Caley Jags Pre-Season in a nutshell

Here's a brief round up of our pre-season ahead of the 2014-2015 campaign which begins in earnest on Saturday 9th August with a tough away trip to newly promoted Hamilton Accies.

The schedule looks like this.

Wed 2nd July - 7:30pm (Grant Street) Clach 0-4

Sat 5th July - 1:00pm (Claggan Park)…Fort William  (ICT U20’s) 2-6

Wed 9th July - 7:30pm (Mosset Park)....Forres Mechanics 0-5

Sat 12th July - 3:00pm (Borough Briggs)...Elgin City, 1-2

Wed 16th July - 7:30pm (Dudgeon Park)...Brora Rangers, 0-2

Sat 19th July - 1:00pm (Mackessack Park)…Rothes  (ICT U20’s) 2-3

Sat 19th July - 3:00pm (Stark’s Park)…Raith Rovers 0-1

Wed 23rd July - 7:30pm (Princess Royal Park)...Deveronvale

Sun 27th July -  Inverness Caley Thistle v. Fleetwood Town            

Wed 30th July - 7:30pm (Grant Street)...Clachnacuddin  (North Cup - 1st Rnd)

Sat 2nd August - 3:00pm (St Andrew’s stadium)...Birmingham City

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Clach were beaten without reply on 2nd July as our pre-season got underway.

Clach 0-5 Inverness CT

Scorers:- Williams, Trialist, who turned out to be Jean Christophe Aynia' Og and Graeme Shinnie.

ICTRoughi said, A very convincing win for ICT tonight. I thought the team as a whole looked sharp, I thought that the second half performance was much better than the first. Regarding the trialist Jean Christophe Aynia, I thought that he had a reasonable game and took his goal very well but I can see what others are saying when they said he looked average.

Well it appears that he will not get past the trialist stage as his wage expectations are not the same as the Inverness boards.

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A young Inverness side beat Ft William 2-6 at Claggan Park. Old Caley Girl reckons the scorers for Inverness were Calum Ferguson with a hat-trick, Chris Blacker, Jaime Wilson and Ryan Baptie.

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Forres 0-5 Inverness CT

Team: Esson, Shinnie, Warren, Meekings, Raven, Tansey, Draper, Doran, Vincent, McKay, Ross

Forres away saw some tough tackling from the Highland league side who were taking no prisoners and Inverness had two or three requiring treatment after this encounter, Meekings not lasting long before being replaced. Greg Tansey gave Inverness the lead with a curler into the top corner from 35 yards. Danny Devine got a second for Inverness with a close range tap in at the front post from a Doran corner. McKay denied a goal. Ruled offside. Looked close from where I'm standing, tweeted Nathan Mackenzie and his tweets confirmed that Nick Ross with a half volley on the edge of the box has given ICT a third.

Changes were made at half time, Polworth, Watkins, Christie Tremarco and Williams on for the second half. Off is Vincent, Ross, Shinnie, Doran and Draper. Danny Devine has come off with an injury. Hopefully not serious. Replaced by what looks like Calum Ferguson.

McKay brought down in the box. Penalty ICT. McKay takes it himself, bad idea, and goes for the bottom right corner but Knight the Forres keeper saves it.

Calum Ferguson scores ICT's fourth. A deflected shot from just inside the box into the top corner, and Billy McKay with a turn and shot on the edge of the box to the bottom corner makes it 5-0.

Thanks to Nathan Mackenzie for his tweets, and Renegade also made the trip to Mosset Park and here is his verdict on the game.

I was very impressed with Tansey.  He seems a much better player than when he was with us the first time round and as others have stated, Ferguson looked very lively when he came on.  His pace and work rate remind me of Craig Dargo in some ways and I think he's a player who could have a good future with us. Also, I don't want to see Mckay taking a penalty again ever.  How many times will he miss before somebody realises that he's just not good at them?  The stats don't lie.

One final thing I must say and it was the same last year, is that as long as that management team stay in charge of Forres, we really should consider whether it is worth playing them again.  Three players taken off injured and why?  Because of the brutality of the Mechanic's team.  Hard tackling, elbows flying in all over the place, taking out the man, all totally unnecessary in a friendly match.  I wonder if it's worth the hassle playing them again next season.

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Elgin City 1-2 Inverness CT

A less than glowing report came from Borough Briggs as we struggled to a narrow win at Barry Wilson's Elgin City.

Team : Brill, Raven, Warren, Meekings, Tremarco, Draper, Shinnie, Vincent, Williams, Watkins, McKay.

Subs : Esson, Tansey, Doran, Ross, Polworth, Ferguson, Rennie.

Elgin took the lead in 4 minutes when Craig Gunn put Elgin in front. However a neat run and cut in from the left by Shinnie who tee'd it up for Mckay to slot past the keeper at the far post for the leveller saw the game all square at the break. Esson, Tansey, Doran, Polworth & Ross all came on for second half, and Watkins headed in to make it 1-2 and that's how it finished.

RossP watched this one and he has penned an excellent report for us......................

The almost annual pre-season visit to Elgin followed a familiar pattern to previous summers with another ICT win, but we were made to come from behind to get the bragging rights.

A strong ICT line up had a familiar defensive unit, with first choice centre backs Warren and Meekings being flanked by Raven and Tremarco. Shinnie started the game in midfield with Draper, Williams and Watkins, but all found themselves moved around later in match with injuries to others. Our only striker Mckay was assisted by Vincent, with both hoping to get on the scoresheet against familiar faces Mike Fraser, Matthew Cooper and Shane Sutherland. Personally I was disappointed not to see Wyness, Bayne, Wilson and Duff on the pitch to swell the former ICT player list...

Elgin started brightly, with direct passes aimed in the direction of Sutherland, and it was from the former ICT striker that the first goal was created - a drive from wide in the box that Brill spilled into the path of Gunn who finished high into the net after only 4mins. ICT responded with several efforts from distance, having found the Elgin defence hard to break down. The moments we looked most dangerous came from the movement and quick passing of Shinnie who regularly looked to get players in behind the Elgin fullbacks. Midway through the half Mckay benefitted from Shinnie's endeavour to attack, where he swept the captain's low cross into the corner of the net on 22mins. The rest of the half petered out, with the only highlight being a brief appearance from Ryan Esson warming up behind the goal.

HT 1-1

Esson took the goalkeeping duties for the second half, with Tansey Doran, Polworth and Ross also getting 45mins. Similar to the first half, ICT had the bulk of the possession but struggled to carve out any guilt edged chances. The only incidents worthy of note for the first half hour of the second half was another head injury to Meekings playing at right back after the withdrawal of Raven, Tansey being withdrawn after aggravating an injury and Mike Fraser's hand gesture response to a request for his opinion on a former boss. In addition to Meekings being moved, Tremarco played in the centre of defence with Draper, Shinnie moved out to the left midfield and Watkins became the focal point of the attack as the lone striker.

Elgin tired in the last 20 minutes, having expended a lot of energy chasing the keep ball approach of ICT. Opportunities became more frequent with Watkins, Williams and substitute Ferguson all having drives at the Elgin goal. Doran and Ross also found much more enjoyment getting behind the defence and creating chances the now substituted Mckay would have loved. This pressure paid off with Watkins heading in a Meekings cross with 15 minutes remaining to get the win for his side.

Elgin City 1 v ICT 2

Attendance 533

Quizzer also witnessed this one and was less than impressed. We played with 8 recognised midfielders in the second half, with Esson, Tremarco and Meekings the only exceptions.  Draper excellently made up a 3/4 man defence and Meekings was excellent going forward from the right back position.

Sadly, nothing else really to say about  game at all.  Shinnie played in midfield throughout and did well, Billy scored a tap in and Watkins a header.  More passing around at the edge of the box than I'd like to see and shooting was poor.  Oh, and Michael Fraser was their keeper!

Would have been nice to see more "new" players get a but of time of the pitch but Hughes appears to be sticking to his word about not making any changes, with the only guys on the pitch who I've never seen playing for us before being Ferguson and Rennie, neither of whom got any significant time although Ferguson certainly looked hungry for it and we were desperately needing a striker by that time.

Given that we started the game with basically our first team, and all those who came on at ht were recognised and regular first team players too, it was somewhat uninspiring overall.  But hey ho, let's get the rustiness out of the way before the season starts!

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Brora 0-2 Inverness

Grant Pringle @Grant_Pringle supplied the tweets for our trip to Brora to play the Highland League Champions.

ICTFC team:- Esson; Raven; Warren; Meekings; Shinnie; Ross; Doran; Tansey; Williams; Vincent; Mckay.

ICTFC subs: Brill; Baptie; Ferguson; Draper; Tremarco; Christie; Watkins

Brora team:- Malin Ross Williamson Tokely Munro Morrison J Mackay Gillespie Sutherland Graham Greig

4mins - Gary Warren back post header easily saved by Malin.

5mins - Gavin Morrison long range free kick tipped round the post for a corner.

10 mins - Penalty. ICT. Ross Tokely taking down Shinnie in the box.

GOAL. 1-0 ICT. Vincent penalty high into the net.

Brora could have been level. Awful kick from Esson fell straight to Greig who dragged his shot just wide.

Half time: ICT 1-0 Brora. Vincent's goal separating the sides.

Big G also commented. Still no cutting edge and as the half progressed Brora sussed us and closed us down giving Tansey no room.

Brill, Watkins, Polworth, Draper, Tremarco and Christie on at half time, replacing: Esson, Mckay, Shinnie, Tansey, Raven & Vincent.

Meekings shifted to RB, with Tremarco at CB and Williams at LB. Looks like Watkins up top with Christie behind him.

Ryan Christie heads home from Meekings' cross but it's ruled out for offside.

GOAL 2-0 ICT! Watkins makes it two, rounding the keeper to slot home after a great through ball by Christie.

Ryan Baptie and Jason Brown are coming on to replace Gary Warren and Danny Williams, and Calum Ferguson is coming on for Nick Ross.

Couple of chances for Doran. One well saved, the other over the bar. Baptie, Ferguson and Brown all look very comfortable in the first team.

Thanks to Grant Pringle @Grant_Pringle who provided the information on his twitter feed.

Full time: @ICTFC 2-0 Brora. James Vincent (pen) and Marley Watkins with the goals. #ICTFC

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Raith Rovers 0-1 Inverness Report hi-jacked from  Official ICTFC @ICTFC twitter feed.

Positive start from ICTFC. Good link play and getting the ball into the final third a bit faster than in some other pre-season games, but a long ball down the Raith right crossed in to Nade at the far post...great strike and ICTFC saved by the woodwork.

Tansey wins the ball from Nade in the middle of the park and plays Mckay through on the left but he shot just wide of the right hand upright.

Shot by Williams, save spilled by the goalkeeper...corner and a series of shots from ICTFC as they apply pressure and keep Raith Rovers pinned in their box. A couple of ICTFC corners before Warren heads it over and allows Raith some breathing space with a goal kick.

The team might be a bit frustrated that they've not made more of their chances during a half where the largely dominated.

Half Time 0-0

For the start of the second half, Polworth, Ross, Doran, Christie and Esson replace Draper, Watkins, Williams, Vincent & Brill.

Early work for Esson with a great save from a close range shot and a Shinnie shot touched just wide for an ICTFC corner. Rovers quick to clear the danger from the corner, break quickly, win a throw, get it in to Nade who heads over.

As with the first half, Raith Rovers limited to trying to hit on the break. Mckay through one on one with the keeper after a fantastic series of passes, but can't find a way past him.

Ball across goal for ICTFC doesn't find any takers; goal Kick. From the crowd reaction, the shoulder to shoulder is frowned upon here! Doran with a shot just over the bar. ICTFC maintaining possession and moving the ball with tremendous confidence as Elliot and Anderson replace Vaughan and Stewart for Raith Rovers.

Christie pinches the ball in midfield...Doran, Raven, crossed...is it a bird, no it's Shinnie...but he nods it over and Raith Rovers quick to move down the other end of the park and Esson has to be sharp to deny Nade from about 4 yards out, back to the other end where Raven with a header towards goal, but not much power on it and keeper holds easily.

Christie with a great turn and shot from about 20 yards, but he can only find the keeper and a big shove on Mckay in the box, but ref not interested!

Baptie and C. Brown coming on to replace Tansey and Raven Raith Rovers almost hit us on the break and a ball in to Martin Scott is headed over.....phewww.

GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL CHRISTIE! He latches on to a ball played across the edge of the 6 yard box and leaves the keeper with nothing he can do about it.

Doran with a shot to the lower left corner, but keeper gets to it to deny him.

Full Time 0-1

Starting X1:- Brill, Raven, Warren, Meekings, Shinnie, Draper, Tansey, Watkins, Williams, Vincent, Mckay.

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