Smokies pre-Xmas fare

 

Arbroath are next up for Inverness at the Caledonian Stadium on Saturday as long as we can beat the frost. It's a 3:00pm kick-off as Scott Kellacher looks for his fourth win on the bounce in League1. Arbroath have edged their way up to third in the table, just two points off the pace with a game in hand over the top two.

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Match/Ticket/Bar94/Info

***Supporters Trust AGM***

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Ahead of kick-off and in Bar94, the Supporters Trust will hold their AGM

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Supporters Society Ltd
Notice of
Annual General Meeting
On
Saturday 14th December 2024 at midday
At Bar 94 – Inverness Caledonian Stadium
The Annual General Meeting of Inverness Caledonian Thistle Supporters Society Limited will take place at Bar 94 in Inverness at the Inverness Caledonian Stadium at 12.00pm on Saturday 14th December 2024
Please note – if you are unable to attend and you would like to nominate a proxy on your behalf - please forward the details to [email protected]
Also note :- The formal AGM meeting is expected to finish at 12.30

Venue

Pld

Won

Drn

Lst

For

Agst

+ / -

Home	27	18	5	4	62	22	+40
Away	26	11	7	8	36	31	+5
Neutral	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	53	29	12	12	98	53	+45

 

Last 10 Competitive Meetings

0 - 1 (A)

0 - 0 (H)

2 - 1 (H)

1 - 1 (A)

1 - 2 (H)

3 - 2 (A)

2 - 4 (A)

2 - 0 (H)

4 - 1 (A)

1 - 1 (H)

We have played Arbroath twice this season. The first encounter was a no scoring draw in the league cup group stage where Arbroath won the bonus point after a penalty shoot-out. The League game played at Gayfield ended in a 1-0 win for the hosts when Gavin Reilly scored the only goal. Namesake Charlie Reilly who has on the treatment table since he joined us on loan from Dundee after debuting for the Caley Jags in that game.

Another Blank: 1-0  Massive financial hurdles were put to one side as we went down to the Greenversity Stadium, or Gayfield as we all know it, for this Scottish League 1 fixture against Arbroath. With both sides getting off to a cautious start in the league this fixture between last seasons relegated pair might give an indication if either of them are capable of challenging for a play-off place at the top end of the table or will it be a few seasons in the doldrums, or administration or worse. Flynn Duffy, Lewis Nicolson and Ethan Cairns were missing. Charlie Reilly came in on loan from Dundee this week met his new team mates today for the first time and Started up front with Billy Mckay. Arbroath were without Scott Stewart and Tam O'Brien with co-manager David Gold and Ross County's young on loan defender Dylan Smith in their starting XI. The other co-manager Colin Hamilton, Ali Spalding and Calum Gallagher were all on the injured list. After a goalless first half where Inverness were looking the more likely, Reilly opened the scoring. Unfortunately it was Gavin Reilly for Arbroath. Another Saturday, another game slips away.

INVERNESS CT:  Our Season so far...

D L D D W D D D L  / W L D W W W  That is how our season has gone so far. Scott Kellacher has won his last three League games since he started five league games ago with a 3-1 defeat at Dumbarton and he will be looking for a fourth on the trot against Arbroath. That run in November where we picked up seven points from a possible nine earned him the League1 manager of the month trophy. Let's not get too carried away with that, as cast your mind back to last November when none other than Duncan Ferguson won the same November accolade. Nonetheless, congratulations to Scott for picking up this award and let's hope the curse of the MotM does not strike on Saturday.

 

 

Pos	Team	Pld	Gd	Pts
1	Stenny	16	9	27
2	Wasps	16	7	25
3	Smokies	15	2	25
4	Jambos	15	8	22
5	Toonsers	16	1	21
6	Gable E's	16	1	20
7	Queen's	15	-4	18
8	B&G's	16	-16	15
9	Caley Jags	15	1	07
10	Sons	16	-9	01

 

LATEST TEAM NEWS

Read Scott Kellacher's thoughts HERE. Remi Savage returned last week and Keith Bray made the bench. However, Jake Davidson, Charlie Reilly, Connall Ewan and Lewis Nicolson are all longer term casualties.

No new team news available at present.

 

Arbroath fielded this team last week in a 2-1 win over Queen of the South thanks to a late strike from Calum Gallagher. Douglas had put Queen of the South ahead with the proverbial screamer twenty minutes from the end. A couple minutes and a couple of inspired subs later and one of them Innes Murray fired in his own screamer. Two minutes later the two subs combined for Murray to cross for Gallagher to secure all three points.

Arbroath were one of the bookies favourites before the season started and after a slow start they are now knocking on the door at the top end.

L W W D W W Last six League1 results

Highlights in this sequence were wins over Annan, Stenhousemuir, Cove & Queen of the South. A draw with Montrose and a disappointing 1-3 defeat at home to Dumbarton.

 

 

The higher up the table the opposition are, the sweeter the victory. ICT fear no-one. Enjoy tomorrows game lads. C'mon Caley

Corey Patterson is in as emergency loan goalkeeper from Forres as Rebilas is injured.

We knew it would be a bumpy ride, so let’s regroup and focus on next week’s game, and get our recovery back on track.

I couldn’t go today. Did we deserve better or was the red card a turning point?

Arbroath were poor sadly we were poorer. I can’t recall a shot on target the entire game. Going down to 10 men certainly changed our game plan. Let’s move on to the next match 

Very flat performance I felt. Not helped by the red card. 
0 shots on target from 8 attempts tells the whole story. 
Arbroath were rubbish!

I thought there was a lot to be positive about in this performance.  OK, so we certainly didn't have our shooting boots on today, but we dominated possession in the first half before the red card and then, for much of the 2nd half, we were much the better side and doing the bulk of the pressing, despite being a man down.  During that time we played some pretty good joined up football.  Arbroath were hanging on, time wasting and continually fouling.  

The referee was awful.  My impression was that both Thompson's yellow cards were soft.  It looked to me that the trip that gave him the 2nd yellow was just a coming together when both players turned - but maybe the highlights will prove me wrong!.  Even if deliberate, worse fouls closer to goal were committed by Arbroath with no cards being shown beyond Murray's early in the game.  In some cases, no foul was awarded either.  One of the worst referees we've seen - and we've seen sone pretty bad ones over the years.

Despite the unfairness of the situation, the players never gave up trying.  Obviously it is disappointing to lose, specially when Annan have thrashed Dumbarton, but Arbroath are the form team with 16 points from their last 6 games and now top of the division.  Even with 10 men, we were the better team  and I think the lads can take a lot of positives out of the game.  

36 minutes ago, LisleRightPeg said:

Arbroath were poor sadly we were poorer. I can’t recall a shot on target the entire game. Going down to 10 men certainly changed our game plan. Let’s move on to the next match 

No we weren't.  Obviously the sending off changed the game but we were comfortable up until then. Mistakes cost us, the sending off down to Longstaff and Thompson messing up and no complaints for that booking.  His first though was very soft. The second goal cane from us chasing the game and Nolan getting his pass back horribly wrong.  However it looked like we should have had a penalty prior to that but yet another poor refereeing decision cost us. Referee was very poor and inconsistent today and definitely had a bearing on the result. 

Not a good day today.
Some nice football before going down to 10 but absolutely nothing in the final third. Their goalie could have played with his ponytail all afternoon.

red card was stupid. Already on a booking, they had a counter attack and Thompson took their player out as they say “ taking one for the team” crazy to do it while already booked, it was a yellow all day long.
Kellacher didn’t change anything from what I saw. Personally I would have taken billy off as he could not cope with the high balls to him due to the size and physicality of Arbroaths 2 centre backs and any balls to his feet he was taking a heavy touch. So he wasnt much of an out ball. I would have replaced him with a midfielder.

we had a great chance to equalise late on when MacKinnon did well to get the ball to 5 or 6 yards out from the keepers right hand post. Hit the target he scores but alas he could only balloon it over the bar. We also had a couple of shots that sailed over our heads in row P of the north stand.

nolan wasn’t having his best game today and with a couple of minutes left, just goal side of the half way line, he played a pass back towards Dibaga only to mis hit it a few yards allowing Arbroath player to run in on goal to slot home with poor Nolan lying on the pitch face down frightened to look.
Players gave their all again but alas today it wasn’t good enough. 

We got a booking for our player pulling back an Arbroath player breaking away who went to ground. 

we had an attack where our player was pulled back, our player stayed on his feet, and the attack continued. Think when the play fizzled out it was Devine asking the ref why the Arbroath player wasn’t booked like our guy. The ref put both arms up in a shrug maybe suggesting “nothing I could do”.

i don’t know the rules but strange one gets booked the other doesn’t. Any referees on here??

Edited December 14, 20241 yr by bishbashbosh

Another game, another rubbish ref! That man should not be allowed out on Saturday afternoons.

Not our best game, but I was impressed by the fact that the boys never gave up and kept on trying for the goal as the clock ticked down. I'd rather see the ball coming flying at me in the North Stand than not see any attempts at all.

Dust yourselves down lads and get back on your mission. We believe.

7 minutes ago, bishbashbosh said:

we had an attack where our player was pulled back, our player stayed on his feet, and the attack continued. Think when the play fizzled out it was Devine asking the ref why the Arbroath player wasn’t booked like our guy. 

 

Sadly, if the player goes to ground, he's much more likely to get a foul awarded. That's why most players go to ground or, in other words, take a dive!

A disappointing result and an untidy game to boot. We spurned what looked like a great opportunity in the first couple of minutes where nobody was willing to put their laces through the ball and the chance petered out. Some second half wasted opportunities but that would have papered over the cracks where we looked like we didn't believe in ourselves. Arbroath were equally poor but once we were needlessly reduced to ten the writing was on the wall. Only a matter of time. The second goal was immaterial as we never looked like scoring and it came as a result of an error from a pass back that gifted Reilly the ball to allow him to run on unchallenged in stoppage time. Dibaga made a couple of good stops when Arbroath should have put the game beyond us, unlike McAdams who could have sat in the stand.

Dust ourselves down and we go again next week at Stenhousemuir.

Leaked footage of the Smokies goal and sending off can be seen above.

Not a great performance from either team today, the difference was Arbroath took their limited chances against our 10 men. Not enough of our players looked  at it today, a bit lacklustre in some areas and we paid the price. I thought we looked tired and slow compared to Arbroath, so not sure what’s up. At least Dumbarton got beat too!!

Not a terrible display but thought we were a little slower in pushing forward today. Billy also seemed more reluctant to make runs in behind.

Don't think the ref cost us the game, but he was terrible. No complaint about any of our bookings but Arbroath should have had more than the one card. Still trying to work out what he was up to when he stopped the game to run the full length of the pitch to tell the 'injured' Arbroath player to get off the park for treatment and then ran all the way back to just drop the ball in front of their keeper. Arbroath player took forever to get off the park, going down in apparent pain at least once, and then once off the park he got no treatment and jogged straight to the halfway line and was shouting to be allowed on again.

We're not going to win every week and I don't think it was lack of effort. Put it down to an off day and we go again next week.

Let's hope we do not see another MOM award this season even if we do well.

As for Colin Steven...booed off at Half Time not just because of Robbie's sending off but for other odd or weak decisions such as Taylors body check on our player close to the referee. Booing did not help because in the second half he allowed Arbroath to dive, wrestle, trip or time waste without any remorse.

I have sympathy with referees because it is a thankless difficult task. But I also have sympathy with Managers who are punished if they make legitimate points to officials. 

Arbroath were not the better team but were grateful for the benefits given to them in advance of Xmas by Colin Steven.

However, that is history now.

 

I actually saw one of the Arbroath players give the ref a wee pat on the back as he walked past him while the ref was bent over tying his shoe lace (slowly) in the latter stages of the game. I know it is a difficult job, but you have to wonder about neutrality sometimes.

16 hours ago, Huisdean said:

However it looked like we should have had a penalty prior to that but yet another poor refereeing decision cost us.

Tbh, there was a (probably) blatant Arbroath penalty that got overlooked down the far end. Standards of refereeing in this country, and this league especially, are abysmal

 

 

Another youngster doing a you tube vlog on yesterdays game. Not the best as he is sitting in row a or b in south stand. Decent view of arbroath opener and a Quick Look at the second.

also I am not sure if he caught the Thompson first booking but a view of the second which led to the red. ( as Kellacher said he had 75 more yards to get to the goal but Thompson will learn)

 Just a Quick Look for supporters not at the game before TM4TJ posts the ICT official recording.

Ps….. if me doing this is hacking off posters on here give me some face palms or down arrows and I won’t do it again.

We are loosing games because we are so wasteful infront of goal and not taking the opportunities. Admittedly I didnt at the start of this season attend as many Dunc games (home or away) because truthfully there wasnt the motivation to travel to watch that turgid ***** every wk, under Kells there is a clear change in approach being much more direct and wanting to create rather than just possession based with focus 'not to loose;' rather than 'try to win'.

Last 3 games we should have been out of sight by half time, but too often either shooting way of target of not making the right choices. Last year I had concerns and early this season, however put it down to Duncball, BUT Billy is done, his ability to hold up the ball, run behind is gone. When through his touch is heavy and looks completely devoid of any confidence which given his experience and role is not good enough - his single goal all season is testament to this (and he is our 'star' striker in many fans eyes and thought he was going to Golden Boot this diddy league).

Given of lack of depth and experience he wont be dropped but we need to look at alternative formations and position for him - even if its sitting deeper to allow Cairns to play (may not be any better but give him a chance). Could we transition Billy into a holding mid, anchor role  then push forwards likes of Bray or Longstaff - one for him & Kells to fix.

I think the setup is hindering Billy more than his advancing years. We've never seen the best of him when deployed as a lone striker. The opposition know he can be dangerous if given space so he tends to be well covered with nobody alongside to draw them away. Unfortunately we don't currently have any obvious option for that (I've not seen enough of Cairns to know if he could) and we also don't have anyone that could be better deployed as a lone striker.

I said above that I didn't think Billy was at it on Saturday but he wasn't the only one. It happens and we need to try and avoid knee jerk reactions.

As frustrating as it is not having a greater depth of squad in the attacking positions I've seen enough in the last few games to believe we'll still escape the bottom 2 places in the league.

There's goals in this squad even if they aren't coming from the striker.

8 minutes ago, STFU said:

I didn't think Billy was at it on Saturday

which games though this season he has been 'on it' as hes been poor in all ive seen. Return of 1 goal in 22 is a poor and if this was another player we had like Brooks or Ferguson they would be calls to be dropped. Billy can only have a limited 'credit in the bank'

Overall we are lowest scoring team in the league, it's making hard work for our defence so there is need to do something

5 minutes ago, bdu98196 said:

which games though this season he has been 'on it' as hes been poor in all ive seen. Return of 1 goal in 22 is a poor and if this was another player we had like Brooks or Ferguson they would be calls to be dropped. Billy can only have a limited 'credit in the bank'

Overall we are lowest scoring team in the league, it's making hard work for our defence so there is need to do something

We've not played a setup that works with/for him so no surprise he's not producing.

We also don't have the players to do that so it's a catch 22.

It's not so much a question of dropping him but one of who do you replace him with?

 

Class is permanent, have no fears! 😀

Kellacher has said in some post match interview that charlie Reilly on loan from Dundee should be ready to play mid December. He could be the answer.

not keen on player manager/coach playing themselves when their better days are behind them. seen it too many times in Scottish football. 
 

highest profile one for me was Roy Keane, bleeding on that he should have got an extra season at Man Utd. Alex Ferguson was too experienced to let that happen. Keane still moaning and making money off it today.

huge fanfare when Keane signed for Celtic and played in the Scottish cup against a Clyde team with many youngsters who ran him ragged that day as they defeated Celtic. ( he was too slow to catch them with a famous Keane tackle)

ps…….. not going to mention Dave Mackay. Peter Taylor told clough he was the perfect player to play with/ guide the youngsters at Derby. Think clough answer was, is he not retired after a broken leg. But then Mackay was one of the all time greats of British football at a time when only home nation players graced the English leagues