Fans patience is running out

 

After another massive slump, this time against Morton, we are all but done with the Championship for another season. Partick are next up for us at the Caledonian Stadium on Wednesday night for a 7:45pm kick-off. I don't see many fans saying they are really looking forward to the next game.

MATCH INFO/TICKETS/STREAMING

Can we save our season? It has become alarmingly apparent that something is seriously wrong at the club. We can't buy a win at the moment. That's now seven games without a win or four points from a possible twenty-one since December 11th. That's the statistics that gets teams relegated and managers sacked. We seem to be at the crossroads and if something doesn't change soon, then we better get used to being in the Championship for the foreseeable future. On the plus side, there is still plenty games left to get back on track, unfortunately at this moment in time, that looks unlikely to happen. Our body language is a big giveaway and it looks like we have been found out.

Venue - Head 2 Head

Pld

Won

Drn

Lst

For

Agst

+ / -

Home	21	9	5	7	33	30	+3
Away	20	5	6	9	21	28	-7
Neutral	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	41	14	11	16	54	58	-4

Last 10 Competitive Meetings with Partick

0 - 0 (A)

3 - 1 (H)

1 - 3 (A)

1 - 3 (H)

2 - 1 (A)

1 - 2 (H)

1 - 0 (A)

3 - 2 (H)

1 - 1 (A)

0 - 0

The two games played this season already coincided with some of our better performances. Much has gone wrong since then and I'm not sure we can turn that around overnight.

Summary from 3-1 win in September: 

The run goes on - Partick Thistle came North with high hopes of ending Inverness' great start to the campaign in the knowledge that they have been scoring at the rate of three goals per game apart from Arbroath where they suffered a 3-0 defeat at the hands of the Red Lichties.

Billy Dodds had food for thought after the cup win over Buckie last week where Billy Mckay and Lewis Jamieson staked their claims for a start after scoring performances over the Highland League side. They started on the bench as he went with the tried and tested so far this season. Ian McCall had old enemy Brian Graham up front with Zac Rudden on the bench and watch out for defender Tunji Akinola who packs a punch with his feet.

After a difficult first half, Inverness ran out comfortable winners against Partick Thistle in a second half goal blitz. The visitors dominated the first forty-five and Scott Tiffoney drilled the opener out of nothing as the defence backed off. Manny Duku was denied by a combination of keeper and post but it was Partick that should have scored a second, however Mark Ridgers did well to deny Brian Graham. Harsh talking at the break saw Inverness come out for the second half with the bit between the teeth and Kirk Broadfoot was the unlikely hero as his twenty yard shot evaded the outstretched fingertips of the keeper to level the score. Shane Sutherland did well to drill in the second from an angle after the keeper fluffed his lines allowing Shane to slot in from twenty yards. The third was a peach as Duku stepped over the ball and Aaron Doran fired high into the net for a brilliant goal and game over. That's five wins out of five and the run goes on...

The reverse fixture at Partick saw us emerge with a thoroughly deserved win at 0-0 . According to many Partick fans we were the best thing since sliced bread. How wrong were they...

Caley Jags pay the penalty: Partick Thistle survived to earn a point after the woodwork saved them twice and keeper Jamie Sneddon denied Sean Welsh from the spot after guessing the right way. Inverness were well on top but it's only a point which means Killie pull further away at the top. Performance of the day was from Arbroath who came from two down to beat Dunfermline Athletic 4-2. Despite not getting the win that was easily one of our best performances of recent weeks and I would have taken a point before the game but given how it played out it was definitely 2 points dropped.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1.	Arbroath	23	12	8	3	36	16	44
2.	Kilmarnock	23	12	4	7	28	16	40
3.	Inverness CT	24	10	8	6	30	20	38
4.	Raith Rovers	25	9	11	5	34	27	38
5.	Partick Thistle	21	10	6	5	34	19	36
6.	Hamilton Ac.	24	6	8	10	25	38	26
7.	Morton	23	5	9	9	27	33	24
8.	Dunfermline	24	4	11	9	23	38	23
9.	Ayr United	24	5	8	11	21	37	23
10.	Q.O.S.	23	4	7	12	24	38	19

Wednesday Night Fixtures all 19:45

Arbroath v Hamilton

  Inverness CT v Partick Thistle

Kilmarnock v Ayr United

 

Last time out we were a complete omnishambles (a situation that has been comprehensively mismanaged, characterized by a string of blunders and miscalculations.) Sounds about right as we plumbed the depths to go down meekly to a less than average Morton side where Lewis Strapp scored the winner. No wins in our last seven games (LLDDDDL) Shocking statistics.

Particks last game was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch, the previous game was a 1-0 win over Ayr United giving them (PWWDD) since the turn of the year. The other win was against Airdrie in the Scottish Cup (1-0).

Latest Team News

We will still be without Allardice, Devine, MacGregor, Doran and possibly Walsh. Having only brought in forwards in the window, it was obvious to all what would happen, except our management team. We are performing like headless chickens at the moment.

Partick will no doubt have thug player and cheat Brian Graham up front. 

 

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3 minutes ago, Naelifts said:

Huge goal!!!!!!

Sadly though a point isn't enough

It could only have been a Yeti that saved us - but could this be the Abominable goal that saves and kick starts our season - lets face it anydoddy could win this feckin league ?? Keep quaffing and sniffing dudes 

More points dropped at home and the winless run continues BUT that was our best performance for ages, the team played with spirit and purpose and created a very healthy number of good chances. I was planning on saying all that even before the injury time equaliser. Some of our defending was dodgy but we thoroughly deserved something from that match. 

The players deserve a wee bit of credit for having fight and with Kilmarnock losing and Arbroath drawing all us still to play for

Who coulda predicted even half an hour ago we'd be - marginally - the top five side who gained most?

Yes, although I didn't see the game, it sounds as if we showed some gumption by coming back 3 times from a goal down.  So well done for that.  It looks as if we'll do well now to cling on to the  last play off spot.  But, if we can manage that, who knows....

Certainly tonight's performance seemed to be an improvement on recent matches, so I have marginally more belief than I had each time PT scored tonight.

Ayr at home and Hamilton away - six points and who knows ? This is the craziest championship in a long time !! Perhaps like when Dungdee fecked it up ?

Best (used loosely) attacking performance in some time sadly coupled with our worst defensive showing of the season.

7 minutes ago, Yngwie said:

More points dropped at home and the winless run continues BUT that was our best performance for ages, the team played with spirit and purpose and created a very healthy number of good chances. I was planning on saying all that even before the injury time equaliser. Some of our defending was dodgy but we thoroughly deserved something from that match. 

I agree entirely. We seemed much more motivated and intent than in recent games, and I’m much more hopeful that we can turn this round.

We created a lot of chances, particularly in the second half, and looked the more likely until we conceded the penalty.

We stopped always playing long hopeful balls and it improved our play.

Pearson was the pick for me, but I also feel Sutherland played much better than he is being given credit for.

It’s only one game, and we didn’t win it, but this should give us some momentum which hopefully gets us a win against Ayr in 10 days.

Everyone is dropping points, so we are still in contention despite our atrocious run. There is still hope that we can salvage something from the wreckage of the last two months.

Does anybody listen to our co-commentator on the stream. Rossco can read a game better than anyone. I think he still kicks every ball for us. Needed a win tonight though, results elsewhere keeps us third. Surely we will kick on again.

12 minutes ago, Peleistheman said:

Does anybody listen to our co-commentator on the stream. Rossco can read a game better than anyone. I think he still kicks every ball for us. Needed a win tonight though, results elsewhere keeps us third. Surely we will kick on again.

Yes, been very impressed when watching the stream on Saturday and today when confined to being at home.

Very knowledgable and spot on comments.

We should snap him up as a coach!

Edited February 9, 20223 yr by Robert

Unlucky not to win that. Better performance tonight; with obvious errors... Hopefully that acts as a minimum level for remainder of season. Gotta have hope...🏌️‍♂️

2 minutes ago, Peleistheman said:

Does anybody listen to our co-commentator on the stream. Rossco can read a game better than anyone. I think he still kicks every ball for us. Needed a win tonight though, results elsewhere keeps us third. Surely we will kick on again.

Yes he gives a brilliant analysis of the game as it's played - really informative.

Also, although obviously slightly biased towards Inverness, he gives credit to the opposition where it's due. Which isn't a bad thing when we're hoping opposition fans will pay for our live stream, and come back.

A very knowledgeable lad is Ross. Perhaps he'd be worth a punt as manager, if all else fails!

Shane definitely suits being played up top and dropping deep isn’t his game. 

I thought Samuels looked sharp and was played out of position. It was a shame to see him subbed. I’d have liked him positioned in behind the forwards.

Carson works so hard but I think he is better in midfield and he lacked cover from the midfield tonight so he was exposed.

McAlear and Welsh were over-run in the midfield given the formation and 4-2-3-1 would suit those two better in protecting the defence tonight.

Chalmers needs an end product to his game and gave away possession easily. He has promise though so more game time for him needed.

We need a better delivery from wide areas generally and set pieces and our goal ratio from these situations is telling. An early delivery as opposed to running channels would help unsettle defences.

 

If Dodds doesn't walk the night, I don't even know.

We played a worldie most of the Second Half, but it doesn't excuse the fact we've been pure butters.

Can't let a last gasp equaliser deflect the fact that Dodds needs to go

11 minutes ago, Robert said:

Yes, been very impressed when watching the stream on Saturday and today when confined to being at home.

Very knowledgable and spit on comments.

We should snap him up as a coach!

I believe he coaches one of our youth teams

20 minutes ago, KirkieRobRoy said:

Who coulda predicted even half an hour ago we'd be - marginally - the top five side who gained most?

However saying that are we really?

Partick have 3 games in hand over us and Arbroath and Killie have 1. Yes they still have to win them and its not a given that they will but we're not putting anywhere near enough pressure on them to do so 

6 minutes ago, Jack Waddington said:

If Dodds doesn't walk the night, I don't even know.

We played a worldie most of the Second Half, but it doesn't excuse the fact we've been pure butters.

Can't let a last gasp equaliser deflect the fact that Dodds needs to go

There's a much bigger root to the problem and Dodds can't just take the blame solely on his on.

Ultimately the manager/head coach takes to fall but from top to bottom there's huge failings.

We're a shambles all over the place: Coaching, tactics, squad, backroom staff, communication, hospitality, facilities, boardroom, you name it. A lot goes down to funding but the sooner we realise as a club what level we're at the better as that's the only way we'll move forward.

People say don't look back but at some stage we have to look back at what we were good at as a club and go back to that or at least some form of that.

Well that was better than Saturday,but let's face it that would not be hard.Pearson was man of the match for me.We looked good in attack and poor in defence.We are clearly missing Devine and Allardyce.Thought Deas had a poor game and gave away a stupid penalty.Second half we were much better and Sutherland looked okay compared to his usual standard.

Tiffany and Graham looked like scoring every time they had the ball.Best summing up would be to say we got out of jail. 

51 minutes ago, RiG said:

Best (used loosely) attacking performance in some time sadly coupled with our worst defensive showing of the season.

Yep, especially when we have no recognised full backs in our squad, And it seems if you look back at previous games we leak goals from those positions. 

Great picture of our last gasp equaliser on the BBC website.  Whilst it was good we got the goal, it is a shame the referee couldn't also have awarded 2 penalties for the blatant fouls being committed by the Partick defence.

Well, I have just about defrosted, and that was a better performance than Saturdays, but that wouldn't be hard. Really poor defending for all the partick goals, and it just shows that not recruiting any defenders in the transfer window has come back to bite us. It was an epic effort to come back three times, and a last gasp equaliser always gives a little hope. How the ICT players can keep their cool playing against that cheat Graham deserves praise, I would get a 5 month ban if I was on the park against him! Pearson was the standout for me, and Billy Mckay worked his socks off, Sutherland had a better second half as did Carson. I'm sure Dodds will come out of hiding now and do his interview but the cracks are still there, we really can't be conceding three goals at home and expect to win. 

Although only a point we were miles better than Saturday which would not be difficult.  I enjoyed the game tonight and feel we can keep going and stay in the play off's.

Seems like the players are still playing for the gaffer but I'm wondering if it will be enough to keep him in the job.

It's important that we kick on from this and start winning games though otherwise we'll drop out top 4 on 5 pretty soon.

For the first time in ages, that was actually quite encouraging with the team showing much more spirit.

Vital though that we get back into the winning habit.