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I'm sure there's still a few Ferguson apologists who'll try and tell us the squad was the problem and not the manager. Regardless we can't change what's come before and need to keep putting in performances like we've seen the last few games. The football is entertaining and the players have a growing belief in themselves. Not a bad performance from any of them today and hopefully Davidson's injury isn't as bad as it looked. Special mention for young Thompson who acquitted himself very well today. Left everything he had to give on the pitch. Also to Billy "who says I can't last 90 minutes" Mckay who was unfortunate not to be on the scoresheet today.

A well deserved win. I thought we were excellent in the first half, but was worried when Alloa had a spell early in the second when we were taking risks and getting lucky at the back. We got back on top and Gilmour took his goal well, and you could see how much it meant to all the players. We then closed the game out, despite the best efforts of the referee. Mckay was very unlucky not to be on the score sheet and we hit the post. Longstaff is a player transformed now we are playing him wide again, and was outstanding when playing on the left. Gilmour and Thompson were very good too, and credit Dibaga for the clean sheet and running the clock down. We seem more streetwise under Kellacher too. A very satisfactory afternoon (despite the referee).

Great result. Just keep going and only focus on the next game. Nothing else matters!

It speaks volumes of how bad a manager Ferguson is / was that we seem to have a better chance of staying up after he's gone despite a fifteen point deduction.

Looking forward to the game tomorrow and hope for another win against the league leaders which would build up confidence within the team. It would be great if we could string a few wins together and get more points on the board

Let’s confine DF to the dustbin of history and concentrate on driving the team on to survival this season.

Another excellent and entertaining performance from the lads today. They are playing well as a team and playing a style of football which not only is more entertaining to watch, it seems to be much better suited to the strengths of the players. RiG sums it up brilliantly with his post. I hope Davidson's injury is not as bad as it looked. He was playing very well prior to that. It says a lot about the change in approach that he got injured when trying to block a clearance by the opposition keeper.

The best game of football I have seen in a long long time! Full credit to Scott and all the team for giving us a good bit of entertainment and a well deserved win today and as others have said the referee Colin Whyte was ***te as well.

Had Ferguson still been in charge we'd have lost that game today. The performance was night and day to his tenure. The players are playing like footballers now and not robots. Much more purpose and intent. Onwards and upwards!

Another well deserved win although we had to work hard to get it. Some outstanding performances from our younger players. Once again however, Another dreadful refereeing performance which almost cost us.

That was a better performance from the team than any I saw last season in the championship. Edge of the seat stuff and a thoroughly entertaining watch. (And the referee wasn't so bad - quite fair I thought, and he took a dim view of our blatant dives and time-wasting tactics towards the end, which, lets face it, would have had our fans howling if the roles were reversed!) Not a bad player in blue and red on the park today, but by a whisker I'd say Longstaff on the wing and Dibaga in goal tied for my man of the match. We're gonna make the playoffs - you saw it here first!!!

I think it’s very significant that this team has defeated the league leaders on two consecutive Saturdays. That’s a very decent indication of the quality of the side and, watching this afternoon’s game, I also couldn’t help but get the feeling that technically, a lot of these players are above League One standard. That to me is all very positive in this campaign to escape the bottom/ bottom two in the 22 games that remain.

Great win! That's 3 wins in 5 and only 1 defeat. Let's hope we can keep that form up. Gives us a chance to stay in the division.

I can't tell you how happy I am! We just need injuries kept down to minimum...does anyone know why Bray was missing? Early in the season, but Dumbarton winning today brings QotS within range if we can win next weeks 6pointer

I have absolutely no doubt that our boys will win again this week. Being the underdog does suit us, and it's against the top of the table again - bring it on! Have fun lads

I agree with what I have left in your post bucket but think you been celebrating tonight and getting carried away about the playoffs happy to be proved wrong at the end of the season though!

It also shows anyone interested in buying us that we have great potential. Every match when in adminstration is an important part of our sales pitch.

Good stuff again, and 3 points in the bag. First time I have seen Robbie Thompson other than the odd substitute appearance and he looks pretty decent.

Given that the squad is now just a smaller subset of the squad that he had, that would not be a logical argument, Captain

We have 15 goals in hand over Annan, they will finish bottom with Dumbarton 9th. We are only getting better.

Gilmour makes it 1-0! Get in!

Depends what you mean. I don’t think we’ve ended up in the seaside leagues because we’re a diddy club. We’ve maybe become a diddy club by atrocious management and by being in Lge 1. The Championship should be the absolute basement for ICT if the club was run by competent, ego-free individuals who recruited wisely. Most of the clubs I mentioned above have been relegated but bounced back just like we did in 2010. We’re certainly a bigger club than Airdrie, Queens Park and Morton, and possibly Livi and Ayr, who are all now a division above us. Admittedly the whole pyramid is riddled with clubs who have fallen from grace. In a ‘sliding doors’ situation, if we had stayed up in 2017, with County going down in 2018, the balance of power would possibly have shifted, although our squad of 2015 badly needed a rebuild, and Yogi/Richie wouldn’t have been capable so we would have had to recruit somebody who was. As Charles says, the election of County alongside us in 1994 was probably unfortunate. I would have had Elgin in rather than County, and that’s without hindsight …

Hamilton 3-0. Foran punted that day and we would have stayed up that season I'm pretty sure

I would have let Yogi go to Dee Utd, get decent compensation, that would afford a decent replacement instead of the big gamble with Richie F.

Capercaillie are playing a few dates in England, to mark their 40th anniversary. Saw them last night in London at the very wonderful Union Chapel in Islington. Only the second time I've ever seen them - the other time was long ago, supporting Runrig. They were excellent. Karen Matheson still has her lovely voice, and the rest of the band were magnificent too. Sound was great, so you could clearly hear all the different instruments, including the variety of shakers and bells and things used by the percussionist. They are playing four dates in Scotland - including Eden Court - next May, if you're interested. https://capercaillie.co.uk/live/

Top v Bottom Again For the second week in a row Inverness face table toppers. This time it's Alloa Athletic after our win over last weeks toppers at Cove. Now into plus figures, the Caley Jags can focus on the teams directly above them in the knowledge that they can compete with the best in this league after the shackles have been taken off, the legacy from the Duncball era no longer restricting them on the park. It won't all be plain sailing, but those that witnessed the second half at Cove have said this was the best performance for a couple of years. A word of warning, Alloa come North unbeaten away from home on League1 business. For us, it's onwards and upwards as they say at the bottom end of the table. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Bar94/Info Battery Farm Appeal Thrown Out Bar94 Drop Off Point ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Going to the game today? Then drop your donation into Bar94 12:00 - 2:30pm to help the Community Development Trust to provide as many Festive Hampers as possible. The Community Development Trust holds free Christmas Lunches at the Stadium for elderly fans and delivers hampers to vulnerable and deserving fans in the lead up to Christmas. Please donate if you can to help make someones Xmas that little bit better. Click HERE for more detail. Venue Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 20 8 10 2 36 22 +14 Away 23 11 6 6 47 24 +23 Neutral 1 0 1 0 4 4 0 Total 44 19 17 8 87 50 +37 Looking at the stats, a draw seems to be the favoured result over the last three encounters with goals in every game. Overall, in a previous life the Caley Jags used to get the better of the Wasps but times have changed. They seem to be a more resilient side at the moment and wins breed confidence, that's why they find themselves leading the pack in the chase for promotion to the Championship. Last 10 Competitive Meetings 2 - 2 (A) 1 - 1 (A) 2 - 2 (H) 1 - 2 (A) 0 - 2 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 3 - 2 (A) 2 - 0 (A) 2 - 2 (H) 3 - 0 (H) The last encounter at Recreation Park ended all square when we threw away a two goal advantage after the introduction of seasoned campaigner Conor Sammon. Wasps Buzzing: 2-2 Inverness were without Charlie Gilmour, Flynn Duffy, Paul Allan, Ethan Cairns and Lewis Nicolson for the trip to Alloa although Jack Newman, Luis Longstaff and Keith Bray have returned to the squad after injury. Alloa have plenty experience in their ranks, notably Conor Sammon and Kevin Cawley and went in to this encounter off the back of a superb win over Partick Thistle last weekend in the Challenge Cup. Sammon started on the bench with Cawley joined by Luke Donnelly up front. Danny Devine gave Inverness an early lead with a tremendous birthday boy volley into the corner. Calum Macleod added a second but a few minutes later we were level when substitute Sammon and Luke Donnelly scored for the Wasps and despite a frantic last twenty minutes, that's how it ended. Our Season so Far on the park INVERNESS CT: D L D D W D D D L / W L D W Our season got off to a slow start with a draw at home to Dumbarton followed by a penalty defeat at Annan. Another two draws against Montrose (h) and Kelty Hearts (a) before our first win of the season over Queen of the South at the Caledonian Stadium. We beat Stirling Albion 3-0 to send us into a fourth Rnd tie away to Livingston thanks to a brace from Adam Brooks and a strike from Adam MacKinnon. That was followed up by us throwing away a two goal lead at Alloa to end up with a 2-2 draw six minutes later. A Danny Devine volley and Calum MacLeod with his first goal for the club were the scorers at Recreation Park. Last time out we had a disappointing 1-1 draw at home against Cove Rangers who opened the scoring through Adam Emslie. James Nolan on loan from Manchester United's youth squad levelled the game before the hour. Next up was a home game against Stenhousemuir. Quite frankly this was a dull game with neither side able to score although Musa Dibaga did make a wonderful penalty save in the first half. Relegated Arbroath was our final game of the opening round of fixtures and despite creating enough chances, we came away from Gayfield with our second defeat of the League1 campaign. Away from League duty last weekend, we put up a good fight against Livingston in the Challenge Cup at Almondvale but lost out 5-4 in a penalty shoot-out after it finished 2-2 over the ninety minutes. Paul Allan and Charlie Gilmour were our scorers during the ninety minutes. Our first game in the second round of fixtures turned out to be Duncan Ferguson's last stand. It ended like his first game in charge, a win as we defeated Annan 1-0 at home. Administration and management removal followed by five players being released and fifteen points being wiped off our total. First game after Admin was at Dumbarton with Scott Kellacher as head coach and Billy Mckay his assistant on and off the park. Alas it ended in a 3-1 defeat after a promising first hour. Kelty Hearts came North next and went away with a point in a 1-1 draw. Kell's got his first win in week (unlucky for some)13, a deserved 2-1 win at top of the table Cove Rangers. Alloa up next at Inverness in matchday 14... ALLOA Athletic: D D W W D D WD L / W L W D Alloa had an eight game unbeaten start to League1. They began the League campaign with draws at home to Queen of the South and away to Dumbarton followed by a home win over Stenhousemuir and another win away to Annan at the same ground we lost 1-0. They drew 0-0 at Gayfield and the following week was Challenge Cup action and Alloa pulled off a shock 1-3 win over Partick Thistle who had opened the scoring through our olde 'friend' Brian Graham. However, three second half goals from Kevin Cawley (65', 76') and Scott Taggart (90'+5 pen) gave the Wasps a tremendous result and a home tie against Arbroath in the next round which they also won (1-0). That was Cawley's 79th & 80th goals for Alloa. Our first meeting with the Wasps ended 2-2 after we were two up. Meh! A win over Kelty followed by a draw at Montrose before Cove dished out their first defeat. However they followed that with a win away to Stenhousemuir before Arbroath gained revenge for the Challenge Cup defeat winning 1-0 for Alloa's second League defeat. November saw them hammer Annan 5-0 before drawing with Queens. In midweek they bowed out of the Challenge cup going down 1-0 at Championship side Dunfermline. League1 Fixtures all 3:00pm this Saturday Pos Team Pld Gd Pts 1 Alloa Athletic 13 6 21 2 Cove Rangers 13 5 20 3 Kelty Hearts 13 8 19 4 Arbroath 13 0 19 5 Stenny 13 1 18 6 Queen of Sth 13 -2 18 7 Montrose 13 2 17 8 Annan Ath 13 -13 14 9 Dumbarton 13 -6 12 10 Inverness CT 13 -1 +1 Latest Team News With Scott Kellacher getting the first win under his belt at Cove, hopes are high for another upset at home against Alloa who currently top the table. Charlie Gilmour returned at Cove and our goals were made in the Western Isles thanks to Adam MacKinnon and Keith Bray. Connall Ewan and Lewis Nicolson missed out last week. Former Caley Jags keeper Michael Fraser has been offering advice to cult keeper Musa Dibaga since Goalie Coach Stuart Garden was dismissed in administration. Waiting for official team news..... Alloa's team versus Dunfermline in the Challenge Cup in midweek is shown below. I notice that the keeper was a busy man starting and on the bench. A first half strike from McCann was enough to put the Pars into the semi-final. Noted that Sammon and Cawley started on the bench and keeper PJ Morrison was missing since we last played them, presumably Ogayi getting some game time. Connor Sammon, Luke Donnelly and Luke Rankin all have four League goals. Incidentally, defender Danny Devine tops our League1 scoring chart with three goals.

As a very oldie Caley, then ICT, fan, my top memories will always be the semi final cup game v Celtic in 2015 (I missed the final due to illness) and then ICT in Europe. Bucharest was unforgettable, the heat, the food n drink, the fans, the travel, the camaraderie, the game. Wonderful, all thanks to ICT.

That’s been one of the revelations from this drop to League One - the quality of officiating is a lot lower.

Well what a transformation we look like a team who wants to win for each other. This young team are getting more confident with every game. Abley backed by Billy and Danny it's great to see the fans are right behind them and credit to the new management. And what about our new keeper he deserves lots of credit too another MR well done guys

Bray was injured in training not bad hopefully.

Another huge win! Going by the stats, we were pretty dominant for the most part too. With Annan losing and Dumbarton drawing it makes it even better for us, the gap now "only" 9 points. That's us beaten top of the league twice in a row now and with each passing week I'm getting more confident we can get out of this. Despite being a very inexperienced team, we've proven in the last 2 weeks that we can beat any team in this league. Edit: Unfortunately Dumbarton have got a VERY late winner so the gap to Annan in 9th is now 10 points. Makes the win for us even more crucial.

Alloa: Morrison; Taggart, Mckay, Neill, Waters, Virtanen, Scougall, Buchanan, Donnelly, O'Donnell, Rankin Subs: Ogayi; Graham, McDonnell, Hetherington, Thomson, Nevan, Honeyman, Cawley, Sammon

There is a lot in the last 5 years that we have yet to discover. However, without pinning blame lets start with the concerts. Anyone competent would have carried out a detailed risk analysis of the proposal and put in place sound arrangements if it was likely to have been a financial success like the Rod Stewart concert. With regard to Director loans, a competent person would point out risks involved both to the Club or Company but ensure the elasticity of such proposals did not stretch too far. The reason why the car parking deal that collapsed is not known so was this negligence, a contract that was still open to due diligence or maybe given too much credence? Recruiting Duncan Ferguson and Bolan was a disaster of monumental proportions. I am convinced a motivator of players could have achieved far more last season and not squandered the Cup Final golden egg monies. It does seem odd that there was over ordering of fan kit given known annual sales figures. With regard to the battery farm proposal. Competent people would have again carried out a detailed risk appraisal and spent some time with Council planning officials to satisfy themselves that the planning application had a high chance of success. Wealthy Directors failed to show compassion and decency to significant players. That has to be the seen as quite appalling treatment of fellow decent human beings. Writing off an £80k payment from Carlisle when finances were stretched was foolish!! Over 30 years there have been rocky spells and poor judgements but realistically it has been over the last 5 years (with COVID impacting thinking too on financial prudence) that the lack of competence has been seen. So to answer the question - only appoint competent professional people to run a company. In effect those giving financial, company secretarial or legal advice. We do not appear to have done that, especially in the last 5 years.

In pure financial terms, the biggest match in our history was the 2023 Scottish Cup Final (wow, it was as recent as last year?!) If we had somehow defied the odds against Celtic one more time, we would not only have won the cup (again) but would have earned guaranteed group stage European football, which would have been amazing for the fans and would have earned us £5m which we could have used to strengthen the squad and quickly get back into the top flight.

We can’t be changing anything pre cup final as that is the pinnacle. It did start to go wrong straight after this though. Even going into the next games v Astra it already started to feel like we were missing a lot. It’s a tough question to answer but I think Yngwie is spot on when saying it would only delay the inevitable. It doesn’t matter where we tweek our history, we were always going to end up back down the leagues. I don’t think anyone ever thought it would be this fast though. Relegation from the Premier was always going to happen eventually, however being reckless with our finances in the Championship was very much avoidable and therefore unforgivable.

Oh... The Kenny Cameron legacy, The start of the demise.

I’m not buying that at all, no sir . We were an established premiership club at the time with the right personnel on and off the field and had finished in 7th place the previous year. We had as much right to be there as the likes of Motherwell, St Johnstone, Ross County, Dundee, Kilmarnock etc, although I accept that most of these clubs, but not all, have been relegated since, and Dundee Utd finished 12th. The secret to staying up is stability which we pretty much had in spades during that period. The Yogi situation upset the whole balance in a precursor of the perfect storm we have witnessed recently. in recent years.

Two games that still rip my knitting nearly 20 years later. 2005-6. We are at home to Partick in round 4. We are in the Premier and they are two divisions below us. We have come from behind and lead 2-1. With eight minutes left, Liam Fox is put through on Kenny Arthur but blooters it straight at the keeper. In stoppage time Paul Ritchie wins Partick a penalty which they convert for 2-2. We dominate the replay but go out after one of the worst sets of penalties ever seen, I.e. before the one at Forthbank. Both the ugly sisters were already out and that was the year Hearts beat Gretna in the final. Even worse: 2006-7 and we are at home to Celtic in the quarter-final. For most of the game we lead through a Bayne strike and Celtic rarely threaten. With three minutes to go we are taunting the disguised Tims in the north stand who are leaving early. Then from a corner, Pressley heads the equaliser and we are resigned to a trip to Parkheid for the replay. Then Kenny Miller hits the winner. With Rangers already out, the other semi-finalists are St Johnstone, Hibernian and Dunfermline.

I was going to say the appointment of Foran as manager, but you are right to go back a stage further. The relegation that followed under Foran well and truly set us on the slippery slope we’ve been hurtling down for years. Having said that, maybe a different course of action then would only have delayed the inevitable? We punched above our weight for years, and relegation was simply bound to happen to a club our size.

Beat me to it…

Adam Brooks has signed for Queen of the South Flynn Duffy joined Airdrie Wallace Duffy 3 year deal at Strathspey Thistle

A Full Detailed Match Report by Martin Devlin can be read HERE if you are on Facebook INVERNESS CALEDONIAN THISTLE WOMEN 0 GLASGOW GIRLS & WOMEN 4 (Shields 35’, 45’; Gorman 55’; McKee 75’) Two goals in each half saw Inverness Caledonian Thistle fall to a dominant Glasgow Girls and Women side at Millburn Academy on Sunday in the Barclays Scottish Women’s Championship season. A first-half double from Brooke Shields was added to by Ruth Gorman and Caitlin McKee in the second period as the visitors took all three points and consigned the hosts to their first home defeat since the middle of September.

Everyone has a bad day now and again, but onwards and upwards ICTWFC

Enjoyed seeing those goals!! and the pen save, It wil give the team a huge boost in confidence. I feel the camerman could use the zoom in facility a bit more, My old eyes could hardly see the goals very well

Not that there was much of a choice for the club in the matter, I was going to say the location of the stadium. But if pushed to a single event I would say the design of the north and south stands. (Again driven by league regulations, time and lack of funds). Not that I like to, however compare our stands with the Dingwall away end stand.

True, and we were just one win from survival that season.

I'd have brought in Malpas earlier to help Foran. Big change in fortune when we got someone with a bit of experience in.

I might go back further, and say that if we hadn't won the Scottish Cup, nor finished 3rd in the league that season, then all the inflated money demands which followed wouldn't have happened. We didn't know how to handle success.

Booing or expressing displeasure at a player/manager/officials ability is not abuse and painting it as such is just another example of how matchdays (not just ours) are being continually sterilised. We have had incidents in the past where those shouts have crossed the line and become threatening or involved family members, sexuality, race etc and that's when it becomes abuse and unacceptable. I've not personally heard anything like that aimed at either DF or CF.