A tea time kick off on Wednesday 4th May was the date deemed most suitable to hold this clash held over from the pre-split games, weather permitting of course.

 Celtic have been the unfortunate victims of two late call offs in the Highland Capital this season alone.  This league encounter was originally planned for April 2nd with a noon kick off, but heavy overnight rain, coupled with an extremely high tide scuppered that one as the referee classed the pitch as unplayable  less than a couple of hours before kick off.  March 13th was also the date scheduled for an eagerly awaited cup quarter final tie to be played on the Sunday at 15:30.  Alas, heavy overnight snow blanketed the pitch up to six inches deep but despite this being cleared, the pitch was left waterlogged.  This late late call off should have set alarm bells ringing, but the lesson was not learned quick enough to avert the second call off in April.  Many thought it was a late April fool prank; unfortunately not.

So, the sun has been shining full on for nearly a week now, getting sick of it already, and it would appear that the pitch is in pristine condition, so any conspiracy theories can be binned for now.  Oh, don't forget to tell the wife you are working late on Wednesday, it's a 6:00pm kick off; the things we do for telly.

Inverness are blowing hot and cold just now and after the pleasing three goal romp in Perth, we were brought back to earth with what has been described as a waste of ninety minutes of peoples lives.  Losing 1-0 to Aberdeen is in itself not a disaster, but the manner of the defeat left a bitter taste for some fans.  Also the fact that the Dons had been on a less than impressive run of results and we could have been looking to take advantage of this.  Minus captain Richie Foran, we seemed to lack any drive and leadership on the park and the game turned into a kick about in the sun with Peter Pawlett scoring the decisive goal.  The lack of urgency shown by the Inverness players has raised a few eyebrows and the news that one man who always shows plenty of passion for these games is being released has left the fans feeling somewhat short changed. 

The first name on most peoples squad shortlist, Russell Duncan only got 15 minutes on the park at Pittodrie, but he showed more in that time than most had displayed in the previous 75.  Russell's ten years at Inverness has seen the defensive midfielder endear himself to the fans with his tenacious style and his unselfish tidying up work that has helped the cause on many an occasion.  We have forgiven him for some wayward passes, as his break up play and link play was a job for the unsung hero's of this world, and Russell is certainly one of them.  Glorious moments for Russell were seen against Dundee United in the cup as he hit a thumping dipper into the roof of the net from 25 yards.  A daisy cutter at Tynecastle is high on the list as well and promotion winning performances will be some of his best moments.  When Russell scores, they are usually pretty spectacular, and almost collectors items as well.  Thanks for your effort here and I hope you enjoyed being part of our success over the years, we have certainly enjoyed watching you.  I am sure all Inverness fans will wish you well wherever you go, and I doubt you will have trouble finding a new club.

This has not proved to be one of Terry Butcher's most popular decisions, and fans comments can be seen on the forum.

ICT_Away commented:- "Duncan wears his heart on his sleeve & plays for the badge", says it all for me.

Alternative Maryhill summed it up perfectly:- Agree completely with most of the sentiments on here: I'm really sad about this decision. Russell Duncan has certainly been our most committed, and imo also our most effective, central midfielder since Ian Black's departure and I've always been mystified at Terry Butcher's reluctance to play him. He's made an exceptional contribution to the club over the last decade and the continuity offered by having players like him, Tokely and Munro at the heart of the club has been one of the reasons I've been proud to be an ICT supporter.

I'm not going to condemn Terry Butcher outright for this though, because if he can find a stable midfield partnership and the team continues to do well next season then he can claim he's made the right decision. I do hope, however, that he gives Russell the chance to say goodbye to the supporters by giving him an appearance in at least one home and one away game (hopefully the Hamilton one) before the end of the season: to deprive him of even that would be very harsh.

Here here, let's stand up for Russelldinho this weekend. 

Your scribe this week was davie, well he penned it for the original game and he provided us with this insight for the previously postponed game.....................................I'll have to tweak it a little.

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Hoop Hoop Hooray.........Game on

Celtic visit the Caledonian Stadium for the third time this season on Wednesday tea-time having already won on the opening day of the league campaign and defeating Caley Jags to send them out of the Scottish Cup earlier this month. In between times, there has been another defeat and a share of the spoils in the East End of Glesga. Actually, our Manager reckons we “know them inside out” after facing them five times this season. Still, it might be near the end of season but it’s never boring and always unpredictable, a bit like Alternative Maryhill’s proposed weekend to the most fervent Celtic enclave outside the east End – Barra. Enjoy, youth, they might even get ESPN there.

History, despite our annoying ability to come up with the occasional “supercaleygoballistic” performance against the Glasgow giants, is still firmly on their side in SPL encounters. 12 – 1 in wins with 4 draws indicates where the balance of power lies, but this is football, and things can change. Our 2-2 draw in November nearly evidenced that.

One of the Hoops latest outings was at HQ against their greatest and most bilious rivals, and they came away with that runner up feeling. That result of couse has now been superceded by the last Old Firm draw at Ibrox.  McGregor saving a Samaras penalty in a nil nil scoreline. Confidence is still high in the League however, and they expect to win here. The balance of power seems to have shifted towards Celtic as the run in reaches a climax.  Both sides had big wins at the weekend and Celtic are in no mood to give up the ghost as the season gets down to the business end.  Crushing form side Dundee United 4-1 will give them every confidence that they can come up here and keep the pressure on Rangers at the sharp end, and with Celtic having infinitely more at stake than Inverness, then it should be mission accomplished for the Glasgow side.

On our side, Kenny Gillet has continued to motor down the road to full fitness, and he has earned himself the chance to stay at Inverness.  Hayes will hirple on no more this season, (ankle op completed) and Shinnie, Proctor and Sanchez remain invalided. TB has the opportunity to  weld together something of a first choice team out of the available players, but they need to show more than they have of recent weeks and arrest the creeping apathy that seems to affect them at times. Still, it is rarely a hard job to motivate the troops for games such as these.  On the down side, influential captain and workhorse Richie Foran will sit out the second of his two match ban.  He was sadly,badly missed at Aberdeen on Saturday.  Chris Hogg missed the Aberdeen game with a knee injury and is a doubt for this one, as he awaits a scan on his knee.

Celtic have Cha Du-Ri and Joe Ledley missing and Glen Loovens is a major doubt with a strain.  Apart from that it's a clean bill of health for Neil Lennon's side as they look to leapfrog Rangers in the race for the title.  They have been picking up the pace as they enter the home straight and will be looking to take the game to Inverness and ensure that the home side don't gain any early momentum.  

Davie originally predicted a draw, ably assisted by his crystal testicle, "a score draw in this fracas, 1 – 1 being not unreasonable and for which thanks would be given".  After he witnessed the dirge at Pittodrie I'm not convinced he has the same passion for that fashion, especially with captain courageous missing.  However, Celtic often find it difficult to overcome us up here, and with that in mind, it's not beyond the realms of possibility that we could throw a vey large spanner in the works.  Manager Butcher is not so confident after watching that drivel, he is looking at a "10-0" defeat if we play like that against a rampant Celtic.............steady on Terry, chin up.

***Latest Inverness News***

The cull continues:- Hot on the heels of news that Russell Duncan will be leaving, the club has released a statement and the list has been extended to Grant Munro, Roy McBain and Stuart Golabeck. No surprise that Stuart and Roy will be leaving, but the news that Grant Munro will not be having his contract renewed has come as a bit of a shock to everyone, although the writing has been on the wall in the last few weeks when Munro was benched a couple of times, and at the end of last season the captaincy was taken from him and awarded to Richie Foran.  Roy is at Brechin City on loan at present and Stuart has not featured much this season.  This is just the tip of the iceberg, building for the future has begun, watch this space.

SPL News

Hamilton have prolonged the agony by defeating St Mirren to keep alive their very slim hopes of playing SPL football next season.  A Mickael Antoine-Curier header was the goal that separated the sides after Dougie Imrie provided the cross.  Both sides finished the game with ten men.  That leaves the Buddies only six points ahead with nine up for grabs.

Emilio Izaguirre has been named PFA Scotland plsayers'  player of the year in his first season with the hoops.  Let's hope he has a hangover as he ran Stuart Duff ragged last time up here.

Nikica Jelavic's spectacular overhead kick against Aberdeen has been named goal of the season by his fellow players in Scotland, however, we all know the real winner was Jonny Hayes' screamer against Rangers, even Celtic fans would have liked that one.

Other sport's news:-  It's not been a good weekend for staying alive.  Eddie Turnbull, one of the famous five passed away at the age of 88.  A legend at Easter Road and Pittodrie his partners in that famous five were Gordon Smith, Willie Ormond, Bobby Johnstone and Lawrie Reilly.  A sad day for football, especially down Leith way.    Our Henry, Sir Henry Cooper also passed away, the first man to put Cassius Clay on the seat of his pants with Henry's Hammer, a big left hook you would be better avoiding.  He ultimately lost that bout but it catapulted him into the limelight.  What a Brut!  Also, the untimely death of Ted Lowe, the whispering voice of snooker, on the day of the world championship final.  And to cap it all, Osama Bin Laden has allegedly been killed.