Injuries R Us

 

With last weeks game falling foul to the weather, it might have been a blessing in disguise with one or two struggling to have made the postponed game against Morton. An extra weeks recovery might mean that we will be better equipped to face a sprightly Airdrie side who have consolidated themselves in the top half of the Championship. Game kicks off at 3:00pm at the Caledonian Stadium this Saturday and we might get a glimpse of new signings David Wotherspoon and Cillian Sheridan. Unfortunately Welsh, Doran, Boyes, MacGregor, Nicolson and Samuels are all out with Devine, Ujdur, Harper, Duffy and Carson all struggling.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Match Info/Tickets

David Wotherspoon

Cillian Sheridan

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Venue

Pld

Won

Drn

Lst

For

Agst

+ / -

Home	8	4	0	4	13	12	+1
Away	7	2	2	3	9	15	-6
Neutral	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	15	6	2	7	22	27	-5

Only the last couple of fixtures have any relevance. The 1-0 home win was in March 2002 when Ross Tokely played and Martin Bavidge scored the winner........ Wait a minute: Ross Tokely is still playing and scoring winners  ⚽

1 - 2 (A)

2 - 3 (H)

1 - 0 (H)

0 - 3 (A)

1 - 2 (H)

0 - 6 (A)

1 - 1 (A)

4 - 0 (H)

2 - 1 (A)

0 - 2 (H)

March 2002: Steve Paterson's 300th game in charge produced a very welcome 1 - 0 victory which stopped a slide down the league.

Ian Broadfoot reports:

Caley Thistle lay fourth last Saturday but slipped to seventh in midweek without kicking a ball. This win resulted in a climb to fifth. The first half was a nervous period with Caley Thistle trying hard but achieving little. Airdrie's best chance came in the first minute when they were awarded a free kick 20 yards out. Mark Roberts drove the ball goalwards and Nicky Walker dived to make a good save. In 13 minutes a high David Bagan cross proved troublesome to Airdrie keeper Allan Ferguson but he tipped it over. Five minutes later a Barry Robson corner from the right reached Grant Munro beyond the back post but he could only bundle the ball over for a goal kick. Stuart Taylor created a chance for himself at the other end in 29 minutes but he wasted it with a scuff past the post. In 33 minutes the home sides best first half chance fell to Dennis Wyness after good interplay with Charlie Christie but the striker hit it over from 10 yards. A minute later Owen Coyle reached a corner at the back post but left it to Taylor but he mishit to concede a goal kick. The tempo of the match changed in 50 minutes when Robson sent over a cross from the left and Martin Bavidge scored at the back post despite Ferguson getting a touch. This lifted Caley Thistle and calmed a few nerves. They kept on top after that but could not score a second goal. Robson strode through the Airdrie defence just after the goal but his shot deflected off Alan McManus. On the hour mark Ferguson raced out of goal to the touchline to just beat Bavidge to the ball. Ferguson saved Airdrie again in 76 minutes when he dived at the feet of Wyness as he stretched to reach a Bavidge curling ball but it went harmlessly for a goal kick. The nerves returned in the last few minutes as Caley Thistle worked hard to preserve their lead. With three minutes left Airdrie nearly stole an equaliser when a seemingly harmless Taylor header beat Walker but came back off the post into the relieved keepers arms. Despite a seemingly endless three minutes of added time Caley Thistle held on to win.

 

Championship Fixtures

FRIDAY 27th OCTOBER

 Dundee Utd v Arbroath Fc

Queens Pk v Partick Th

SATURDAY 28th OCTOBER

Ayr Utd v Morton

 Inverness CT v Airdrieonians

Raith Rovers v Dunfermline

 

Last Time Out

Inverness were held to a no scoring draw at home to Partick Thistle. A game of few clear chances with Partick squandering the best a few minutes from the end. Still, the clean sheet was welcome. We have already played Airdrie twice this season during our defensive blunder sessions. Airdrie took full advantage winning both games. 3-2 in the Highlands on League Cup duty and 2-1 at the Shyberry Excelsior Stadium in our 3rd Championship game of the season. Nathan Shaw's second half goal was too little too late after a Cammy Harper og inside the first minute and top scorer Gallagher on the half hour did the early damage in that one. Last Five: D  L  L  W  D  

Airdrie also played out a draw in their last game which went ahead on Friday night in a downpour. It ended 1-1 with Queens Park after Airdrie had taken a first half lead when an error in midfield by Queens Park allowed Callum Gallagher to run through to finish with aplomb. Queens got their point when keeper Josh Rae presented Jack Turner with his opportunity which he gladly took. Last Five: L  W  W  L  D  

Latest Team News

This was prepared for the Morton game that was postponed. Having played in the North of Scotland Cup semi-final at Nairn, Duncan Ferguson will now be without at least two of those that were beaten by Nairn. It was mainly a second string squad with some returning from injury. However, Danny Devine came off with a swollen knee and Sean Welsh now has a back injury. Add Boyes with an eye infection, Aaron Doran with a hamstring, Wallace Duffy with who knows what and longer term Roddy MacGregor and Lewis Nicolson then Ferguson does not have his troubles to seek. The good news is David Wotherspoon could be ready after playing 45 minutes on Wednesday night. Jay Emmanuel Stewart (JET) has been on trial this week.

So, hopefully the extra week will see one or two be in a better place injury wise and Wotherspoon has had another week in his legs to get back up to speed. Cillian Sheridan has become the latest player to sign on until January. He's been around a bit but could still do a job for us surely. Big misses for us will be Sean Welsh, Morgan Boyes and if Ujdur, Harper and Carson fail to make it then we will be scraping the bottom of the barrel again. Aaron Doran (hamstring) and Austin Samuels (knee) have joined the long term casualy list with Roddy and Lewis. So injuries are us once more. Dunc is hopeful one or two might be fit enough but it's a waiting game after three weeks of inactivity.

 

 

Airdrie v Queens Pk team lines:-

Rae

 

Megwa   Watson   Fordyce   Hancock

 

Frizzell   McMaster   Aiken (Telfer 62)

 

McStravick   Gallagher (Todorov 62)   McGregor (O'Connor 78)

 

Subs not used: Hutton; McCabe, Dunlop, McGill, Cassidy, Spalding.

Airdrie have been playing some slick stuff of late and this will be a tough one, even with a full squad. Callum Gallagher is top scorer with six goals. Former Caley Jag striker Nikolay Todorov has scored a couple this season but does not always start.

Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts   1. Dundee Utd 10 7 3 0 28 4 24 2. Raith Rovers 9 6 2 1 14 9 20 3. Partick Thistle 10 4 3 3 19 16 15 4. Airdrieonians 10 4 1 5 9 14 13 5. Arbroath 9 4 0 5 15 17 12 6. Ayr United 10 4 0 6 12 18 12 7. Queens Park 11 3 3 5 14 22 12 8. Dunfermline 9 3 2 4 9 10 11 9. Inverness CT 9 2 2 5 7 10 8 10. Morton 9 2 2 5 9 16 8

Will need to check official report to see who were playing as it's important for our stats.

To get 3 points from a mediocre performance is really good, Especially with Morton getting a win.  Wotherspoon did well and scoring a winner was a big bonus. I presume we had players out that were not quite fit. Airdrie did their usual high workmate harassment game to stop us playing with the result that Shaw and Longridge didn't really have much effect.  

A hard watch, especially after Mackay and Wotherspoon were subbed, when we seemed to lose our edge and it was backs to the wall.

But we got off with it!

A terrific three points that we ground out in the end. It was squeaky but time in the second half when we retreated further and further back towards our eighteen yard box, it was probably in the players minds to protect their one goal lead, but it was hearts in mouths as we were under constant attack from Airdrie. What I couldn't fathom was we never left a player up at the halfway line when Airdrie had a corner, which meant we had no out ball when we cleared our lines, so the attacks kept coming. It's something the Duncan needs to address. 

It was a hard watch at times, with very little flowing football and our chances were few and far between. Wotherspoon took his goal well, after some good work from Shaw, after he had blown a great chance earlier. The subs certainly upset any rhythm that we had in the game, and it all seemed to happen after the ever improving Longstaff left the field. He is much more suited to the left side being very left footed. Harper continues to exasperate me with his continual back passes. I don't know if it's a confidence thing or that's just his game, but I just wish he would turn on the ball and run down the wing. I thought Anderson and Gilmore are looking better and better in the middle and Ujdur was solid at the back, with Ridgers in typically good form. Billy Mckay ran his socks off as per usual and Wotherspoon, playing just behind him seems a good addition to the team. Longstaff, Anderson, Shaw and Ujdur were the standouts for me.

For our next game, we will have to get our tactics and work rate spot on to get any result at the league leaders.

Only 5 point off the play offs with a game in hand.

Wave bye to some dross in Jan hopefully and dunc to continue with his changes and it'll show how much Dodds held us back

 

Big 3 points. It's a good sign that we can win games despite playing poorly 

 

 

Even seeing the highlights you can see a change in the team where everyone is playing for each other and fighting for every ball which wasn’t the case before. 
Still a long way to go though but I am more positive than the way we started the season. 
Well done to all the team yesterday 

Quite happy to take the points under any circumstances after the game at Airdrie where we gifted them 2 goals of a start and missed a hatful of chances. They’ve not got a great squad but Rhys McCabe has got them playing in the right way.

1 hour ago, IBM said:

Even seeing the highlights you can see a change in the team where everyone is playing for each other and fighting for every ball which wasn’t the case before. 
 

Yes definitely, although I think that was more noticeable in the Partick game a couple of weeks ago.

On 10/27/2023 at 6:54 PM, Robert said:

If we are without Carson, Duffy, Devine, Boyes, Ujdur, Harper and Nicolson, who on earth play at the back for us? Davidson and Delaney are the only defenders who are definitely available as we’ve loaned the youngsters out.

I really hope some make it or it could be a difficult watch tomorrow. 

The second half was a hard watch despite all the above except Nicolson being in the team or in the bench.

The club’s report:

https://ictfc.com/ictfc-1-0-airdrieonians-28-10-2023/

Three fixtures this week ahead of our visit to Tannadice.

We could find ourselves bottom before we face Dundee United.

Fingers crossed that the weekend derby tussle with the Pars didn’t take too much out of Raith - we could do with them giving Morton a right good humping tonight!

5 hours ago, CaleyCanary said:

Fingers crossed that the weekend derby tussle with the Pars didn’t take too much out of Raith - we could do with them giving Morton a right good humping tonight!

Raith 1 up after 26 minutes. 

Now 2 up after 41.

Win our 2 games in hand and we're 6th..

Raith held on to win 2-1.

David Wotherspoon made the SPFL Team of the Week for his performance against Airdrie.