Five Games left to find our best XI

With our lead down to a solitary point and just six League1 games left we have a home fixture against Queen of the South on Friday evening under the lights at 7:45pm. It's also on the telly if you can't get down to the stadium so tune in to BBC Alba and have your Gaelic phrasebook handy. Last time we aired with Queens we ran away with the points in a resounding 4-0 win back in November. Zimba and Sole scored on that occasion but they are both on the naughty step and will not be allowed out to play this time. Points are now getting hard to find as every team is fighting for their lives at both ends of the table with Stenhousemuir the form team with the impetus at the moment.

Is our rotation system affecting our run for promotion? Is the size of our squad a hinderance or a bonus? Many fans have voiced their opinion on this as some are left baffled by the decision to change a winning side on numerous occasions. We all understand that injuries will affect who is selected, but it's often for no apparent obvious reason the tinkering occurs. Suspensions will certainly alter our starting XI this week and Danny Devine came off in the second half at Alloa and is a major doubt.

Fixtures against Queen of the South this season have yielded seven points so far with Queens only taking one to date. A 2-0 win for the Caley Jags in the first encounter at Palmerston back in September followed by a runaway 4-0 televised home fixture in November. A point apiece at Palmerston in a 2-2 draw at the end of January takes us up to the present with points in the promotion race getting harder to come by.

Stenhousemuir were the only League1 team to get maximum points last weekend and they face East Fife at Methil at 2:00pm on Saturday afternoon just one point behind. Possibly the last chance for Alloa to keep in touch as they are at home to Peterhead and sit ten points adrift of top place.

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Match/Ticket/Bus/Bar94/Info

KDM FINAL TICKETS

Chanka Zimba Call Up

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🚍 💰🚍

With the introduction of a £2 maximum fare on bus services in the Highlands this week, the fare on the Matchday Bus Service has been reduced from £2.70 to £2 from this week.

For Friday's game against Queen of the South, Bar 94 will open at 1730, with last orders at 1915 (the bar must be fully vacated by 1930). The bar reopens at full time, when we hope to be joined by some of the players.

Operated by Stagecoach, the bus will leave the Bus Station for the Stadium at 1900, returning from the Stadium to the Bus Station 10 minutes after the full time whistle.

The bus fare is £2 single (contactless payments or cash accepted), and Over 60 / Disabled and Under 22 Concession passes are valid, giving free travel on the service to passholders.

This was the guys we trusted to get the points at Recreation Park. Alas we had to battle for a point, literally, with Chanka Zimba scoring and also being red carded with over twenty minutes remaining. To ease his pain, he has been called up to the Zambian squad for an international fixture against Argentina in Buenos Aires on 31st March. It will coincide with his suspension. How thoughtful.

• Last Six League1:

• D D W D W D

The last six started with a tough 1-1 draw against Stenny when we had Ben Brannan sent off with 20m left. (On the Tuesday after we beat Ayr Utd 1-2 to progress into the KDM Trophy Final). A disappointing no scoring draw at Kelty followed where we struggled to create enough clear chances and allowed the pack to close in again before a 3-1 home win over Montrose. With Stenny drawing and Alloa losing in midweek, we had a smidgeon of breathing space going into the home game against Cove but that was taken away by a goalkeeper. Balint Demus headed in an equaliser because we failed to put the game to bed when on top. A common theme throughout the season and one which Stenhousemuir took full advantage of by snatching a last minute winner. We bounced back in midweek with a good 3-1 home win over Peterhead with as bizarre an 'offside' goal as you will see gifting the Head their consolation. Zimba x2 & Alonge were our scorers in that one, three going on six. Zimba was Hero to Zero at Alloa scoring the equaliser before being sent off ten minutes later with the game ending at 1-1.

Zimba and Sole are suspended this weekend for a lack of discipline which could prove costly. That's a pity with Zimba scoring three in his last two games. Zimba and Alfie Bavidge both have ten League goals. Kellacher has the usual smokescreen ongoing that we have a few carrying knocks (Devine a doubt) but is keeping that close to his chest for now so you will have to make your own starting XI up for yourself.

Queen of the South drew 2-2 with a battling East Fife on Saturday. Reece Lyon with both goals but the Fifer's battled hard for a point with Gaffney & Culbert scoring. That has no doubt scuppered automatic promotion but Queens are clinging on to the fourth promotion play-off spot ahead of Peterhead and Montrose.

• Last Six League1:

• L L L D W D

Queens run started with three defeats in a row, kicking off with a valentine's day loss at home to Alloa 2-1. A Kai Kennedy brace was not enough to stop them losing 3-2 at Montrose followed by another home defeat to Peterhead by 2-0. A 1-1 draw with Stenny then the solitary win away to Accies by 3-1 and that takes them up to the 2-2 home draw with East Fife.

The Doonhamers are the second highest scorers in the League with 47 goals. Conceding 41 goals has been their downfall and that has them 13 points off the pace in fourth position, Reece Lyon has eight goals to his name in League1 with former Caley Jag Kai Kennedy bagging seven. Jack Stott and Matty Douglas are both on five.

Queens still have four or five players getting back to match fitness after injury. Jack Hannah, Jack Stott, Jordan Allan and Mikey Hewit are the main ones still nursing injuries.

Saturday 28th March

East Fife v Stenhousemuir kick off 14:00

Alloa Athletic v Peterhead kick off 15:00

Hamilton Accies v Kelty Hearts kick off 15:00

Montrose v Cove Postponed due to International call-ups

Pos	Team	Pld	Gd	Pts
😟	ICTFC	30	32	57
🙂	Stenny	30	19	56
3	Alloa	30	15	47
4	QotS	30	6	44
5	P'Head	30	-10	39
6	Monty	30	-13	38
7	E Fife	30	-25	30
8	Cove	30	-5	28
9	Accies	30	12	25
10	Kelty	30	-31	19

Peter Murphy bemoans missed chances against East Fife>>>

27.03.2026/19:45 - Queens (H) TV 📺

05.04.2026/16:10 - Raith Rovers (N) (TV) KDM FINAL 📺

11.04.2026/17:30 - Stenny (A) TV 📺

14.04.2026/19:45 - Peterhead (A) TV 📺

18.04.2026/15:00 - Kelty Hearts (H)

25.04.2026/15:00 - East Fife (A)

02.05.2026/15:00 - Hamilton (H)

Delighted if I’m proven wrong but it’s Stenny’s title now. Gutted at this display but tbh, been gutted pretty much every week since the new year. Can’t see us winning another league game this season although we’ll probably win the diddy cup.

Kel’s a good coach and we owe him for stepping up to the plate in a crisis, but he’s not a manager. I would have Charlie manage the team and see the season out.

Last six games for us 2 wins and 4 draws = 10 points

Last six games for stenny assuming they beat EF tomorrow 5 wins and 1 draw = 16 points

Think I can see who has the momentum.

M.O.M tonight Kia Kennedy.

I thought longstaff caused their goal, should never have been beaten on touchline. Think he thought ball was going out.

Penalty, ref took an age to give it. I wondered if Donald Ross was “ assisting “ the referee via their radio link.

Might be wrong as seeing it in real time with no replays like the telly.

Too slow in getting forward again….

Keeper to savage, Savage to macintyre, closed down, macintyre to savage, savage to Robertson, Robertson to Millen, closed down, Millen to Robertson. QOS legging it up the park when in possession.

BBC has possession stats ICT 41 % QOS 59 % that surprised me if correct.

Edited March 27Mar 27 by bishbashbosh

59 minutes ago, big cherly said:

Yep, For all the criticism of Millen he had a good game IMO and put a lot of dangerous crosses into the box. Simply no striker getting onto them properly.

From what I could see he was just putting his head down and belting the ball into the box aimlessly in the hope of finding a team mate.

5 minutes ago, bishbashbosh said:

Last six games for us 2 wins and 4 draws = 10 points

Last six games for stenny assuming they beat EF tomorrow 5 wins and 1 draw = 16 points

Think I can see who has the momentum.

M.O.M tonight Kia Kennedy.

I thought longstaff caused their goal, should never have been beaten on touchline. Think he thought ball was going out.

Penalty, ref took an age to give it. I wondered if Donald Ross was “ assisting “ the referee via their radio link.

Might be wrong as seeing it in real time with no replays like the telly.

Too slow in getting forward again….

Keeper to savage, Savage to macintyre, closed down, macintyre to savage, savage to Robertson, Robertson to Millen, closed down, Millen to Robertson. QOS legging it up the park when in possession.

BBC has possession stats ICT 41 % QOS 59 % that surprised me if correct.

Only one team in it in the second half, how did SK hold off on the subs for so long and then play Willox, who has barely featured since the stenhousemuir Cup game.

22 minutes ago, Satan said:

Only one team in it in the second half, how did SK hold off on the subs for so long and then play Willox, who has barely featured since the stenhousemuir Cup game.

And even then it was a like-for-like change with Willox replacing Longstaff and playing on the right, with Bavidge switching to the left. I was hoping that McKay would’ve been withdrawn for Wotherspoon or Allan, and Bavidge moved central. Longstaff should’ve moved to the right wing because McIntyre plays like our left winger anyway. But no, we just carried on doing the same things and hoping for a different outcome !

I dunno where to start but what a bottle job we are doing these last few weeks.

Wrong team selection and dont get me started on the subs and theyre timing. Kells player tombolla is blowing our season.

Im also annoyed at Kells post match saying the fans need to help? What did he think we were doing.

Frustrated angry and well fed up of our last few performances home and away bar Peterhead.

Oh and some idiot tried to run me down as loads of pedestrians crossing over car park. Agressively driving towards me with lits of families around. We are the only club that doesnt prioritise pedestrians leaving ground.

Off to watch Scotland tomorrow. Not sure how that will go either tbf....

16 minutes ago, RednBlackComeback said:

And even then it was a like-for-like change with Willox replacing Longstaff and playing on the right, with Bavidge switching to the left. I was hoping that McKay would’ve been withdrawn for Wotherspoon or Allan, and Bavidge moved central. Longstaff should’ve moved to the right wing because McIntyre plays like our left winger anyway. But no, we just carried on doing the same things and hoping for a different outcome !

Agree totally

Can’t really add anything to what’s been said.

Disappointing performance and result in front of our biggest crowd of the season.

Another case of what might have been, but I feared the worst after our near misses early in the first half and their keeper had a good game.

Edited March 28Mar 28 by Robert

We huffed and puffed. Hopeful punts in the box. Stray passes. Never looked like scoring and needed a second bite at a poorly taken penalty, we got lucky there. Lots of team changes tonight which may have unsettled the side but that's no excuse. Queens did a good job on use but they didn't have to try very hard to do that...and they could have won it. It's Stennys title to lose now I feel but a glimmer of hope for us if we beat them away and, at the moment, that is a big IF.

9 hours ago, tm4tj said:

After deliberating with himself, the referee awarded a spot kick. Ross Millen took it but the keeper made a great save only for Millen to follow up and bundle the ball into the net, just. And breathe

Just woke up after a nightmare rerun of the match, only this time Billy took the penalty 😱.

Thinking on it I misread Kells, it’s a master-stoke he played last night. I’m thinking he’s in above his level and doesn’t possess the all round skills to bully, shake and motivate his players (too much a buddy), grasp when a sub is needed and stand still at interviews. - As with the game against Alloa all along what he was doing was testing the strength and weakness on QoFS when we get them in the playoffs!

bc

Edited March 28Mar 28 by big cherly

9 hours ago, bishbashbosh said:

Penalty, ref took an age to give it. I wondered if Donald Ross was “ assisting “ the referee via their radio link.

Nice hybrid of two of the world’s baddies…

9 hours ago, The Mantis said:

Kel’s a good coach and we owe him for stepping up to the plate in a crisis, but he’s not a manager. I would have Charlie manage the team and see the season out.

Please, save me from the Charlie Bhoy’s non involvement in what players Kells picks and plays!

bc

Edited March 28Mar 28 by big cherly

East Fife v Stenny - if ever we needed Dick to stand up, this is the day!! Pre-occupation with a Cup Final could be our undoing this season.

How disappointing! Our season seems to be just lamely petering out. Too many draws in matches we dominated. Not that we dominated last night though. QOS always looked likely to score when they attacked whereas we huffed and puffed but did not create much

Hope we can pull ourselves together in the last few games. I'm taking a group of 6 of us up for the Hamilton match in what I hoped would be a celebration. Now it seems like it will be 'after the Lord Mayor's show'.

Hope I'm proved wrong. Come on boys! Onwards and upwards!

29 minutes ago, The Mantis said:

😃Nice hybrid of two of the world’s baddies…

Oops, memo to self, always read post before hitting the submit button.

Worst thing is I googled Scottish conservative leaders to make sure I had the correct name then inserted wrong one. FFS.

You are on the ball this morning mr mantis.😂

My seat was close to the young dudes last night singing “ if you hate Donald Ross clap your hands”

Can I blame them ? Do you think I could get away with that.

Edited March 28Mar 28 by bishbashbosh

19 minutes ago, big cherly said:

Please, save me from the Charlie Bhoy’s non involvement in what players Kells picks and plays!

bc

A rather cryptic message 😂

Pardon my naivity but if you’re saying he already helps pick the team then I’ll be switching on Sergeant Fraser mode…

No bite.

Wasted crosses into box.

Same old same old.

Footballs a funny game, lets see how Stenny cope if and when they get to the front.

I think teams have cottoned on to Kells style - a passing game with seldom anyone running with the ball. Are ICT too predictable? A cold wet night with a good crowd despite tv.

Unfortunatley i see this as a team that's lost the will to win, Yep they seem to try and go through motions but the urgency and spirit seem to be missing.

Oh for a Richie Foran ( as a player ) to cajole and shout and berate his team mates into winning games, And as said above other managers have sussed us out and we don't seem to have sussed them out!

31 minutes ago, caley100 said:

Unfortunatley i see this as a team that's lost the will to win, Yep they seem to try and go through motions but the urgency and spirit seem to be missing.

Oh for a Richie Foran ( as a player ) to cajole and shout and berate his team mates into winning games, And as said above other managers have sussed us out and we don't seem to have sussed them out!

Cant disagree with any of that! Its so obvious re lack of leadership. We also had a settled team in Foran days

11 hours ago, RednBlackComeback said:

And even then it was a like-for-like change with Willox replacing Longstaff and playing on the right, with Bavidge switching to the left. I was hoping that McKay would’ve been withdrawn for Wotherspoon or Allan, and Bavidge moved central. Longstaff should’ve moved to the right wing because McIntyre plays like our left winger anyway. But no, we just carried on doing the same things and hoping for a different outcome !

I thought Mckay led the line well last night. Bavidge was completely missing in action and Alonge's race had run well before the end. I would have been far happier getting Allen on for Alonge, and going three across, shaking up the middle with some energy. I think it was there that we lost the game.

If we go up and Stenny don't, then getting Kai in would be welcomed.

I've said thus a couple of times already that I didn't think Kellagher was a particularly good manager, coach maybe but manager no.

His team selections are baffling as are playing players out of position and Gas no plan B tactically.

Billy simply shouldn't be starting anymore, sure bring him on as a sub if needed but he cannot play as the main striker. Bavidge needs to play through the middle as he has the pace and skills to make runs that Billy can't anymore. Chalmers needs dropped as he slows the game down far too much.

Everyone there last night could seem substitutions needed made and the pace upped by using the subs. Everyone except Kellagher that is which is concerning and, although too late now, we need to work out alternative ways to play. Teams have sussed up out, especially since Christmas and Kellagher hasn't responded.

He isn't the man to lead us if we get to the Championship and sadly, think we need to sever ties at the end of the season.

46 minutes ago, tm4tj said:

That reminds me, I tried to build a garage in my garden but couldn’t because of the rotten tools I had. It would have been great garage too!

Glad he was sitting down too.

bc

Edited March 28Mar 28 by big cherly