Arachnophobia

 

Should we fear the Spiders from Hampden as the new Championship season gets underway on Saturday with the visit of Queens Park. It's a 3:00pm kick off and a season of anticipation or maybe trepidation is almost upon us.

TICKET PRICING

Only form to go on for this season is the League Cup which saw Inverness qualify to face Motherwell in the knock out stages of group G. We ended our League Cup Group G games with a disappointing home draw against Cove Rangers despite Roddy MacGregor heading the opening goal. Megginson pinned us back but we took the bonus point in the ensuing penalty shoot-out. Queens Park failed to progress from their play-off Group H where Dundee and Hamilton Accies progressed. However they did manage a couple of wins thumping Stranraer and Forfar and drawing with Accies. They lost narrowly 1-2 against Dundee. Accies qualified a point ahead of the Spiders virtue of the penalty shoot-out win to pip Queens by a point.

Queens Park, a club steeped in history, join us in the Championship this season along with Cove Rangers. They only finished fourth in the table behind Cove, Airdrie and Montrose, but came through the promotion play-offs to get into the Championship having beaten Dunfermline over two legs and then beating Airdrie in extra time to win promotion thanks to a Simon Murray penalty. Mind you, they have won the Scottish Cup ten times, albeit the last time was back in 1893. I remember it well. They have been playing out of Ochilview Park recently as they await Lesser Hampden to be upgraded. Here's one for you: They can boast a record attendance of 95,722 against Rangers in a Scottish Cup first round encounter on January 18th 1930 at their home ground of Hampden Park. That's a world record for an amateur side.

They are now a professional outfit as of 2019 and on the up, consecutive promotions will see them ply their trade in this seasons Championship after years in the doldrums. Welcome to the Spiders

Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Queens Park

3 - 0 (H)

1 - 2 (H)

2 - 0 (H)

2 - 1 (A)

1 - 0 (H)

3 - 2 (A)

2 - 2 (H)

2 - 1 (A)

1 - 1 (H)

3 - 0 (A)

Venue H2h v Queens Park

Pld

Won

Drn

Lst

For

Agst

+ / -

Home	9	4	3	2	14	11	+3
Away	6	5	0	1	13	8	+5
Neutral	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	15	9	3	3	27	19	+8

League - (Div 3) Saturday, August 20th, 1994, 3:00 PM at Telford Street Park, Inverness
Attendance: 1,500: Referee: M Pocock

Ian Broadfoot reporting on our first ever competitive meeting against Queens Park.

Caley Thistle's mid week efforts against Dundee had taken their toll and they went a goal down in 14 minutes - a McAllister header to McRitchie was short and Garry Orr took advantage with a goal from 15 yards. Four minutes later Maxwell made it two when he bundled in Edgar's corner. In 53 minutes McKenzie had rare chances for the home side but he hit the 'keeper twice. The match was over a few minutes later when a Garry Orr pass set up Graham who beat McRitchie with an angled drive. Two minutes later Maxwell headed a fourth.

Full Time: 0-4

Mark McRitchie
Dave Brennan Mike Andrew Mike Noble Mark McAllister
John Scott Danny MacDonald Graeme Bennett Alan Hercher
Paul McKenzie Wilson Robertson

First Competitive Meeting

Aug 20th, 1994

League ((Div 3))

(H)

0 - 4

Most Recent Competitive Meeting

Jul 31st, 2010

League Cup (Rd 1)

(H)

3 - 0

League Cup Match: Tuesday, September 2nd, 2003, 7:00 PM at Caledonian Stadium, Inverness
Attendance: 968

This report comes from Ian Broadfoot back in 2003, the last time Queens Park beat Inverness in the Highlands.

The Spiders gave Caley Thistle a dose of their own medicine when they produced a shock cup win away from home. Barry Wilson played for the first time following his return to the club. Queens belied their third division status with some lively play and they soaked up early pressure - a Steve Hislop drive was turned over the bar and Richie Hart hit the woodwork. It was not all one way as Ross Clark hit the bar at the other end. Caley Thistle scored in 26 minutes when Paul Ritchie turned in a Wilson cross but the lead only lasted two minutes. Bobby Mann brought down Clark and Steve Reilly converted the resultant penalty.

Half Time: 1-1

Queens took the lead in 59 minutes when poor defending allowed a Reilly free kick to reach Ally Graham and he shot low past Mark Brown. With four minutes left Queens substitute Derek Carcary should have made it 3-1 but he shot wide with only Brown to beat. The drama was not over as the home side were awarded a penalty in injury time when Reilly handled in the box. Mann's kick came off the post.

Full Time: 1-2

There was bitter disappointment in the home camp but no real complaints.

 

Latest Team News

Shane Sutherland and Tom Walsh are long term casualties. Wallace Duffy came off injured against Cove Rangers. Danny Devine has missed all the League Cup games and pre-season along with Sean Welsh.

 

 

Eric's Queens Park roundup:

Under new manager Owen Coyle, Queens Park have trimmed the Squad with more than 10 departures in the summer.

Four players have arrived all on free transfer basis.

Jason Naismith a right back signed from Kilmarnock Fc: Dom Thomas midfielder from Dunfermline FC: Pat Jarret an attacking midfield player, from Stoke City where he has gone from Youth teams to the U23 level: Grant Savoury who spent last season at Peterhead FC is a centre forward.

Loan in: Josh McPake, forward (Rangers).

Out: Jai Quitongo, forward (Greenock Morton); Grant Gillespie, midfielder (Greenock Morton); Michael Doyle, defender (Hamilton Academical); Stuart Morrison, defender (Queen of the South); Willie Muir, goalkeeper (Alloa Athletic); Peter Grant, defender (Clyde); Bob McHugh, forward (East Kilbride); Darren Lyon, midfielder; Will Baynham, forward.

Loan ended: Luca Connell, midfielder (Celtic); Luis Longstaff, midfielder (Liverpool); Connor Smith, midfielder (Heart of Midlothian); Connor McBride, midfielder (Blackburn Rovers); Ronan Darcy, midfielder (Bolton Wanderers).

Queens main threat will come from the now experienced Simon Murray. The thirty year old striker has previously been at Arbroath, Dundee United and Hibs. Dom Thomas will be an excellent asset and along with Louis Longridge will provide stability in the midfield.

 

 

 

 

 

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47 minutes ago, STFU said:

Have said it already this season, but if we're serious about challenging for the league then we need to be the team dictating the play and not allowing the opposition to dictate.  Especially at home.

Hoping Belladrum was the reason we had a poor sub 2000 crowd for our first league match of the season.

Hope so too. Also people away on holiday. I enquired about the Curry & pint hospitality and was told it was cancelled due to lack of interest. 

We thought about it, but it equated to about £33 for a curry and a pint and most of our group weren't willing to pay that.

The club’s report:

https://ictfc.com/match-report-ictfc-1-1-queens-park-30-07-2022

2 hours ago, STFU said:

We thought about it, but it equated to about £33 for a curry and a pint and most of our group weren't willing to pay that.

Yeah, I've promised my daughter to take her to hospitality some time and seen as I can't afford the normal one this seemed like a good compromise. To be honest I've not done hospitality since we were relegated. 

2 hours ago, Robert said:

The club’s report:

https://ictfc.com/match-report-ictfc-1-1-queens-park-30-07-2022

Our club report is at least better than the BBC! 

Although our own CTO report by tm4tj is the bees knees 

From the BBC

Queen's Park marked their return to Scotland's second tier after 39 years with a deserved point away to Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

Last season's play-off winners had already come close through Simon Murray before centre-half Jake Davidson surged into the penalty box to fire home.

However, evergreen striker Billy Mackay levelled with a shot from the edge of the penalty area.

Saves from goalkeepers Calum Ferrie and Mark Ridgers ensured now more goals.

And here is the online photo 

 

The BBC couldn't a stuff about the Scottish leagues outside of the Premiership so we shouldn't be surprised.

I thought we probably should have won the game on Saturday but our poor finishing was our downfall. Continue like that and we won't be doing much this season. I feel Dodds making the subs when he did stalled our momentum. We seemed to be in the ascendancy but after Samuels and Boyd went off Queens Park got back into the game. I could see why Samuels was taken off. He wasn't really influencing the game much but I thought Boyd was going okay. Defensively we looked a bit suspect. A couple of times we allowed Queens Park players to run a good 30 or 40 yards unchallenged before they got a shot away. We paid for it once in the first half and almost did so again in the second. 

Mckay, MacKay and MacGregor all performed well in flashes. Roddy had some lovely touches in the middle of the pitch but I felt he was sitting a little too deep for my liking. Would have been nice to see him pressed further forward. Harper continues to show good form at left back and is looking a lot better defensively so far this season which is great to see.

Queens looked a useful side once they got their goal and settled down but after the opening 15 minutes or so I thought we were going to run away with it. Didn't quite work out like that and Ridgers had to make some important saves in the first half to keep us in it. Big improvements are needed for sure.

Edited August 1, 20223 yr by RiG

5 hours ago, RiG said:

Mckay, MacKay and MacGregor all performed well in flashes. Roddy had some lovely touches in the middle of the pitch but I felt he was sitting a little too deep for my liking. Would have been nice to see him pressed further forward. Harper continues to show good form at left back and is looking a lot better defensively so far this season which is great to see.

Big improvements are needed for sure.

I agree, I think MacGregor is better when pushed further up, but our injuries meant he was in central midfield with Allardice, and I think that contributed to Queens Park having the upper hand in midfield.

I’m not sure how long Welsh is out for, whilst injuries mean Carson has to be at right back. Ideally we’d have two of Allardice, Carson and Welsh in central midfield (with Hyde as back up) and MacGregor playing off Mckay but dropping back to bolster the midfield when required.

I think teams know how to play us and as we try to push the full backs up, we end up a bit exposed at times.

Once we have Deas back, and Devine and Welsh fit, I’m sure we will be much stronger, and we then have Sutherland and Walsh to come back later in the season.

In the meantime, we must sharpen up our passing game, as too often we gave the ball away tamely, with all players really guilty of it, including those regarded to have had good games.

Boyd looked lively so is worth more game time, whilst I think Delaney will come good with a more experienced defender alongside him. I like Duffy but he’s not yet the leader that Devine and Deas are, so we didn’t really have anyone marshalling the defence, and it showed at times.

Watching Queens Park’s goal again, what a gift to give away. We’d several opportunities to tackle the player but didn’t, then the shot was pretty weak but somehow landed up in the net. We should have snuffed it out in midfield rather than allowing the run.

We are already playing catch up so we don’t want to slip up at Arbroath next week and fall further off the pace.

 

Noticed that Deas has a two game suspension.  Hopefully Danny will be back for the Arbroath game because we looked a bit too youthful against Queens. Kirk Broadfoot was a major influence last year and with current injuries and the suspension we lacked a bit of experience.

Devine’s carrying an injury and may require an operation so I think he will be used sparingly.

A better option, if he’s sufficiently fit, would be to start him and replace him when he’s done all he can in the game.