Palmerston Test

It's one of the more difficult away games of the season to round of an arduous January schedule, made more draining with multiple postponements and a demanding fixture schedule of seven away games on the trot. It all comes to a climax at Palmerston Park Dumfries on Saturday 31st January. A standard 3:00pm kick off time is set for what could prove to be a crucial meeting with Queen of the South, a team on good form at the moment, and that has seen them climb up to third in the table, just three points behind the Caley Jags and Warriors.

Inverness have won the two previous encounters this season, but home advantage is often an indicator in these fixtures.

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Match/Ticket/Bus/Info

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Treat yourself to matchday hospitality at our upcoming fixture vs East Fife on Saturday 7th February at the Sarens PSG Stadium. Limited spaces available, get in touch now

🍽️ Kingsmills Lounge Hospitality
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Last 10 Competitive Meetings

4 - 0 (H)

2 - 0 (A)

1 - 4 (A)

1 - 0 (H)

2 - 3 (A)

1 - 0 (H)

1 - 2 (A)

2 - 2 (H)

2 - 1 (A)

2 - 1 (H)

• Scottish League One

• Alloa v Cove R

• E Fife v Monty

• Kelty v Accies

• QotS v ICTFC

• Stenny v P'Head

We had a Tuesday night KDM tie to negotiate against Stenhousemuir and after a bit of a tense battle against the Warriors we moved into the semi-finals thanks to Alfie Bavidge's second half strike. That side showed seven changes from the one that beat Alloa three days earlier where only Ross Munro, Calum MacLeod, Oscar MacIntyre and Remi Savage retained their starting places. Basically we changed the entire midfield and front players. I imagine we might revert to something along the lines of the Alloa game, depending on tired legs etc. If rumours are true, Ross Millen will be missing 10 matches through suspension

• Last Six League1:

• W L L D W W

The first W was the 4-0 thrashing of Accies at home then we started our seven away games that included Scottish Cup ties, postponements, extra time's & penalties, KDM ties. That resulted in L1 defeats at Stenny & Montrose then a 0-0 draw at Cove before a mini revival with W's v East Fife & Alloa. Been a bumpy ride of late but hopefully we are through the worst of it now and the win over Stenny in the KDM has laid down a marker.

Chanka Zimba is our top L1 scorer with 7 goals, 15 in all competitions and Alfie Bavidge has six L1 goals, 16 in all comps including x4 in that mismatch v Dumbarton in the KDM.

The two previous meetings this season have been wins for the Caley Jags 0-2 & 4-0: Back in Sept the game at Palmerston unfolded thus: It was a second airing for the new away strip and the visitors didn't have to wait long for the pink strip to open the scoring through Chanka Zimba in the 9th minute. Thereafter it was Queens keeper Ross Stewart doing his utmost to stem the flow in a first half dominated by the Caley Jags, but with only one goal and five bookings, would we pay the penalty for not scoring more and picking up yellow cards instead? These two teams had started the day on ten points apiece and just in behind current table toppers Stenhousemuir. By half time, Inverness found themselves at the top. It took a 94th minute long range strike from Luis Longstaff to secure the points after keeper Stewart had come up for a corner only to find himself stranded as we scored on the break forward. Alas Stenhousemuir scored another couple to regain top spot.

• Tickets available online from Queen of the South’s website by clicking here

• Adults: £20, Concession: £12, U16s: £5

ICT Supporters Travel Club

• The ICT Supporters Travel Club Bus leaves the Sarens PSG Stadium at 8.30am.

• Picking up in Aviemore and Pitlochry. £20 a seat.

• Book through Facebook or on 07462218717.

Queens were idle in midweek, having been put out of the KDM Trophy by Raith Rovers @ Stark's Park on 6th January by 1-0. This was their L1 squad that hammered East Fife 5-1 last Saturday, four days after we ground out a 2-0 win at the same ground in Methil. Stott, Kennedy (p), Douglas, Dickenson and Allan (p) were the scorers. Some turnaround for Peter Murphy's side since we thrashed them 4-0 on the telly back in November when Queens, to put it mildly, were hapless.

• Last Six League1:

• W W W L W W

That's an impressive run for the Doonhamers with 15 points from a possible 18. W 's against Alloa (0-2), Montrose (1-0), Accies (4-1) and the solitary loss v Stenny (2-0) before getting back to winning ways over Kelty (3-1) & East Fife (1-5).

Queens Top scorers L1

• 6: Jack Stott

• 5: Kurtis Guthrie

• 5: Matty Douglas

• 4: Kai Kennedy

• 4: Reece Lyon

Pos	Team	Pld	Gd	Pts
	ICTFC	21	24	40
💪	Stenny	22	14	40
	QueenS	22	8	37
4	Alloa	22	11	33
5	P'Head	20	-12	26
6	E Fife	21	-14	25
7	Monty	20	-12	24
8	Accies	21	15	22
9	Cove	21	-6	17
	Kelty	22	-28	13

Liam Sole opens the scoring in the 9th minute. Calum Macleod with the assist.

Let’s kick on now.

Edited January 31Jan 31 by Robert

Great start.

Now 1-1. Kai Kennedy.

QoS player lucky not to see red in early part of match? Looked like he denied an obvious goalscoring opportunity from where I'm sitting....

Jordan Alonge restores our lead: two in two league games for him. Liam Sole with the assist.

Stenhousemuir currently 2 down.

2-2 with 10 to play.

Stenny also 2-2.

Edited January 31Jan 31 by Robert

Full time 2-2. Disappointing not to win the game having gone ahead and Stenny dropping points, but probably would have taken a draw before the game, and still top so can't complain too much.

2-2.

Disappointing to draw after leading twice, particularly with Stenny dropping points.

Disappointing, but all four top teams drawing, so no harm done.

2 minutes ago, Robert said:

2-2.

Disappointing to draw after leading twice, particularly with Stenny dropping points.

3 minutes ago, Robert said:

2-2.

Disappointing to draw after leading twice, particularly with Stenny dropping points.

Could also be viewed as a good point away to the form team

We had the trickiest fixture of the top sides, so draws all round isn’t bad for us.

Like to hear from the fans attending today on our performance. Attack line looks strong. It’s been a long wait however with a couple of starts does Alonge offer a height advantage /extra threat to the attack? ie I question his overall impact / effect on the park but that’s only based on the limited tone I have seen him. Feel he can offer something in the ‘air’ holding up the ball?

Loosing the lead twice could be down to a few things. Overall I would normally look at a point at Palmerston a good outcome (QoTS are no mugs on their own patch). With Stenny and Alloa also drawing - no damage done!

bc

Edited January 31Jan 31 by big cherly

First Draft

Tense Draw at Dumfries

A big game for both teams with only three points separating the sides at kick-off, and at the end it was still three points that separated them. Peter Murphy went with an unchanged side from the one that thrashed East Fife last week with danger coming at us on a few fronts. Kai Kennedy, Jack Stott, Kurtis Guthrie to name a few. Scott Kellacher made more changes again with Chanka Zimba and Alfie Bavidge getting the nod and Alfie Stewart the driving force in midfield.

The points were shared like this. Liam Sole opened the scoring inside ten minutes but Kai Kennedy squared matters ten minutes later. Just after the restart Jordan Alonge headed Inverness in front but Mikey Hewitt levelled with ten minutes left and despite a tense finish, that's how it ended.

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Early pressure from the visitors with Adam MacKinnon bursting forward before being taken out by Hewitt who was booked for his trouble. Jordan Alonge's free kick hit the wall and his next opportunity was saved by Ross Stewart minutes later. We were rewarded for our bright start with Liam Sole scoring from the edge of the box to put the Caley Jags ahead, deflecting into the opposite corner. Queens looked to hit back immediately and Kurtis Guthrie went close with a header. Alonge did the same at the other end, glancing just wide. It was now an open game and Queens drew level through Kai Kennedy with twenty minutes gone, shooting home from outside the box, possibly unintentional, but the was in the back of the net and that's all that matters. Kennedy was always going to be a handful and he shot over after half an hour. However chances were at a premium in a tight game as the interval beckoned and it remained all square with all to play for.

HALF TIME: 1-1

Brennan Dickenson replaced Reece Lyon as the second forty-five got underway. Five minutes into the second period and Jordan Alonge put the visitors back in front brilliantly heading home a cross from Sole after great work on both flanks. Hannah took a sore one and was replaced by Rogerson. With half an hour still to play, it was a precarious lead for the visitors and Ross Munro kept our noses in front saving from Dickenson as the keeper pushed his low deflected effort round the post for a corner with around twenty minutes remaining. We were pegged back a second time when Mikey Hewitt scored into the bottom of the net from inside the six yard box off a cut back from Dickenson. In a tense ending to the game, the visitors had to settle for a point after leading twice, but this was always going to be a tough one.

FULL TIME: 2-2

Match reaction to follow>>>

Pos	Team	Pld	Gd	Pts
	ICTFC	22	24	41
	Stenny	23	14	41
	QueenS	23	8	38
	Alloa	23	11	34
😀	Monty	21	-11	27
6	P'Head	21	-12	27
7	E Fife	22	-15	25
8	Accies	22	15	23
9	Cove	22	-6	18
	Kelty	23	-28	14

 

A point is fine now the dust has settled but a topsy-turvy afternoon with the score changing 4 times along with the news from Ochilview. I said that i’d be happy if we were still top at 5pm.

Both goals in the first half were a bit fluky - Sole’s shot took a deflection and wrong-footed the keeper. We were well on top until Kennedy’s cross floated past everybody and sneaked in at the far post. He let us know about it. This fired Queens into life and they probably had the best of it till half time.

I thought we were the better side in the second half and Alonge scored with a magnificent header. Bav had a chance to tie it up but tripped over the ball. Guthrie had a fine battle with Remi till he was subbed late on and sub Dickenson was to have his say…

Queens led the booking count by 3-0 but we overtook them with 4 in the last half hour (edit- Kel got carded too). One of them was Adam Mackinnon who was not having a great day and was replaced by Paul Allan. We had a lot of intricate passes around the box as usual without making the breakthrough and Queens defended well. Queens had a flurry of corners but nothing to trouble Munro although he made a magnificent save at one point from Dickenson. We weren’t exactly hanging on but on one of the rare occasions that they got in behind us, Dickenson squared it to give Hewitt a tap-in.

A much improved Queens today and great to see a game where the other team was actually trying to win unlike most weeks 🚌

Edited February 1Feb 1 by The Mantis
Saw the highlights 😂

A very valuable point after two tough games.

I think that is a good point tbh, although QotS came back twice, I kinda feel you have to score first down there to get something out of the game. Alonge coming good again is a real plus in a long run in.

Seeing Jake Davidson on the bench for the second time in a week after coming back from injury reminds me how much in previous seasons we have been down to bare bones...lets hope we stay free of similar issues for the rest of the season

13 hours ago, tm4tj said:

Any chance you could ask Liam to get Kells to stand still whilst being interviewed I'm going boz eyed like watching tennis. 🤣

I think most of us would have taken this at the start of the game. It just seems a little disappointing that with about 10 minutes to go both us and Peterhead were still in the lead which would have been a 4 point gap at the top had it stayed like that. Anyway, onwards and upwards!

1 hour ago, tm4tj said:

Fair assessment I think

Looking at the highlights, the Queens defender was really lucky not to get a straight red for that early challenge.

14 hours ago, Gringo said:

Any chance you could ask Liam to get Kells to stand still whilst being interviewed I'm going boz eyed like watching tennis. 🤣

Reminds me a little of Jimmy Calderwood who used to get ripped in sketches by Jonathan Watson on only an excuse.