And Breathe

After the hectic January schedule we can now ease back on the throttle a tad and take a slightly more leisurely approach to February kicking off with a home fixture against East Fife on Saturday, a team we fitted in to our January schedule just a couple of weeks ago with a 0-2 win at Baltic Bayview. We saw out our January League1 duties with another win over Alloa followed by a hard earned draw away to Queen of the South. What all that means is that we still top the table, level on points with Stenhousemuir, and we still have a game in hand over them. It's very tight at the top with Queens on form and pushing hard and Alloa looking likely to be the fourth team to stay in the play off places come the end of the season. However, it's still all to play for with around forty points up for grabs.

Rumours abound that Ben Brannan is coming back to us on loan from Killie for the rest of the season. Happy days!

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Match/Ticket/Bus/Bar/Info

Loans: Strachan to Forfar

Jack Walker to Buckie

⬇️ Hospitality ⬇️

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Hospitality

🍽️ Kingsmills Lounge Hospitality
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Last 10 Competitive Meetings with East Fife

2 - 0 (A)

4 - 1 (H)

1 - 0 (H)

4 - 0 (H)

2 - 3 (A)

4 - 2 (H)

5 - 1 (A)

1 - 0 (A)

4 - 0 (H)

5 - 1 (A)

Our starting XI at Palmerston where we led twice but had to settle for a draw against a much improved QotS since we last played them in the 4-0 TV thrashing towards the end of November. This one ended 2-2 with a deflected Sole effort putting us ahead before a Kennedy cross nestled into the back of the net. A superb header from Alonge put us back in front before a late Hewitt strike levelled an intriguing contest. The point was enough for the us to retain top spot with the top four all drawing.

• Last Six League1:

• L L D W W D

During our jam-packed January, we lost the first two in our last six League1 games, going down 1-0 at Ochilview followed by defeat at Montrose (2-1). We slowed the rot at Cove (0-0) before we lifted the spirits with wins at East Fife (0-2) & Alloa (3-1). The final game was that draw at Palmerston in a quality encounter.

Last time at Bayview 2 - 0: On the Road Again
Another away game as we play catch-up at Bayview. The first half passed everyone by as nothing happened. A much better second forty-five saw Inverness build a head of steam before substitute Alfie Stewart lashed home a swerving shot from outside the box. Alfie Bavidge raced clear in time added on to seal the deal and put the Caley Jags back to winning ways and back on top of the table. Good win in difficult conditions.... but that first half needs wiped from the memory.

Two or three struggling according to Kells?

A more encouraging performance last weekend from the Fifers but they still went down 2-3 to Montrose in a game they probably should have taken something from. Alas, it's not been a great run since they beat Elgin City in the KDM Trophy win at Elgin City, winning 2-3 before bowing out to Championship side Arbroath with a 3-0 defeat. The same side that ended their Scottish cup campaign. However, let's not dwell on Scottish Cup results this season 

• Last Six League1:

• L L L L L L

It's quite straightforward to be honest. Six League1 defeats on the trot! It started with two 0-1 defeats at home to Peterhead & Kelty Hearts. Thrashed @ Stenhousemuir (5-0), v Inverness (0-2), @ QotS (5-1) and the last one at home to Montrose 2-3.

In the January sales, East Fife took on some fresh legs and moved a couple on.

• Destiny Oladipo: Forward 6 month deal.

• David Wilson: Defender 6 month deal.

• Dennis Halliday: Forward 6 month deal.

• Omar Elharek: Midfielder joined Jan22nd.

• Robert Jones has left the club after 52 appearances and 5 goals.

• Gregor Nicol has joined Bonnyrigg Rose on loan until the end of the season.

• Tommy Goss returned to Annan after loan ended.

Was Dick happy after the QotS thrashing...Erm No! Alan Trouten red carded in that one 

Two match ban for the experienced striker and he will miss the game against Inverness.

Only three League1 fixtures this weekend with Stenhousemuir & Kelty in Scottish Cup derbies. against Falkirk & Dunfermline Athletic. Also, we will find out who we play in the KDM Semi-Final with St Johnstone playing Ayr United on Saturday.

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
	P'Head	21	-12	27
	E Fife	22	-15	25
💰	Accies	22	15	23
	Cove	22	-6	18
	Kelty	23	-28	14

Great strike from Sam Culbert last weekend ⚽

After watching Dick Campbell I hope he will be saying the same thing after our game tomorrow

No AI picture. Gutted.

Looking forward to today’s match now we’re passed the January heavy game schedule.

On paper this should be a straightforward game (and win) of us. Our players are better and we’re playing on our own surface. The four new EF faces will be unknown but we have the measure of the rest of their players.

The only trick I believe EF can ‘pull’ will come from grizzly old Dick Campbell. If he can get his team to sit deep, disrupt play and slow the game down then it may be a frustrating watch.

A couple of ICT goals in the first half will set us on the way for a good win!!

bc

Edited February 7Feb 7 by big cherly

15 minutes ago, The Mantis said:

No AI picture. Gutted.

Not really, just the upgraded image on the published article.

More subtle...

Ha ha, wrong one, they stole the badge on that one

St Johnstone v Ayr GAME OFF - KDM Q/F

Scheduled for Tuesday 10th Feb now.

Missing this one. In east kilbride Caledonia gladiators arena watching 2 granddaughters play in the Scottish Cup final.

Predicted 3-1 home win so will check score later.

Mon the Bears 🏀

Well done Champs

At half time, show your support to the ICT WFC Academy Under 18s who will be presented with the league trophy and league cup medals from their 2025 season.

Well done to the girls and their coaches.

A win today would put important daylight between us and those chasing us ahead of two tough games at Hamilton and at home to Stenny.

February could be a pivotal month for us.

Peterhead v Alloa - League1 - GAME OFF

1 minute ago, tm4tj said:

Peterhead v Alloa - League1 - GAME OFF

Sorry, my fault. Picked them for a draw in the NAPS comp.

2 hours ago, tm4tj said:

Mon the Bears 🏀

Well done Champs

Very very proud grandad 70-57 to Inverness bears.

Good to have Ben Brannan back to our club.

Goal Alfie Stewart!

Great play but missing too many opportunities up front! Hope it doesn’t comeback to haunt us.

BTW - Queue and waiting time at kiosk in main stand is just too long. 20 mins ??? Something needing done.

bc

Edited February 7Feb 7 by big cherly

Second goal, Paul Allan.

Alfie Bavidge gets goal number 3.

BBC says we had 27 shots???

A good day for us.

I see that as well as being 3 points clear at the top, we are top scorers and have the best defensive record too.

A good result well done to all.

Allan's Birthday Stunner

They came North on a seven game losing streak with their Fifer's. Dick Campbell's side are on a worse run than Ross County after opening the season with a solid set of results. They went South with with another defeat to add to that list.

Scott had Kellacher boosted his squad with the addition of Ben Brannan on loan from Kilmarnock until the end of the season. Ben is no stranger having already made eleven appearances for the Caley Jags last season scoring once and making dozens of loooooong throws. Welcome back Ben. The Fifers had bolstered their squad with a handful of new signings in the sales as they look to stop the rot. Beware to the wrath of the Campbell guys.

It turned out to be a relatively comfortable afternoon for the Caley Jags who got off to the best possible start through Alfie Stewart in the third minute when he drilled home from the left side of the box. We were then profligate as we seemed to make an easy job more difficult. Stewart was on a shoot on sight mission firing at the target from distance a number of times in the opening quarter. Plenty of possession but opportunities came and went. Zimba declined to score off a Bavidge cut-back and Jordan Alonge looked favourite to score when he burst into the box on the inside right position. His venomous shot blurred just wide. We could easily have been three or four up at the interval. Second half was much the same. Just after the restart, Bavidge picked his spot when he curled a low shot goalwards. Unfortunately that spot was two feet wide of the post. However, the introduction of Longstaff and Allan seemed to make us more incisive. Paul Allan's goal was a belter after some intricate work deep on the left flank before Allan smashed his shot high into the net from around sixteen yards to give the keeper no chance; precision and power. Zimba might have shot a step sooner after Alfie Stewart threaded him through on goal with a perfectly weighted pass. Unfortunately the keeper blocked Zimba's effort before the deflected shot was headed clear from goal by a defender. The deal was sealed after a bit of a stramash inside the box following a corner as Alfie Bavidge attacked the loose ball to nut it swiftly into the net ten minutes from the end. Spoony was close to adding a fourth having done all the hard work as he cut in from the left side. Alas his parting shot was blocked.

Some good performances today. My pick was Alfie Bavidge who ran the channel well and sent some inviting balls into the box that were not pounced on by his team mates. Got his reward before the end as he head butted the ball into the net. Calum MacLeod and Remi Savage were immense at the back snuffing everything out that East Fife had to offer. Alfie Stewart was the sponsors MotM but I thought he faded after a scintillating start.

FULL TIME: 3-0

Great result for the Caley Jags who top the table on their own tonight. Queen of the South dropped two points at Cove in a 1-1 draw.

 Dick's post match should be interesting...

We largely dominated the game, but we couldn’t turn our dominance into goals which meant East Fife still had a chance until Allan’s great goal.

A mix of good goalkeeping, missed chances and the ball not quite falling right for us in the box made it a bit more nervy than it should have been, but the two goals in the second half secured things.

East Fife can count themselves lucky it was not a mauling.

Stewart and Macleod the picks for me but birthday boy Paul Allan was immense when he came on.

No less than 6 players were in Bar 94 after the game discussing the match with George Moodie (Paul Allan, Ross Munro, Alfie Bavidge, Alfie Stewart, Remi Savidge and Jordan Alonge). It is well worth waiting back to hear their views on the game and it’s often humorous too.

A lovely result

Stewart showing his worth again, two assists from Zimba (if you can't score, assist), Bavidge showing good predator instincts (would love to know the average distance out from goal he scores from) Brannan a really important addition to the squad.

Just a thought for the run in...if Devine or Savage get injured or suspended, who takes their place Robertson or.... (Alonge, Chalmers, MacKinnon, Davidson?)