Final Group F Match @ Morton

We head to Greenock for our final Group F League Cup tie sitting on top of the table after an excellent midweek win over Premiership St Johnstone. Morton are still finding their 26/27 feet after a slow start to their season and no wins in their first three Group F ties. What could possibly go wrong? We topped the table after that win over much fancied St Johnstone thanks to a superb strike from Alfie Stewart who simply does not do tap-ins. New signing, striker Miller Keir, played the final twenty minutes and looks like a useful addition. I don't for a minute believe that Morton will be as easy a fixture as previous results indicate, but a win for the Caley Jags will put us into the last sixteen, somewhere we have not been over the last few seasons. Let's not underestimate the task in hand as Morton will no doubt reinstate more of their first choice as we approach the start of the Championship campaign.

Good bit of business ahead of this game with Calum MacLeod extending his contract to the end of season 2027/2028

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Match/Ticket/Supporters Bus

Calum MacLeod contract extended

Kenzie, Ellis & Sam - Mechanic's loans

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This was our squad that faced St Johnstone in midweek. Morgan Bates missed out but most recent signings Kerr Smith and Miller Keir started on the bench.

According to Billy Mckay's pre-match spiel Morgan Bates had an Achiles problem and may be our only worry.

Calum MacLeod said upon signing his new deal: “I’m absolutely buzzing to get it over the line. It was a no-brainer for me after how last season went. The manager put a lot of faith in me last season, and I’m hoping there’s more to come. I’ve been at Inverness since I was a wee boy, and I love the place and the club.”

Away Fans Information
Away fans will be housed in Sections F&G of the Allan McGraw Main Stand. All away supporters will enter through the Main Stand turnstiles on Sinclair Street.
Tickets can be purchased HERE. or from the Sinclair Street ticket office on matchday.

Adults – £15
Concession (Over 65, Student, Disabled) – £10
Child (12-15) – £6
Child (Under 12) – £6 with paying adult
Carer £0

Been a tough start for Ian Murray and his Ton with no wins in three. Defeat to Linlithgow Rose, East Fife and St Johnstone have left their fans less than impressed. Defeat by Perth can be dismissed as normalish, but surprise beatings from the Rose and East Fife have left a lot to be desired. Judging by their team selection at Perth, they are still a work in progress with just one more week til the start of the Championship campaign where they kick-off with a tough starter at home to Partick Thistle. They only had three youths and an Academy keeper on the bench and started with a trialist. Calum Sandilands has been brought in on loan from Hearts. He was a prominent player at Montrose last season. I'm sure they will have some more senior players on display this weekend with the likes of Cochrane, Ballantyne, Longridge, O'Halloran, Gillespie, Brophy and Wilson all missing at Perth. Looks like they are keeping the big players back to put on a show at Cappielow???

Ticket Info

Ticket Prices
Adults – £15
Concession (Over 65, Student, Disabled) – £10
Child (12-15) – £6
Child (Under 12) – £6 with paying adult
Carer £0

Please note, proof of entitlement must be provided to purchase concessionary tickets.
*Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

Group F

Pos.		P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	PTS
1	ICTFC	3	2	1	0	4	1	3	8
2	E Fife	3	2	1	0	6	2	4	7
3	Perth	3	2	0	1	5	1	4	6
4	Rose	4	1	0	3	2	7	-5	3
5	Morton	3	0	0	3	0	6	-6	0

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Not particularly looking forward to the trip to the Costa del Drizzle, like any journey which means going the far side of Weegieland. But hey, needs must.

I think this is such an important indicator for the season.

We have beaten the runaway championship winners last year, look to have assembled a very good team with improvements in many positions and we have kept our best young talent in Mckinnon and Macleod who I tip to become our best players in second half of season.

Morton have become a well established Championship side, but money is tight this season and they announced last weekend that they will have the lowest budget in the league. Lost all their games so far as a result, and I’m expecting a win for us today.

18 hours ago, The Mantis said:

Not particularly looking forward to the trip to the Costa del Drizzle, like any journey which means going the far side of Weegieland. But hey, needs must.

I disagree, one of my favourite away days. Even better you can get a direct train from Paisley 😂

Group F

On paper this was going to be a dawdle. In reality these games are not played on paper and could prove to be more difficult with Morton puting out a much stronger starting XI than the one that went down to St Johnstone. We had a similar line-up to our last game with Joe Chalmers and Ryan Duncan starting in place of Wotherspoon and Paul Allan with Morgan Bates still missing. Morton brought in Longridge, Wilson and Cochrane with Brophy and O'Halloran on the bench.

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The visitors got the game underway in their Black & Tan outfit and Morton were first to threaten running into the penalty box down the left side but a shrill whistle from the ref stopped play as Inverness were awarded a free kick. Early posturing and little fluidity saw play a bit disjointed, probably not helped by a lively surface that looked like it held a rock concert a day ago. The visitors were enjoying the bulk of the early possession but no goalmouth action until we were awarded a penalty in the 14th minute after Liam Sole was adjudged to have been fouled by Dean Black. Alfie Bavidge made no mistake from the spot. Morton were not out of this by any means and looked busy around the edge of our box on a couple of occasions without working the keeper. We offered them a glimmer of hope after losing the ball on the right before Ross Munro was brought into action, saving at the expense of a corner on the half hour from Callum Sandilands' curling shot. That encouraged the Ton and we had to defend a couple of awkward balls into the box as the hosts enjoyed their best spell of the game so far. A good bit of work on the left side set Chalmers up for a shot but he probably wished he hadn't bothered as he badly skied his awry effort. We did put the ball in the net after another sweeping move but Sole was flagged offside ten minutes before the break. Plenty of action around the home box but only the one goal to show for it.

HALF TIME: 0-1

Morton made two changes at the break with O'Toole and Murphy on for Black and McLuckie. A lot of the early play in the second half was being disrupted by the referee's whistle which ruined any hope of free flowing football. A Morton corner was headed high over at the back post by Kris Moore twelve minutes in. Everything looked rushed as we headed towards the hour mark in an untidy encounter. All we could muster was a deflected Ryan Duncan shot that was easily gathered by the keeper. Substitute O'toole was first into the book for a robust tackle on Graeme Shinnie. A Sandilands ball across the face of our six yard box went abegging and at the other end Kinnear gathered a low shot from Longstaff. Morton were pushing for a leveller over the final ten minutes and as the scrappy play continued Harry Cochrane fired over followed closely by an Iain Wilson effort. Hamzad Kargbo thought he was Alfie Stewart for a moment but his clipped effort drifted harmlessly wide. A drive into the box by Adam MacKinnon saw his parting shot run across the six yard box and out.

FULL TIME: 0-1

 Plenty of effort from both teams on a difficult surface but it was Alfie Bavidge's penalty after quarter of an hour that made the difference.

FT 1 0 ! pretty good result with another clean sheet. Top of the league and seeded for next round.

After the early goal I thought this might have been more comfortable for us than it was, but it’s another win and we top our group for just the 2nd time in the last 10 years I think.

35 minutes ago, caley100 said:

FT 1 0 ! pretty good result with another clean sheet. Top of the league and seeded for next round.

Sadly I think Ross County beat us to the third seed place!! Maybe we get them at home in the next round, get revenge for the pre-season cuffing, and then claim we beat a seeded side. However, life as we know, is not as simple as that.

47 minutes ago, caley100 said:

FT 1 0 ! pretty good result with another clean sheet. Top of the league and seeded for next round.

A great group stage outcome and well done to the players and staff.

I don’t think we’ll be seeded though.

Are the seeds not the 5 teams in Europe plus the 3 best group winners? Currently that’s Aberdeen, Ayr and County, but St Mirren could displace County tomorrow.

Hopefully the draw throws up either a winnable game or a big payday.

We started really well, controlled the first half and deserved the lead when Sole (I think) won the penalty and Bavidge slotted it away.

Morton were pretty poor, and with a bit more creativity we should’ve put the game to bed much earlier. I’m confident we’ll finish minimum 8th now. We did let them grow into it as the game went on though. I never really felt we lost control, but there was always that nagging feeling they could nick an equaliser.

Bavidge I thought was fairly quiet until he moved out wide.

Shinnie, Devine and Savage absolutely strolled it at the back and kept everything ticking over. At times it looked like we were quite content with the 1-0. I was a bit surprised to see Alfie Stewart come off because I thought he’d had a good game.

Boutin looks like a really good addition at leftback. He had one shaky moment that almost let Morton in, but overall he impressed.

As for Kargbo from what I’ve seen so far, I just don’t see it. He looks painfully slow and doesn’t seem to offer much at all. Time will tell and I hope he proves me wrong but currently he’s not a footballer.

Top of the group and into the last 16. Being unseeded probably means a big tie next, so bring on whoever comes.