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Euan Henderson Appreciation Encounter After the heroics of the Scottish Cup win over Kilmarnock and the anticipation of the semi-final draw for Hampden Park it's back down to earth with a bang and a trip to Ochilview Park to take on league leaders Queens Park in the Championship. Queens will be hurting after beating Inverness on the park in the Scottish Cup, but off the park it was Inverness that progressed and subsequently went on to dispose of Livingston and Kilmarnock to reach the semi-finals of the Cup. If only, if only.... Anyway, it's back to league business and this is another tough game on Saturday with kick-off due at 3:00pm. The Spiders might find us better equipped this time round as injured players return and our bench fills up. Could be a bit of a grudge match to add some extra spice to the occasion. Thanks Euan. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Scottish Cup Semi Final Match/Ticket/Supporters Bus Info The Wyness Shuffle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue H2H v Queens Park Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 12 4 5 3 15 14 +1 Away 7 5 0 2 14 10 +4 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 19 9 5 5 29 24 +5 Only this season's fixtures are really relevant to this game as prior to this season we had not played a league game against Queens Park since *1997, although we have met them in Cup games in 1998, 2003, 2010. We have failed to beat Queens Park since they gained promotion at the end of last season. *1997 - A win for the visitors but not a convincing one. The first half was a non event with only two half-chances falling to Scott McLean in the 28th & 40th minutes - both good shots from 15 yards deflected over. In 54 minutes Queens Danny Ferry should have scored when he ran through the defence but Jim Calder came out and stopped it with his legs. Against the run of play Queens took the lead in 72 minutes. A cross from the right was headed home by Scott Edgar as Jim Calder lost the ball in the strong sun. Three minutes later it was 1-1 when a Barry Wilson cross broke to Iain Stewart and he scored from 8 yards. Two minutes later Ross Tokely celebrated his 18th birthday with the winning goal. It was an exact repeat of his goal against Albion Rovers three weeks ago and in the same minute of the match - a Barry Wilson corner was partly cleared and Tokely hammered it home from 20 yards. In the dying minutes Jim Calder saved a good low shot from Scott Edgar to preserve the score. The Inverness side are clear Championship favourites on 60 points - 11 clear of Ross County with 9 games left. Report by Ian Broadfoot March 1997 2 - 1 Last 4 Competitive Meetings (including the 0-2 defeat in the cup) 0 - 2 (H) 0 - 0 (H) 1 - 2 (A) 1 - 1 (H) The CTO summary on the first encounter this season was complimentary to The Spiders: Queens make their point: Queens 39 year hiatus from this tier of football ended as they ventured into the Championship, and it all started well when Jake Davidson opened the scoring in the thirteenth minute. In a half of many chances, Billy Mckay levelled the score a minute before the interval. That's how it stood until the final whistle with neither side able to make the breakthrough despite numerous opportunities at both ends thanks to Callum Ferrie and Mark Ridgers and some wayward finishing. Queens Park showing they are not here just to make up the numbers and were good value for their point. Last Time Out Inverness were able to field their strongest squad of the season as they dumped Killie out of the Scottish Cup. Despite losing an early goal Inverness dominated their Premiership opponents and a Billy Mckay penalty before the interval was added to by a Sean Welsh strike from over twenty-five yards. The week prior to that we came from behind against Ayr United at Somerset Park to take a much needed three points up the A9. Akinyemi had put Ayr ahead in thirteen minutes but Sean Welsh levelled soon after. Ayr were reduced to ten men before the interval and Jay Henderson notched the winner late in the game as our pressure paid off. Last five Championship games: D L L D W Queens Park are still heading the table even without Simon Murray. They beat Cove Rangers 1-0 last week but it took an own goal to settle the points with both clubs hitting the woodwork. In their previous game Queens Park squandered a two goal lead at home to share the points with Morton. Tommy Robson and Marcus Oakley had the Spiders coasting towards victory at the interval but two second half poachers goals from George Oakley gave Morton a surprise share of the points. That left Owen Coyle less than impressed: "We were excellent. We were by far the better team. That's as good as we have been in a long long time." Queens last five: L D W D W We have failed to beat Queens Park in four games this season. There's a reason for that and it's that they have been better than us so far. However, with a better squad available for Dodds to choose from then we might just get the points here, but it won't be easy. Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Updated table after Arbroath drew with Morton tonight who had a penalty saved by Gaston 1. Queens Park 28 15 6 7 56 37 51 2. Dundee 27 13 7 7 44 31 46 3. Partick Thistle 28 13 5 10 49 39 44 4. Ayr United 27 12 7 8 50 35 43 5. Morton 29 11 10 8 41 35 43 6. Inverness CT 27 9 9 9 38 39 36 7. Raith Rovers 27 9 8 10 33 36 35 8. Cove Rangers 28 6 8 14 33 56 26 9. Arbroath 28 4 13 11 25 41 25 10. Hamilton Ac. 27 6 7 14 25 45 25 FRIDAY 17th MARCH 7:45pm Arbroath 1-1 Morton SATURDAY 18th MARCH 3:00pm Hamilton v Ayr United Partick v Dundee Queen's Park v Inverness CT Raith Rovers v Cove Rangers Latest Team News Billy Dodds had the unusual luxury of a relatively fit squad for the game against Kilmarnock with the added bonus of Roddy MacGregor coming off the bench to make his 100th appearance. Austin Samuels is working his way back to full fitness and came off the bench later in the second half. The rarely seen Ben Woods was back from injury and remained on the bench. Devine, Allardice Welsh and Harper have given us a massive boost since returning and Jay Henderson gives us a wee buzz when he gets on the ball up front. His deliveries are proving to be very effective. Billy Mckay is just six short of Dennis Wyness now after his penalty against Killie in the cup. He scored his first goal for the Caley Jags in a 3-2 loss at home against Dundee United on December 10th 2011. Billy will be looking for his 16th goal of the season this weekend. Owen Coyle will have a legitimate Euan Henderson available. That's their team lines for their game against Cove on 10th of March. Still plenty of fire power after Simon Murray left and Shields, Thomas and McPake have proven to be a handful for us before. Queens are heading towards the Premiership and it's their title to throw away. Only seven games left for them after this one and they have a cushion over Dundee. With that in mind, I'm sure they won't begrudge us the three points

Time to stop our bad run against Queens Park and bring three points back up the road. Let’s build on the cup success by putting a winning run together in the league to put pressure on those above us.

Maybe, but it sounded like 22,000.

I think managing to beat 2 teams in the division above us means we are there on merit.

Great to have you back Charles, especially as you are still biting

Tomorrow is as difficult a match as we have had in some time. Unfortunately it is a must win for the play offs. I fear that there may be a backlash due to our recent performances and results. Personally I would be satisfied with a draw. Anything better would be the biggest confidence booster in a long time. Lets make sure that when we wash Incey Wincey spider down the spout that we plug it.

The club can confirm that Robbie Thompson has rejoined Highland League side @clachfc on loan until the end of the season.

Updated squad

Ethan Cairns has rejoined Forres on loan.

C'mon boys - keep up the good work at tomorrow's game. I'm confident of a good result.

My parents were friends of Eric's who attended on Monday and read us the poem over the phone afterwards- many tears were shed. A lovely man, will be dearly missed.

Sadly life got in the way for us again recently but we've finally gotten round to getting a new pod out and it's a mahoosive one to compensate. Interviews with Billy Dodds, Jay Henderson, Scottish Cup chat (recorded before the KO time and prices were revealed), game review, Section 94, Guess Who and some other goodies to keep you going.

They broke the rules, we went on to beat 2 premiership teams. To me that is merit enough.

Ah but they only beat us because they broke the rules!

I think the general idea is that when a team manages to reach the semi final of a national competition at Hampden then as many of the supporters of that team will want to support them !

One way to think about it positively is that ICT fans will probably represent less than 5% of the combined support, but ICT will get 25% of the profits, and thanks to the other semi, the higher the ticket prices the more those profits will be.

Suspect it's not that simple if taking a family. Personally think £25 and £30 more than enough for a lower league clash

Great prices for auld yins though. Get advice on dressing up from Jack & Victor.

What a shame the prices are so high. I get the same pricing structure for both games as gates are split but I had thought some common sense might have prevailed and let our game charge less to get a larger crowd! The old firm will sell out regardless of the pricing so cant see how ours being cheaper would really affect them!

Those prices...

The ICT Under 18s are in action at the Caledonian Stadium this Friday as they face Livingston Under 18s The match kicks off at 2:30pm with entry free via Gate Four.

Welcome back Jock. Hope you are well. Out of respect for Kingsmills I kept his points tally open. He was a regular and dedicated member of the NPL and played for many years. Sadly missed.

Haven’t been on here for a couple of years but had to login. Sad news. Called out on numerous occasions over the years for higher order transmission faults. Two of us To go to the affected telephone exchanges, usually in the middle of the night. We would prove exchange equipment at each site by checking launch and receive light levels. Usually proved to a cable fault. Lightning, digging it up with jcb or one night around strontian some thieves were nicking spans of overhead copper cables. 2 cables present, 50 50 chance. They cut the fibre cable, no value but isolating a community. Knew then which one was worth cash. Would report our finding to the control to be told the precision tester is on his way. Wasn’t just round Inverness, all over the highlands. eric would arrive , do his magic on the fibre and get a distance measurement to the fault for openreach jointers to repair or replace the cable. Very likeable colleague. Rip Eric.

Lewis Hyde has signed a one year extension I'm told by a reliable source

We caught a lucky break and have made the best of the opportunity. On 'merit' we should never have had that opportunity so, as I said at the time, we need to not be getting all Billy Big Baws about it. That's also not to say that we should accept being taken for a ride, but if folk are going to pay and go anyway, then any moans are pointless. All they're doing is showing clubs and football authorities that they will accept being treated the way they are.

I'd given up attending league games, but thought I might go for this one, but not at those prices. Also, I thought the world had done away with positive discrimination? Maybe what I actually need to do is get myself a wheelchair?

Are you allowed back? better put the medics on standby