Second chance for cup flops.

East End Park Dunfermline is the venue for this Scottish Cup Fourth Round replay between the Pars and the Caley Jags.

The two clubs played out a grim 1-1 draw in Inverness eleven days ago, where 10 man Inverness got an eleventh hour reprieve when Jonny Hayes capitalised on a massive goalkeeping blunder by the unfortunate Chris Smith, to earn the clueless Highlanders another chance to progress to the next round where Celtic will visit the winners. Inverness reject Andy Barrowman had nodded the Pars ahead in the first half after Jonny Tuffey fluffed a clearance and Andy Kirk picked up the loose ball. As he made a bee line for the goal Kenny Gillet halted his progresss, unfairly said Mr Norris, and he sent him packing. Barrowman nodded home from the resultant free kick which Tuffey spilled onto the head of the striker to open the scoring.

Neither side deserved to go through at the first time of asking after what can only be described as lethargy in motion. Dunfermline were the architect's of their own downfall after wasting time at every opportunity since taking the lead and the leveller was just reward for Inverness' persistance rather than anything to do with slick football. However six minutes of added time looked likely to be insufficient for the home side until Smith's aberration gifted the alert Hayes the opportunity to take the tie to a replay.

Despite Inverness lodging an appeal, claiming that Gillet got the ball and Kirk kicked the back of Gillet's leg, the panel decided that the evidence was inconclusive and this means that stopgap centreback Gillet is suspended for the replay. Not great news for Inverness to be honest as Ross Tokely is still struggling to overcome injury and recent loan signing Steve Williamson is ineligible for this cup game. Chris Hogg is out for the season as well so it could be a case of who turns up on the night getting the nod. David Proctor returned to the pitch last weekend as a late substitute at Motherwell and Josh Meekings has had another week to regain fitness.

In the SPL games sandwiched between these two cup meetings, Inverness had the better result, defeating Motherwell at Fir Park thanks to a magnificent turn and strike from Gregory Tade which eased Butcher's men slowly away from the foot of the table. Meanwhile in Fife, Dunfermline were losing to nearest rivals Hibernian by three goals to two. A result which now leaves the Fifers slightly detatched at the wrong end of the table.

So, what has changed since that last cup game?

David Davis has returned to Wolverhampton Wanderers.........who swiftly loaned him out to struggling League One side Chesterfield. The injured Aidan Chippendale has returned to Huddersfield to continue his rehab. Inverness signed big centre-back Steve Williams from Bradford City on loan until the end of the season.........but he is ruled out for the cup game. Ross Tokely is taking longer to regain fitness after the knock at Ibrox. The one positive news for Inverness is that Richie Foran will return after missing the Motherwell game through suspension.

Keeper Ian Turner has signed on loan at East End Park from Preston North End, but he suffers the same fate as Williams. Neither were registered for the first game and this makes them ineligible for the replay. The Pars will be without Paul Burns, along with Craig Easton, Austin McCann, Nick Phinn, Steven Bell and number one keeper Paul Gallacher who misses the rest of the season.

tm4tj Prediction:- Oh dear, I predicted that we would be too strong for Dunfermline at home, but did not build in the red card factor that slowed the process down. Having witnessed the first game I still see no reason to think that the Pars will be any better than they were at Inverness, but if we can keep eleven men on the park then that should see us move on to face Celtic in the next round. Nobody said it would be easy, and I expect another turgid encounter.

TV cameras will be present for live coverage on Wednesday evening with a 19:45 kick off. Let's hope it's a more entertaining sight than the first game, and that penalty kicks are not required to sort the men from the boys, as Celtic await the winners.