Jags on Jags

 

Third place Partick Thistle come calling at the Caledonian Stadium this Saturday for a game scheduled to kick-off at 3:00pm. The sides can't be separated so far this season with both fixtures ending all square. Partick will be looking to hang on to the coat tails of the top two who face each other on Friday night whilst we are in desperate need of points to avoid being sucked into the hub of the relegation play-offs. Both sides exited the Scottish Cup last weekend against Premiership opposition, but it's back to the grind on Saturday with a tough encounter expected. Off the field, the Battery Farm project is still a cause for concern with the local council doing a U-turn. You couldn't make this up, what an omnishambles.

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Match/Ticket Info

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H2H v Partick Thistle

Pld

Won

Drn

Lst

For

Agst

+ / -

Home	26	12	7	7	39	33	+6
Away	25	6	7	12	26	40	-14
Neutral	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	51	18	14	19	65	73	-8

Home team is normally the best indicator in these fixtures. We suffered a couple of heavy away defeats a year or two ago but other than that most of these fixtures have been close affairs and usually favour the home side. Both games this season ended all square, although it's fair to say that Inverness shaded the play but our lack of penetration in the final third is a continuing problem.

Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Partick Thistle

1 - 1 (A)

0 - 0 (H)

1 - 0 (H)

1 - 5 (A)

1 - 0 (H)

1 - 4 (A)

1 - 0 (H)

2 - 1 (A)

0 - 1 (A)

3 - 3 (H)

FULL TIME: 0 - 0.  Thistle be the day:  This will be the day that Duncan Ferguson made his bow to the Caley Jags fans. The weather might have dampened the atmosherics, but inside the stadium it was a warm welcome for Big Dunc. He was without the long term absentees (MacGregor & Nicolson) plus more recent victims in Sean Welsh, Danny Devine and Wallace Duffy. After the first win last week, it was an unchanged starting XI that took to the sodden turf. Partick had our olde foe Brian Graham up front. Enough said.
Neither side can complain about a point apiece but Partick will now know that they can not expect to pick up easy points against us. In fact had Gilmour placed his shot within the bounds of the posts then we could have taken all three points. Meh! Another step in the right direction for Inverness who matched high scoring Partick Thistle all over the park. Best for Inverness were the tricky Longstaff, the unflustered Ujdur and the driving force of Gilmour, with Ridgers doing his bit at the end.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Big game on Friday night: Raith v Dundee United
1.	Dundee Utd	22	14	6	2	45	11	48
2.	Raith Rovers	22	13	5	4	40	31	44
3.	Partick Thistle	22	10	7	5	43	34	37
4.	Morton	22	9	5	8	32	27	32
5.	Airdrieonians	21	8	4	9	20	24	28
6.	Queens Park	23	7	5	11	31	41	26
7.	Ayr United	23	7	5	11	30	41	26
8.	Inverness CT	23	6	6	11	26	28	24
9.	Dunfermline	22	6	6	10	24	32	24
10.	Arbroath	22	5	3	14	23	45	18

FRIDAY 16TH FEBRUARY

Raith Rovers v Dundee Utd

SATURDAY 17TH FEBRUARY

 Airdrieonians v Ayr United

Dunfermline v Arbroath

       Inverness CT v Partick Thistle

Queen's Pk v Morton

Last Time Out

Both sides fell at the 5th round stage of the Scottish Cup. We went down 3-1 to a seasoned Premiership side in Hibs. Defensive blunders, a deflected goal and a bit of extra quality saw Hibs through to face Rangers in the next round. The goal of the game came from Aaron Doran in stoppage time. A mere consolation, but a cracker nonetheless.

<<click watch on X to start video>>

📂 We'll file this one under 'Great Consolation Goals'.#ScottishCup pic.twitter.com/ulnCS9gtHj

— Scottish Gas Scottish Cup (@ScottishCup) February 12, 2024

No disgrace really, but the disappointing aspect of this defeat, as is the case most weeks, is our inability to break down a defence and get a shot on target. However, with Alex Samuel injured, we lost our only form of aggression up front, and with it, any hope of causing an upset.

Partick had cheered us all up when they knocked County out of the Cup in the previous round, however, surprisingly they found Livingston to be much more resilient and went down 2-3 after extra time. McInroy and Fitzpatrick had put the Harry Wragg's two ahead on the hour before Livi produced a match winning comeback to win in extra time thanks to Kris Doolan's untimely substitutions.

Latest Team News

Inverness will be without Luis Longstaff for a couple of months with a knee injury. Alex Samuel missed out last week with a fractured hand and misses out again. Morgan Boyes fell out with a post against Hibs and will be out. The post escaped without injury and will be back in action on Saturday. Danny Devine and Nikola Ujdur have had limited training this week.

 

Partick Thistle manager Kris Doolan lamented making the two substitutions in the five minute spell between Partick going 2-0 ahead and Joel Nouble starting the Livi comeback in the 66th minute. My Bad he said  Speaking on BBC Sport:  "I'm gutted. We put so much into it, but to be 2-0 up and lose is tough. We pushed them the full way. I take responsibility, I made two subs quickly, took off two key players. Maybe they should have stayed on the pitch. "We caused them problems, but we just couldn't deal with their physicality at the end of the game. It's heartbreaking when it comes down the last 20 seconds and you lose a goal, but there are positives to take."

Team v Livi in Cup:

Sneddon

 

McMillan Williams 71)   Muirhead (McKenzie 100)   Neilson   Milne

 

Bannigan   Stanway

 

Lawless (Diack 64)   McInroy (Alston 87)   Fitzpatrick (Ngwenya 87)

 

Graham (Adeloye 64)

 

Subs not used: Mitchell; Stewart; Lyon

 

8 hours ago, STFU said:

After watching the highlights, I don't think we should waste money we don't have appealing the red card.

ICT never seem to get benefit of the doubt but, I think taking off McAllister seemed to take most of the ‘buzz’ out of the team.    Fans dread the time for the subs to be made as the team seem to lose focus - also Doran (on as a sub) then subbed for Udger in extra time?  On to shore up defence in case of a last minute losing goal?  Oh dear, tactics seem odd, but heyho what do I know.  

13 hours ago, lizi said:

ICT never seem to get benefit of the doubt but, I think taking off McAllister seemed to take most of the ‘buzz’ out of the team.    Fans dread the time for the subs to be made as the team seem to lose focus - also Doran (on as a sub) then subbed for Udger in extra time?  On to shore up defence in case of a last minute losing goal?  Oh dear, tactics seem odd, but heyho what do I know.  

Doran was definitely sacrificed to shore up defence. 

Yeh 2nd half subs always seem to cause issues. Not sure why it was Carragher that was subbed either as was showing leadership at the back imo

The club can confirm that it has appealed the red card decision given against Max Anderson on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/11mmQbtIqR

— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) February 19, 2024

4 hours ago, old caley girl said:

Doran was definitely sacrificed to shore up defence. 

Yeh 2nd half subs always seem to cause issues. Not sure why it was Carragher that was subbed either as was showing leadership at the back imo

Carragher was played in the centre of the back three and was definitely the one organising things. He moved to the right when Devine came on with Chilokoa-Mullen the one replaced.

Before the game, Ferguson said neither Devine nor Ujdur had been training fully so both are carrying knocks. It will be interesting to see who we start with once they are fully fit.

For me, the mistake was taking McAllister off as his pace was troubling Partick and he was a good foil for Mckay. Maybe he had picked up a knock.

If we don’t have Anderson on Saturday I’d like to see MacGregor get a start.

32 minutes ago, Robert said:

Carragher was played in the centre of the back three and was definitely the one organising things. He moved to the right when Devine came on with Chilokoa-Mullen the one replaced.

Before the game, Ferguson said neither Devine nor Ujdur had been training fully so both are carrying knocks. It will be interesting to see who we start with once they are fully fit.

For me, the mistake was taking McAllister off as his pace was troubling Partick and he was a good foil for Mckay. Maybe he had picked up a knock.

If we don’t have Anderson on Saturday I’d like to see MacGregor get a start.

Ah my mistake Robert. Tnx 

3 hours ago, tm4tj said:

Hopefully it's successful or we've just thrown away another couple of grand.

9 hours ago, old caley girl said:

Doran was definitely sacrificed to shore up defence. 

Yeh 2nd half subs always seem to cause issues. Not sure why it was Carragher that was subbed either as was showing leadership at the back imo

I was watching Carragher from North stand and he is very vocal at the back. MacAllister showed good touches in midfield too.

The club can confirm that we have lost our appeal against the red card we believe was incorrectly given against Max Anderson on Saturday.

Having repeatedly reviewed the footage and clearly seeing that there was no contact with the Partick Thistle player who needed no treatment at all for the reported “studs to the face”, we are disappointed by this Fast Track Panel decision but not surprised. 

The two-game ban we were appealing against will now be served by Max. 

While Max won’t be on the pitch on Saturday, we hope as many Caley Jags as can make it, will be there to support Duncan and the team.

Who was on the Panel, the chairman of our planning applications committee?