Massive Game

 

We have talked about big games before, but this one is absolutely huge in the thirty year history of Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Only two games left of the regular season and we still need to ensure we avoid the dreaded relegation play-offs. We face Arbroath at home on Saturday and then make the trip to Montrose the week after and these two games could determine our fate. Musa Dibaga is out for the last couple of games as is Alfie Bavidge. Luis Longstaff returned after injury last week and played half a game.

Prior to the game, and three years on from his passing, a few of us will be raising a glass to remember Big Stew in the Innes Bar from 1:00pm. Pop in to say hello and share some stories with us. 

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Match/Ticket/Bus/Bar94/Info

Hospitality Available

Bring a friend for £5

ICTFC PotY VOTING

Wayne Addicoat RIP

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Sad news released by the club today to announce that former player Wayne Addicoat has passed away at just 45 years of age RIP Wayne 😥 His passing will be acknowledged with a minutes applause ahead of kick off against Arbroath.

Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC are saddened to hear of the recent passing of former player Wayne Addicoat at 45 years-old. 

Wayne played for the club from July 1996 until May 1999, making 54 appearances and scoring 4 goals. 

The club send its condolences to Wayne’s family at this sad time and we will be holding a minute’s applause before this Saturday’s match against Arbroath. 

 

 

Four meetings already this season and we have yet to win one. Closest we came was in the League cup game that ended goalless with Arbroath winning the bonus point after the penalty shoot-out.

2025

Apr 26th	League (League 1)	? - ?	H	-
Feb 8th	League (League 1)	0 - 3	A	1,500

2024

Dec 14th	League (League 1)	0 - 2	H	1,531
Oct 5th	League (League 1)	0 - 1	A	1,381
Jul 23rd	League Cup (Group D)	p 0 - 0	H	754

Final quarter of the season: W L  D L  W L  D ? ? 

Forget the rest of the season; it's what happens over the next two games that will define our season. As well as we have done to give ourselves the chance to stay in this division, we have faltered over the last few games with injuries, suspensions and administration taking it's toll on the squad. Only the two wins in this last phase, but both were emphatic. A 4-1 win in the re-arranged game at home to Stenhousemuir and a brilliant 3-0 win at Cove. A disappointing home defeat to Annan was followed by another disappointing home draw against Alloa. It got worse the week after as QotS battered us 4-1 and following the win at Cove, Kelty dumped us 0-2 in the Highlands, another three points lost. We almost pulled off a good result away to Stenhousemuir last Saturday but a 91st minute own goal left us with just a point after Billy Mckay had scored his first goal for three months earlier in the second half. Thems the breaks, as disappointing as they are. With three minutes to go, we were sitting in 7th place in the table until Montrose equalised against Dumbarton and Stenny levelled with us.

Looks like we will be without big Musa again so I for one won't be holding my breath. I believe we are hopeful of acquiring Marcus Gill again. I also doubt very much that Arbroath will be sending up a second string starting XI this weekend like they did last week at Annan. They would have been as well not turning up instead of the embarrassing 5-1 defeat they were dished out by a team with a goal difference of minus 23, the worst in League1. Scott Kellacher does not want to make anything of this, however, I'm happy to do it for him. Meh!

Kelty are at Cove, Montrose are at Alloa and Annan are at Dumbarton. All tricky away ties at this stage of the season.

Pos	Team	Pld	Gd	Pts
1	Smokies	34	19	63
2😀	Cove	34	16	53
3😀	Queen Sth	34	3	51
4	Stenny	34	4	50
5	Alloa Ath	34	8	48
6🙁	Montrose	34	-6	40
7🙁	Kelty	34	-7	40
8	Caley Jags	34	2	37
9💩	Annan Ath	34	-23	36
10	Sons	34	-16	17

 

Last Six: D D W W W L  

The two draws were both 1-1 against Dumbarton (h) and Kelty (a). Three wins on the bounce v Cove (1-0), Montrose (0-1) and the title winning defeat of Stenhousemuir (4-0). Last week was the embarrassing loss to Annan at Galabank where they made seven changes to their line up and were thrashed 5-1 by Annan. It goes against the grain to be honest especially as they can still influence relegation places by their bringing the game into disrepute tactic. It's certainly not in the spirit of things and unless they field half a team this week then it smacks of dishonesty. When you leave players out with the quality of Fraser Taylor, Scott Stewart, Sam Stanton, Ryan Dow, Tam O'Brien, Aidan McAdams...... yer havin a laff guys.

 

 

Remembering Stewart Anderson who sadly is no longer with us having departed three years ago on 13th April 2022 aged just 52. A few friends of 'Big Stew' will be remembering the Big Man and having a peedie dram in his absence before the Smokies game. Join us if you like as we reminisce about better times ahead of kick-off and fondly get the craic with Big Stew in the Innes Bar from 1:00pm onward. Many a pre-match aperitif was had with Stewart before heading to the game with ample shouting juice absorbed into the body and boarding the taxi at four minutes to three (and still making kick-off).

As you can see, this painting was done by Stewart's brother, Blair. What a fantastic instantly recognisable image that captures the energy and passion, and epitomises this Gentle Giant of a character.

Cheers Stewart, missed by many  Slàinte Mhath

Here's the new barman sampling some of the wares in what could be described as a 'lock in' back in the day. Never one to shirk a challenge Stewart could easily demolish a peedie dram or equally a 31/2 pint tumbler of the black stuff in one go. A gentleman and a scholar who will be forever in our thoughts. I'm not sure what he would have thought about the current situation the club finds itself in, but I bet he would have had a few choice words for those that have contributed to our demise. More pics to follow once preview posted.

Dumbarton just gone 2 -1 up. in 77th minute

Make it 3-1

Annan getting humped by Dumbarton. We're 5 minutes from safety!

 

Thank you Dumbarton. 

…and breath!

Well Done to ICTFC. This seasons main on field goal, apart from Surviving Admin, is achieved.

Derbies v Peterhead to look forward to!

Large drams all round fantastic effort, well done to all involved!

"If we get a 15-point deduction, we are not going to be able to stay in the division unless we probably win every game and every other teams loses every game.

"It would be a nearly impossible task. One we would try to overcome and win games, but if administrator comes in and cuts the squad, which I think he would do, it would really be a tough ask.

"The 15-point deduction would more than certainly relegate us."

Fabby day though disappointed it wasn’t 5 or 6. Crowd 2329 so grateful for the 29 providing the Maroon Pound 👍

Simply a perfect performance and result. Brilliant first goal, well constructed and finish. Crowd was fully behind the team and its effect in the team was evident. The place had an air of expectation that hasn’t been around for some time. Great to be present today and final word must go to Kells. Hope he enjoys the night. 
well done all round. 
bc

Didn't see that performance coming.  Two superb goals and a luckily scored penalty but we're due some luck. Good all over the park today with no stupid defensive errors.  Not sure if the defence was really really good or it was because Arbroath were so poor.  Don't think they actually had a shot on target but who cares, we won.

Crowd were good today although I,  personally,  thought we should have had a bigger crowd attend for this.

As usual,referee was hopeless, booked Strachan for a nothing foul yet failed to book Devine for a poor challenge, failed to book the Arbroath number 5 for a cynical foul on Bray and a tackle on Strachan should have been a booking as well as it was a dangerous tackle. 

I've never been one for celebrating survival as I'm a firm believer that you're there for a footballing reason and it's not something to celebrate however this one is different, so much more riding on it and the two biggest cheers of the season in our house came when Dumbarton went 1 up then 2 up.

Fantastic achievement for the players and staff, to rally after going into admin, deal with the cuts, the disappointment, the furore surrounding the club and turn in a points tally that they have since going into admin is superb. If I'm correct, three teams didn't achieve that points tally over the whole season, maybe four.

Whether we're full time or not doesn't matter as you can only deal with what's in front of you, even to pick themselves up from disappointing results and bounce back shows a big element of resilience and I can't applaud them enough.

Simply superb 👏👏👏

Edited April 26Apr 26 by MrCaleyjag

A great result and for those on here who keep saying Billy McKay is finished what a performance from our record goalscorer this afternoon. He led the line brilliantly, scored a cracking goal and won the penalty.

2 hours ago, STFU said:

then a game against Morton for sixth place next week.

To all of our supporters not at the game, this is what happens when a fully grown man gets too excited....

21 minutes ago, Alan said:

A great result and for those on here who keep saying Billy McKay is finished what a performance from our record goalscorer this afternoon. He led the line brilliantly, scored a cracking goal and won the penalty.

A great performance from B McKay today. His timing, vision and passing kept the Arbroath defence uneasy throughout the match. Great to see him turn back the clock for one final time. I was at the pie stall so missed his goal (curses)! 

bc 

Eagle4Caley must be having a very good day 😄

That was a brilliant performance. Arbroath had one attempt all game and we comfortably outplayed their first team.

The atmosphere was good and Bar 94 after the game was jumping, particularly when Kel and the players came in. The drum and singing in the bar added to the atmosphere.

I am delighted Billy McKay deservedly got the Man of the Match award as he was immense today. I hope he remains a player next season, but without the pressure of being our only striker. His comments on receiving his award were spot on, as were those from Danny Devine, Musa Dibaga, Remi Savage and James Nolan (apologies if I’ve missed anyone but it was very loud!).

In a strange way, this feels as good as our Scottish Cup win, albeit for very different reasons.

What a relief to have avoided any last day drama.

 

Hardly a sideways pass today, we looked to get forward at every opportunity and fully deserved the win. 

Where has that Billy Mckay been hiding all season? 

I haven’t a clue how we played or what happened in the last half hour of the game, was too busy refreshing my phone every 10secs to see the Annan score!

Today was a good day ❤️🖤💙

24 minutes ago, CELTIC1CALEY3 said:

To all of our supporters not at the game, this is what happens when a fully grown man gets too excited....

Morton or Montrose. They all smell the same to me.

Good performance and great result today. Billy was inspirational today I’m over the moon for him. 

1 hour ago, Huisdean said:

Good all over the park today with no stupid defensive errors.  Not sure if the defence was really really good or it was because Arbroath were so poor.

Worth adding that we now have the best defensive record in League 1. Arbroath were best for most of the season but then they conceded 3 today!

'He's inspirational when he wants, Billy Mckay, he's inspirational when he wants'...

Doesn't sound right

Great stuff today, looking forward to next season already. Let's hope we can keep most of the squad together and keep moving forward .

Special mention to the on loan players who unlike last season, really looked like they enjoyed playing up here and whose contribution was invaluable.

 

 

9 minutes ago, Yngwie said:

Worth adding that we now have the best defensive record in League 1. Arbroath were best for most of the season but then they conceded 3 today!

Fixed it for you: Worth adding that we now have the best defensive record in League 1. Arbroath were best for most of the season but then Duncan Ferguson left!