Ochilview View

It's been a hectic month so far and there's no rest for the wicked as the Caley Jags head for Ochilview to take on fellow title contenders Stenhousemuir in the latest six-pointer in League1. The Warriors are one of only two teams who have beaten the Caley Jags on League duty this season, the other being Hamilton away. They won the first fixture between the clubs up in the Highlands on the 16thAugust when they stunned the home support by coming from behind to run out 1-2 winners. A Paul Allan penalty set us up nicely but Matty Aitken scored from the spot ten minutes before the break after a dubious penalty award. Ross Taylor scored a second after Stenhousemuir managed to park the bus and on a rare foray forward stole the points ten minutes from the end. It had been a frustrating afternoon for the hosts who dominated everything except putting the ball in the net more than our opponents. We avenged the Hamilton defeat in style last week and will be looking to avenge our lapse from matchday 3. The depth of our squad is much improved from the start of the season as shown in the midweek nine goal thrashing of a young Dumbarton side in the KDM Trophy where we were able to make eight changes from the side that beat Accies last Saturday.

🎅 Merry Xmas when it comes from all at CTO 🎅

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

***Pyrotechnics Warning***

Match/Ticket/Travel/Info

Adam MacKinnon contract extended

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

The squad that put four past Accies last week. We also went goal happy in midweek in the KDM Trophy at Dumbarton with Alfie Bavidge bagging four of our nine goals. 12 goals scored in the last six League games with only one conceded at Alloa.

League1 last six

1. P'Head 0-1 ICTFC

2. ICTFC 1-0 Monty

3. ICTFC 1-0 Cove

4. ICTFC 4-0 QotS

5. Alloa 1-1 ICTFC

6. ICTFC 4-0 Accies

Unfortunately a section of our support have been guilty of undesirable conduct during and after the Hamilton game which has led to the club issuing a warning statement:

The good will and deserved plaudits the club have been delighted to extend to other clubs recently were completely negated on Saturday by the behaviour of a small section of the home support both during and after the match.

Despite the previous warning with regards Pyrotechnics, these made a reappearance both at the start of and during the match culminating in one such device being thrown onto the pitch causing the referee to pause the match while it was dealt with. This will be included in the referees’ report and could result in financial and restriction actions being taken against the club. This means there will be less funds available to the manager and the club to continue improving both the team and the stadium facilities.

Following the match, the behaviour of this group in the goading and subsequent attempt to clash at the visitor’s buses in the car park will not be tolerated by the club. This is classified as a public order offence, and any repeat could see the club being forced to have a police presence at the stadium on match day along with increased stewarding numbers which again will have a huge financial impact on the club and the desire of the new owner to improve the club in all areas FULL STATEMENT

Stenhousemuir slumped to a 3-0 defeat at Montrose last week and have not been on the best run of results of late.

D D L W D L The last six league games started with a decent draw at Palmerston (1-1) followed by another draw at home to Kelty (2-2). Defeat at East Fife (1-0) then their best result, a 4-1 win at Peterhead. The goalless draw at home to Accies was then followed by their worst result, a 3-0 reverse at Montrose.

Pos	Team	Pld	Gd	Pts
1	ICTFC	16	22	33
2	Alloa	17	11	28
3	Stenny	17	4	27
4	QotSth	17	0	25
5	E Fife	16	-1	25
6	P'Head	17	-8	23
7	Monty	17	-9	21
8	Accies	17	14	13
9	Cove	17	-11	10
10	Kelty	17	-22	9

Here's your League1 fixtures for this weekend

Upcoming fixtures & titbits

After our record breaking goalfest at Dumbarton in midweek, the Caley Jags will travel to Firhill on 6th January in the last 16 of the KDM Trophy. This game will be shown live on BBC Alba with a 19:45 kick-off.

Our final fixture of the year will be at Montrose on Saturday 27th December. Hope they get their pitch sorted before then...

Liam Sole will be at Inverness for the rest of the season, and Adam MacKinnon has extended his contract until the end of season 26/27. Good to see Scott Kellacher getting his business done early to give us the best possible chance of chasing top spot.

Forward Sam Reid has joined Wick Academy on a short term loan.

Last but not least: Thanks to Scott Young for seeing us through the mire.

"After careful consideration, I have made the decision to step down from my position on the club’s Financial Board. This was not an easy choice, but I believe it is the right one for both myself and the club at this time. I am proud of the work we have accomplished together, and I remain fully supportive of Alan and the board as it continues to guide the club’s financial strategy." FULL STATEMENT FROM SCOTT YOUNG"

1 hour ago, Robert said:

Alan Savage has made funding available

Yes Robert, Clear Kellacher will be given the chance. Might need someone like Robbo with tactical nous to help Billy.

When it comes to the money side, we will always be second in the queue behind Sir Roy money bags so it’s a disadvantage. He’ll simply offer more than we can afford to table to entice players from the large urban areas.

bc

Edited December 21, 2025Dec 21 by big cherly

4 hours ago, big cherly said:

Yes Robert, Clear Kellacher will be given the chance. Might need someone like Robbo with tactical nous to help Billy.

When it comes to the money side, we will always be second in the queue behind Sir Roy money bags so it’s a disadvantage. He’ll simply offer more than we can afford to table to entice players from the large urban areas.

bc

Robbo I think he is well dug in at County!

23 minutes ago, IBM said:

Robbo I think he is well dug in at County!

Not after what I saw yesterday. Worst county team for a long time.

When Robbo got us promoted to the top league his game plan was miss out the midfield and knock long balls for bingham and Wilson , 2 pacey players, to chase. After going down 1-0 yesterday that was what he did except they have no pacey guys on the end of the punt.

Hale was put through 1 on 1 with keeper first half and hit it at keeper who saved with his feet. That was only chance they created.

I would have bet your house IBM on him scoring.

They got caught for the second, as has been happening all season when the Arbroath forward easily out paced Gallagher on the counter, turned him at corner of box, and curled a beauty into top bin, cracking goal.

Too many players who are on their last legs, lacovitti, Gallagher, docherty, Mackay-Steven, jay henderson, Jordan white.

Best plan for them is go down this season, reset, new manager, give their young boys a game in league 1 along with new signings.

Worked out well (so far) for another local team.

Well, Robbo or Doddsy, both are local and ‘love the highland lifestyle’ (so they tick the parochial box). They may be past their prime however I do feel they have something to offer in the way of tactics that I feel we lack. Not that I think Kells is doing a poor job, quite the reverse; he was conveniently available and had a good appreciation of the player’s limitations and abilities at the club during our darkest period. As has been said by others he (with Billy) saved us from relegation to div 4. Signs are we’re well on the road to direct promotion or the play offs.

On to tactics. You can’t teach or learn about it in any book. It’s a hard headed core instinct that knows when a change is needed, ie what type of player(s) and importantly when. That’s having the gut instinct to disregard previous promises to play a certain player or buddy and make the correct decision to get a result. From what I have seen so far from Kells over the past 18 months, I am yet to be convinced he has it for the Championship.

Ah, Time has the !!!!

bc

Edited December 21, 2025Dec 21 by big cherly

You can bet your own house bishbashbosh I don't want to be homeless

big cherry, I would not want to go back to either Robbo or Dodds even if they are in the Highlands, in my opinion they spent too much time playing golf and working for the BBC when they were picking up wages from ICT.

How many times did we moan about "hoof-ball" and "no plan B" under both Robbo and Dodds? What tactics we had were quickly learned and countered by opposition teams. We became too predictable.

I see Kells as more akin to Yogi in his approach to the game.

Of course he's still finding his way as head coach but I've got a good feeling about him.

16 hours ago, big cherly said:

Not that I think Kells is doing a poor job, quite the reverse; he was conveniently available and had a good appreciation of the player’s limitations and abilities at the club during our darkest period. As has been said by others he (with Billy) saved us from relegation to div 4. Signs are we’re well on the road to direct promotion or the play offs.

There has to be a reason why multiple managers kept Kells on after previous managers departed and I would hazard a guess that he has learned a lot from them all (although I seem to recall he singled out Yogi in an interview as being the manager he felt he learned most from).

13 hours ago, IBM said:

I would not want to go back to either Robbo or Dodds even if they are in the Highlands, in my opinion they spent too much time playing golf and working for the BBC when they were picking up wages from ICT.

100% No to Robbo, or Dodds. Kells has earned his shot so far and that should not change.

If however, we are looking for mentorship for him as and when he does get us to a higher division, then I would look closer to home with perhaps Charlie giving him the benefit of being ICT manager in the Premier League or Pele who guided us through all the division up to what is now the Championship.

Highlights are up on u tube from Stenny if anybody cares to see them. I'm not enlightened enough to make a link.

However it confirms where i was behind the goals that it was indeed a shyte game. Stenny did (again) what they do best is to stop you playing, Hump balls up the pitch( mostly) hoping for a break or mistake.

From our point of view we created very little as it was all very rushed and no much composure, Sole i think had the best 2 chances, One in each half where he managed to hit his shot wide when hitting the target would have been easier.

It does concern me that Kellagher doesn't seem to learn lessons from how some teams play against us and adjust our style of play accordingly when next we meet them.

We do seem unable to come up with a plan b at times which is worrying. This would be concerning at Championship level so if we are keeping Kellagher, we need to get someone experienced in beside him.

3 hours ago, Huisdean said:

It does concern me that Kellagher doesn't seem to learn lessons from how some teams play against us and adjust our style of play accordingly when next we meet them.

We do seem unable to come up with a plan b at times which is worrying. This would be concerning at Championship level so if we are keeping Kellagher, we need to get someone experienced in beside him.

Steady on, he reversed a 3-1 defeat to Hamilton into a 4-0 win.

Doom and gloom abounds on here.

The price of 4 wins in 6 games is a couple of losses or draws. Sometimes we will not score and get done by somebody.

Kell very much believes one win is worth more than 3 draws and it has shown since his second game in charge. At no point would I want a return to averaging one point a game as we did under previous managers i much prefer averaging two a game.

There will be more challenges next season but we now have a team with an appetite and ambition to take this on and an age range that allows for huge growth in performance over the following seasons.

This potential will need to be harnessed by Kell as he himself grows but I would rather be alongside this manager and club in bar 94 than any of the previous recent teams where on the busiest matchday I still felt an observer rather than a participant.

And that is a successful team whatever happens on the pitch.

Over the course of a season there will be matches where it just doesn't happen. Not necessarily anyone's fault, just an off day for whatever reason. Kell said in his post match interview that it was a poor game. Having only just seen the highlights posted above (and having recovered from the motion sickness of the camerawork) it still looks like there were enough good chances created to have scored 2 or 3.

If it keeps happening then maybe it's something to start worrying about, but we could have won the game and more times than not will do so when creating more clear cut chances than the opposition, so I'm not too concerned.

What is frustrating is losing to teams also at the top (Hamilton would be without the points deductions), but the other side of that coin is that we are dispatching the lower and mid table teams whilst the other front runners aren't with the same consistency. Still 3 points clear with a game in hand and after the 5 point deduction, so we just need to keep going the same way in the second half of the season.

2 hours ago, Moogthurso said:

Doom and gloom abounds on here.

I said at when the club came out of administration, I hope we don’t fall into the same mindset of everything we do is fine and hope we look at things with a more critical eye. Ie don't wait until it’s too late to make a change when things repeatedly fail. (On or off the park).

For a decade before the Scottish Cup final any opinion or view that did’nt fit the party line or narrative was frowned upon and the happy clappy brigade engaged gear.

My view of our performances this season have been average in most with some above and an exceptional one or two in there. Results have been good on the whole, however we have failed so far to get the better of our main rivals when it mattered. That is with the largest squad of players (and highest league budget) than other teams. Full time and fully solvent (ie confidence players will get paid).

Taken the 5 point penalty carry over imposed at the outset (for admin), do I expect ICT to win the league - Yes I do, for where we stand today anything less would be a failure in my book.

Who will be due the credit and glory if that is achieved, the players and the manager(s). Likewise not being promoted will be down to the same individuals.

In regards potential for next season (from a championship position), there is a valid case to suggest the current squad of players will be able to compete successfully to win more games than we loose.

My view for what it’s worth, is, I would like the above to happen. Taken what I seen so far this season against our main rivals, I have some concerns that we may be found wanting in quite a few positions. Will the current squad and management have sufficient quality, strength and skills to meet the demands of the Championship, time will tell.

I understand and expect Savage to dip his hands into the pockets to buy a bespoke player or keep key players (Remi etc) away from the Dingwall lucre lure.

Ultimately I will be delighted if we get promoted. I don’t want to see the team come straight back down, hence I will continue to offer my support and opinions.

3 hours ago, Moogthurso said:

This potential will need to be harnessed by Kell as he himself grows but I would rather be alongside this manager and club in bar 94 than any of the previous recent teams where on the busiest matchday I still felt an observer rather than a participant.

And that is a successful team whatever happens on the pitch.

I don’t really get the last sentence Moogthurso, but I’ll go along with the sentiment and wish you and all ICT forum guys & gals the best for the Festive Season.

bc

Edited December 24, 2025Dec 24 by big cherly