After a disappointing display against Hamilton last weekend the Caley Jags will hopefully have received a bit of a lift from the result on Monday against the Liverpool XI that travelled to Inverness for Barry Wilsons Testimonial.

A return to playing free flowing football where the ball is kept on the ground against Hibs would also be a welcome display for the fans who have become increasingly frustrated at the tactic of hoofing long balls up the pitch to a lone striker who is then expected to preform miracles. We all know the team are capable of doing just that, and perhaps it's time that the squad showed the same confidence in themselves.

INVERNESS CT v HIBERNIAN

Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, Inverness

Saturday 23rd August, 3pm 

OTHER SPL FIXTURES

23/08/08 Aberdeen v Rangers (12:30pm) Celtic v Falkirk Hearts v St Mirren Kilmarnock v Hamilton Motherwell v Dundee Utd

PAST MEETINGS

The teams have played a total of 13 times (12 League, 1 Cup) with 29 goals (16 Inverness CT, 13 Hibernian) between them.

Inverness CT: 6 wins (6 League, 0 Cup) Draws: 1 (1 League, 0 Cup) Hibernian: 6 wins (5 League, 1 Cup)

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Adam Rooney (Inverness CT): Adam joined Inverness from Stoke City on a 3 year deal just last Friday. The Irish forward made his debut as a substitute last week, and will be looking to have a bigger impact this weekend. Initially thought to be joining on a loan spell, but it turns out Brewster was buying him for roughly £50,000. Could turn out to be a decent signing!

John Rankin (Hibernian): The ex-Inverness CT midfielder has had a decent 2008 at his new club in Edinburgh. This will be his first game back at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium since his move from Inverness to Hibs. Has so far scored 2 goals in 22 appearances.

A GAME TO REMEMBER

For this weeks game to remember we take you back to one of the biggest wins in this fixture. It took place at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium in the SPL on the 02/03/2005. This was Inverness’ only second game in Inverness in the SPL after ground sharing with Aberdeen for the first half of the season. Inverness out played Hibs for the whole game and deserved their 3-0 victory. Goals came from Juanjo, Brewster and Wilson. The attendance was 4443.

The teams were as follows:

INVERNESS CT: Brown, Tokely, Munro, Dods, Golabek, Wilson, Hart, Duncan, McBain, Brewster, Juanjo. Subs - Proctor (for Hart), Bayne (for Brewster), Fetai (for Juanjo), Fraser, McCaffrey, Hastings, Prunty.

HIBERNIAN: Simon Brown, Whittaker, Caldwell, Smith, Murphy, Orman, Antonio Murray, Ian Murray, Scott Brown, O’Connor, Riordan. Subs - Shiels (for Orman), McDonald (for A. Murray), Sproule (for I. Murray), Brown, McCluskey, Morrow, Konte.

The referee was John Underhill and there were three bookings on the day all for Hibernian: Antonio Murray, Murphy and Ian Murray. Six of the Inverness players who started the match still play for the club (including Brewster who has returned as manager).

FACT'S BETWEEN TEAMS

• All League meetings between the teams have taken place in the SPL. The Scottish cup tie last season was the first cup tie between the teams.
• In the last 6 games of this fixture, the home team has always won.
• In the last 7 fixtures between these teams, the away team has failed to score. That means no away goals in 630 mins in this fixture!! The last away goal was scored by Barry Wilson of ICT on the 25/03/2006.
• Barry Wilson is the top scorer in this fixture with 5 goals.
• In Craig Brewster’s first spell at the club, his opening game was away to Hibernian.
• Aside from Barry Wilson, no other current ICT player has scored more than 1 goal against Hibernian, with the rest leaving for pastures new.
• According to my sources, Brewster has managed 90 games for ICT over his 2 spells, winning 33, drawn 22 and losing 35.

TOP SCORERS FOR THIS FIXTURE

5 goals: Barry Wilson (ICT)

4 goals: Steven Fletcher (Hibs)

3 goals: Derek Riordan (Hibs), Dean Shiels (Hibs)

2 goals: Juanjo (ICT), Marius Niculae (ICT), Craig Dargo (ICT)

1 goal: Brewster (ICT), Proctor (ICT), Wyness (ICT), Dods (ICT), Beuzilin (Hibs), Killen (Hibs), McBain (ICT), Colin Nish (Hibs)

TOP SCORERS SPL SO FAR

2 goals: Clarkson (Motherwell), Higdon (Falkirk), Nish (Hibs)

1 goal: 12 players including Inverness’ Barrowman and McBain

FUTURE FIXTURES

Hibernian v Inverness CT (Sat 8th Nov 2008) Inverness CT v Hibernian (Sat 21st Feb 2009 - fixtures subject to change-

MY REALISTIC PREDICTION

With Inverness recording a disappointing loss at home to Hamilton last week and Hibernian winning 3-2 at home to Falkirk it will be tough. I am going for a 1-1 draw.