Fair City visitors on Snowman weekend.

A big weekend of sport in the Highlands this Saturday as Inverness host the men from the Fair City in a six pointer which could have a bearing on the outcome of a top six place for both clubs.

The other main attraction will be The Snowman Rally which takes place in the forests North of Inverness.  Sadly, this years event will be without our local former Scottish champion Jimmy Girvan who tragically died last September competing in the Colin McRae Forest Stages Rally in Perthshire.  RIP Jimmy.

Blue and White wave sweeping North

We can expect a mini invasion this weekend as The Massive Blue and White Away Day is planned by the Super J's fans and that should swell the away end to Elgin City like proportions.  Great idea this by the Perth fans.  They select a game during the season and encourage as many fans as possible to attend the selected fixture, and publicise the event with posters around the town and any other advertising medium in the area.  So make them feel welcome as they come along to create an atmosphere and enjoy their weekend away.  Let's hope the stewards show more understanding than the morons at Paisley who ruined last weekends match day for many by overzealous handling of the fans.  The match day experience is rapidly being ruined by a lack of common sense at some stadiums;  Hibernan, take note.  It's a two way thing of course, and if fans and stewards can sing from the same song book, then the day out will be more enjoyable for everyone.

The Aftermath :-  So, another winless weekend for Butchers boys at Paisley making it eleven SPL games without a win.  That statistic does not make for good reading, but the latest winless game had more to it.  Inverness were struggling to assemble a squad prior to the game and more late withdrawals on top of the suspensions of Munro and Tokely meant a back four with no game time together and youngster Liam Polwarth sitting on the bench.  Not ideal, but the good news is that Adam Rooney has rediscovered his touch and he stroked home a couple of strikers goals and Aaron Doran opened his SPL account.  Jonny Hayes made a surprise start, but lasted only quarter a game before hobbling off injured again.  The downside though, it's another game without three points, Hayes struggling again and the middle of the table is getting congested with a host of teams gathering behind Inverness looking for that top six place, and most of them with games in hand over us.

The visitors are in their second season back in the SPL and are steering a steady course above the relegation place, which Hamilton appear to have control of at this stage of the season.  A win on saturday would see the Super J's leapfrog the Caley Jags and still have two games in hand, so these encounters are becoming increasingly crucial in the sprint for top six.  It was the Perth side that ended our long unbeaten away run with a single goal victory as we first footed McDiarmid Park on the second of January.  Collin Samuel's late strike was the difference between the sides as we surrendered that hard earned record with a rather hungover display.

Inverness, after a healthy start to the season have faltered somewhat and the chasing pack now have us in their sights and are closing us down game by game as the winless streak continues.  The start of this run gave little indication of what was to follow, as excellent draws with Celtic, Rangers and Hearts kept our bandwagon rolling.  However, three consecutive defeats by St Mirren, Killie and St Johnstone dampened the euphoria.  Light relief came in the shape of the Scottish Cup as Elgin City eventually crumbled, but a point from Motherwell and defeat at Ibrox quickly erased the optimism after Elgin and the slump continued.  Even the Accies took a point home and dismal Dons took all three, how embarrassing is that.  Once again the Cup gave us some reprieve and Morton were brushed aside in stylish fashion, but the SPL is a sterner test and without many regulars we came away with our point at Paisley, which was a better result given the circumstances.   Still, theres always Hibs, they are usually good for a few points, but that is next week.

With Motherwell taking all three points at Pittodrie, Inverness will soon find themselves slipping out of the top six for the first time since the second of October, after they beat Aberdeen 2-0 at Pittodrie.  United had another game called off due to a waterlogged pitch which extended our stay in the elite group, but the Motherwell result now puts extra pressure on the outcome of Saturday's game as a Saints win could see us down to eighth.

Anoraks Corner

There is very little to choose between these two sides in the eleven games played.  One of those was a cup clash which had to be played at Dingwall during our enforced nomadic era at Aberdeen in our early SPL days, January 2005.  Despite these trials, we beat the Saints 1-0, captain Stuart Golabeck scoring the winner at a very wet and muddy Victoria Park, and on a Sunday too.  This game marked the playing debut of a certain Mr Brewster; whatever happened to him?  Two of the head to heads have been played this season, a 1-1 draw in Inverness, and of course the away day spoiler at Perth which Saints won 1-0.  The first division has been the battlefield for the remaining eight games, the most memorable for Inverness fans being the 3-1 victory which gained us promotion in May 2004.  In all these first division games, no draws were recorded and it is four wins apiece.   Both sides have scored three goals in a single game once, and the highest aggregate is 3-2 for Saints in Perth.  Eight of these eleven games have been won by a single goal advantage.  St Johnstone have failed to score only twice, one of those being the cup game; three blanks for Inverness.  It may be prudent to put your money on a low scoring game, and with our home form, maybe best to look for an away win.

Squads

Terry Butcher has told his players to ease up a little on the training ground this week to avoid further damage to his depleted squad.  The enigmatic Jonny Hayes will be a major doubt after hirpling off in Paisley.  Hayes has struggled for fitness recently after a serious of heavy knocks have seen the little Irishman sitting out a lot of games during this lean period for the team.  Graeme Shinnie has been receiving hospital treatment for a stomach complaint and he missed last weeks game.  On top of that, is has been revealed that Dani Sanchez could miss the rest of the season after breaking his hand.  Nick Ross has restarted training but is still a doubt, while Gillet, Blumenshtein and Morrison are all well short of match fitness.  Even Roy McBain and Stuart Golabeck are sidelined and can not help out.  With Grant Munro facing the last game of his suspension triple header things are looking bleak for Butcher, but one ray of light is shining through; Ross Tokely will be back to help shore up our virginal and over generous defence.   

Derek McInnes has Hearts winger Arvydas Novikovas on loan to add to his squad, although he has recently lost Scott Dobie on loan to Bradford and Steven Milne to our country cousins in Dingwall.  Eighteen year old Stevie May will be looking for another start after his two goals won the game against Hamilton.  McInnes has described him as an exciting prospect and "he has a freedom and liveliness about him which is refreshing".  Liam Craig scored a stunning cup goal against Partick Thistle with a dipping thirty yard effort and will be another player looking to catch the managers eye.  Former Chelsea defender Michael Duberry is forming a formidable partnership with Steven Anderson and they are difficult to beat in the air.  Collin Samuel is one man who has made all the difference in the two games played this season, scoring both Saints goals.  His pace has troubled the Caley Jags back line and he needs no second invitation to find the net.

tm4tj Prediction

I doubt this game will reach the scoring heights of last weekend, and these are usually pretty dour encounters.  Given the home form and the overall apathetic performances by Inverness of late I can see the visitors sneaking this one by the odd goal, but I will stick my neck out and hope for a draw, albeit only the second one between these two teams.  Mind you, we are still struggling for defenders so maybe there is hope of a goalfest.

***Latest team News***

The magic sponge has been on overtime this week, but Doc Butcher still has plenty of problems ahead of this fixture.  Definitely out are Munro (suspended), Sanchez (broken hand), Hayes (foot), Shinnie (stomach problem),  Ross (foot), McBain (foot).  The strugglers are Gillet, Blumenshtein, Morrison, Golabeck and Sutherland.  That's eleven players out of the squad which leaves us down to the bare bones.  Ross Tokely has served his one match ban and will slot into the back four, but with the current crop of injuries Butcher will not know yet where he will play.  Aaron Doran scored his first SPL goal last week and is raring to go.  Butcher will give his players every chance to be fit for this game before deciding his line up, but options are thin on the ground just now.

Derek McInnes has less anxiety over his squad.  Having played less games due to the weather, his squad are not carrying the same amount of injuries as Butcher's crocks and have a more settled look about them.  The last SPL game for Saint's was a 2-0 defeat of Hamilton and this was the squad then:- 

St Johnstone

• 01 Enckelman
• 02 MacKay
• 06 Duberry
• 12 Anderson
• 04 Morris (Taylor 88)
• 07 Millar
• 10 Craig
• 20 Davidson
• 32 May
• 08 Novikovas (Maybury 46)
• 21 Samuel (MacDonald 71)

Substitutes

• 15 Smith,
• 19 Maybury,
• 37 Caddis,
• 11 Taylor,
• 24 Adams,
• 09 Parkin,
• 16 MacDonald

Other minor league news

Tangoman is coming :-  The air around Dingwall is about to turn orange with the breaking news that Jimmy Calderwood is ready to be unveiled as the next County manager, until the end of the season.  I hope that's not more than nine games.  He will be the gudgies eighth manager in six years after Willie McStay was relieved of his duties following nine games in charge without a win, taking County to the cusp of the relegation battle and out of the cups.  Previous to that run of managers, Bobby Wilson and Neale Cooper were in the post for a total of fifteen years.  Rumours that a spate of new sunbed parlours were going to open in the quaint market town were thought to be untrue, but sales of orange blossom sun tan enhancer were hitting an all time high, allegedly.