The Final Countdown

 

As Europe once said, it's the Final Countdown: 3...2...1. We are now into the final three games of our Annus Administratus and it all starts with a tricky fixture at Stenhousemuir, who will be in the promotion play-offs. Another emergency loan goalkeeper will be with Inverness for Saturdays game at Stenhousemuir with Musa Dibaga out with a hamstring injury. Marcus Gill, a youngster from Celtic's B team squad will be in goal with big Musa out injured. Marcus, 17 years-old, has played for Celtic B in the Lowland League and has also featured in the UEFA Youth League this season.  Marcus has also represented Ireland at Under 19's level. What a game to be without two of the three players of the year in Dibaga, and Bavidge. We also have Danny Devine with Gregor Buchanan of Stenhousemuir also in the Team of the Year. (see full team at bottom of preview). We will be keeping a watchful eye on Annan Athletic's game at Galabank against promoted Arbroath...

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

Match/Ticket/Bus/Info

Admin: join the debate on CTO

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

 

2025

Apr 19th	League (League 1)	-	A	-
Mar 11th	League (League 1)	4 - 1	H	1,482

2024

Dec 21st	League (League 1)	1 - 0	A	719
Sep 28th	League (League 1)	0 - 0	H	1,601

Only this seasons games are relevant to current form as the previous eight games were prior to 1999 apart from a League Cup game in 2012: A dramatic penalty shootout was concluded when Ryan Esson saved Darren Smith's penalty to win the tie for Inverness 6-5 on penalties after a 1-1 draw where Billy Mckay headed in the opener before Brown Ferguson equalised from the spot before the break.
Richie Foran miss 0-1 Brown Ferguson score
Graeme Shinnie score 1-2 Andy Rodgers score
Gavin Morrison score 2-2 Bryan Hodge miss
Aaron Doran score 3-3 John Gemmell score
Andrew Shinnie score 4-4 Ross McMillan score
Ross Draper score 5-5 Stewart Kean score
Philip Roberts score 6-5 Darren Smith miss
ICT WIN.

INVERNESS CT  The Season So Far

D L  D  D W D D D L   / W L  D W W W L  W L  

W W L W W L W D W / W L  D L  W L  

Since Scott Kellacher was handed the reins in game 11, there has been a more positive approach to our matches which has resulted in improved performances and a more enjoyable matchday experience all round. Alas we were brought back to earth with a disappointing result in our last game of 2024, a crushing 1-4 defeat at home to Cove Rangers. We'll have to put that one down to a bad day at the office. However, we bounced back in our first game of the second half of the season in the six pointer against Dumbarton with a hard fought 2-0 win. That win over Dumbarton was a vital one and the introduction of Alfie Bavidge was a welcome one as he opened the scoring early in the first half. Charlie Gilmour slotted in the clincher in the second half to give us a cushion over the Sons and to narrow the gap on Annan to seven points. We took part in the only League1 game the next weekend and came away from Annan with a resounding 3-0 win, Alfie Bavidge netting again with Keith Bray and then Billy Mckay from the spot.  It was then on to Palmerston on the Tuesday night but in a five goal encounter we went down 3-2. Alfie Bavidge notched his third goal in three games and Keith Bray added a second but goals from Adam Brooks (2) and Jordan Allan kept the points in Dumfries. We bounced back with a resilient 1-2 win at Alloa in our third away game on the bounce, Dunfermline bound Keith Bray with his fourth of the season and Alfie Stewart. We got our revenge at home to QotS (1-0) with Alfie Bavidge scoring his fourth goal in five appearances. Alas it was a bridge too far at Arbroath and we went down losing three without reply. The Stenhousemuir fixture was postponed and was re-arranged for March 11th. We went to Kelty and came away with a narrow 1-0 win thanks to Alfie's 5th goal in 7 appearances. Montrose proved to be stubborn opponents and it took a superb diving header from Keith Bray to rescue a point in a rather turgid encounter after Sandilands had opened the scoring in the first half. A last gasp win at Dumbarton on the Saturday with Alfie Bavidge scoring his 6th goal in 9 games. Unfortunately Alfie was injured early on against Stenhousemuir in midweek but that didn't stop us running up a 4-1 win with goals from Brannan, Gilmour, Bray and Allan. Annan came North on Saturday in a six-pointer and it was a disappointing defeat after Annan parked the bus after scoring in the third minute. Next up was a 1-1 draw with Alloa despite hitting the woodwork twice and missing a penalty. Another bad day at the office last weekend at a wet and windswept Palmerston after Queen of the South blitzed us with three second half goals to run away with a 4-1 win in Dumfries. Meh! We bounced back with a rout of our own as a Keith Bray hat-trick sunk Cove Rangers 3-0 at Balmoral Park. What a result that was! Despite what could have been a joyous occasion in front of our home fans after that great result at Cove, we once again failed to produce at the Caledonian Stadium going down 2-0 to Kelty in a six-pointer of a game. It's one step forward and two steps back as we crawl towards relative safety.

Latest Team News:  Musa Dibaga is out with a hamstring injury. Marcus Gill, a youngster from Celtic's B team squad will be in goal with big Musa out and depending on the result of his scan, it could be for the remaining games. No other known new injuries at present.

Pos	Team	Pld	Gd	Pts
1🏆	Arbroath	33	23	63
2😎	Cove	33	16	52
3😀	Stenny	33	4	49
4😀	Queen Sth	33	1	48
5😀	Alloa Ath	33	8	47
6😛	Kelty	33	-5	40
7	Montrose	33	-6	39
8	Caley Jags	33	2	36
9💩	Annan Ath	33	-27	33
10	Sons	33	-16	16

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Last Six: 

L  D  D L  L  L  

Six games ago we beat Stenny in a re-arranged fixture at the Caledonian Stadium in our finest home game of the season, a crushing 4-1 win. Two 0-0 draws followed against Kelty and Cove then a slump in the last three at home v Montrose (2-3), home v Alloa (1-4) and last weeks title winning defeat at Arbroath (4-0). There are goal scorers in the side though with Corey O'Donnell on 9 and Blair Alston on 8. Yates and Aitken were prominent before injury and big Nat Wedderburn is still there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

𝘼𝙨 𝙫𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙧𝙨…

Musa Dibaga – Inverness

Scott Taggart – Alloa Ath
Gregor Buchanan – Stenny
Thomas O’Brien – Arbroath
Danny Devine – Inverness

Ross Cunningham – Kelty
Fraser Taylor – Arbroath
Fraser Fyvie – Cove 

Scott Stewart – Arbroath
Mitchel Megginson – Cove
Alfie Bavidge – Inverness

 

Warriors v Caley Jags

In 1928, the wooden grandstand at Ochilview Park burnt down in a fire, which led to a new stand being built in its place, although staircases reputedly had to be added later due to planning errors. (was Scot Gardiner in charge) The 1936–37 season saw the club register a record victory:  9–2 home win against Dundee United. More than a decade later in 1949–50, a Scottish Cup quarter-final tie against East Fife drew a record crowd of 12,525 – the highest ever at Ochilview Park. On 7 November 1951, the first floodlit game between two Scottish senior teams occurred at Ochilview Park, a friendly match between Stenhousemuir and Hibs The floodlights had been paid for three years earlier by Tommy Douglas, a butcher in King Street, Stenhousemuir.

<<Info from Wikipedia>>

 

 

 

 

 

He scores when he want's!  Billy Mckay.

Let’s see this out now!

5 minutes ago, IBM said:

He scores when he want's!  Billy Mckay.

Don’t care, just glad he put it away. Hold out now! 
 

Annan winning 4 1 now...     Arbroath fuc**kers

Arbroath battling bravely and putting their bodies on the line to restrict Annan to 5-1.

NOOOOOOOOO

Gilmour og. Help!

Arbroath better be playing their youth team next week!!

Just cannot believe this sh1t.   

4 minutes ago, KennySim93 said:

Arbroath better be playing their youth team next week!!

Sadly I expect them to play their first team against us. Kind of understandable that they gave the reserves a run out today after winning the title last week, but now that they’ve seen what happened they won’t be wanting another humiliation on their record.

Squeaky time.  Annan will feel very confident after a result like that. Charlie will be gutted.

Gutting, but should reflect on a good away point. Such a shame as the table looked a real picture before Montrose equalised

Annan are at Dumbarton next Saturday then finish at home against Cove.

Dumbarton have been on a reasonable run with only one defeat in six so hopefully they can beat Annan or at least get a draw.

It’s good to see Mckay on the scoresheet and Longstaff back playing.

A massive weekend (or two) ahead!

Montrose getting a late equaliser doesn't help either.

Just to think, 10 years ago we were at Hampden beating Celtic 3-2 in the cup semi-final.  What a great day that was!  Maybe in 10 years time we'll be back there and the experience will be all the sweeter for having come through the bad times.

Billy scores with a great strike. 30 mins to go and we sit back and let them come at us. An easy save for our keeper,  he fumbles it and looked like when he is on the ground kicks ball into gilmour and ball trickles into net. Lots of possession 1st half, no cutting edge. Longstaff on 2nd half made no impact. 

I said this morning arbroath may make changes, boy did that make a difference. Looks like we are in free fall

 

12 minutes ago, Yngwie said:

Sadly I expect them to play their first team against us. Kind of understandable that they gave the reserves a run out today after winning the title last week, but now that they’ve seen what happened they won’t be wanting another humiliation on their record.

This is when I am glad our previous manager didn’t question Arbroaths ‘professionalism ‘ last year.

9 minutes ago, bishbashbosh said:

Billy scores with a great strike. 30 mins to go and we sit back and let them come at us. An easy save for our keeper,  he fumbles it and looked like when he is on the ground kicks ball into gilmour and ball trickles into net. 

Ouch. Definitely a draw that feels like a defeat.

No need to panic. We’re at home next week and our home form has been fantastic! 🙄

What’s the outlook for Musa? Seems that he is hugely missed.

10 minutes ago, Yngwie said:

Ouch. Definitely a draw that feels like a defeat.

Exactly what we said walking out

2 hours ago, big cherly said:

Don’t care, just glad he put it away. Hold out now! 
 

Jeez, couldn’t monitor the last ten minutes. Everything looked great then. Switched on to see the whole thing turned. By all accounts we were the better team (guys attending can maybe comment), and the own goal was a bit unlucky between the goalie and Gilmour. 
My prediction of a thumping at the Annan / Arbroath game was only half right. Wrong team, but it appears only one team (deliberately) turned up!! 
A well, four teams in the mix for the next weeks relegation playoff games. Still in our own hands. Let’s take it!! 
bc

Edited April 19Apr 19 by big cherly

7 minutes ago, Yngwie said:

What’s the outlook for Musa? Seems that he is hugely missed.

1 point out of 6 last 2 games. 3 goals lost that can be down to keepers. But not all their fault  it is our inability to score, create chances and close out a game when in front.

Time to question tactics ?

When we were far behind we just went gung ho for everything and picked up points. Now we seem to be shot shy, passing the ball to death,  slow in possession etc. Last time I said that big dunc was the manager.

Edited April 19Apr 19 by bishbashbosh

What a sickener. To concede an og in injury time is bad enough. But then to hear that Arbroath fielded a reserve team v Annan makes it worse. Bet they don't do that next week against us.

Going to be a nervous couple of weeks coming up! Hope the lads can rise to the occasion.

 

 

Ooft! That hurt. We were 7th at one point. Thought the goalie had a decent game though.

Edited April 19Apr 19 by The Mantis

Are there not rules about deliberately fielding a weakened team? From memory I think we had to defend a scenario where we played a youth team in a cup game?