Fife Flyers brought down to earth with a bump.

What is being described as a pivotal game this early in the season will be fought out at Tulloch Caledonian Stadium this weekend as Inverness play host to Dunfermline Athletic.

The Pars early season adrenalin fuelled rush has given way to the grim reality of the SPL.  A league where only two teams has a possibility of winning in the current climate and where the fear of relegation stifles any hope of free flowing football from the other ten teams.  Yes, welcome back to the SPL.

Dunfermline fresh from winning the First Division raised a few eyebrows on their return to the top flight.  Home draws with St Mirren and Inverness were followed by excellent away wins at Dundee United and St Johnstone which saw them floating high in the SPL, but subsequent results have taken the wind out of their sails and the crash was almost audible as the Pars struggle to keep their heads above water.   One point in their next six games and dumped out of the League Cup by East Fife, (ouch that must have hurt), have seen Dunfermline settle just one point above Inverness at the foot of the table.  They do have one game in hand, but that might not be a good thing as it is against Celtic.

Our season has bungled along without much direction, unless you count downward as one.  We have struggled to overcome a series of unfortunate injuries, but there was nothing unfortunate about the release of certain players, and that is part of the problem which we now find difficult to shake off.  There appeared to be some light at the end of the tunnel after encouraging displays against Hearts, Celtic and St Mirren, but it has gone all dark again with a woeful showing in Perth.  Interestingly, we are not the poorest defence in the league at the moment as Dunfermline and Dundee United are both worse off than us, but given our lack of goal scoring prowess then our goal difference shows up our frailties.

Gringo has taken time out from his Prediction League to give us a few pointers as to how this game might pan out.

Par for the course?

Our first encounter with Dunfermline on home soil was back in October 1999 during our first season in the 1st Div. An 89th minute Martin Bavidge goal secured a 1-1 draw against a Pars side that went on to finish second in the league and reach the SPL. In fact, during that season, Dunfermline took ten points off us by winning all three of the other encounters. Revenge, if you could call it that, came in the 2006/2007 season when goals from Richard Hastings and Rory MacAllister saw ICT come from a goal down at half time to send the Pars crashing out of the SPL and back to life in the SFL. It has taken them quite a while to regain their SPL status - taking far longer than we did and much longer than their fans ever expected.

Our home record against the Pars is quite good having only lost two of the eleven league encounters. We’ve always scored at home against them too and I can’t see any reason why this shouldn’t continue despite the way we squander chances. We also met Dunfermline at Hampden Park in an SFA Cup Semi Final and it was some bloke called Brewster that stopped us progressing to the final with his 67th minute equaliser. (whatever happened to him).  The replay in Aberdeen was one of only five successes the Pars have had against us.

They are not enjoying life back in the SPL too much at the moment having shipped 10 goals in their last three games without reply and are in the same boat as us in finding points hard to come by. Prior to the International break we managed to beat a useful looking St Mirren side at home and closed that gap to just one point behind Pars. But would the International break have upset our momentum?

Those that were at St Johnstone last week would certainly think so as we produced a dire, lack lustre, couldn’t-be-bothered performance that had Terry Butcher bemoaning the fact that it felt like he’d picked up a team of strangers alongside the A9 en route to the game. There will be no A9 this week of course and hopefully the boys have been sat on the naughty step all week, gone without their fish and chips and have been watching video’s of Manchester City!

We do have a few players on the brink of returning to the squad after injury and some of these could feature and, especially after last weeks performances, there should be no shortage of places to fill in my opinion. As for if there’ll be a winner at Caley Stadium on Saturday remains to be seen. We have yet to keep a clean sheet in the league and Pars haven’t scored in three SPL attempts. Make no bones about it, Pars will be up for this and so should we after last weeks dire affair. The players have a point to prove to the ICT faithful and a resounding thumping of Dunfermline could be the only way to do it. Everyone knows I like a bet on the football coupon but I will be leaving this one well alone.

This has the makings of a dire 0-0 draw but this wasn’t the case in the away fixture where we shared six goals, almost winning the game had it not have been for a very dodgy free-kick! If there are going to be goals in this match where will they come from? Dunfermilines Andy Kirk has bagged three and ICT’s Gregory Tade has the same amount although Tade is probably at the head of the missed chances chart.

Hopefully this will be the game that see’s ICT click and the drubbing that Terry Butcher has talked about will finally make an appearance but, for me, I have my doubts but I sincerely hope that the team bounce back and put a smile and glimmer of hope back on to our sad faces. I believe (just).

Ones to look out for in the visitors ranks are former Hearts striker Andy Kirk who seems to make a habit of scoring crucial goals  against Inverness.  His pace could be vital for the away side as they will look to hit on the break and with our static back line that could be a problem.  To compliment Kirk up front, David Graham has the silky skills and ability to drift past defenders effortlessly, à la Barry Wilson in his heyday.  So, plenty pace to be had in the Pars front line.

Latest Team News

Inverness' under fire manager Terry Butcher still has three major long term absentees.  Owain Tudur-Jones, Chris Hogg and Aaron Doran are still sidelined.  Lee Cox made the bench last week with Josh Meekings and they along with Jonny Hayes are on the recovery wagon, although Hayes missed the bounce game in midweek against Dundee United with a slight groin strain which might keep him out for a bit longer.  Butcher has more options available to him now, but central defence is still a problem with Hogg out and Golobart out of favour after a couple of lapses, and the gaps at the back leaving Esson somewhat exposed at times.

Dunfermline have former County and Inverness striker Andy Barrowman as a doubt after an appendix operation although Jason Thomson will be available for selection after having to sit out the Hearts game last week due to the loan agreement between the clubs.  Scorer of that dramatic last minute equaliser in the first game Martin Hardie will miss this one along with Nicky Phinn and the singer Kevin Rutkiewicz.  Long term absentee Steven Bell is still out.   The Pars have a similar problem to Inverness, how to keep the ball out of their own net and Jim McIntyre bemoaned the fact that his side gave away cheap goals against Heart's, although he thought that was the only difference between the sides, (sounds familiar).