Killie take the high road.

Kilmarnock make the long trek to Inverness this weekend for our first home game of the season, after both sides started the campaign with draws in their openers.

Kenny Shiels was less than enthusiastic with the realisation that Killie will have to double their trips to the Highlands this season with the introduction of those over the bridge to the SPL. Boo hoo Kenny, it's the same distance from Inverness to Kilmarnock as it is from Kilmarnock to Inverness: Put up or shut up. Let's hope his pub crawl round Kilmarnock has gained them some more fans as they attempt to beat the football recession.

Last week Inverness rang the changes as the season got underway and the team seem to have gelled a bit quicker than last seasons slow starters. A point from Paisley is not to be sniffed at as the Saints came from behind in time added on to snatch a draw at the death. 2-2 was the final score with Nick Ross and Billy McKay netting the Inverness goals, and Ross Draper being welcomed to the SPL by St Mirren's Lewis Guy who saw red for sending Draper onto the turf.

Killie opened their season at Rugby Park against team 12, who turned out to be Dundee. It proceeded to be a pretty dour affair and Dundee were well worth their point in a no scoring draw. Killie may well suffer financially because of the demise of the Govan tax dodgers and new signings are more difficult to come by.

So, what does the new season hold for Inverness? Plenty of changes to personnel and a mostly new squad for the fans to get to grips with. Esson will still be number one choice, but the back four are still getting to know one another. Last week we started with Raven - Warren - King and G Shinnie, with Meekings replacing Dave the Rave after an hour. That seemed to give us a more solid look and we took control of the game. Our midfield saw Ross Draper join more familiar names in Owain Tudur-Jones, Aaron Doran, Andy Shinnie and Shane Sutherland who was effectively replaced by Nick Ross. Billy McKay is being asked to play the lone striker role again and hopefully the ball might arrive at his feet more often as he is well capable of turning big defenders on the deck. With Richie Foran sitting out his suspension last weekend, then his added dig to midfield will be a boost for the squad, but not for another week.

Saturdays visitors have added Jeroen Tesselaar to their squad in the close season. The Dutch full back signed on from St Mirren and made an impressive debut last weekend against Team 12. Another addition this term is Rory Boulding who scored 11 goals for Livingston last season. Young Mathew Kennedy also impressed on the wing and his trickery will give defenders problems. In Cammy Bell, Killie have one of the top Scottish keepers to give his defenders plenty of confidence, he always seems to perform well against us. Glorious Gary Harkins is one to watch. The former Partick and Dundee midfielder possesses the silky skills to link the midfield and strikers and his accuracy with the ball can be used to good effect at set pieces. Dean Shiels will be a big miss for Kille. The striker is now working down at Govan for The Rangers.

Head to Head

This fixture in Inverness has been kind to the homesters. In fourteen encounters in all competitions, the home side have the edge with 6 wins to 4, with 4 draws. We hold the upper hand in goals scored, 27-22 and have scored 3 goals on five occasions, although one of those was a 3-4 reverse in December 2006. Last season we secured 7 points from Killie with goals aplenty. The highlight for Inverness being a surprisingly stunning 3-6 win at Kilmarnock with Andy Shinnie scoring a hat-trick and recently departed Gregory Tade notching a brace. Hayes scored the other in what was Caley Thistles highest scoring SPL match ever. The games at Inverness ended with one home victory and one draw.

Latest Team News

Inverness boss Terry Butcher will not have the services of Captain Richie Foran this week as he serves the second of a two match ban carried over from last season. Chris Hogg is still in rehab after last seasons serious knee damage but will be nearing fitness in a few weeks. The pain in Spain falls mainly on Antonio Reguero's finger as he has suffered a suspected broken finger. That brings young keeper Scott Mathieson into the squad, one of seven who have come through the ranks at Inverness. Other than that, Inverness have no fresh injury worries ahead of the game, and that makes a huge change from last seasons crisis.

Kilmarnock are expected to be on similar lines to last weeks opening game against Dundee. Paul Heffernan missed that one through injury after breaking his collar bone during training on Tuesday and faces up to three months on the sidelines. Gary Hay is requiring an operation and will be unavailable for a couple of months.

Cameron Bell, Michael Nelson, Jeroen Tesselaar, Ryan O'Leary, James Fowler, Manuel Pascali, Lee Johnson (Danny Racchi, 66), James Dayton (Rory Boulding, 66), Matthew Kennedy (Rory McKenzie, 78), Gary Harkins, Liam Kelly

tm4tj Prediction

Difficult to judge how things will pan out this early in the season, but by all accounts we have started brightly and if we can sort out the defensive lapses then I can see a continuation of our recent domination in this fixture and that could see us with our sixth win in the last eight against Killie. A narrow win for the home side for me.