Scottish Cup 4th round action this weekend.

The only all SPL clash in the cup sees two of the relegation favourites battle it out in Inverness as basement club Dunfermline visit the Highlands, Parfect..........weather permitting.

Last weeks first-footers failed to show up at the Stadium as the heavy rain and sleet made the pitch unplayable and the game was postponed by the referee after an eleven fifteen inspection. Unfortunately many fans from both sides had already undertaken the arduous journey and the decision although unpopular was the correct one under the circumstances as blizzards and gales wreaked havoc across Scotland for the next few days.

So, all that means is that Saturday's visitors will be our first-footers this year. A tin of shortbread and a lump of coal will surely be offered as a friendly gesture; can we return the compliment by dumping the Pars out of the competition at the first time of asking?

It's a strange competition the Scottish Cup. League form goes out the window when the cup comes along. Some big names have been known to fall to lesser known opponents and Inverness Caledonian Thistle are well documented in that category, creating their own place in the history books.

Some less well known Scottish Cup exploits go back to before the merger, when Inverness Caledonian triumphed against League opponents on no less that 19 occasions. Beating Airdrie in 1990 was a notable achievement, but embarking on a cup run in '92 by beating league sides Stenhousemuir 4-1 and Clyde 3-1 before losing out to St Johnstone 3-0 at the 'Fancy Dan' all seater stadium in Perth after a replay goes down as a real feel good factor moment.

However, probably the greatest Cup upset of them all came at Kingsmills on February 9th 1985, the home of Inverness Thistle. The Jags were third bottom of the Highland League at the time and had struggled to beat Spartans in the previous round. Kilmarnock were the visitors, themselves struggling in the Second Division. But goals from Dave Milroy, Gordon Hay and Brian Fraser sent Thistle through in front of 2,500 fans at Kingsmills Park. The Polis were required to intervene as Killie fans sought the head of manager Eddie Morrison. How dare these teuchters beat an established team from the Central Belt. Thistle were amply rewarded with a trip to play Celtic in the next round. Although they lost 6-0, the sum of £7,626 was well received for their endeavours at Parkhead.

But what of Dunfermline?

They suffered their worst ever Cup defeat at the hands of Hibernian in October 1889, losing 11-1 in a replay, the first game had ended 4-4 at East End Park. (That defeat is not their all time record loss, 17-2 to Clackmannan in a Midland League clash in 1891). However, fast forward some seventy-odd years and the Jock Stein era took the Pars to a new level. In 1961 they won the Cup for the first time, beating Celtic 2-0 after a replay. And so began a golden era for the Pars, regularly featuring in European matches. They narrowly missed out in the Cup Final in 1965, losing 3-2 to Celtic, who had by now secured Jock Stein as their new manager, and finished third in the league behind Kilmarnock and Hearts. A certain Alex Ferguson being a prominent player between '64-'67. In 1968, George Farm emulated the success of Stein and the Pars beat Hearts 3-1 to lift the Scottish Cup for the second time, and then went on to the semi-final of the European Cup Winners Cup before losing 2-1 to eventual winners Slovan Bratislava. It took Dunfermline a further 36 years to reach another Scottish Cup Final, this time losing 3- 1 to Celtic with Jimmy Calderwood in charge, who immediately resigned to join Aberdeen.

Stats count for nothing in the Cup, one off games where the winner takes all. On the face of it, Inverness would appear to be on the up and the Pars are sliding slowly towards the first division, but as I said, the Cup spurs players on to greater things. I don't expect anything other than a tough encounter where in this Cup game the winner will take more than just entry into the next round as their prize. It will be a massive confidence boost over one of the candidates for the drop, so everything to play for in this one.

The teams have only met once before in the Scottish Cup, well twice if you count the replay, and that was in 2004 when Inverness went out at the semi-final stage to the Pars. A certain Mr Brewster taking the game to a replay at Pittodrie with a headed goal in the second half after Paul Ritchie had opened the scoring for the Caley Jags. Barry Nicholson scored an Archie Gemmill of a goal as he danced through the Inverness defence to score the decisive goal that would take the Pars into the final for the first time in 35 years.

Brings a tear to your eyes.......

***Latest Team News***

Inverness have secured the services of Roman Golobart until the end of the season. However that has been countered by the news that David Davis will return to Wolverhampton Wanderers after a productive spell in Inverness where he had become a fans favourite with his robust and creative midfield performances in his fourteen games. He could feature tomorrow if selected, but that would be his last game for ICT. Chippendale, and Proctor have resumed full training and Jones is slightly behind in terms of recovery. Andrew Shinnie and Ross Tokely needed that extra week to recover from knocks and captain Richie Foran will be eligible to play in the Cup game. He misses the Motherwell fixture next week. Hogg the Blogg is out for the season, see The Fightback at http://chrishoggthef...k.blogspot.com/

Dunfermline goalkeeper Paul Gallacher is out for the remainder of the season with a shoulder injury sustained during the 4-0 defeat to Hearts a couple of weeks ago. Chris Smith will continue to deputise. Austin McCann, Nick Phinn and Steven Bell are still sidelined, but Kevin Rutkiewicz and striker Steven McDougall have returned to training and could be included in the squad for the cup-tie. McIntyre's injury list is looking healthier, but he is on the look out to strengthen his squad in the January sales. Jason Thomson has left the building and returned to Hearts

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Euan Norris is the man in the middle for this game.

tm4tj Prediction:- Cup games are special days and anything goes. Inverness are still getting back to full strength and the loss of Davis is a blow should he not get a start, however I do expect Inverness to have just enough to see off the Pars, but it will be tough. Inverness to be in the hat come Saturday evening for the fifth round draw.