If you like a challenge

 

We host Brechin City this Saturday in the Challenge Cup, or SPFL Trust Trophy if you prefer, but remember to set your alarm clock early as it's a 2:00pm kick-off. This is Brechin's third game in this competition having ousted Hibernian colts and Stirling Albion in previous rounds. Both games went to penalties with City prevailing. Inverness are thrice winners of the Challenge Cup if you include the joint affair with Raith Rovers.

MATCH/TICKET INFO

Over the years we hold a massive advantage over the Hedgers and they now find themselves plying their trade in the Highland League after dropping out of League Two in May 2021 after losing out in the play-off to Kelty Hearts. However, wins breed confidence and they have started this season with a flourish, winning all seven of their Highland League games scoring 17 goals, conceding only twice. Our last fixture against Brechin was a Championship game back in 2018 when Inverness ran out 4 - 0 winners over a side heading for relegation having picked up only four points during the 2017/2018 season with four draws. George Oakley was one of our scorers in that game.

Out of the SPFL:  On 23 May 2021, Brechin lost 3–1 on aggregate to Lowland League side Kelty Hearts in the relegation playoffs, dropping down to the Highland League, the club's first spell out of the national leagues in 67 years. In June 2021, after the departure of player/manager Michael Paton, the club appointed Andy Kirk to the role of club manager. In the club's first season in the Highland League, they secured a respectable third-place finish. (Wikipedia)

Venue

Pld

Won

Drn

Lst

For

Agst

+ / -

Home	10	7	1	2	25	5	+20
Away	8	5	2	1	17	9	+8
Neutral	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	18	12	3	3	42	14	+28

 

Last Time Out

We had a tremendous result at Dens Park against the background of some powderpuff performances over the previous few weeks. An encouraging 2-0 win at Starks Park in the game before ignited a wee spark of optimism and a hard fought 3-2 win at Dundee followed, despite going behind early doors. Cammy Harper was the hero with two sublime strikes from distance to add to Billy Mckay's penalty just before the break. Chances at both ends in an open game where we eventually got on top and deservingly took all three points.

Our goals at Dundee. BOOM!

Brechin's tremendous start to the season continued with high fives all round. Their last two fixtures saw them trounce Strathspey Thistle 0-5 in the Highland League followed by a 1-5 defeat of Jeanfield Swifts in the Scottish Cup at the Riverside Stadium. Note that former Inverness player Anthony McDonald was instrumental in this game and scored City's third goal. And full back Kevin McHattie is also back playing after his injury problems.

Here's Brechin putting five past Swifts in a second half blitz...

Lenny Wilson: Kevin McHattie, Nathan Cooney⚽, Marc Scott, Grady McGrath⚽, Michael Cruickshank, Fraser MacLeod, Anthony McDonald⚽, Ewan Loudon, Jordan Northcott⚽, Euan Spark⚽

Latest Team News

Usual suspects out for Inverness but maybe an opportunity to give some fringe players some game time and rest some weary legs for the bigger picture. Cammy Mackay may be in line for the keepers gloves.

Eric's Brechin catch-up

" Manager Andy Kirk has made a number of additions over the summer mostly from the junior ranks or lower league sides, he has however secured a loan deal for a promising youngster Aaron Arnott from Raith Rovers. Arnott only transferred on 7th September and has yet to make an appearance for the Glebe Park side"

One or two recognisable names around Glebe Park. Euan Spark formerly with Dundee United and Dunfermline, Anthony McDonald and Kevin McHattie, both former Inverness players. They also have had Rogue defender *Iain Davidson* of Raith Rovers red card fame. *update* Fortunately for the ref and our players, Davidson may have left Brechin recently. Anyway, they have a good blend of youth experience and confidence which may well be enough to see them back in league 2 at the end of the season.

They will have to do it without star midfielder Seth Patrick. The Zimbabwean has returned home for personal reasons after some great performances for City.

It's only the main stand that will be open for this game for home Supporters.

Tickets available now online from ictfc.tickethour.co.uk, the Club Shop (Monday-Friday) 10am – 4pm and over the phone on 01463 222880

Ticket Prices 

Adults: £10. Concessions (Over 65s & Students): £8

Under 12s: Free*

Disabled Carers: Free

 

3-3 now. 🤦‍♂️

I say,

Diddy cup = Diddy performance. 

Last time I saw that team they were woeful. Same could be said of Brechin City. If it's a split gate for the replay at least we'll be quids in.

Eh what? 🧐 

Brilliant result- so proud of the boys staying cool in difficult circumstances 😎

I say,

Never in doubt. Next please 😀

Eh what? 🧐 

No replay  - we have just won on penalties.

I thought it would be tough against a confident team that is used to winning.  But to lose a two goal lead is inexcusable.

Lucky there!  That could have been a sore one to take after being 3-1 up and looking comfortable.  Anyway, onwards and upwards.

We went out on penalties twice last season with no chance to get the win in extra time. Why has this been taken away?

I was fearing the worst again when i realised there was no ET again today. 

Losing 2 late goals against a HL team doesn't look good.

Need to get a winning run going in the league : no outstanding teams but we really need to be looking to win a home and pick up as many points on the road as possible.

That was terrible performance from our team and we were lucky to get through today!

So much for crystal balls and predicting ICT 6 v Brechin City 0

Eh what? 🧐

Torture!! They should have paid us to watch that! 

40 minutes ago, ICTPAISLEY said:

We went out on penalties twice last season with no chance to get the win in extra time. Why has this been taken away?

I was fearing the worst again when i realised there was no ET again today. 

Don't think I could have managed another 30 mins of that drivel tbh 

Awful performance.   At 3-1 I thought like most that it was game over despite our midfield setup being so poor.

But to concede 2 goals and almost another was criminal, I can't even think apart from Oakley any player that deserved a pass mark! 

Lethargic, Clueless wrong tactics and player choice made it difficult viewing for the fans, The young guy Mackay was way out of his depth, And Hyde needs to go to Elgin and get some serious passing lessons.

Not Happy..  

 

Well that was painful.3-1 up and we throw that away.The whole attitude was wrong today. They thought they just had to turn up.No drive,energy,tempo  or hunger to win. Passing woeful.This was a great chance for the fringe players to show what they could do and they blew it.Hyde and C Mackay need to go to Highland league team for a season .I think we should get our money back.Man of the match,all the hard suffering supporters.Embarassing.

Edited September 24, 20223 yr by Douglas Mackenzie

Yup, awful. Start with a strong team and get the game won first, then introduce the young players. That was too much responsibility for Hyde and Mackay to take on. Neither of them are ready, that’s if they ever will be.

High point of the game was probably caley100 with his head in his hands as Robbie Deas came up for the last spot kick 😂 He didn’t half bury it though.

4 hours ago, No Shin Guards said:

I say,

1-0. First of 6.

Eh what? 🧐 

Spot on.

That was a tough watch. The early goal should have been a platform to build a comfortable win, but I think some players thought we’d already won, and we let Brechin back in it.

McHattie’s finish was class to make it 1-1 then poor defending gifted us a half time lead we didn’t deserve.

The early penalty in the second half should have made it game over, but again we let Brechin back in it, and we can’t grudge them the 3-3, and at times they looked the more likely to win in normal time.

MacKay made a decent save in the penalty shoot out, whilst both teams hit the bar (Oakley our culprit) and the ‘keeper nearly saved Allardice’s weak effort. I also grimaced when Deas stepped up for the last kick but it was an excellent penalty.

Hyde’s confidence has gone, presumably due to the Partick game, whilst Calum Mackay worked hard but needs to bulk up as too often he was easily knocked off the ball. However, he was trying to be positive and should be one for the future.

I will need to think before I vote in the MOM. Oakley for two goals and an assist, but hard to justify points for the others.

I thought McHattie was the best player on the park. I don’t think he misplaced a pass, he defended with his usual calmness, and scored the best goal of the game. It is a pity he was injury prone when here as I think he would be an asset to us.

I am struggling with our home performances this season as we’ve only looked good in the first half against Cove. Yet we’ve had two good away wins, so we are capable, but we have no consistency. Something is not right but I can’t put my finger on it, but hopefully we go to Ayr and win next week.

At least we didn’t suffer the humiliation of defeat today. 

2 hours ago, IBM said:

That was terrible performance from our team and we were lucky to get through today!

So much for crystal balls and predicting ICT 6 v Brechin City 0

Eh what? 🧐

I say,

Double checked my crystal balls. Nothing wrong with them. It was our defending and general play today that's the issue. 

Eh what? 🧐 

Why was one of our young subs (Strachan or Bray) booked at a Brechin corner? Was it for kicking the ball back on to the park given they were warming up behind the goal at the time? Seemed a bit petty to me. 

2 hours ago, Robert said:

Why was one of our young subs (Strachan or Bray) booked at a Brechin corner? Was it for kicking the ball back on to the park given they were warming up behind the goal at the time? Seemed a bit petty to me. 

Yea, he was booked for kicking the ball away just as the Brechin player was going to pick it up for a quick throw in, while our defence wasn't ready, he took one for the team.

That was a really poor display, and we were lucky to get it to penalties in the end. Brechin are going well in the Highland League, so they are used to winning, and, I thought they had a far better passing game than ours. I don't think we take this tournament seriously enough, there's no point in going into a competition if you don't want to win it, so we should have started with a much stronger team, and once we had a foothold in the game, introduce the youth players. Some of the subs and formations that ict ended up playing was mind boggling. Does Dodds have something against young Hyde? He gave him and Harper too much responsibility at CM, and then stuck him back in his nightmare position at right back! And we seem to be back to our ponderous best again, passing in back and fore across the back four, going nowhere, allowing Brechin to regroup, while they were hitting us fast on the counter attack. We really need to be more direct, our default position, when we receive the ball, seems to be to turn back and pass back, instead of turning and running at them.

I have said for a few seasons now that we have an acceptable first eleven, but after that, we are pretty ordinary, so we aren't good enough to make the wholesale changes that we made today. I really believe in keeping a winning team going, and with our away trip to Ayr next week, we should have used this game to boost our confidence and form, but I fear it achieved neither of those things.

8 hours ago, Jaggernaut said:

That was a really poor display, and we were lucky to get it to penalties in the end. Brechin are going well in the Highland League, so they are used to winning, and, I thought they had a far better passing game than ours. I don't think we take this tournament seriously enough, there's no point in going into a competition if you don't want to win it, so we should have started with a much stronger team, and once we had a foothold in the game, introduce the youth players. Some of the subs and formations that ict ended up playing was mind boggling. Does Dodds have something against young Hyde? He gave him and Harper too much responsibility at CM, and then stuck him back in his nightmare position at right back! And we seem to be back to our ponderous best again, passing in back and fore across the back four, going nowhere, allowing Brechin to regroup, while they were hitting us fast on the counter attack. We really need to be more direct, our default position, when we receive the ball, seems to be to turn back and pass back, instead of turning and running at them.

I have said for a few seasons now that we have an acceptable first eleven, but after that, we are pretty ordinary, so we aren't good enough to make the wholesale changes that we made today. I really believe in keeping a winning team going, and with our away trip to Ayr next week, we should have used this game to boost our confidence and form, but I fear it achieved neither of those things.

Couldn't agree more.Why not start strong get ahead and then when in charge of game bring on fringe players and boost their confidence,not further destroy it.Also agree as I also said, that we didn't look as though we wanted to be there,so why go in for these competitions if you are not going to try and win them.We could have kept winning mentality and confidence going if we played first 11 and then introduced the young boys.One day I will be able to work out the management's plans and tactics.

53 minutes ago, Douglas Mackenzie said:

Couldn't agree more.Why not start strong get ahead and then when in charge of game bring on fringe players and boost their confidence,not further destroy it.Also agree as I also said, that we didn't look as though we wanted to be there,so why go in for these competitions if you are not going to try and win them.We could have kept winning mentality and confidence going if we played first 11 and then introduced the young boys.One day I will be able to work out the management's plans and tactics.

I say,

'One day I will be able to work out the management's plans and tactics.'

They'll have to work it out first though. 

Eh what? 🧐 

Was the official attendance announced yesterday ?

 

Dougal

18 minutes ago, dougal said:

Was the official attendance announced yesterday ?

 

Dougal

I believe it was 832.

Mental anyone thinking this was a good result.

If this is a demonstration of our strength and depth, we are bang ordinary and it'll tell in the league when we get a few injuries or suspensions.