It's Now or Never

 

That's what Elvis used to say. We are in deep trouble up to our necks with no signs that we can turn this around. Defeat to Arbroath could be the final nail in our coffin with only fifteen points available to us ahead of this game. The play-offs are looking more likely by the minute, but it's not beyond the realms of possibilty that automatic relegation is still an option should Arbroath beat us on Saturday. With the long suffering fans rapidly losing faith in Big Dunc, it's crunch time as Arbroath head North to the venue they won at the last time they were here. Sadly they come to the Caledonian Stadium off the back of a 2-1 midweek defeat to Airdrie, and we could all but relegate them on Saturday with a win. However, that's nothing to gloat about as we could be next...

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Match/Ticket Info

Bring a friend for £5

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Venue - H2H v Arbroath

Pld

Won

Drn

Lst

For

Agst

+ / -

Home	25	17	4	4	60	21	+39
Away	25	11	7	7	36	30	+6
Neutral	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	50	28	11	11	96	51	+45

Big advantage to us at home over the years, but there's a different feel about our squad this season. Many feel it's the worst squad we have ever had. There's no hiding place now, it's time to stand up and be counted. We lost our last home game against Arbroath, and that gives many of us the fear given our struggles to score goals and turn things around. The 3-2 win at Gayfield was Ferguson's first game in charge. To be honest, it's been downhill shortly after the new manager bounce wore off. 

Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Arbroath

1 - 1 (A)

1 - 2 (H)

3 - 2 (A)

2 - 4 (A)

2 - 0 (H)

4 - 1 (A)

1 - 1 (H)

0 - 0 (A)

0 - 0 (A)

0 - 0 (H)

Should we need one, here's a reminder of our last home game against Arbroath: 1 - 2  Looking Down:  With both sides losing in midweek, this game took on more significance for Big Dunc's side and Jim McIntyre was also looking to get away from the bottom of the table after he replaced Dick Campbell. David Wotherspoon was fit enough to start and good to see Keith Bray return to the squad alongside Robbie Thompson. Arbroath came North with only four on the bench with Michael McKenna and Ricky Little still out injured and O'Brien suspended. As it turned out we are now looking down the table instead of up after back to back defeats to the two teams who were below us only four days ago as Arbroath won 2-1. That was new manager Jim McIntyre's first win and it moves Arbroath off the bottom of the table. one point behind Inverness. All the goals came in the first half from Jay Bird, Billy Mckay and two minutes later David Gold. Looks like a few will be going cheap in the January sales.

Last Time Out

After an encouraging point at Tannadice we were looking for more of the same at Firhill. Alas we went down to the only goal of the game from Robinson to leave us staring into the Abyss. We gave as good as we got at Firhill but that age olde problem of not scoring goals was evident once more. To add insult to injury Cammy Kerr was red-carded after an hour although we will be appealing this decision as his first booking for simulation seemed unwarranted, therefore his red card could be rescinded. Last Five: W D L D L 

Arbroath have lost twice over the last week. Defeat by Partick Thistle last weekend was quickly followed by a 2-1 loss at home to Airdrieonians on Tuesday night. Jay Bird hit a late consolation for the Smokies and Leighton McIntosh saw his penalty saved just before the interval. However two second half strikes from Fordyce and McGill were enough to give Airdrie all three points in a game they pretty much dominated, and that's five defeats on the bounce for Arbroath. Last Five: L L L L L 

Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts 1. Dundee Utd 31 18 8 5 59 21 62 Heading to the Premiership 2. Raith Rovers 30 17 7 6 49 38 58   3. Partick Thistle 31 13 10 8 57 49 49 4. Airdrieonians 30 12 6 12 36 35 42 5. Dunfermline 31 11 8 12 37 41 41 6. Morton 30 11 7 12 37 34 40 7. Ayr United 30 11 5 14 43 54 38 8. Queens Park 31 9 9 13 43 50 36 Below here you are in the play-off and also Fecked 9. Inverness CT 31 7 11 13 34 36 32 Below here you are definitely Fecked 10. Arbroath 31 6 5 20 33 70 23

      Saturday 6th April

• Airdrie v Morton
•  Dunfermline v Partick Thistle
• Inverness CT v Arbroath FC  
• Queen's Park v Dundee Utd  
• Raith Rovers v Ayr United   

Latest Team News

Cammy Kerr has had his first yellow card rescinded which in turn makes his second yellow (still stands) and the subsequent red card that followed null and void. The correct decision and Cammy will be available for selection this weekend. However, it does not get us back the points that we may have got as a result of his sending off. In saying that, we performed better with ten men. 

Big Dunc said: So, this weekend we need to treat it like an away game. With that in mind the team will leave the Caledonian Stadium at 09:00 on Saturday morning and go for a three hour run in a D&E bus, returning at 12:00 to prepare for the game where we will start with just ten men. Ferguson said in his press conference that "this could be key to our survival and we will give it a go, won't we. We were excellent, we're no in trouble yet but it's getting close, isn't it". 😂  😂

Carragher and Ujdur have picked up a sickness bug and will need to be assessed. Other than that no major changes expected.

Here's what he actually said>>>

 

Looks like the Smokies time in the Championship is up even if they avoid defeat on Saturday. They have had some great results in their five season stint in the Championship and have proven to be difficult to beat at times, especially at home. However, all good things come to an end. Five defeats in a row since they beat Raith Rovers 3-2 on the 1st of March has them 9 points adrift at the foot of the table and heading into League 1. With a massive minus goal difference of -37 that's worth another point and I can't  see even the Caley Jags throwing that away over five games........ fingers crossed

Arbroath team on Tuesday night v Airdrie

Boruc

 

Walker   Teale   Little   Lyon

 

Gold   Mackinnon (Slater 66)

 

Stewart   McKenna (Bird 67)   Dow (Stowe 77)

 

McIntosh (Robinson 77)

 

Subs Not Used: Gaston; Steele, Jacobs, Murray, Dünnwald-Turan

 

It's not that I don't have any friends. It's just that nobody wants to come and watch this dross 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Massive 3 points 🙏

So absolutely delighted for Alex Samuel .He gives so much every week even though he gets battered from one end of the pitch to the other .Well deserved MoM .Also happy for Wallace Duffy ….Now we got the result we really needed to give us any hope please don’t let it slip . Great effort from all today .C,mon we can do it …..Get behind the team..Looking forward to Queens .

Edited April 6, 20242 yr by izzy

Good result considering our defensive setup - looking at how poor arbroath were for most of the first half I'm surprised we continued with 3 CB's. Showed them too much respect and almost paid the price for it...they scored with their only shot.

Hope some confidence has been restored with the result, quite a few decent performances today but again not enough converted chances. Hats off to Samuel, he was up for it from the first minute and deserved his reward.

A good platform to build from next week.

It’s a long time since I’ve left the ground feeling as good as I did today.

In difficult conditions, I thought we did very well.

We won the toss and chose to play with the wind. With the wind advantage, we seemed eager to play more directly than in recent home games and to press Arbroath and even shoot on sight.

We could easily have been two up after five minutes, with Samuel hitting the bar and their ‘keeper saving a good effort.

The game settled and I was worried our territorial advantage and chances were not going to see us get a lead, but a very good finish by Duffy got us in front.

In the second half, we were less direct, presumably as we were playing into the gale, but we made the better chances. Arbroath scored with their only attempt on goal in the whole game, but credit our players for digging deep and getting the win with a tremendous finish by Samuel (who took some stick from the Arbroath defence all game but kept looking for more).

We thoroughly deserved the win and hopefully we now have momentum for the critical visit to Queens Park next week.

Well done to all!

Edited April 6, 20242 yr by Robert

Game should have been over 1st half. we were all over them
Great save from Arbroath keeper boruc ( cousin of ex Celtic keeper artur boruc ) from a  Samual  hit from edge of box  heading in top bins but he got fingers on it to put it onto bar and out for corner.

couple of mins later Samuel had a turn and hit from inside the box but boruc got down low to his left to save again.

late on in 1st half Anderson was played in but his poor effort couldn’t beat boruc from a couple of yards.

was disappointed how we started 2nd half. Tippy tippy nonsense across the back line, no urgency to take throw ins and free kicks. One ball went out for a bye kick. Instead of taking the spare ball from the ball boy behind the goal ridgers walked slowly over to the corner flag to retrieve the original. We’re we counting down the clock that early.

I felt we were not building on the performance of the first half and letting Arbroath come at us instead. Turned to my mate and said this is going to cost us. Arbroath took the gift and a fantastic hit from  outside the box whissed  past ridgers for the equaliser. Loud boo’s from the home support.

I have seen this tactic from Ferguson before, when we are up he tends to defend the lead rather than try to extend it.

samual had no right to win the ball in the box, turn and smash in the winner. It was pure strength.

if we had taken our chances it could have been 3 or 4 goal win and confidence boost to take to Hampden especially after queens 5 goal hammering today.

 

1 hour ago, Yngwie said:

Notable that McGregor was overlooked again, Longstaff and Doran being preferred from the bench.

I’m really surprised we are not using MacGregor. I’ve no issue with Lawal, who works hard and has some nice touches, but MacGregor should be in the team ahead of him.

Spare a thought tonight for Remi Savage who took a significant boot in the face. Hope he is well.

Alex Samuel was superb today in a very good team performance. 

With Luis Longstaff back today we had a slightly stronger bench. Under no circumstances do we want to lose next week. 

 

 

28 minutes ago, CELTIC1CALEY3 said:

Spare a thought tonight for Remi Savage who took a significant boot in the face. Hope he is well.

 

It looked a really sore one when he was caught by Cammy Kerr. It looked like he (Savage) tried to pull out but too late. 

Absolutely, I hope Kerr's foot is OK.

Good to experience that winning feeling again. Having said that, we did make life difficult for ourselves by not capitalising on our first half dominance. Let’s face it, Arbroath were awful. On a day made for shooting from distance, we were again generally shot shy. Hopefully others will take a cue from the excellent Alex Samuel. 
The one disappointing thing for me today was that despite some good noisy support from the North stand, only Ridgers and Samuel could be bothered to come anywhere near the fans at the end.  Given the cheers and prolonged applause which followed the final whistle I would have thought the guys would have been keen to have some positive interaction with the home crowd for a change. Maybe most of them are not expecting to be here next season. 
 

At this stage of the season and in the position we find ourselves then results are way more important than performance.

The team got the job done today and we now need the same again next week.

2 hours ago, CELTIC1CALEY3 said:

Spare a thought tonight for Remi Savage who took a significant boot in the face. Hope he is well.

Agree, hope the guy is OK but it got devine on, who is a fighter and battler. To me the kind of guy you want on the park and plays like it means something to him in every game.

51 minutes ago, bdu98196 said:

Agree, hope the guy is OK but it got devine on, who is a fighter and battler. To me the kind of guy you want on the park and plays like it means something to him in every game.

I agree although I think Savage has been good playing for us.  On the game today as others have said we were very good in the first half played well, quick passing, going forward with the ball at speed and and Arbroath struggled to cope, we could have had a few goals if it wasn't for their keeper!  In the second half we were our usual at home sitting back and we struggled.  We have to play a full game at the tempo that we played the first half if we are going to stay in this league.  A lot happier than I have been for a long time but we have to keep pushing!

Arbroath never really got a look-in in the first half, but pretty much absorbed all we threw at them. We got a lift from the goal and really piled on the pressure for the remaining few minutes, looking to double the lead.

Second half we seemed to sit back and allowed Arbroath the chance to equalise and I really thought "here we go again".

Delighted with the result though - did we really win at home!?

Reality check though - we struggled to get a home win against the basement team, even when they had a man sent off! Hope we can do better next week.

 

An extremely important 3 points yesterday which puts us within touching distance of Queen's and possibly even Ayr. Our game next week at Hampden is a hugely important fixture in the long term future of the club and I would implore all fans to get themselves along to Hampden next week.

Irrespective of your thoughts on this stinker of a season, Ferguson, Gardiner, the board, battery farms, concert ventures and our multitude of other shortcomings we need as many fans as possible at Hampden to cheer the team on. 

⚽ The goals from today's 2-1 win against Arbroath at the Caledonian Stadium pic.twitter.com/RBdqasJGZc

— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) April 6, 2024

Happy days as long as the momentum keeps running. Can officially stop looking over our shoulder at Arbroath results and look up the table. Not officially clear of the automatic drop zone, but unless Arbroath win by 9.25 goals in each of their last 4 fixtures, we should be fine to chase Queens down. Massive 6 pointer at Hampden next weekend.

Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Still plenty work to do, but Arbroath are fecked 1. Dundee Utd 32 19 8 5 64 21 65 2. Raith Rovers 31 18 7 6 51 39 61 3. Partick Thistle 32 13 11 8 58 50 50 4. Airdrieonians 31 13 6 12 39 36 45 5. Dunfermline 32 11 9 12 38 42 42 6. Morton 31 11 7 13 38 37 40 7. Ayr United 31 11 5 15 44 56 38 8. Queens Park 32 9 9 14 43 55 36 9. Inverness CT 32 8 11 13 36 37 35 10. Arbroath 32 6 5 21 34 72 23

Anyone know why game started so late yesterday? 

59 minutes ago, old caley girl said:

Anyone know why game started so late yesterday? 

Ref's radio wasn't working apparently. 

There is the possibility that Sean Welsh may be suspended for next week. He did not play many league games for us this season but from what I can see was only booked in his final game away to Ayr. The official Queens Park record shows he has been booked 6 times for them in the league but one of those resulted in a sending off. Am sure Queens will check this!!! 6 bookings in one competition equals a suspension.

3 hours ago, Jack Waddington said:

Happy days as long as the momentum keeps running. Can officially stop looking over our shoulder at Arbroath results and look up the table. Not officially clear of the automatic drop zone, but unless Arbroath win by 9.25 goals in each of their last 4 fixtures, we should be fine to chase Queens down. Massive 6 pointer at Hampden next weekend.

A deserved 3 points yesterday which are absolutely needed, but let’s not get carried away. A narrow win over a part time team, who are bottom of the league and played a percentage of the game with 10 men. Hardly emphatic. We also find out yesterday that the Trust want fans to give them money, to in turn give it to the Club in turn for no more voice than they already have ????!!!!! All going great 🤪.