Twelfth Night Footie

It's off to the City of Discovery on Friday night to discover that Dundee are Team 12, and as it stands in the SPL Team 12 seems to be an appropriate title.

It is however, early days, but at the moment, Dundee's minus thirteen goal difference tells me that they seem to be struggling to get to grips with life back in the SPL after the demise of Rangers which thrust them into the top flight at short notice. Another statistic shows that Dundee have only scored two goals at home in four games, all defeats, that's half a goal per game whilst conceding eight. On the plus side for Dundee, we have lost ten goals away from Inverness in three draws and a defeat, although we have scored seven times. We still have the leakiest defence in the league but we are also the top scorers and that is why we sit seven points above Team 12 after nine games.

Plenty has happened in the last few weeks. Dundee have slumped to four successive defeats and their last points was an away victory against Hearts on the 2nd September. Since then they have shipped ten goals and scored two. They were also dumped out of the league cup by the Spiders from Hampden. Our season, on the other hand, just got a whole lot brighter with two draws and two wins, a 4-0 thumping of Tayside neighbours Dundee United and a magnificent 3-1 derby success over Ross County who remain in our shadows.

Our recent upturn is no major surprise to our own fans as we have been playing enterprising football of late and the goals have continued to flow as the defence begins to tighten up after a somewhat shaky start to the campaign. It was great to see Aaron Doran get off the mark with a stunning volley against County after he has been guilty of spurning some guilt edged chances so far, but his strike in the enthralling derby encounter was a thing of beauty and that will give him the confidence to go on and score a few more. Captain Richie Foran has also been in fabulous form since his return from suspension and he has put away five goals already and looks hungry for more. He also produced a sublime finish in the United game with a brilliant effort from twenty yards across the keeper. Garry Warren and Ross Draper seem to be settling in nicely and with Andre Blackman departing swiftly, that leaves Graeme Shinnie on his own at left back, a more familiar position for the youngster. Inverness have also unearthed some marvellous young talent in Conor Pepper and Arsenal loanee Phillip Roberts. Both of these guys have scored spectacular goals and have pace and strength in abundance and for such young players show great maturity on the ball, able to pick a precision pass where others have failed in the past.

Roberts has more food for thought as Inverness will offer him the chance to remain in the Highlands until the end of the season. He is currently on loan until January, but his form has caught the eye of Butcher and the fans and he will be a welcome addition for the rest of the season.

Things are definitely looking up for Inverness, but we must not underestimate the task ahead as Barry Smith will be desperate to stop the rot and where better than in front of their own fans at a ground Inverness have not always produced the goods. In fact we have never won at Dens Park in five attempts and if you add in the cup defeats at Hampden and Perth then our record away from Inverness against Dundee is very poor indeed. That Challenge Cup Final at McDiarmid Park was particularly hard to take having forged 2-0 ahead with goals from Adam Rooney and Naurus Bulvitus before the break. Bulvitus had the misfortune to score Dundee's first just after half time and Harkins and Forsyth completed the comeback for the Taysiders, but not before Dougie Imrie was needlessly sent off for a petulant lunge at Pat Clarke; abject misery for Inverness and euphoria for the Dundee following. We were, however, able to exact some revenge when we overturned Dundee's seemingly unassailable 15 point lead to romp home in the promotion race at the first time of asking in 2010, which brings us to where we are now, both clubs back in the SPL and an evening kick off, 19:45 at Dens Park.

***Latest Team News***

Inverness boss Terry Butcher has a major doubt for this fixture as on form captain Richie Foran suffered a knee injury in the local derby and is being monitored closely, but it looks as though he is fighting a losing battle. Should he not make the squad then Shane Sutherland may replace him although Pepper, Roberts and McKay will be above him in the pecking order after recent striking performances. Gavin Morrison again showed he is well capable at this level when called upon although Owain Tudur-Jones played well in the derby. Ryan Esson is still suffering, but he is back training and our eccentric Spaniard Antonio Reguero will continue in goal if Esson fails a fitness test. Chris Hogg (knee), Simon King (ankle) and Nick Ross (shoulder) are all targeting a return around the end of the year.

Dundee gaffer Barry Smith has blamed individual errors for his teams slow start to life back in the SPL and will be looking for a tighter defensive performance from his team. One man escaping the blame is experienced veteran keeper Rab Douglas who has been in remarkable form recently with an outstanding display at Parkhead almost single handedly defying Celtic for long spells. Dundee physio Karen Gibson has been just as busy over the last few weeks and Davide Grassi returned against Hibs although he may need time to get up to speed. Lewis Toshney is struggling to make this one with an ankle problem. Stephen O'Donnell (hamstring), Mark Stewart (knee), Carl Finnigan (knee) and Jamie McCluskey (Achilles) are all out.

tm4tj Prediction:- On paper this will read to be an easy game for Inverness. Unfortunately, games are not played on paper and with Dundee seeking to kick-start their season this is a much tougher fixture than at first glance. With Richie Foran looking as though he will miss out, then the onus on Inverness to score will rest on very young shoulders and we may have to be content with a share of the points. If we can keep our goals record going then a scoring draw is on the cards, failing that I would be more than happy with a narrow win.

Mon the Caley Jags