Crunch Time

 

Big game in the Highlands on Saturday as Champions in waiting Dundee head North to the Caledonian Stadium. It's a 3:00pm kick-off, and a big following is expected as the Dark Blues look to get the automatic promotion slot ahead of the imploding Queens Park and the unlikely trio of Ayr United, Morton and Inverness who are making a late bid for the top four. There will be a minutes applause ahead of kick-off in memory of former groundsman Tommy Cumming who passed away on 20th April.

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Tommy Cumming RIP

Match/Ticket info

Your Cub Needs You

Scottish Cup Tickets/Travel

AGM

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Venue

Pld

Won

Drn

Lst

For

Agst

+ / -

Home	17	7	8	2	27	16	+11
Away	21	7	9	5	29	26	+3
Neutral	2	0	0	2	2	4	-2
Total	40	14	17	9	58	46	+12

Overall we still hold the advantage over Dundee in the forty games played. All square in the meetings so far this season, but Dundee won on their last visit to the Caledonian Stadium

Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Dundee

1 - 1 (A)

0 - 1 (H)

3 - 2 (A)

1 - 1 (H)

1 - 2 (A)

2 - 2 (H)

2 - 0 (A)

1 - 0 (H)

0 - 0 (A)

0 - 1 (A)

McMullan strikes: 0 - 1 Dec3rd: Dundee came North as one of the form teams in the championship over the last half dozen games. Naughty boy Paul McGowan was not in the squad. Inverness were still without 75% of their first picks but Daniel Mackay made his comeback last week and Ryan Barrett made his debut against Stirling in the Cup. Paul McMullan opened the scoring midway through the first half after cutting in from the left before curling past Cammy Mackay. Almost a second as the ball deflected onto the bar before Mackay picked up the rebound after the half hour. George Oakley missed what appeared to be a sitter from eight yards as half time approached as Aaron Doran swung in an inviting cross. With no further scoring in the second half, Dundee took the three points and Inverness remain in sixth place, but starting to slip off the pace.

Last Time Out

The games have been coming thick and fast for the Caley Jags in April. However we have stood firm and handled the pressure well so far. It began well with a 2-1 win at Morton on 1st April. Raith Rovers were despatched 2-0 a week later. A midweek win saw Arbroath go down by the same score before we came from behind to beat a determined Cove Rangers 2-1 at Balmoral Stadium. Then our nemesis, Hamilton Accies. We had to come from behind again with goals from Nathan Shaw and an 88th minute strike from Billy Mckay to earn the points. Billy is now on 98 goals chasing the all time record of 101 by Dennis Wyness. W W W W  W W 

Dundee had to come from 3-1 down at home to Morton to snatch a 94th minute equaliser. Kwame Thomas was the man responsible for rescuing a point when defeat was staring them in the face with twenty minutes left. Luke Hannant levelled the game in the first half but Morton established a two goal lead before Thomas saved the day with two late strikes. D  W  W  D  W D 

 

Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Table ahead of crunch game tonight - Ayr United v Queens Park 1. Dundee 33 16 10 7 60 36 58 2. Queens Park 33 17 6 10 59 45 57 3. Inverness CT 34 15 9 10 50 44 54 4. Partick Thistle 33 15 7 11 59 41 52 5. Ayr United 33 14 9 10 58 42 51 6. Morton 33 12 12 9 48 41 48 7. Raith Rovers 33 11 9 13 44 45 42 8. Arbroath 33 6 15 12 29 44 33 9. Hamilton Ac. 34 7 8 19 29 61 29 10. Cove Rangers 33 6 9 18 36 73 27

Friday 21st April

Ayr Utd v Queens

Saturday 22nd April

Arbroath v Cove Ran

Accies v Partick

Inverness CT v Dundee FC  

   Morton v Raith Rvr

Latest Team News

Jay Henderson will return after suspension. He certainly carries a threat and has linked up well with Nathan Shaw recently. Duffy, MacGregor and Ram all missed out at Hamilton. Hopefully no new injuries but it's been a tough schedule in recent weeks and there will be some weary legs around the Caledonian Stadium. Pretty much confirmed that Sutherland and Walsh will probably see no action this season.

 

Dundee starting XI v Morton last week

Legzdins

 

Mulligan     Sweeney     Ashcroft     Marshall

 

McCowan     Maguire     Cameron     Hannant

 

Jakubiak     Robinson

Full bench as well: Kerr, Byrne, Thomas, McMullan, Lawlor, Williamson, Fisher, Clampin, Reedy

Here's hoping they can keep McMullan on the bench. He has been a thorn in our side in recent years and scored a good goal in the win at the Caledonian Stadium back in December.

Partick have equalised. 

BBC:  "90'  Billy Mckay (Inverness CT) wins a free kick in the defensive half." 

Not bad work from the bench

Be interesting to hear from those there today.

Based on the BBC text, I will take that. It keeps things in our own hands for the Ayr game.

Partick and Ayr slipping up has helped too, but sadly CaleyHedgehog’s title dream is over.

County are starting to look a bit detached at the bottom of the league: it would be nice to pass them on the way up!!

 

Edited April 22, 20233 yr by Robert

What the feck - good point and other results in our favour - let’s march on Hampden and prepare for the play offs 

I'll take a draw.Dundee threw everything  at us first 20 mins and could have been one up but the striker missed a sitter.As the half went on we came more into it.Second half similar  start for Dundee and they had all the pressure.Don't know what happened for their goal, was Ridgers unsightly by  defender.Good subs by Dodds today at the right time and as the game went on I thought we could have pick pocketed them and stolen a result.At the end of the day the boys did well to get a draw and with other results going our way we have play offs in our hands.

 

Ah well!  Title dreams over, but play off in our own hands if we beat Ayr. It is just possible that a draw will do against Ayr, but that depends on how Morton, and PT get on in their final 2 games.    But, first of all lets just enjoy the day out at Hampden next week.  Good luck lads.

My automatic promotion dream is over, but I do not regret having faith in a team who have been amazing in the last few weeks and who have been crippled (sorry) by injury at times in the season. 

Things are even more nerve wracking now, with most of the contenders for the play offs still having a game in hand. We will have one eye on the league while we are away for the cup semi final next week.  Hoping Arbroath, Queen's Park and Raith Rovers can win their games, since we can't catch QP without a massive amount of goals now anyway.

Things are going right to the wire and our game against Ayr will be a nail biter.

Well done boys today - enjoy your day at Hampden. 

I see the crowd was 3822: a lot of travelling fans presumably but was there a higher than normal home crowd?

At the end of the day, that was a good point, considering I thought Dundee were going to blow us away in the first twenty minutes, we could hardly get in their half, and their striker missed a sitter. They were quicker than us and had sharper passing, but didn't trouble Ridgers too much. I didn't see what happened for their goal, it looked very scrapy and we did well to come back. Dodds got his subs right today and when we went to a back three and pushed Carson into midfield we started to cause Dundee some problems, which resulted in our equaliser. I thought at the end we might just steal it, buy we have to settle for the point. So it's down to the Ayr game now, and by Friday 5th, we will know exactly what we have to do.

Well at least that puts all this title dreams crap to bed!! 

Let's go on and secure our play off place now!! 

We looked very tired today especially in the 1st half. However a hard well deserved point in the end! 

Edited April 22, 20233 yr by old caley girl

A gritty performance today to get the point and nearly snaffling three towards the end. We miss Welsh in the middle but have to say Allardice did the work of two. Dan Mackays run to create the equaliser was good and Samuels kept the heid to finish. Still plenty to play for; dust down and on to hampden 😃

Really missed Welsh in the middle, just someone to hold the ball and give the defence a rest. Well done to Cammy for giving it his best shot but when Carson moved in there you could see a big difference. Thought Duffy did ok when he got on so that’s your right back sorted for next week! 
great subs by BD. Taking on the pace that put the frights up Dundee. Well done Danny McKay as well - touch is still pretty poor but looked determined when he came on and it was a cracking cross for the goal. 
Dundee are a tidy side up front and they pressed well resulting in a lot of misplaced passes. Was delighted to get in at 0-0 but slow start to second half as well, however but he end Dundee we’re clinging on  

good atmosphere as well! 
onwards to next week!

 

Here's the overview from our report

As you Were

 

Dundee came North looking to all but wrap up the title. Inverness were on a six game winning streak and looking to force their way into the play-offs with this late run.  There was a blow for Inverness with influential captain Sean Welsh missing, although defender Wallace Duffy was the mystery returnee this week. Jay Henderson returned after suspension with Austin Samuels, Dan Mackay and Aaron Doran on the bench with Duffy. Dundee had their big guns out for this one with perennial pest Paul McMullan on the bench. Strike pairing of Jakubiak and Robinson would be a handful.  A magnificently observed minutes applause for Tommy Cumming set the scene on a dry but breezy afternoon. As it panned out it ended all square. Dundee were quick out of the blocks and pestered Mark Ridgers early on without creating the clear cut chance to open the scoring. Level at the break, the Dark Blues continued in the same vein after the break and made the breakthrough on the hour when Lyall Cameron scored. However we have been resilient of late and substitute Austin Samuels earned us a point with fifteen minutes remaining as we came back at Dundee to quieten their raucous support who firmly believe Billy is a short rotund person born out of wedlock! Morton and Cove were the only winners today, so as you were at the top of the table as we hang on to third place. 

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Table after todays games
1.	Dundee	34	16	11	7	61	37	59
2.	Queens Park	34	17	7	10	59	45	58
3.	Inverness CT	35	15	10	10	51	45	55
4.	Partick Thistle	34	15	8	11	61	43	53
5.	Ayr United	34	14	10	10	58	42	52
6.	Morton	34	13	12	9	49	41	51
7.	Raith Rovers	34	11	9	14	44	46	42
8.	Arbroath	34	6	15	13	29	45	33
9.	Hamilton Ac.	35	7	9	19	31	63	30
10.	Cove Rangers	34	7	9	18	37	73	30

Friday 28th April

  Dundee v Cove Rgrs

Saturday 29thApril

Ayr Utd v R Rovers

Morton v Queen's 

  Partick v Arbroath

Further to my earlier comment and I don't  like being overly critical, but I wish we would stop sending high balls to Billy Mackay.They haven't  worked all season and didn't work today.The Dundee number 5 won every one of them.When we sent long balls to the wingers we did better.Missed Welsh today as he can control things from the centre of the park.All said and done though a good point fought hard for.

Spot on Douglas. Billy was dwarfed by the defenders and was given little opportunity to get in behind them. Better when we used the pace of Dan Mackay and Austin Samuels. Duffy also offered his services late in the game when we pushed for a winner. Gritty stuff from us as we were firefighting for large parts of the game. End result was what was important and we never lost. Cheers 

 

2 hours ago, Robert said:

I see the crowd was 3822: a lot of travelling fans presumably but was there a higher than normal home crowd?

I thought 1200-1500 and they were in fine voice and as usual Billy Dodds was getting a lot of stick  although he would not be bothered by that.

Falkirk pumped Alloa 1-4 today.

2 former players on the scoresheet: Brad Mckay and Kai Kennedy with Liam Henderson bagging two.

The next two games will be tough!!!

3 hours ago, Douglas Mackenzie said:

Further to my earlier comment and I don't  like being overly critical, but I wish we would stop sending high balls to Billy Mackay.They haven't  worked all season and didn't work today.The Dundee number 5 won every one of them.When we sent long balls to the wingers we did better.Missed Welsh today as he can control things from the centre of the park.All said and done though a good point fought hard for.

I have said all season that we haven't scored one goal from playing Hoofball, but continue to use it in most games, and create most of our chances and goals by playing fast passing football on the deck. Great run from Dan Mackay setting up the goal, we could be doing with a lot more of that.

It is so frustrating when we keep passing the ball back to the keeper and sideways especially when we go a goal down when we should be driving forward, attack attack attack is when we are at our best and score goals.

5 hours ago, Robert said:

I see the crowd was 3822: a lot of travelling fans presumably but was there a higher than normal home crowd?

Reckoned there was about 1200 away fans. The main and north stands were a bit fuller. 
 

 

Full match report online now

 

Dundee probably should have won that. They started both halves so much quicker than we did and it felt like they had plenty of decent chances before we even got over the half way line. Some decent saves from Ridgers and fluffed efforts from the likes of Jakubiak kept things level. 

I felt we defended the opener poorly at the time. Opposition players allowed to much time and space and our defenders not picking up their men properly. We just seemed very slack for large parts of the game. Whilst it was a tidy finish I don't think we covered ourselves in glory trying to keep them out.

Nice hold up play from MacKay to keep the ball under pressure from Sweeney and a lovely run and cross to find Samuels at the back post for the equaliser. Probably our one really good bit of attacking play the entire game before we went back to hoofball forward for MacKay and Samuels to try and do something with.

A really quite bizarre performance from us. After seeing Shaw tear opponents apart on the flanks in recent weeks Dodds seems to be persisting with making him into a 10 where he hasn't looked at all as effective. Really odd that he has done this for the 3rd game in a row. The defending was chaotic at times and we really struggled with the intensity of the Dundee press at times. Any time Jakubiak or Robinson went up for a high ball Cameron was bursting forward to try and collect any knock down. Compare this to Mckay who spent an hour almost completely isolated trying to win headers against two gargantuan defenders. It was a frustrating watch.

Carson was probably our best player. Defended reasonably well for the most part and slotted into midfield very well once Dodds shuffled the pack. Impressed with Hannant in the opening stages of the game for Dundee where he was giving Carson a hard time but he (Carson) eventually got to grips with him. Also thought Cameron did well buzzing all over the pitch defending and attacking. Was happy when he went off.

Looks like our playoff spot is going to come down to a last day shoot out against Ayr United.