Jimmy Says "aye" to a Killie pie........the sequel.

Rugby Park is the place to be this weekend as Inverness hit the road to Ayrshire.  Football at a ground called Rugby Park, whatever next.  After last weeks slow start, Inverness will be looking to get back on their winning ways against Kilmarnock, a team who have struggled to get the results their play has merited under the guidance of new manager Mixu Paatelainen.  Terry Butcher was none too pleased with the first half showing against St Johnstone, as Colin Samuel ghosted in at the back post to strike the ball past an exposed Ryan Esson after the defence left a long diagonal ball to find it's way to the strikers feet.  Jonny Hayes sprinted clear onto a Richie Foran slick through ball to level the scores in the second half, but the fans had maybe expected better, especially in the first half, and Inverness will look to get out of the blocks quicker.

Alternative Maryhill has given us this cultural, economics and historical lesson, complete with pub guide, of one of his favourite away days, so settle down, and get your reading glasses on.  You might need to try this one in installments, but like a good book, you will keep going to the end.

Kilmarnock v Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Saturday 23rd October 2010 

It’s been far too long. Four interminable weeks since Caley Thistle’s last away game, HMS Sneck finally sets sail again this weekend on its longest journey of the season: the 193-mile trip to Kilmarnock. Understandably, this has been one of the less well-attended fixtures by ICT supporters over the years, but anyone still mulling over whether to make the trip this weekend should be encouraged to do so: Kilmarnock is well worth a visit, for various reasons.

Since Caley Thistle and Kilmarnock last met on league business, the East Ayrshire town has been unusually prominent in the media. One reason for this was the announcement of the imminent closure of Kilmarnock’s Johnnie Walker bottling plant, a decision that will rob the town of one of its great institutions and, more importantly, deprive up to 900 people of their livelihoods. A happier reason for the recent spate of headlines involving Kilmarnock was the town’s role as host to BBC ratings smash ‘The Scheme’, a heartwarming tale of everyday folk, vengeful drug dealers, teenage joyriders and faithful dogs named Bullet, that had knickers twisting throughout the more genteel sections of Scottish society until it was pulled for legal reasons.

If breathing the same air as Marvin, Gordon, Dayna, Candice et al is not reason enough for the Inverness masses to make the pilgrimage to Ayrshire, however, then there is also the fact that Kilmarnock is, simply, a great place for a pint. Rugby Park is closer to the town centre than most SPL grounds, and supporters are thus spoiled for choice. For cheap bar meals and pool there is the Hunting Lodge, where IHE, Govan Jaggie, Red Card and co traditionally tie up their horses before a game; others prefer the Portland Hotel, which provides a big beer garden and large screen TVs showing lunchtime football, and is only two minutes walk from the ground. There is also the Brass and Granite, which will always have a fond place in the hearts of travelling ICT supporters for the free hot buffet its staff offered away supporters on the night of the aborted cup replay in 2001. As for after-match entertainment, meanwhile, there is only one place to head to: the incomparable Fanny by Gaslight. It might look a bit of a dive, but it is directly opposite the railway station, has cheap beer, a decent juke box, a pool table, a ‘Who-can-punch-hardest?’ machine and, best of all, that wonderfully gothic name, taken from Michael Sadleir’s novel of Victorian London. The fact that this fine name is unlikely to get past this website’s decency filter is a sad reflection of the misappropriation of our fair tongue by the potty minded elements of society...

Anyway, the pubs alone should be sufficient to persuade any right-thinking ICT supporter onto that Ayrshire-bound train, but in case they are not, it is also worth pointing out that over the years this fixture has produced some cracking games, and a surprisingly high number of goals.

History of the Fixture

Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Kilmarnock have met on twenty-two occasions in competitive fixtures: eighteen times in the SPL and four times in the Scottish Cup. Kilmarnock have eight wins (six in the league, two in the cup), ICT have seven wins (six in the league, and one in the cup) and seven games have been drawn.

This very even-looking record between the clubs throws up a few unusual statistics: of the seven draws between the clubs, none has finished 0-0 while four have finished 2-2; all of the league matches between the clubs in season 2005-06 finished in draws; Darren Dods was ICT’s top scorer against Kilmarnock in season 2006-07, with three goals; and, ironically, ICT’s relegation season, 2008-09, was by some distance ICT’s most successful against Kilmarnock, the Inverness club recording three league victories and a cup win. Before then, Kilmarnock was a team against which ICT had struggled more often than not.

Season 2007-08’s fixtures against Kilmarnock encapsulated the Jekyll and Hyde nature of ICT that season. The first game, at Rugby Park in October 2007, was a 2-2 draw which ended a run of three consecutive league victories for Inverness . These wins had partially salvaged the damage done by six straight defeats at the start of the season, the fifth of these convincing Charlie Christie to resign the manager’s position. Despite his first game being a heavy defeat at Celtic Park, Craig Brewster was hailed as a returning messiah in some quarters after wins against Hearts, Gretna and Falkirk; the Kilmarnock game, however, showed that the ICT revival might not be so straightforward after all. ICT’s frailties were epitomised hilariously in the first minute – Michael Fraser misjudged a through ball, played pat-a-cake with it against his own post, and the ball fell to Aime Koudou, who tapped in with Fraser still chasing his own tail in the six yard area – but the quality that existed in the squad was also demonstrated by Don Cowie’s stunning 25-yard free kick, which levelled the game at 2-2. The second fixture between the clubs that season again came during a period of optimism among the ICT support, following as it did successive 3-2 wins over Celtic and Hearts, and with summer signings Cowie and Niculae both hitting top form. Niculae had arguably his best game in an Inverness shirt, scoring two as Caley Thistle defeated Kilmarnock 3-1. However, the sale of John Rankin in the January transfer window, when he was playing his best football of the season after a slow start, coincided with the start of a shocking run of form for ICT which, after ten games without a win, reached its nadir at Rugby Park on the 22nd of March in a 4-1 defeat. I recall this as the game when concerns about the direction of the club under Craig Brewster really began to hit crisis point, with the team collapsing disgracefully after Killie’s equaliser. Many predicted, correctly as it turned out, that without Gretna there to spare us, Brewster’s management would see Caley Thistle relegated the following season. The final game between the teams that season, a straightforward 3-0 victory for Inverness, came when both teams had nothing meaningful to play for.

And so to season 2008-09: ICT’s most successful season against Kilmarnock to date, yet also the most disappointing season in the club’s history. The first game between the teams, a 3-1 home win for Inverness, did not raise many eyebrows: this was Caley Thistle’s third league win of the season after a characteristically inconsistent start. However, between that game and the next fixture against Kilmarnock, at Rugby Park on November 22nd, a truer picture of ICT’s season began to emerge, with the team losing six games, drawing one and winning only once. A final scoreline of Kilmarnock 1 – ICT 2, with Imrie and Wood scoring for Caley Thistle, was thus greeted with some surprise and hope that the win might put a stop to the rot. Sadly, this was not the case, and this game will go down as Craig Brewster’s last league win as Inverness manager. By March 14th the mood in the Caley Thistle camp was very different. The Inverness side was enjoying its most successful period of the season, with recent league wins against Hibernian and Rangers and draws against Celtic and Dundee United as well as a 2-0 home defeat of Kilmarnock in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup. It came as no shock, therefore, when Caley Thistle ran out 2-1 winners against Kilmarnock, with early goals from Richie Foran and Ian Black doing the damage. Four games, four wins, then; but when it mattered most, Kilmarnock’s players were able to rise to the occasion. The game at Rugby Park on 16th May was contested between two teams still threatened with relegation. At the start of the game ICT looked, on paper, comfortable favourites to stay up, having won the first game after the split with St Mirren and drawn the next two against Hamilton and Motherwell. Yet perhaps the team’s failure the previous Tuesday to hold onto a 2-1 lead against a Motherwell team playing only for pride should have sounded alarm bells. Caley Thistle fought hard, but too often the final product just wasn’t good enough. After Kevin Kyle’s 79th minute winner, which guaranteed Kilmarnock’s safety, the optimistic mood which had prevailed among the Inverness supporters since Terry Butcher’s arrival was suddenly replaced by very real fears that the club could be facing the drop. What happened the following Saturday is only too well known.

ICT’s most recent trip to Rugby Park came in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup, on February 6th 2010, by which time the teams were a league apart. There is an argument which says that, leaving aside the human cost of redundancies , relegation to the first division was a good thing for squad and supporters, both groups having stagnated to some degree. The renewed enthusiasm among the supporters was obvious in the 40-minute, conga-accompanied rendition of ‘Jimmy says Aye to a Killie pie’, but by the end of the game the argument that relegation had benefited the team was not one that would have found a great deal of support among the fans. ICT were already 6 games into the 21-game unbeaten run that would carry them to the title, and had moved to 9 points behind Dundee having played two games less, but although some supporters had begun to talk more seriously of a renewed title challenge, these were probably still in minority. That afternoon, against a Kilmarnock side that had struggled in the SPL all season, an ICT team containing a front three of Hayes, Rooney and Foran fought hard but went down to three soft goals and, in all honesty, looked some distance from a team that could compete in the SPL. What a difference a few months can make.

Current Form and Team News

The teams meet on Saturday with ICT four points and six places above Kilmarnock in the SPL table. Obviously it is far too early in the season to be able to tell if this is a true reflection of the relative merits of the teams, but Inverness supporters can feel justifiably pleased by their side’s start to the season, while Kilmarnock supporters are probably a little frustrated at only being two points off the bottom.

The consensus among Kilmarnock supporters seems to be that their team is playing better football than recent results suggest. After three years of poor football and poor results under Jim Jeffries, which culminated last season in a final-day escape from relegation at the expense of Falkirk, Killie supporters were heartened by the positive way in which new manager Mixu Paatelainen set out his team, and by the obvious ability of new signings such as David Silva and Finnish international Alexei Eremenko. When narrow defeats against Rangers and Motherwell were followed by successive victories against Aberdeen and St Mirren, the Rugby Park faithful could feel hopeful that their team was on the up. Yet since then, Kilmarnock have only taken one point from four matches, and although reports from last weekend’s games suggest that Killie were extremely unlucky not to take anything from Easter Road, lurking in the back of many minds must be a fear that the team could settle into one of those slumps that have characterised their recent seasons.

As for Caley Thistle, the season to date has probably gone better than most supporters dared hope. There has been one absolutely outstanding performance, against Dundee United, two very comfortable wins against St Mirren and Aberdeen, and respectable draws against Hibernian and St Johnstone. Of the club’s three league losses, only the home defeat to Hamilton was entirely without merit. Given the injury problems Terry Butcher has had to contend with over this period, it is a fine record. Yet some questions still exist over what Caley Thistle’s best team is. There was a settled look to the line-up that played most of the match against St Mirren and went on to defeat Aberdeen the following week, yet Terry Butcher raised a few eyebrows against St Johnstone when he opted to drop Russell Duncan, outstanding in recent games, and move Stuart Duff back to midfield to accommodate right back Kevin McCann on his return from injury. By all accounts, the first half witnessed an ICT side completely unable to impose itself on the game, and many observers felt that the absence of Duncan was a key factor in this. The restoration of Duncan to the side for Saturday’s game would be a very popular move in the eyes of most supporters.

The injury situation at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium is slowly improving, but for Saturday’s game Caley Jags are still expected to be without David Proctor, Chris Innes and Gil Blumenshtein, and the game may also come too soon for left-back Kenny Gillet, with Graeme Shinnie expected to continue as an able deputy. Kilmarnock are without new signing James Dayton, whose fine start to the season was spoiled by a cruciate ligament injury that will keep him out for some months, and goalkeeper Alan Combe, who would probably be no more than a substitute in any case, given Cammy Bell’s excellent performances for Killie.

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Gil Blumenshtein has a hamstring injury to add to his woes and will definitely miss this one and battling midfielder Lee Cox is still recovering from the serious challenge he received at Parkhead.  Add Proctor, Gillet, and Innes to that and we are still short of cover especially at the back.  Killie will have Fraser Wright back in contention after his red card against the Arabs, but Dayton and Combe are long term absentees.

Prediction

Games between these clubs are never easy ones to call. Caley Thistle have the better recent form and a fine record on the road, yet their most recent performance was patchy at best; Killie are by all accounts playing some nice football, have several talented new signings and a squad that also contains players such as Bryson, Taouil and Sammon who have given Inverness sides real problems in the past; yet these same players were also part of the Kilmarnock squad that underperformed in recent seasons. Bearing all this in mind, I will sit on the fence and predict another appearance for the scoreline that has occurred with unusual frequency between these teams in the past:

Kilmarnock 2 – Inverness Caledonian Thistle 2