That was the week that was

Yes, it's been some week. Power cuts, flooding, snow, freezing conditions, no trains boats or planes, the great leader Nelson Mandela passing on and Yogi arrives in Inverness in time for the Arctic weather.

Now for something completely different, weather permitting. Back to earning our crust this weekend with a difficult away trip to Paisley to face a resurgent St Mirren, only one defeat in their last eight games.

It's a tough opener for new gaffer John Hughes. However, this weekend will see Duncan Shearer have more say on the team selection as Hughes begins the process of getting his erse onto the managers chair and familiarising himself with his new surroundings. He may even sit back and take stock of his new charges as they go about their business, maybe getting a better view of the bigger picture from the stand before he begins his tenure in earnest.

The opening game of the season saw Inverness ease past St Mirren by 3-0. The Buddies poor start to the season continued for the next two months, with only two wins in a dozen games and going out of the League Cup to Queen of the South. They went undefeated in November, winning two and drawing two, one of which was a 2-2 away draw against the same Queens that knocked them out of the League Cup, but excellent wins at Partick and at home to Ross County have steadied the ship and Danny Lennon's side have now climbed to eighth in the table.

Inverness have reacted well to the loss of Butcher to Hibernian and the Shearer-Kellacher combination has seen three clean sheets and three wins in a row. We are in fact, on a five game winning streak, the sweetest of those being a 2-0 victory at Easter Road as Butcher hob-nobbed with the Hibs directors. Eat that Terry! This run has steadied our boat as well after consecutive defeats to St Johnstone and Partick Thistle and we are now back in second place on our own with a game in hand over the teams below us. That game is the Ross County away fixture that ran out of light, something more common these days, ahem.

New gaffer John Hughes and Garry Warren talk about the task in hand...............