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I hope that Yogi does not make the mistake he made last season when we went to Ibrox in the League Cup and gave The Rangers to much respect by not only talking them up as a big team but treating them us such. Our recent form has not been great but, in the context of Sunday we are the big team, we are a division higher, our recent head to head record is a good one and we are the holders something that Hibs have not been able to boast for 114 years. No room for complacency but no need to afford them too much respect either. Whatever the bookies might say, we could and should win this tie. Hibs may be looking for some Sunshine on Leith but for them it will end in yet more sorrow,sorrow,sorrow....

Why shouldn't we be optimistic and upbeat. We have a strong cup tradition, we are in a higher league, Hibs will be missing key players and they are on a bad run. To me it is a case of we should beat Hibs. Should also be a cracking atmosphere.

The idea of Caledonian Thistle really began to emerge mid December 1993, although it had been talked about before that. Earlier that month, Caley passed the merger in principle for a second time, but with insufficient support also to secure asset transfer. This led to the Rebels suggesting that a merged team called Caledonian and playing in blue would be acceptable to them. This is turn forced Thistle to the brink of quitting a bid which by now had been past the point of no return for over two months. A couple of weeks before Christmas, INE Chairman Norman Cordiner spent an evening of shuttle diplomacy between the two sides - Thistle at Kingsmills and Caley in the Kingsmills Hotel. (It had to be Norman and not his CEO Fiona Larg because women weren't allowed in the Thistle boardroom!). The product of these knife edge negotiations was a three fold agreement - the club would be called Caledonian Thistle, the new park would be called the Caledonian Stadium and the team would play in "predominantly blue" strips (there are still plenty of people around who remember what that actually worked out as). Even though they were the minor partner in just about every respect, this still represented a significant concession from Thistle. As a result, since Caley weren't going to accept any name without the C-word in it and Thistle weren't going to surrender the small bit of the action they had got, they were walking a tightrope on that name. Having been in Caley's Rose Street meeting and having doorstepped the Thistle one ten days later, I really do believe that this was the only name that was going to be remotely acceptable at the time and the name was just one of a range of issues on which the entire deal - and SFL football for Inverness - could have collapsed. At this point, all other possible names departed the fray.

Enjoy the trip, can't make it as recovering from a hospital op but timing means we'll be able to meet up again at The Counting House in May :o) No fears about this one, if we can't beat this Hibs side at the moment we don't deserve the chance to keep hold of the cup.

The defence rests - evidently some individuals are as much INE "dependents" in the same vein as many fell for the wiles of Terry Butcher. It is also evident that some individuals simply do not understand loyalty, love and devotion to a football family nor the grief, loss and anger that follows its sad destruction. Leave those who possess those emotions to choose the path that they follow. Chastising and at times ridiculing the "faithful" by those who have no link or emotional appreciation is as low as you can stoop. Sad but perhaps not surprising.

Less than 48 hours before our big match against Hibs. I'm trying to look at the positives we have going into this game. One is that Hibs are on a worse run than we are, having lost their last three matches. Even that fact could turn round and bite us because Hibs may now concentrate on the Cup, as their challenge to finish top of the Championship is shot away. But we have a decent record against them, and so I am optimistic that we will be OK. Draper is back to strengthen midfield, and if we can find a goal scorer, then all should be well. I see Hibs are favourites with the bookies, and we tend to do well as underdogs but all the pressure should really be on Hibs, after all they are playing a Premier division team, and Cup Holders into the bargain. Lets hope we play like we all know we can, so that we can enjoy post match drinks in the Iona, as we make plans for the semi at Hampden. I'll see some of you on Sunday.

From Courier: Having Williams and Draper available again is a huge boost for Hughes, given that he was without nine players through injury on Tuesday night. The Inverness manager admitted post-match that youngsters Jason Brown and Blair MacLennan were just on the bench to “make up the numbers”, leaving Liam Hughes and Ryan Williams as the only available outfield replacements. Nat Wedderburn is the latest to join the growing injury list, picking up a groin injury in training on Tuesday, while Andrea Mbuyi-Mutombo will be doubtful with a calf strain. James Vincent and Josh Meekings (both knee) could make the bench at Easter Road, but Aaron Doran, Richie Foran, David Raven, Alex Fisher and Dean Brill remain out.

Looks like it's good to go...

Last few games the side seem to lack motivation and an urgency to push forward. In the last 10 minutes when the game was over they stepped up the speed of play and was the only time they remotely looked like a side who are the Scottish cup holders .

Lets just stick to plain old "Caley" - it has been the predominant chant for almost 150 years.

I'm sure you would, but you can always hope that your reading age may, one day, progress to higher things.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me you have more videos like this? There used to be a channel on youtube called Caleyclips which had loads of games from our early years, anyone know what happened to them? As for the statement the OP made, I used to have that attitude and cringe every time I heard the mere mention of the merger. But after reading Going Ballistic and then Against all odds, I believe we should be doing a lot more as a club to embrace the two former clubs. Both Caledonian and Inverness Thistle were institutions of Highland football with independent and successful histories. I remember reading footballgroundfrenzy twitter page, they had a magazine extract from 1990 claiming that Caledonian were the "Greatest Non-League Football Club in Britain"........That is some accolade! Therefore, although ICT were formed in 1994, our story really began in 1885! Also Sneckboy made a point that we are the only merger in the past few decades. I disagree, there have been countless mergers in non league football ie Rushden & Diamonds, Hinckley United, Lothian Thistle Hutchieson Vale(stupid name) etc. In fact the first two are now extinct and have been replaced by phoenix clubs. This further details the fact that our merger, has been an undoubted marvelous achievement. No other merger in Britain (at least) has the same success/fairytale story that we do. Again we should remember, embrace and celebrate this more often!

I'm starting to get a bit tired of this attitude that the merger is something to forget, something to cover up and something to feel embarrassed by. The merger is an interesting historical event that took place here and that's something to be remembered. Mergers are nothing new on football, but ours is one of the few that's happened (probably worldwide) in the last few decades and it's undoubtedly been a big success. That's something to be celebrated......as are the achievements of the two clubs that came before.

Totally agree with what Sneckboy says tbh. Pre merger part of this clubs history whether folk like it or not. Although ICT through and through now I will be Caley till I die..... Get what you are saying Deano96 tho. Rehashing of the same old issues time and time again is just boring sorry.