Adams hopes to leave Inverness spellbound.

Hibs will be in the Highland capital this weekend looking to end a disastrous run of results at Tulloch Caledonian Stadium.  The Edinburgh club have only managed two points here and for all their firepower have only scored one goal.  Inverness have a tremendous away record to boast about, but the home form leaves a lot to be desired.  Only one home win for Butcher's boys leaves the ICT fans baffled as to why we have underachieved in Inverness, and Terry & Mo are just as perplexed. 

Colin Calderwood has recruited Ross County manager Derek Adams as his number two at Easter Road.  Given his record against Inverness with County, he certainly would appear to know how to set out his stall to combat the attacking style of the Norths top team.  In an article in the P&J, he declared , “I’ve got a vast knowledge of Inverness. I know their style of play, I know their management team inside-out. I’ve worked with them and against them and won matches against them.”  But as noted on CTO, he conveniently forgot to mention that he has left Ross County languishing in the discomfort of the relegation zone.  Thanks to Caley100 for pointing that out.  In fairness to Adams though, he had a pretty successful season last year, culminating in County's visit to the Scottish Cup final.  “Tactics, motivation and organisation are the big things I take to my coaching and managerial career and the success with Ross County has been down to those factors. Hibs play football with a passing style and a high tempo and that’s something that fits in to my way of thinking.”

Anoraks Corner.

Some stats for you to ponder over.  ICT have played Hibs 16 times in the Spl.  Out of these meetings, ICT have won 8, Hibs have won 5, with 3 games being drawn.  The only away victory for Hibs was at Pittodrie, in the first SPL meeting in September 2004.  The goals tally for these games is ICT 22-13 Hibs, although they did win a Scottish cup game 3-0 at Easter Road in January 2008.  Hibs have never won in Inverness.  The Tulloch fixture is great reading for home fans, 5 wins and two draws.  That means it's ICT 13-1 Hibs.  The highest SPL score is 3-0 to ICT twice.  The first SPL game at Easter Road this season saw both clubs settle for a point each.  Hibs looked as though they would sweep the Highlanders aside with an early goal from Derek Riordan.  But profligacy and a touch of class from Ryan Esson saw Inverness earn the draw with an Adam Rooney penalty in the 82nd minute.  Recent results show that maybe Hibs are turning the corner and the home defeat of Motherwell was preceded by an excellent 0-3 result at Ibrox, while Inverness were ploughing their away furrow with wins at Pittodrie and Hamilton.  Goal difference is weighted in favour of ICT, plus 6, with Hibs on minus 6.  All this means that Inverness sit 5th in the table with 21 point and Hibs are 8th on 14 points.

With volunteers thin on the ground, davie has conjured up his own piece of magic...........

5^th in the SPL. No kidding, that’s really where ICT sit today with a barely credible 21 points on the board and league safety being overtaken on the outside by a sneaking realisation that we might, just might be looking at top 6. Think back to last year at this time and ask yourself how did it all go so right?

Saturday’s visitors are Hibernian, a venerable Edinburgh institution born in 1875 of Irish immigrant parentage. Unlike its Glaswegian equivalent, it’s never been hostage to history and draws on a wider and more genteel background. This is Edinburgh after all. They were the first Scottish club in Europe. They’ve beaten Real Madrid, won the league three times and had an Enid Blyton inspired front line. On the fame side, they have famous fans, ranging from Hector Nicoll through both Proclaimers to that legendary Edinburgh gentleman, Frances Begbie. On the downside, they have had Craig Brewster as a “legend”, nicked John Rankin and Mark Brown and have just recruited one of our neighbours. His name is Derek Adams and he claims to be a wizard; please ensure him a warm TCS welcome – I’m sure he misses us.

This season has seen a less than auspicious beginning under Yogi Hughes that has improved since he got his coat and taxi. Colin Calderwood was drafted in and things have started to look up, three defeats being followed by two wins on the bounce with one being of the “are you sure that’s right?” variety against Rangers. This took Hibs to 8^th.  Aforementioned Rankin scored a cracker in that one, and he is only one enigma in a team littered with them. King enigma is Riordan. The man has enough ability to coast through the average SPL game and to light it up with his skill and vision. Too often, however, he just reverts to idle mode. It’s easier I suppose.

Recent history is against them, though. They have never coped well with the trip up the A9, winning not once in our SPL history. Their open style of play has often allowed us to play right through them, and for that they are due our thanks. It’s your style Hibs; don’t change no matter what that man Adams says. They come into this game off the back of the aforementioned two wins against Rangers and Motherwell so they have a run of form going, but hey – so do we.

Inverness go into this one on the high that has preceded most home games this season after another win on the road. Hamilton were the latest to be dispatched and how Rooney and Hayes have managed to avoid a trip to the Emerald Isle this week is beyond me. Still, our gain…. And what a gain they have been for Terry and Mo. Up there as well is Nick Ross, who should be on a high after scoring on his international debut. Nick, does it get any better? We shouldn’t forget Jon Tuffey, who will presumably return to bench warming duties after a good showing for Norn Iron this week. Jon, it probably doesn’t get more frustrating than this.

A late trawl of the papers suggests that there are no new injury worries and that should bring Russell Duncan back into contention. So there we have it, but if the above rosy picture tells us anything it’s that it could go any way on Saturday. Davie’s crystal bollock predicts a draw, with goals.

***Latest News***

Inverness have to do without loan signing Kevin McCann as stated in the small print on his loan agreement.  Innes, Proctor and Gillet will definitely miss out.  Sutherland and Blumenshtein are vying for a start, but more importantly, Russell Duncan and Lee Cox could rekindle their relationship in midfield, which will allow Stuart Duff to revert to right back to fill the McCann shaped hole in defence.

Hibernian will have Derek Riordan available, he misses the St Johnstone game.   Dickoh and Nish are both ready for action.  The big Ghanaian has recovered from a facial knock and Nish has shrugged off his ankle injury.