Battle of the Crocks.

Aberdeen are the visitors this weekend in the SPL clash at Inverness.  With no points from three home fixtures so far, Inverness manager Terry Butcher will be hoping to end that sequence at the expense of arch rivals Aberdeen.  Dons boss Mark McGhee does not have his own troubles to seek as his side have slumped after the opening two fixtures with only one draw in the next four games.  Both managers have an extensive injury list to deal with and points will be hard to come by on Saturday.  With Inverness having only a solitary win over the Dons in the SPL a tough encounter is expected to bring out a decent crowd for the point starved home fans.  The only time Inverness have beaten Aberdeen, they were relegated at the end of the season, let's not go down that route this weekend.  The injury list just grows and grows, with Proctor sidelined for a possible three weeks.  Aberdeen are also missing a number of players, as Chris will reveal.

ictchris has opened his account for the season with this preview ahead of the weekend's entertainment, read on.

Inverness Caledonian Thistle v Aberdeen 02/10/2010 Caley Thistle look to build on last week’s victory at St Mirren Park on Saturday as Aberdeen visit the Caledonian Stadium. Both sides have had an inconsistent start to the season, with Caley Thistle showing great away form to bag seven points in three matches on the road, while Aberdeen got off to a roaring start only to slip back down the table in subsequent games. Both sides have reasons to be both cheerful and fearful heading into the clash of the SPLs two northernmost clubs.

Current Form If Aberdeen’s start to the new season was good enough to hark Don memories back to the glory era of the early 1980s, their performances since have brought their fans straight back to the reality of supporting Aberdeen for most of the last fifteen years. Mark McGhee was under pressure to deliver better results this term after a mediocre showing in 09/10 and back-to-back wins at the start of a season, for the first time since 1998, saw some tip Aberdeen to challenge for a European spot. In the impressive 4-0 home win against Hamilton, new Aberdeen signing and captain Paul Hartley netted a hat-trick from the spot – the first top flight penalty hat-trick since league reconstruction in 1975. A powerful home showing was followed up by a battling away victory with ex Inverness loanee Darren Mackie burying a late chance to give McGhee’s men a win at McDiarmid Park.

With hindsight, perhaps a blow to AFC’s start to the campaign came in their routine 3-0 league cup win over lowly Alloa Athletic when influential young midfielder Fraser Fyvie suffered a season-ending knee injury. Post-match the debate raged as to the degree to which the 17 year old Fyvie’s woes could be attributed to the pitch but what is certain is that since that game Aberdeen’s form has suffered. They lost their unbeaten league record at home to surprise fast starters Kilmarnock, who stole all three points with a late Jamie Hamill goal. Worse was to follow as, despite being supported by a healthy contingent from the Granite city, Aberdeen were soundly defeated in the ‘New Firm’ derby by cup holders Dundee United, who were 3-0 up within ten minutes. The match also saw McGhee sent to the stand with the former Aberdeen, Celtic and Newcastle striker looking ridiculous sitting next to an elderly fan after being sent to the stand for kicking the ball away petulantly.

Following that loss Aberdeen secured a point at Fir Park, no mean feat considering Craig Brown’s Indian summer in Lanarkshire, and came from behind to defeat Raith Rovers, revenge of a sort for the Fife sides victory at Pittodrie in last season’s Scottish Cup.

In their last fixture, Aberdeen faced up to their hated rivals Rangers and, revelling in the charged atmosphere of a fixture widely considered the most volatile in Scotland outside the Old Firm derby, raced to a two goal lead. However, Rangers salvaged their 100% record by surging back to take a 3-2 victory. One significant impact from this game saw Chris Maguire red-carded late on, leading to him missing Saturday’s match – a relief for many Inverness fans who have seen the Highlanders defence struggle against pace this season.

Inverness has been a happy hunting ground for SPL visitors in recent fixtures, with all three SPL matches this season ending in away wins. Celtic, Hamilton Accies and finally Hearts have all secured three points. While Celtic on the first day of the season was always a tall order for Terry Butchers champions, the losses to Accies, (who bagged a stunning early goal and then outhustled ICT), and Hearts, (who utilised pace in wide areas and aerial power up front to deservedly take three points), are more worrying to ICT fans. Away wins and good form from forward players Jonny Hayes, Adam Rooney and Eric Odhiambo give the home support reasons to be optimistic.

Players To Watch Aberdeen made a number of signings in the close season and probably the new boy who has made most impact in the North East is Scott Vernon, who was recruited from Colchester. The Manchester born striker has bagged five goals so far this season, including three in his last three SPL appearances. Vernon, who started his career at Oldham before stints at Blackpool, Northampton, Gillingham and Southend, has starred for McGhee, not only bagging several great goals but impressing with his work-rate and hard play.

Zander Diamond has perhaps not progressed as well as he was expected to when he first broke into the first team at Pittodrie but the powerful centre-half has developed into a first choice player at the heart of the Dons defence. Diamond is capable of solid performances that hark back to the days of McLeish and Miller (not that anyone at Pittodrie is prone to harking back to the 80's) but is also still prone to lapses in concentration and showed lingering immaturity in his reaction to a penalty decision last weekend, for which he was lucky to stay on the pitch. Diamond will hope to keep his temper in check and avoid adding to his career five red cards.

Inverness thought they were going to be relying on Adam Rooney for goals this season but the last couple of SPL matches have seen Englishman Eric Odhiambo draw level in the goalscoring charts with Caley’s talismanic Irishman. Odhiambo has been a revelation all season with his intelligent, skilful play in the ‘hole’ position. After suffering from injury for much of his first season and a half at Caledonian Stadium Odhiambo is showing the benefits of a full pre-season and took both his strikes in Paisley expertly. With a front four of Odhiambo, Rooney, Johnny Hayes and Richie Foran, Terry Butcher and Maurice Malpas will be confident they can cause problems to any SPL defence.

Further back on the pitch, however, Inverness have suffered from injury and loss of form this season – poor defensive displays from experienced players have cost points and matches. However, the assured debut from Graeme Shinnie was another bright spot for Inverness in Paisley and the home fans will look forward to seeing the young Invernessian make his home SPL debut, as he surely will.

***Crocks Corner***Latest***

Inverness will be without Proctor, McCann, Gillet, Innes and Cox, although Sanchez and Blumenshtein are almost there and may make the bench, with McCann possibly making the squad and Golabeck back after missing last weeks game for personal reasons.  On the plus side, Lee Coxs' injury could see him return sooner than the original estimate of 5/6 weeks.  This became apparent after the bruising eased and a more definitive assessment was carried out.

Aberdeen are without Chris Maguire through suspension and promising youngster Fraser Fyvie who's season has ended through injury.  Velicka, Aluko, Pawlett and penalty king Hartley are all being repaired, but will sit this one out.  Vujadinovic has been sewn back together, eight stitches in a head wound could see him make the squad though.

Prediction

Both sides supporters will come into Saturday’s match believing that they have causes for optimism – Aberdeen have shown in patches, good form, have looked dangerous in front of goal and, of course, have an almost unblemished record against Inverness. Caley fans will look at the flinty away results in Paisley, Dundee and Edinburgh and consider that it’s only a matter of time before these performances are repeated on the banks of the Moray Firth. Aside from the three points, the most positive aspect of Saturday’s victory over St Mirren was surely the assured defensive showing, with the Inverness rearguard only breached by a wonder-goal that few defences in Scotland would have prevented. If Caley Thistle can continue that form then a home win is a possibility but the more likely outcome is that a cagey affair sees Aberdeen head down the A96 with a point, perhaps equalising after Caley take an early lead.