Dundee Challenge

 

Dundee are the visitors this week as we get back to League duty after the third round of the Scottish Cup was played out last weekend. Dundee are one of the form teams in the Championship at the moment as they pick up a bit of form after a sticky patch. The game should be kicking off at 3:00pm on Saturday. Both teams advanced into the fourth round of the Scottish Cup last weekend. Inverness edging past Stirling Albion by the odd goal in five and Dundee dumping Airdrie with four goals in extra-time for a 6-2 win.

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Match/tickets info

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Venue

Pld

Won

Drn

Lst

For

Agst

+ / -

Home	16	7	8	1	27	15	+12
Away	20	7	8	5	28	25	+3
Neutral	2	0	0	2	2	4	-2
Total	38	14	16	8	57	44	+13

We have only lost once at home to Dundee in sixteen games. The overall results also favour Inverness with fourteen wins from thirty-eight encounters with Dundee winning just eight times. The single home defeat came in a Scottish Cup 4th round replay in January 2008. None other than Scott Allan that scored the only goal of the game. 

Over and Out: This seasons Scottish Cup run was short lived when an efficient Dundee came North and stifled our creative players after the break to score an early second half goal through Scott Allan to win this replay. The second period was just two minutes old when Dundee surged forward after an Inverness attack broke down. A-Jay Leitch-Smith did the spadework and Scott Allan supported him and placed the ball beyond Mark Ridgers low into the corner of the net. Poor play from Inverness in attack and the defence backed off as Dundee went forward giving Allan the opportunity to pick his spot.

Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Dundee

3 - 2 (A)

1 - 1 (H)

1 - 2 (A)

2 - 2 (H)

2 - 0 (A)

1 - 0 (H)

0 - 0 (A)

0 - 1 (A)

0 - 1 (H)

2 - 2 (A)

We came away from Dens Park with an unexpected but much needed three points back in September.

Harper Stuns Dundee: The first meeting of the sides this season ended in victory for the visitors. Dundee took an early lead through Sweeney but Cammy Harper levelled almost immediately with a curling shot from outside the box. Austin Samuels day was over five minutes before the interval. Just on the break Billy Mckay scored from the spot to put the visitors ahead after Harper had been fouled. Paul McMullan made it all square ten minutes after the interval although that goal has now been attributed to Joe Grayson. However, man of the match Harper restored the visitors advantage from twenty-five yards with seven minutes left. That ended the scoring and sealed the points before Sweeney was sent off for a second bookable offence as the game slipped away from Dundee.

Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts   1. Ayr United 16 8 5 3 34 22 29 2. Morton 16 8 4 4 24 16 28 3. Dundee 16 8 4 4 27 20 28 4. Queens Park 16 8 3 5 28 26 27 5. Partick Thistle 16 7 2 7 31 29 23 6. Inverness CT 16 6 5 5 19 20 23 7. Raith Rovers 16 7 1 8 21 21 22 8. Cove Rangers 16 4 5 7 24 27 17 9. Arbroath 16 2 6 8 10 22 12 10. Hamilton Ac. 16 2 5 9 16 31 11

Saturday 3rd December 3:00pm

Arbroath v Morton     

Ayr United v Raith Rovers

Cove v Partick

Inverness v Dundee FC

    Queen's v Hamilton    

Current League Form

Dundee are one of the form teams with four wins in November which includes their Scottish Cup win over Airdrie. October brought them two wins three draws and a Championship defeat to Cove Rangers at Balmoor. Highlight of that league run was a 3-2 win over Partick Thistle at Firhill with the Cove result putting a damper on the Dundee hopes.

Over the same period we have failed to win a league game in November, drawing two and losing to Queens Park. October was a mixed bag where we started off with three narrow wins before being found out at home to Accies. We followed that with a draw at home to Raith Rovers before being pumped 4-0 at Cappielow. Highlight were the three wins in early October over Ayr, Partick and Cove. The lowlight speaks for itself as Morton thrashed us. 

We are by far one of the worst performing teams in front of goal with only 19 goals from 16 games. Only Arbroath and Hamilton have scored less. Dundee are eight goals better off but with a similar defensive record.

Nathan Shaw has been one of the more prominent players recently and scored both goals to earn a point in the 2-2 draw against Ayr United

 

Latest Team News

The cup game allowed us to rest the legs of Sean Welsh who will hopefully be available for this one. Danny Devine got more minutes in his legs after coming back two weeks ago. Dan Mackay got half an hour against Stirling Albion but might be off the pace. Full Back Ryan Barrett made his debut late on in the cup game and he himself has come through a knee injury before leaving Newcastle. Unless anyone else has been seen by Jesus, then that might be our lot for now as far as recoveries are concerned. News about Austin Samuels has been sparse, let's hope he is nearing a return. We will still have seven or eight first picks unavailable with news that top scorer Billy Mckay might be joining them with a calf injury. Deas, Delaney, Allardice, McGregor, Walsh, Sutherland and Samuels. Add Mark Ridgers to that ensemble as the rift goes on although Cammy Mackay has done well under the circumstances.

 

Eric has unearthed this new name at Dens Park. Since our last meeting with Dundee they have signed Derick Osei, a centre forward who was without a club since leaving AFC Wimbledon in the summer. French born Osei spent 10 years in the youth system at Toulouse. He has made 7 appearances in Championship and Cup games with 3 goals to his credit. Sounds like he might be a handful at Championship level.

Zach Robinson is the clubs leading scorer this season with eight goals from eighteen games with nippy winger Paul McMullen on four alongside Zak Rudden. Alex Jakubiak is on four but his strike rate is the most impressive having only played eight games.

A hard watch as others have said.

Dundee were poor but held on comfortably to win. We contributed to their goal by giving the ball away cheaply but it was a decent finish.

I can’t fault the commitment of the players but too often we passed when we could have shot or gave the ball away cheaply.

Oakley was more interested in grappling than winning the ball.

We ended up with Devine playing in an advanced role. No offence to Danny, but he’s no striker and he had a decent game and tried to encourage the team.

Carson and Shaw were the picks for me.

Worryingly I was treated to hospitality today. The CEO spoke at it and explained we are only doing it at a few games this season due to the smaller away supports being experienced. Surely he should be out there getting local businesses and supporters taking tables so the hospitality takes place at every game. He said it was important financially for the club today and there were 120 at it, so they’d have taken around £12k less the costs of staging it.

Have they given up on getting support locally? It was a very worrying comment. 

Edited December 4, 20223 yr by Robert

46 minutes ago, TheMantis said:

Is Welsh injured again? It’s a big ask for Lewis Hyde starting him in CM against any team, never mind Dundeh. Mibbe even better with Boyd in there.
Who got injured today then?

Yes, he seems to be along With Billy Mckay but who knows what will happen during the week!

3 hours ago, Robert said:

Have they given up on getting support locally? It was a very worrying comment. 

Here, we can't even stretch to organising a Christmas party for the kids. 🤣

8 hours ago, No Shin Guards said:

Gave it a miss today. Given what everyone is saying, didn't miss anything. Season ticket holder, but can't even stomach turning up to watch the utter dross being served up. No rush to go back. 

Same. I've had to change my mentality to attend nowadays. . . .now I expect a defeat and anything else is a bonus! 

14 hours ago, STFU said:

Was late finishing work, and we lost a goal while I was on the way to the match.  Changed my mind and headed for home.

Can't even torture myself on Twitter updates as we've only had 3.  Kick Off, conceded goal and HT.  You know it's bad when even the club's own social media can't muster anything to post about.

Anyone at the game want to tell us that it's not that bad and we're unlucky to be losing?

Gave up on the Twitter updates ages ago. Not as good as it used to be. Got fed up of clicking 'refresh' every 5 mins to find nothing new.

2 hours ago, Gringo said:

Gave up on the Twitter updates ages ago. Not as good as it used to be. Got fed up of clicking 'refresh' every 5 mins to find nothing new.

I've noticed this too. Asked several questions re the shop etc on Twitter and Facebook but the club never responds. We used to have the most proactive and fun social media a number of years back now it's virtually non existent. 

I've occasionally wondered what motivates a glory hunter,  starting to get an insight from some posts on here. 

Expectation levels are way higher than reality.

A trip to Dobbies rather than backing your team.

Shame.

34 minutes ago, Satan said:

I've occasionally wondered what motivates a glory hunter,  starting to get an insight from some posts on here. 

Expectation levels are way higher than reality.

A trip to Dobbies rather than backing your team.

Shame.

Really unfair imho. Folk that are paying customers are allowed to express their thoughts on what we are currently watching. 

It's poor fare really and we deserve better. Crowds are dropping by the week and can't be going unnoticed. 

11 hours ago, Robert said:

A hard watch as others have said.

Dundee were poor but held on comfortably to win. We contributed to their goal by giving the ball away cheaply but it was a decent finish.

I can’t fault the commitment of the players but too often we passed when we could have shot or gave the ball away cheaply.

Oakley was more interested in grappling than winning the ball.

We ended up with Devine playing in an advanced role. No offence to Danny, but he’s no striker and he had a decent game and tried to encourage the team.

Carson and Shaw were the picks for me.

Worryingly I was treated to hospitality today. The CEO spoke at it and explained we are only doing it at a few games this season due to the smaller away supports being experienced. Surely he should be out there getting local businesses and supporters taking tables so the hospitality takes place at every game. He said it was important in one for the club today and there were 120 at it. Have they given up on getting support locally? It was a very worrying comment. 

Am I being thick here? What has away crowds got to do with not running or indeed running hospitality? 

39 minutes ago, old caley girl said:

Am I being thick here? What has away crowds got to do with not running or indeed running hospitality? 

I wondered that too. I’d say three of the twelve tables were away fans so nine tables were taken by local people or businesses.

With the right package, they should be able to fill it every home game in my opinion.

It is a good offering. Perhaps drop the free bar to reduce the cost per seat as it would be balanced out by bar takings?

In addition, most there were buying £10 of half time draw tickets so another £1k or so from that.

The posters in the toilet about packages still have Keith Haggart as the contact, and he’s been away for several months.

A good day (apart from the football), and something they should try harder to sell.

In summary, could do better. 

Edited December 4, 20223 yr by Robert

Dundee scored a good goal. We just wanted to pass it around all game with everyone scared to take a shot at goal. 

1 hour ago, Robert said:

 

The posters in the toilet about packages still have Keith Haggart as the contact, and he’s been away for several months.

Apparently he still works for us part time. Working from home I assume. He's still on the website too. 

I guess there's nobody in the Highlands that is good enough, assume he fits us in between his work at Brechin. 

47 minutes ago, WYNESS101 said:

Dundee scored a good goal. We just wanted to pass it around all game with everyone scared to take a shot at goal. 

Goals change games, it's an obvious cliche, but my goodness it's true this season, we are seriously short of anyone to stick the ball away on a regular basis. Oakley isn't a threat at all, Boyd isn't a finisher [although he has guile and effort], Mckay can't do it all his own, the big loss is Samuels who really seemed to give us a different dimension, and of course Sutherland for sheer 'hang in there' grittyness [and more effective overall, with 10 goals last season]. Shaw is a small glimmer of hope.

Midfield wise with have few people who can take a long range shot, or a good pass [with Welsh almost permanently absent, along with MacGregor, and Allardice also out, we really miss Reece McAlear, and too a lesser extent Logan Chalmers who gave a balance to Samuels being on the other wing]

And there is the rub, we seem to play reasonable knock-it-about football, but lack the threat or the relief of goals that gives the defence a break. Basically we are dropping points due to an 'error a game' at the moment [which with no disrespect, is not exactly a surprise with the age quality and experience we have on offer], with little to compensate down the other end

Unfortunately it looks like finances won't stretch to any reinforcements come January unless we can find a gem, or a decent loan...not sure who we could even sell to raise funds.

BTW if even runnning the floodlights is a problem due to energy costs why are we starting games earlier?

So looks a bit grime at the moment, but given our squad situation, it was going to be thus. But ever the optimist, I look at how Morton and Dundee have got themselves into good positions after poor starts, and remember its a long season. [Ayr and Queens Park are defo the teams of the season, but will they run out of steam?]

6 minutes ago, Fraz said:

Apparently he still works for us part time. Working from home I assume. He's still on the website too. 

I guess there's nobody in the Highlands that is good enough, assume he fits us in between his work at Brechin. 

Or nobody wants the job 🫣

Over the years, so many things have been suggested to the club, most are small and quite doable, the club have made the right sounds, but very few are executed. We were told that they'd have a steward directing the whackie exit races while trying to leave the home car park, it's survival of the bravest. The ludicrous disabled parking bays, if they want you to park in them the way they've set them out, you're trapped in there, it doesn't take a genius to work that out. Have team sheets available at all food outlets, have a table set up after you enter the stadium to sell raffle tickets, trust me, they'd sell double if they did this. Have to tv on in the concourse, if there's no live game, show old ICT games, try and create an atmosphere. Display all team photos since 94 on the walls, it would give the supporters something to talk about, it's such a soulless space. What happened to the quiz nights? It certainly helped with the player/supporter bonding, and makes the club tighter. There is so much wrong with the club now, no joy in watching or coming to games, it's the worst I can remember. 

Any news on Sutherland? He was the beating heart last year

1 hour ago, Jaggernaut said:

Over the years, so many things have been suggested to the club, most are small and quite doable, the club have made the right sounds, but very few are executed. We were told that they'd have a steward directing the whackie exit races while trying to leave the home car park, it's survival of the bravest. The ludicrous disabled parking bays, if they want you to park in them the way they've set them out, you're trapped in there, it doesn't take a genius to work that out. Have team sheets available at all food outlets, have a table set up after you enter the stadium to sell raffle tickets, trust me, they'd sell double if they did this. Have to tv on in the concourse, if there's no live game, show old ICT games, try and create an atmosphere. Display all team photos since 94 on the walls, it would give the supporters something to talk about, it's such a soulless space. What happened to the quiz nights? It certainly helped with the player/supporter bonding, and makes the club tighter. There is so much wrong with the club now, no joy in watching or coming to games, it's the worst I can remember. 

Being saying this kind of thing for years Jug.    The fan experience is pretty poor and has been for years, Still queuing in the rain and mud for half time refreshments ( North stand)  still going to the toilet in a portacabin, I find it quite sad.  

Inverness is a huge population growth area and we're not engaging very well.

Also interviews with Gardener and Dudds were very careful in content, wish someone would have the guts to confront them with stuff that Jug mentions.

1 hour ago, caley100 said:

Being saying this kind of thing for years Jug.    The fan experience is pretty poor and has been for years, Still queuing in the rain and mud for half time refreshments ( North stand)  still going to the toilet in a portacabin, I find it quite sad.  

Inverness is a huge population growth area and we're not engaging very well.

Also interviews with Gardener and Dudds were very careful in content, wish someone would have the guts to confront them with stuff that Jug mentions.

No fault of Moff and the guys, but Gardiner used the last podcast as 90 mins of free advertising. What a great guy. Judging by his prickly reaction to one small criticism it’s not hard to see him pulling the plug if the guys give him a hard time.

1 hour ago, TheMantis said:

No fault of Moff and the guys, but Gardiner used the last podcast as 90 mins of free advertising. What a great guy. Judging by his prickly reaction to one small criticism it’s not hard to see him pulling the plug if the guys give him a hard time.

I'd assume the CEO would have agrees to what edit went out. 

25 minutes ago, old caley girl said:

I'd assume the CEO would have agrees to what edit went out. 

Can’t imagine he has any say in that at all.

1 minute ago, Yngwie said:

Can’t imagine he has any say in that at all.

Hmmmmmm

For those who haven’t heard it or don’t know what podcast people are referring to, I thought Gardner on the Wyness Shuffle was a very interesting and enlightening listen about the challenges faced by the club.

 I found the CEO's comments regarding intermittent hospitality in the recent podcast rather bizarre. Two minutes of research confirmed my understanding that Forres, Elgin and Keith (amongst others) all run hospitality for every game. They also run pie and a pint deals and other money making ventures. Nairn County have a World Cup Final night at the local Briish Legion, etc. etc... These are Highland League/League 2 clubs with no permanent staff. We have an array of commercial directors, sporting directors, a CEO, part-time consultants and such like and we invariably end up looking like a poorly run Highland League side. Go figure....

Run like a glorified pub team is closer to the mark

24 minutes ago, Tree said:

Run like a glorified pub team is closer to the mark

Glorified??