Park with Ayr United in a highly competitive encounter. They opened the scoring through Lewis Smith five minutes before the interval but Tomi Adeloye headed Ayr level three minutes after the break and that's how it ended.

Latest Team News

Sean Welsh will require more time to rest up. Other than that we should have a fairly healthy squad although Roddy MacGregor was also missing last week.

 

 

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45 minutes ago, Yngwie said:

As things stand, if the league gets called due to Covid, it’s Arbroath going up!

Some folk here were critical of us after our hard fought 1-0 win there at the start of the season, but Arbroath have only lost one other match this season.

Enormous credit has to go to the unfashionable Dick Campbell for coaching the only part time team, with the smallest budget in the division, to top spot at the half way stage.

They would never implode in the manner we did for the last 15 minutes today.

Absolutely useless management team performance again today, standing hands in pockets, hoping and praying for things to happen. No plan B when teams come at us . Its embarrassing really, how easily teams can pick us off when we are put under any pressure.

Also a few question mark's over Ridgers perfomance. Had zero presence in the box and spent most of the afternoon, flapping at high balls, or bleating to the referee.

 

 

 

Harper was best on the pitch for me. What ever was going on in second 1/2 in the West Stand was definitely more entertaining!! No need to throw things at the players tho 

What was going on in the West Stand around the time of Hamilton’s goals? From where I was, it looked like a Steward was manhandling at least one fan, and there seemed to be a lot of Stewards there at the time.

An over reaction or was something going on?

Invited them onto us which made us masters of our own downfall. It was odds on one of these corners would go in? If Shane hadnt fluffed chance for 2-0 would it have been a different story? 

Taking Allardyce off was just bizarre imho. 

No plan B. Teams suss us out too easily. Most worrying is our total lack of team resiliance. Its costing us big time. 

Killie will now bring in a competent manager and spend. 

Absolutely gutting after last weeks high. 

PS anyone see or know why Dodds was screaming at Barry Wilson after 2nd goal? 

To be fair, our record of holding on to leads this season is pretty good.  I've gone through the results of our games in all competitions (full time score for cup games) and in the 15 games we have scored 1st we have gone on to win. 11 times (73%) whilst on the 9  occasions our opponents have scored 1st, they have only gone on to win 4 times (44%).  

It is, however a worry that the only 2 times we have lost this season after scoring first are in the recent games against Dunfermline and Hamilton.  Have opponents identified a weakness?  If our defence to the inevitable pressure placed on us by teams trying to get something out of the game is simply to hoof the ball clear, then opponents can throw caution to the wind because they know they are going to win the ball back.  When we are winning, we need to keep the ball.  By all means look to exploit space at the back by looking to extend the lead, but if we don't create a clear cut chance, don't give possession away with a speculative shot - keep the ball.  It looked to me today that the guys thought they had the game sown up as we became increasingly dominant.  The manager needs to drill into the players that holding one to a single goal lead is hard work and requires everyone to work hard in finding some space to receive the ball and closing down opponents when they have the ball.  It also means not giving away fouls when there is no immediate danger. 

Partick thistle will fancy it next game following their late late winner today. It's the old six pointer. Hope the lads get plenty of Turkey or nut roast into themselves to build strength for that one. 🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅

2 hours ago, Robert said:

What was going on in the West Stand around the time of Hamilton’s goals? From where I was, it looked like a Steward was manhandling at least one fan, and there seemed to be a lot of Stewards there at the time.

An over reaction or was something going on?

Word has it that one of the scrawnier stewards was celebrating the Hamilton Goal(s?), and when confronted by the fans, pulled the "mon then, square go", and was backed up by the equally idiotic stewards.

According to Louis, the stewards in question have been reported to Robbo and the Club, and will quite frankly have the book thrown at them and likely lose their jobs for such incompetancy.

Thanks Jack. We do seem to have some stewards who have no empathy for fans. Today I tried three times to ask a Steward to move back as he was blocking the view of the critical part of the pitch for me and those around me, and he just looked across and ignored the request. Fortunately the lady at the end of the row behind me went and spoke to him and he got the message!!

They seem to forget we are paying customers who want to see the game without having to try to look round them or miss what is happening. 

Edited December 18, 20213 yr by Robert

I had a run in with one of the stewards last season, when he decided to talk to me like I was dirt on his shoe. So I gave him the hairdryer treatment and told him that I can understand how there is trouble at matches if that's how he speaks to the supporters of the club. Maybe the club need to explain what their job description is.

Both goals for Hamilton were coming today. I thought Allardice was superb in the first half and Harper was also a stand out. McLear should have been subbed for MacGregor at 50mins and a change of shape too. Shane was unlucky not to score after good running into the box, only for a good save by Hamiltons keeper. Billy was frustrated today but did well to set up the goal. Poor Carson was handed his dinner a few times and crosses were a weak point for us to defend. More cover needed from midfield.

4-2-3-1 next week please;

Carson Broadfoot Devine Deas

          Allardice Harper

Walsh Sutherland Macgregor

              Mackay

 

That’s harsh on McAlear as I thought he and Allardice did pretty well.

We need to work out how to fit MacGregor into the team so we get the best out of him. He should be a first pick, and if we didn’t have Sutherland I think he would be in the no 10 role.

We missed Welsh today after we went in front as I think he would have helped avoid us getting hemmed in.

Carson had a torrid time in the first half but we got through that and our downfall was our failure to keep the ball once we took the lead.

For me, Harper was a revelation in the wide left role and should have earned a start next week. 

Kilmarnock will now almost certainly appoint a more competent manager, they will almost certainly spend to recruit in the transfer window and will almost certainly improve as a result.

Yesterday was a perfect opportunity to create a buffer between us and them and we completely blew it.

Very frustrating indeed and potentially extremely damaging.

20 hours ago, old caley girl said:

No plan B

I don't like Boris's Plan B down here but at least he had one - we seem to have had our fair share of managers unable or reluctant to change things on the park until it's too late...

As if the result wasn't bad enough. Clocked this on the higlights...

The cracks are beginning to show…..

18 minutes ago, Yngwie said:

The cracks are beginning to show…..

You are right in another way Yngwie we fell apart when they scored their first goal 

Watching the “highlights”, did Ridgers think the first header was going wide as he seemed to react late. For the second, if we’d had someone on the back post it would have been an easy block.

We let ourselves be bullied to defeat.

The club’s report:

https://ictfc.com/match-report-ictfc-1-2-hamilton-accies-18-12-2021

Edited December 20, 20213 yr by Robert

Seriously think second thoughts need to be made on Duku. The man was class through pre-season, but then he's been absolute guff. He missed a sitter against Morton (not too much of a grievance, won 6-1 anyway) and he's missed a pure tap in at the weekend.

Nothing else springs to mind really aside from the fact he's fallen so far from grace, as he scored every 4 games in his 20 game season last season, but hasn't done anything aside from putting away penalties against Forres and Cove and (afaicr) a brace against Clach...

1 hour ago, Jack Waddington said:

Seriously think second thoughts need to be made on Duku. The man was class through pre-season, but then he's been absolute guff. He missed a sitter against Morton (not too much of a grievance, won 6-1 anyway) and he's missed a pure tap in at the weekend.

Nothing else springs to mind really aside from the fact he's fallen so far from grace, as he scored every 4 games in his 20 game season last season, but hasn't done anything aside from putting away penalties against Forres and Cove and (afaicr) a brace against Clach...

After initially flattering to deceive, I think it is well established by now that he does not have the ability to be a threat at this level.

He may well prosper in League 1 or League 2 and if we can find a lower league club willing to take him on loan and pay a proportion of his wages we should do just that.

This miserable result may well have been the last opportunity for fans to have seen the team in the flesh for quite some time, with suggestions that the Scottish Government might be about to announce a ban crowds at sporting events. We are likely to find out at the update this afternoon.

4 hours ago, Yngwie said:

This miserable result may well have been the last opportunity for fans to have seen the team in the flesh for quite some time, with suggestions that the Scottish Government might be about to announce a ban crowds at sporting events. We are likely to find out at the update this afternoon.

Looks like crowds to be limited to 500.

Back to the ballot.

Or is it better from the club’s perspective to make it closed doors?

A brief holding statement issued by ICT just saying they are urgently looking at how to deal with this new restriction.

13 minutes ago, Yngwie said:

A brief holding statement issued by ICT just saying they are urgently looking at how to deal with this new restriction.

Thank goodness for PPV.