The Evolution of football

No rest for the wicked this midweek as Elgin City host Inverness in the KDM Evolution Trophy. That's the Challenge Cup to you and me. This one kicks-off at 19:45 on Tuesday evening at Borough Briggs, the first game in a mini series of six games to establish who progresses to the next stages of this elongated competition. The clubs have already met this season in a League Cup encounter at Inverness with the Caley Jags edging that one 2-0 as we made hard work of seeing off a stuffy City. Elgin lost all four games in the League Cup group F, scoring 2 but losing 19. We won two and lost two but like Elgin, we never got into the knockout stages.

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

Match/Ticket/Travel/Info

🚍ICT Travel Club🚍

Bus for Elgin leaves stadium 17.30. £10 a seat.

Book through the Travel Club’s Facebook or on 07462218717.

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

Some may see this as a Mickey Mouse competition. I don't know where they get their ideas from to be honest. 

1. League Phase:

• Participants: 30 teams, including those from Scottish League One, League Two, and Premiership B teams (reserve teams). 

• Organization: Teams are divided into three pots based on division and regionalized into North and South sections. 

• Matches: Each team plays six league phase matches against opponents from their region (three from each of the other two pots). 

• Scoring: Points from these matches are compiled into a single league table. 

• Progression: The top 22 teams from the league phase advance to the knockout stage.

2. Knockout Phase:

• Participants: The 22 qualifiers from the league phase join the 10 Championship teams. 

• Format: The competition progresses through traditional knockout rounds (Round of 32, Round of 16, etc.). 

• Seeding: Teams finishing in the top six of the league phase are seeded in the Round of 32, along with the Championship teams. 

• Final: The competition culminates in a final next spring. Century...

If you are still following this and haven't used your pass, well done you; you can join the 1% Club. Meanwhile, undercover images of the new Trophy were leaked to the press at the weekend revealing a specially designed piece of silverware the likes of which has never been seen before (disnae look right to me). Unbelievable Jeff! That's evolution for you...

Kells is no a happy chappy regarding the format. Resting some and getting fringe players more game time, but we have to remain competitive whilst doing this. A great start to the League1 campaign for the Caley Jags who have won their opening two fixtures without conceding. A 3-0 win at Kelty (Mckay, Longstaff & Wotherspoon) was followed by a 2-0 home win over Peterhead.

We have been without Adam MacKinnon (a couple of weeks away), Ross Millen (a week or two away) and Jake Davidson (longer term) with Paul Allan recovering to get on the bench at the weekend. Liam Sole took a knock and was replaced before the hour just after scoring his first goal for the club and will be a doubt. David Wotherspoon scored the opener against Peterhead. Surely more game time for the likes of Alfie Bavidge, Chanka Zimba, Mitchell Robertson, Mathew Strachan, Jordan Alonge and Robbie Thompson with a swap of keepers on the cards to give Logan Ross a go between the sticks. Also an opportunity to rest the older legs to keep them fresh for the bigger challenge of League points.

ICT fans tickets for this match CLICK HERE

This match is non-segregated 

Stand: Adult – £15, Concession: £10, U12s: £2

Ground: Adult £13, Concession: £8, U12s: Free

Elgin went down 1-0 at home to East Kilbride at the weekend as the new League2 team got their first points in the Leagues. That was on the back of the opening fixture where Elgin lost out in a dramatic late late ending at Annan as the borders club scored in the 89th & 93rd minutes to pip Elgin who had levelled at 2-2 in the 92nd minute. Dramatic stuff and a 3-2 win for Annan on the opening day. This was Elgin's team against East Kilbride where Ross Draper was their MotM. Lewis Hyde and Brian Cameron did not feature at Annan through injury although Cameron was named on the bench along with Kane Hester who played the final sixteen minutes. Elgin picked up seven bookings at the weekend. Can we expect a bit of rough and tumble on Tuesday night. Allan Hale has a few still on the broken list at the moment Hyde, Dingwall, Girvan and Cairns.

Elgin players can be seen going through the traditional warm up routines used for centuries down at Borough Briggs as they try to manoeuvre their way round the Elgin Marbles. The placing of a trophy near the field of play is supposed to spur on the players and motivate them in their quest to win something. It's not worked since last century, but God loves a trier.

Bavidge pen 4- 1

I’m no fan of this format (as it would be more interesting with HL and LL clubs rather than B teams and will probably be loss making for the club) but this a good way of getting game time for players who are not regular starters.

I hope we finish in the top six so we are seeded for the last 16 and have a better chance of progressing to the later rounds and possibly making some money.

With the changes to the line up and what seems to have been a comfortable win, my confidence for this season is cautiously growing.

I did say I had a good feeling about this and it was even 1-4 which I predicted in the predictions as @Gringo will confirm 😁.

Not even a day over 40 and I'm getting things bang on, I can get used to this 🤣.

A good game on a beautiful night in shirtsleeves which you don't get often in the north. With 10 changes the younger players were given a chance to prove themselves which they did well. Controlling most of the first half we failed to score, I am sure they got a rocket at half time and they produced two quick goals and then a penalty, well taken. Elgin had a super strike to get a goal back and a second penalty finished it off. Good play from the young players and with all the extra games it gives the others a break.

Squad depth has been an issue for a few seasons now, so making 10 changes and still having a team on the park that looks strong is testament to the work done building the squad for this campaign... especially as we were late in getting started.

Knowing we have a pool of 20+ players, all of whom could be in the starting XI will keep the opposition thinking (and players working hard to keep their spot) ...then add in the fact we have goals coming from several outlets as well...all gives us a little extra edge.

I was thinking it would have been easy to throw on Longstaff and Wotherspoon at HT last night, but we held our nerve and showed belief in those on the pitch. I also don't think there would have been any rollickings or rockets at HT.

All the additional games is a double edged sword. Increased risk of injury and fatigue, but also opportunity for us to give more players game time and get them comfortable with squad rotation.

15 hours ago, PullMyFinger said:

They're holding yheir own, missed chances both ends. Elgin are going to tire pretty soon if they carry on chasing the game like this.

Aye they pretty much burned themselves out chasing a lead. At 3-0 they were tired and kicking anything that moved. Then after that they couldn’t get near enough to kick anybody. They were absolutely demoralised when Longstaff came on and started running rings round them.

But still their goal was a surprise as we really should have closed it out with a clean sheet. What a player Paul Allan is for us. Thought Alonge was decent. As far as Zimba goes, I think the 15 members of the jury have retired to their room. Who’s James Clark?

Edited August 13, 2025Aug 13 by The Mantis

James Clark is one of the youngsters given pro contracts to step up from youth team this summer.