Play-Off Final 1st Leg

 

Having scraped into the play-off final, we find our route to Championship survival blocked by a two leg play-off encounter against a team we often struggled against, Hamilton Accies, one of lifes great relegation dodgers. They did eventually make the drop into League 1 a season ago but will fancy their chances against a struggling Caley Jags. They seemed to hold the Indian sign over us in season 2022/2023 with four wins out of five encounters, albeit one was a Challenge Cup game at NDP when we fielded a team of youths and Mark Ridgers during one of our worst peroids for injuries. We did win at NDP towards the end of that season with Billy Mckay scoring three minutes from the end. Overall, the stats are even, Accies one game to the good out of 31 meetings.

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Match/Ticket Info

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Accies Access: Admission: Adults £20, -18 & +65 £10. Accies season ticket holders 1/2 price on production of their cards at the gate. Cash only at turnstiles. Card payments at shop

Venue

Pld

Won

Drn

Lst

For

Agst

+ / -

Home	17	5	4	8	25	23	+2
Away	14	7	2	5	20	18	+2
Neutral	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	31	12	6	13	45	41	+4

He Scores When He Wants:  2 - 1 A long trip on a Tuesday night to face your bogey team is not ideal, especially when it gets to the business end of the season. That's what faced the Caley Jags as we looked to win our sixth game on the bounce against struggling Hamilton Accies who have already beaten us four times this season. Inverness could go third, but Accies would be hoping to put some distance between themselves and bottom side Cove Rangers. As it turned out it remained goalless at the interval with Deas seeing a header saved by Fulton just before the break. Connor Smith scored direct from a free kick after the interval but Nathan Shaw equalised three minutes later. Billy Mckay won all three points with a poachers goal in off the post with three minutes left and that's how it ended. Phew!

Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Accies

2 - 1 (A)

1 - 2 (A)

0 - 3 (H)

0 - 2 (A)

0 - 1 (H)

4 - 0 (H)

1 - 1 (A)

1 - 2 (H)

1 - 2 (A)

2 - 1 (H)

How did we get into this mess

Our demise has been well documented this season in the Championship where we got off to a poor start before relieving Billy Dodds of his duties after winning 1 point in our first six games. In comes our saviour, Big Dunc. However all is not well and we just kept our heads above water thanks to Arbroath being rubbish. Onto the play offs and an insipid performance at Links Park left us all wondering if our time has come to drop into oblivion. Our performance certainly would not look out of place in the lower leagues. We clung on for a 0-0 draw away from home and scraped a 1-0 win at Inverness with Billy Mckay saving our blushes. Everything about the club has negative undertones at the moment.

Well travelled and long suffering Caley Jags fan Gringo said:  That was my first game of the season and my first chance to see with my own eyes how gash ICT have become. That was one awful unentertaining game and by far the worst I've seen from the team I support. No passion, no urgency, no desire, no creativity...nothing. Square balls across the back line time after time. Can't keep possession. Can't shoot. Two game against a part time outfit and we can only bag one goal. There needs to be drastic improvement against Hamilton and I fully believe Dunc is incapable of doing that with this bunch of players. Hamilton will be a tough hurdle to overcome and I fear the worse. 

John Rankin's Hamilton Accies on the other hand are rightly in a positive mood after an excellent season in League 1 finishing second to all conquering Falkirk and conceding the same amount goals as the Champions. Hamilton's stats for their League campaign with (ict in brackets). Won 22 (10) Drawn 8 (12) Lost 6 (14) Goals for 73 (41), Goals against 28 (40) 

Top Scorers

1. Kevin O'Hara 16
2. Euan Henderson 10
3. Ahkeem Rose 7
4. Lewis Smith 5 (Lewis also tops the assist chart with 11)
5. Kyle MacDonald 5
6. Reghan Tumilty 5

ICT loan player Jake Davidson has also bagged a couple of goals for Accies but will be ineligible to play.

Hamilton did face Championship opposition in the Challenge Cup, losing 4-1 to Raith Rovers. That game was nicely poised at 0-1 until Lee Kilday was red carded after 54 minutes. Raith capitalised and scored a further three goals with Zanatta netting for Accies. Let's not forget, Accies also have an artificial surface which is something Ferguson bleated about after the Montrose game at Links Park.

Accies team v Alloa: Lyness; Longridge, Kilday (Owens 68 ), Barjonas (Rose 68 ), Henderson (Hastie 78 ), Martin (Murray 84), O’Hara, L. Smith, McGowan, Tumilty, Williamson (Davidson 45).

Subs Not Used: J. Smith; Redfern, Winter, Hendrie.

 

Inverness latest Team News

Here's Dunc's briefing: Sean McAllister out with recurring injury. Sounds as though the rest will be as you were and Charlie Gilmour is hopefully fit to play some part. Don't look for any drastic changes.

 

 

We were much better in the second half. Basically we started the match with the wrong line up, and the wrong manager.

Lawal has been our best player in recent weeks yet we start Gilmour who’s been out for months. Samuel has done nothing for months except try hard and run a lot, whereas Pepple has a physical presence and is a handful for defences. Both need to start on Saturday.

Lawal and Pepple on from the start on Saturday.  

Equalise - at least - by half-time.  Then there is everything to play for.

Samuel is a Graham Bayne type forward insomuch as he makes defenders work hard and forces errors but he'll not be a prolific scorer.  What he needs is someone alongside to mop up and stick the ball in the net which is why it's crazy that Billy has been played so deep.

 

Continued calls for Mcgregor. Schrodinger cat.

Ffs play Billy in the position he should be in or don’t play him . Surely Ferguson should know by now his best position and deep it is NOT 

If Gilmour had to be subbed at half time, you have to wonder why he started.  

Cannot understand why Longstaff was preferred to Lawal.  Longstaff certainly gives his all, but unfortunately there is never any end product.  Lawal was the player who was making things happen today.  

Pepple also looked good when he finally came on.  His goal was very well taken but he was causing the defence a lot of problems apart from that.  

I've no idea why Billy is played so deep.  He is tidy enough in keeping possession but he's a goal scorer who isn't going to score from the halfway line.  He'll score goals if played alongside Pepple though.

We can't afford the 2nd leg to go to pens and therefore we need to score 2 goals more than Hamilton on Saturday.  So let's start with the players who are most likely to create and score the goals. 

A lot will very much depend on how we start the game on Saturday. We can't afford to start in the same manner we have the last two home games. If we do we'll likely concede and it's game over. What will Ferguson do though ? 

Pepple is our top scorer over the last 2 months despite only ever coming on for the latter stages of matches. Samuel works hard but has 1 goal in his last 15 starts. We need goals and we need changes to Ferguson’s preferred line-up.

Well here we go - this is IHE in the away stand and my perspective and not as a Dunc fan !! Most people were pleading for Gilmour to start and perhaps that was with the view to play for an hour - as most people were looking for ? Longstaff had a poor game but Roddy looked lost when he came on. The first goal was an absolute fluke and Ridgers had no chance. Have a look at the second and decide for yourselves who was at fault ? We played OK in the first half but had nothing up front. We never looked like scoring. 

As for peeps having a go at Samuel - well he has been heralded as a saviour BUT he goes back to shield balls and he is NOT a centre forward. Pepple looked the part tonight but he has been getting pelters all season and I think that "donkey" was one of the comments !! All of a sudden he is the answer !! As for Billy I thought that he played as a true number 10 tonight and he ran his socks off. He was playing as well forward as some time. And there were derisive chants when we played the ball back or across the park - feck me that's football and it was limited to when needed.

We TOTALLY dominated the second half. Hamilton looked all in at the end. Pepple scared the s*** out of them as did Lawal's movement. As advocated both have to start next week. Cammy Kerr was MOM and I would love to see Lawal in front of him as Hamilton look really suspect down that right wing, 

Don't know if anyone else caught it but the tv cameras caught DF shouting at Billy to get back to midfield when he was nearer their goal. Bizarre when his goals are exactly what we needa

6 minutes ago, Caleyjag said:

Don't know if anyone else caught it but the tv cameras caught DF shouting at Billy to get back to midfield when he was nearer their goal. Bizarre when his goals are exactly what we needa

Feck me you could see that it was actually Billy 🤣🤣

We are by far the better team and Hamilton will not be looking forward with any confidence of coming up here on Sat. long live ICT!

23 minutes ago, Ronaldo said:

We are by far the better team and Hamilton will not be looking forward with any confidence of coming up here on Sat. long live ICT!

Agree. We saw the best of Hamilton and we didn't play well yet are still in this tie. With a bit of intensity and being more assertive there should be confidence we can go up a level, not so sure they can especially on real grass which further dilutes their advantage last night.

We were absolutely honking for the first hour or so. We were fortunate to only be 2 - 0 down at half time with Hamilton being denied what looked like a stonewall penalty for handball. Ridgers was perhaps unlucky for the first but was really poor for the second. Another goal conceded after we fail to defend a set piece. Standard. You have to say fair play to Ferguson for sticking with the setup that has seen us end up in the playoffs and somehow expect it to this absolute gang of a squad into a cohesive unit.

Still though, it was a nice finish from Pepple from a Harper cross, one of the few times the latter didn't hit the first man with his delivery, and we looked better for the final half hour but didn't have any real quality up front to grab an equaliser as Hamilton seemed content to sit back and defend their lead.

Pepple put in a great shift after coming on but I felt the game started to turn when Lawal was subbed on. Gilmour, Anderson and Longstaff must be our worst midfield in a long time. All they can do is pass the ball five yards to a team mate. None of them seem capable of carrying the ball forward. Lawal was an immediate upgrade on the, I assume, not fully fit Gilmour. He simply has to start on Saturday. If he doesn't Ferguson should be fired immediately.

We've given ourself a chance but if Accies score first that'll be the game over. Despite a healthy amount of possession we don't do much with the ball and certainly don't have the guile to create enough chances to score 2 or 3 goals.

10 hours ago, Yngwie said:

Were our fans chanting “you don’t know what you’re doing” at Ferguson because he was bringing Pepple on for Samuel? It was a change that was needed, Samuel offered nothing tonight, and has paid dividends instantly.

 

10 hours ago, Robert said:

The commentators said Pepple went to the away fans to wind them up as they were making those chants.

We need to learn from this for Saturday. The subs have made the difference. 

 

10 hours ago, STFU said:

Chants were at Ferguson and I read it more as being for taking Samuel off than Pepple on.

Longstaff should have been the one hooked.

It was most likely because we were 2 - 0 down, were chasing the game and he left on two absolutely abysmal performers in Anderson and Longstaff. Nothing against Samuel or Pepple whatsoever.

Maybe Ferguson will ditch playing five defenders for a game we absolutely have to win but I suspect we all know the answer to that.

Apologies for the triple post but...

"We've got 90 minutes to get one goal". 

What is this guy on about? We've got 90 minutes where we could get two goals and stay in the Championship without the fear of extra time and / or penalties. Why is he not thinking about getting anything more than one goal?! Bizarre comments.

11 hours ago, bdu98196 said:

Continued calls for Mcgregor. Schrodinger cat.

It's not, certainly not from me anyway.  The point of calling for him to be introduced is that he's a different type of player to our other midfielders.  Anderson and Gilmour are basically the same player with the same skills etc. We don't need both.  Roddy may not be at the level he was previously before injuries but we won't know until he plays.  We're crying out for someone that can get close to the forwards or run beyond and that's part of Roddy's skillset.  He's the only currently available option that can do that hence why posters are calling for him.  

We're perfectly well aware he's not the messiah.

Well ain't it funny how you can interpret things differently!! Of course the chant was aimed at Ferguson for taking on People. Dunc said that we had a one goal deficit and that we could turn that around. Score a goal and go for it. So we take a huge gamble on Roddy who sadly has not had enough play time and he would have to replace Billy. However I hope he starts Lawal and Pepple next week - even if that means keeping Samuel on the bench. Ain't it strange that the player who has probably saved us from automatic relegation has become yet another target for the boo boys.

14 minutes ago, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

Well ain't it funny how you can interpret things differently!! Of course the chant was aimed at Ferguson for taking on People. Dunc said that we had a one goal deficit and that we could turn that around. Score a goal and go for it. So we take a huge gamble on Roddy who sadly has not had enough play time and he would have to replace Billy. However I hope he starts Lawal and Pepple next week - even if that means keeping Samuel on the bench. Ain't it strange that the player who has probably saved us from automatic relegation has become yet another target for the boo boys.

Yet he's happy to play Gilmour who has just come back from injury? 

Game of two halves but we really needed to capitalise on our good play with an equaliser. The first half was just appalling from us, Accies absolutely tan rings round us. Considering we’ve been playing the same formation since Ferguson took over it’s amazing that we all seem so uncomfortable in it. Defensive slips and mix ups, disorganised and wasteful midfield and attackers who essentially aren’t there. Dire.

Second half improved, particularly Lawal and Pepple. Lawal is a great link player and Pepple finished his goal well and didn’t put a foot wrong the whole time he was in the pitch. If they don’t both start then I don’t even know what to say.

 

If we *have* to play the 3-5-2 then we should line up as follows for the game at the weekend

-----------------Ridgers---------------

----Carragher------Devine------Boyes-------

Kerr-------------------------------Harper--

-------MacGregor--Anderson--Lawal-------

----------Mckay------Pepple-------------

 

Carragher was an improvement when he came on.  Devine seemed to get an injury late in teh game so maybe sub him out for Ujdur or Savage.

Anderson wasn't great, his distribution and use of the ball were poor but Gilmour is not fit and Longstaff was just lost.  Anderson at least pushed forward from midfield a bit, maybe encourage him to do that.  I feel a bit sorry for Longstaff, he's not a central midfielder but he's been picked there and doesn't have the positional awareness to play there.  Lawal was the only player who linked the midfield and the attack and looked capable of doing anything to make a difference.

Samuel worked hard and is an honest player but Pepple came on and every time the ball came to him he used it well.  He even fell over the ball and retained possession at one point.  His finish was good as well, adding the one he scored against Dunfermline and he knows where the net is.

 

Even with these changes I have zero confidence in this team to get a win, let alone by two goals.  I think the game will go as follows - we push forward early but Accies score on the break.  We then pass from side to side and do nothing until equalising in the last twenty minutes but can't break down Accies, the game finishes 1-1 and we go down.

 

 

12 hours ago, bdu98196 said:

Continued calls for Mcgregor. Schrodinger cat.

Can this Cat play in midfield or as a 10? Let’s get him in. As long as he doesn’t lose the ball or pass sideways 

Square pegs and round holes.  Duncan refuses to learn.

30 minutes ago, old caley girl said:

Yet he's happy to play Gilmour who has just come back from injury? 

Good point. I would always played Roddy when McAllister wasn't available. I would however play him as a number 10 but where would that leave McKay I would also go for the set up prescribed by Chris. I think that we will turn it around as Hamilton looked whacked at the end. Not getting the equaliser sets the dilemma and I unfortunately suspect that Dunc will go on the defensive to start for fear of conceding. It is a HUGE game but being adventurous now has it's dangers and should have been the plot weeks ago - as should the recent chopping and changing. We could have five different starters at the weekend!!!

3 hours ago, RiG said:

We were absolutely honking for the first hour or so. We were fortunate to only be 2 - 0 down at half time with Hamilton being denied what looked like a stonewall penalty for handball. Ridgers was perhaps unlucky for the first but was really poor for the second. Another goal conceded after we fail to defend a set piece. Standard. You have to say fair play to Ferguson for sticking with the setup that has seen us end up in the playoffs and somehow expect it to this absolute gang of a squad into a cohesive unit.

Still though, it was a nice finish from Pepple from a Harper cross, one of the few times the latter didn't hit the first man with his delivery, and we looked better for the final half hour but didn't have any real quality up front to grab an equaliser as Hamilton seemed content to sit back and defend their lead.

Pepple put in a great shift after coming on but I felt the game started to turn when Lawal was subbed on. Gilmour, Anderson and Longstaff must be our worst midfield in a long time. All they can do is pass the ball five yards to a team mate. None of them seem capable of carrying the ball forward. Lawal was an immediate upgrade on the, I assume, not fully fit Gilmour. He simply has to start on Saturday. If he doesn't Ferguson should be fired immediately.

We've given ourself a chance but if Accies score first that'll be the game over. Despite a healthy amount of possession we don't do much with the ball and certainly don't have the guile to create enough chances to score 2 or 3 goals.

Absolutely spot on. Unless the injury situation is even more dire than we know, it's bizarre how the manager can't see what most of us have been seeing all season.
No way is Gilmour the new Allardice. He's a wee battler who gets booked every week. He gave the ball away for the first goal too when we were playing rondo in midfield instead of getting the heads up and switching the play.

This tie is looking far more promising after the first half where it looked like we were doomed. Who knows how the game might have played out before that fluke goal which settled Accies and allowed them to sit in. Same old pedestrian possession based, safety first, pass it to death nonsense. Raise the tempo, take the occasional risk. I'd be tempted to start Pepple, who caused a fair bit of panic, and keep Billy on the bench till the last half hour. As a striker...

If Lawal doesn't start then what's the point. We'll have to wait and see how Devine is (where's Ujdur?) but possibly 4 at the back with Carra starting and Kerr in midfield. And if Roddy makes an appearance, try making it more than 10 minutes ffs. We've got a sizeable enough squad it appears but what do I know...
We have enough quality to blow Accies away, on last night's showing, but we've seen that movie many times.