Back to the bread & butter this weekend with another trip to the Central belt.  After the one set whitewash from Celtic in the CIS Cup, Inverness fans will be hoping for better things in Paisley in what could be a six pointer.  ICT looked as bedraggled as an apathetic Andy Murray as their body language gave it away at Parkhead.  Some of this down to injuries, the rest was down to manager Terry Butcher's generosity to give some players a break.

The ICT expansive injury list

Lee Cox has become the latest victim on the treatment table after a serious looking studs up challenge from the Korean Ki Sung-Yeung, in the Parkhead debacle.  Early signs are that Butcher will be without the tenacious midfielder for a possible six weeks, (ligament damage).  This was the last thing that Butcher needed coming back to the SPL fixtures and possibly vindicates his decision to rest some players at Parkhead.  Let's start from the back, both full backs Kevin McCann and Kenny Gillet are injured along with ex-Buddy Chris Innes.  The afore mentioned Cox is definitely out, as is Gil Blumenshtein, although he is back in light training.  Danni Sanchez has missed the last two games after starring as a substitute against Hibernian.  Add to that list, players like Jonny Hayes, Richie Foran and Stuart Golabek who are just returning to fitness after missing pre-season, then you can see why Mr Butcher was over cautious in midweek.

So, who will play for ICT?  Ryan Esson will be back at his No1 position with Proctor, Tokely, Munro, and A N Other at left back.  Holding midfield will have a more settled look with Russell Duncan surely partnering Stuart Duff in the absence of Coxy.  The forward midfielders will have a more familiar look about it with Hayes, Odhiambo and Ross providing for Adam Rooney.  Foran is working back to full fitness but it would be harsh to remove Nick Ross after the youngster has shown a much improved workrate over the last few weeks.  Left back:  Now that has been a problem position for some time.  We have had Hastings, Djebi Zadi, Golabek, Tokely, Shinnie, McBain, Gillet and Tom Dick & Harry playing there, but nobody has been able to lay claim to the jesey until Kenny Gillet came along.  Now that he is also injured we have a dilemma.  Maybe it's time to bite the bullet and give Roy McBain a run.  The injuries this season has highlighted the reasons for strength in depth, something fairly new to Inverness who are now working on the bare minimum.

Old Buddies

St Mirren are in the same mini league as Inverness and this game will no doubt be a keenly contested match.  One player that both sets of fans look forward to seeing is Ross Tokely.  Ross and St Mirren go back a long way and even in our last SPL season he was getting some stick from the Buddies after scoring the decisive goal in a 1-2 victory for Inverness.  Alas it was all in vain as Saints unexpectedly beat Falkirk away from home in the next game and we ultimately crashed into the first division when Falkirk came calling in Inverness.  One bright light at Paisley came from an unlikely source.  On a day resembling a Christmas card scene in February 2004, Darran Thomson scored the winner in a Scottish Cup tie.  Who would have thought that.

Davie's views are similar...........

The thought of another trip to Glasvegas on a bus is enough to make my legs and bladder stop working, especially after the comprehensive hallumphing dished out to us on Wednesday at "paradise", when our reserves were outclassed by about twenty million or so quid as well as six goals.

And yet, what was obvious was that this was the big game all week. Last week's report said it: crucial game, six pointer, must win, pick your own euphemism. At 4.45 on Saturday we have got be coming off the park at Paisley 3 points to the good, or the storm clouds will slowly start to gather. It's getting to that stage already. Paisley's new ground, already referred to universally as the "methadome" is a quaint affair seemingly made of Meccano (or Lego) and it's not been the best of homes for St. Mirren since they sold Love Street. It's a good place to start winning.

St. Mirren as we know and rejoice at, are in the second bottom slot in the SPL, although we'll gloss over the fact that they are on the same points as us. They seemed destined for a long hard season this year, having sacked their manager (Gus MacPherson) and losing the quality out of their squad (Dorman, Ross, Mehmet etc.) Replacing the above with an en masse injection from Cowdenbeath seemed less than wise, and grumblings from New St. Mirren Park are evident even at this early stage in the season. Why else would you ban the newspapers? If they are poor for morale, I'd ban their access to Pie & Bovril as quick as you can Saints, or you'll be jumping off bridges. The record this year is remarkably similar to ours: D,L,W,L,L with the last loss at St. Johnstone being a particular sickener. They also have injury problems, which will prevent the reappearance of one Craig Dargo, and a calf tear will sideline Steven Thomson for up to six weeks. These two injury blows are offset by the news that Paul McQuade is ready to get back into contention, along with Paul McGowan after his ban. 

Likewise at Inverness, it would probably be easier to list who is fit for ICT rather than who aint. Lee Cox followed a host of others into unavailability after being launched skywards with an almost broken ankle on Wednesday night, ligament damage apparently.  So, forget Gillet, Blumenstein, Innes, Sanchez and McCann as well and you can see the extent of our woes, reflected in the L, W, L, D, L so far. Butcher must be buying up every piece of cotton wool he can find. Formations for this one are likely to be dictated by who's fit (Tuffey for left back?!), but we will see the return of Esson, Rooney, Odhiambo and Foran after Wednesday and that quartet would make a difference to any side. This one will be tighter.

Honours are pretty even over the piece, with 5 wins for ICT, 4 for St. Mirren and 3 draws. The word "draw" seems to feature heavily in my mind right now, but you never know. The match referee is Stephen Finnie.

tm4tj prediction

I will be sitting on the fence for this one as well and a draw after the humiliation of Parkhead will be no mean feat given the restricted squad at our disposal.  With our defence at sixes and sevens, (and that's not just the goals against column), we could be in for a torrid afternoon, but I am looking for the midfield to share the burden and take the weight off the back four and hopefully minimise the opportunities for the Saints to run at us.  So, my mind is set on a scoring draw.