Ready for the off

A new season has crept up on us and a new scribe has joined the editorial team at CTO to whet your appetite for the big kick off. Kirishima will get our season rolling as he previews the Buddies visit to Inverness, a place where the Paisley side have done reasonably well in recent seasons. Inverness appear to have had a more satisfactory pre-season than the Buddies and look like they are raring to go, but the season starts in earnest this weekend and we can take nothing for granted against a side buoyed by their success in last seasons League Cup Final.

There are a few new names to get our heads around so without further ado, I'll let Kirishima tell you all about it.

This historic, first ever SPFL Scottish Premiership match for Inverness Caledonian Thistle will kick-off at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium against St. Mirren at 15:00 this Saturday. Another merger, I hear you say as the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League join forces for the betterment of the game North of the border.

Inverness have yet again been strengthening their ranks and welcome Torbjorn Agdestein, Curtis Allen, Dean Brill, Adam Evans, Ben Greenalgh, Carl Tremarco, James Vincent, Marley Watkins, and Danny Williams to the team.

While Inverness finished off their pre-season beating English Championship side Charlton 1-0 at The Valley, St. Mirren were beaten 4-0 by the same opposition in Spain at the Marbella Football Centre (Inverness would clearly rather have Marsella than be in Marbella). National newspapers have been taking note, with The Herald calling it a “perfect send-off to a productive pre-season” and The Scotsman running the headline: “Few likely to dismiss Inverness’ prospects this season”. With the first game at home, optimism is high around the Capital of the Highlands.

St. Mirren will not be coming to make up the numbers in any sense. St. Mirren, Scottish Communities League Cup holders, had a w-d-d record against Inverness last season. Experience is the chosen option for Danny Lennon; new signings Danny Grainger and Gary Harkins add to captain Jim Goodwin, Paul McGowan, and former internationalists Gary Teale and Steven Thompson. The latter has cited a determination to better last season’s lowly finish, positivity around St. Mirren Park, and believes creativity will be the key to their season this year. St. Mirren however has defensive and attacking concerns leading up to the start of the season. A disappointing pre-season saw a further four goals shipped to Morton and QoS, and the Buddies have struggled to sign a striker in time for Saturday, after a failed loan bid for Celtic’s Tony Watt.

Physios on both teams have work to do; Curtis Allen has had a “nightmare pre-season” and misses out due to a knee-injury suffered after just his third day at the club. Marley Watkins also misses out due to an ankle injury from the friendly against Forres. Connor Pepper is out after injuring his groin at Elgin. Stalwarts Esson and Foran however are expected to be available for Saturday. Scotland U-21 midfielder Kenny McLean misses out for the visitors. 29-year-old Kevin Clancy will referee for the afternoon in Inverness.

Terry Butcher will be keen to avoid a repeat of last season’s start when seven games had gone by without a win before the team got into gear for their highest ever finish in a season. As this is Inverness’ historic first home game in the all-new Scottish Premiership, what better time to better that?

***Latest Team News***

Inverness manager Terry Butcher has pulled off a late smash and grab in the transfer market and has signed Norwegian u21 forward Torbjorn Agdestein on a six-month contract. He had been plying his trade at Brighton where he had been farmed out to Bath City. At six foot one, he would make an ideal target man to feed Billy McKay and that option appeals to Butcher who may be tempted to throw him in at the deep end. Agdestein scored in the NoS cup draw at Brora last midweek, the young side losing 3-0 on penalties to a very much ICT experienced Highland League side. Keeper Dean Brill looks set to replace injury prone Ryan Esson should he fail to fully recover in time.

Danny Lennon would love to have cup scoring sensation Conor Newton back in his squad for the new season and his Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew reckons it's not beyond the realms of possibility that Newton could return to Paisley to learn his trade in the SPFL. The season's start will probably come to soon for injured duo Jon Robertson and David Barron, and Danny Grainger is not guaranteed a start as he needs to show his new gaffer that he is fully match fit, although that could just be one of Lennon's smoke screens.