Saints versus Sinners

Inverness head to Scotlands largest town this saturday for an SPL fixture that has in the past proved to be a testing encounter. 

Yes, it's the home of the Paisley Pattern, Paisley Panda and Saint Mirrin, the Irish monk. 

More recent Buddies are the late great Gerry Rafferty, Paolo Nutini, Kenneth McKellar and Kelly Marie; she of  'Feels Like I'm In Love' fame.  A diverse lot indeed.

I suppose the monk kind of gives it away, It's St Mirren in Paisley this weekend and points are now starting to get more precious as the weeks slip by and clean sheets are like good singers on X-Factor.

Inverness were the sinners last weekend as another week slipped by without a clean sheet and boss Terry Butcher is at his wits end as to how to stop the rot.  Kenny Gillet and Gregory Tade felt the wrath of the Butcher as he bemoaned lapses at either end of the park.  Gillet posted missing for Hearts first goal and Tade not taking full advantage of another one-on-one with a keeper.  There is a fine line between success and failure and with Inverness, Butcher sees no middle ground as more points went abegging.  Disappointing result when you consider the way the entire team played at Kilmarnock a couple of weeks earlier.  All of this has prompted Butcher to challenge his players to shape up or ship out as the January transfer window beckons, Ross Tokely being the only defender to escape criticism after the Hearts defeat.

Saints were on the wrong end of a drubbing last weekend as Celtic went nap.  The battle of the Lennon's ended as a contest within the hour as Celtic went four up before rising starlet Dylan McGeouch scored a superb individual goal as the eighteen year old dribbled past the entire Paisley defence and their fans before slotting home the goal of the game.  St Mirren's defending was woeful at times and they could have had no complaints if Celtic had reached double figures.

All of this however pales into insignificance as news of  the death of Welsh soccer legend Gary Speed rocked the footballing world.  A young man with everything to live for has been driven to take his own life and leave behind his devastated family and friends.  Football has sadly lost one of the nicest guys you could meet and you will struggle to find anyone who had a bad word to say about him.  His family, likeability, positive future and esteemed position in life were not enough though, and for whatever reason he decided to leave this world at the age of 42. 

RIP Gary Speed MBE, 08/09/1969 - 27/11/2011

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Proctor is our previewer for this game as both sides try to get back on track.............................

Inverness Caledonian Thistle travel to New St Mirren Park hoping to finally leave the foot of the table.

Last week The Caley Jags were minutes from climbing above 11th Placed Aberdeen in the SPL Table. A tremendous comeback by the Dons to draw 3-3 against Dunfermline coupled with an Eggert Jonsson winner for Hearts ensured the Highlanders were still holding up the league.

Despite ICT’s 2-1 loss at Tynecastle last weekend, they will consider themselves fortunate when comparing themselves to their opponent’s most recent score-line.

Danny Lennon took his St Mirren side to Parkhead last Saturday where they were demolished 5-0 by an efficient Celtic side. The Paisley side will be keen to bounce back and show that result was a minor blip in their push for top six football.

Inverness have their own defensive issues, having not kept a clean sheet all season. This week Terry Butcher read the riot act to the defence saying they had five weeks to save their skin.

Both Caley Thistle’s Terry Butcher and St Mirren’s Danny Lennon have recently extended their respective contracts and with just 8 points separating 6th placed St Mirren and 12th placed Inverness CT, a lot can change in a few games and neither side can afford to lose on Saturday.

Stats:- Inverness hold a slight advantage over Paisley in this fixture with three wins to two from eight SPL games.  Both sides have score eleven goals with the 3-3 draw last season being the highest scoring one.  Highest victory margin was a 2-0 win for Saint's in December 2008.

Team News St Mirren’s injury worries David Barron and Aaron Mooy both appeared on the bench against Celtic with Barron playing half an hour at Parkhead. Danny Lennon mentioned in a recent interview for the St Mirren site that Hugh Murray is also nearing full fitness. Could any of these three feature on Saturday?

Inverness CT’s two long term injury worries Aaron Doran (shoulder surgery) and Owain Tudor-Jones (knee cartilage surgery) are making good progress with their respective ailments. Both have resumed light training but will not feature on Saturday.

Memorable Game:- 9th February 2008 – St Mirren 1 – Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1

Having recently lost 3-0 at Easter Road to Hibernian in the Scottish Cup, Inverness were desperately seeking their 1000th competitive goal in the clubs 14 year history. Caley Thistle legend Grant Munro netted the monumental goal in the 28th minute. The Buddies would pull one back through Billy Mehmet (now at Perth Glory in Australia). This was to be one of the last meetings between the two sides at the historic Love Street Stadium.

Key Players Steven Thompson (St Mirren) – You can take your pick as to which Steven Thompson to watch. One is a midfielder, the other is a striker. Steven Thompson the striker has scored five goals for his club so far this season making him St Mirren’s top goal scorer.

Andrew Shinnie (Inverness CT) – The Caley Jag’s new arrival is proving to be a valuable addition to the squad. Shinnie looked dangerous against Hearts last Saturday and scored his first career hat-trick in a thrilling 6 – 3 win over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park a few weeks ago.

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***Latest Team News***

Inverness gaffer Terry Butcher has welcomed news that Welshman Owain Tudur-Jones and Aaron Doran are starting to train but both are some way off from a return to action.  David Proctor and Josh Meekings are doubts after suffering knocks at Hearts.  Ross Tokely dislocated a finger at Tynecastle, no doubt wagging it at the floundering defenders round about him, but will be able to play this weekend.  The time could be right for Lee Cox to return to the starting eleven as Butcher looks to protect his fragile back four from shipping more goals.  Striker Billy (who?) Mckay is eager to start after scoring a couple of goals in a closed doors game against Ross County, which the ICT eleven won 3-0, Ryan Watson being the other scorer.

Butcher has played down misfiring GregoryTade's press boast that Inverness are better than the other strugglers saying : "It's alright talking about what we're going to do. What matters is regularly getting points on the board."

St Mirren are looking to bounce back after last weeks thrashing at the hands of Celtic, and were hoping to re-assess their squad, but Danny Lennon had to call off the midweek bounce game with Hibs due to the inclement weather.  Midfielder Steven Thomson has a calf injury and misses out along with long term absentee Darren McGregor.  Hugh Murray is close to a comeback after knee surgery.  Other than that, Lennon has no fresh injuries to contend with.

tm4tj Prediction:-  Most of these games are very tight with only one goal separating the sides on all but one of their SPL contests.  This has all the makings of a low scoring draw and a point each will no do us any harm.

Other SPL News

Friday Night Soccer again this week and Motherwell could keep Hibs new manager Pat Fenlon winless and still in the relegation zone if they can beat the struggling capital side.  Hibs had announced in midweek that Billy Brown would be staying on as number two for new manager Fenlon.

Celtic have closed the gap to four points on leaders Rangers who lost 1-0 at Kilmarnock last weekend.  As their SPL aspirations soared, they were taken back down to earth when they lost 0-1 to Atletico Madrid in their Europa League encounter in Glasgow.

Minor League stuff:- Ross County continued on their merry way with another three points in their quest for SPL action.  Nine points clear at the top of the first division and eight straight wins see the distinct possibility of SPL action looming larger than life itself.  Let's hope they get those seats in place pronto.