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Wasps Stung by Caley Jags With storm Eowyn having passed over yesterday it was game on at the Indodrill Stadium within Recreation Park. The Caley Jags last visit here saw them relinquish a two goal lead within six minutes all too easily after Conor Sammon entered the fray. With the only League1 fixture failing to weather the storm being the Arbroath v Kelty game, this was an opportunity for Alloa to get up to second spot and for Inverness to keep abreast of the relegation zone with Dumbarton at Queen of the South. Charlie Dewar started his first game with Josh Gentles on the bench for the hosts. Luis Longstaff failed to make the starting XI or the bench with Alfie Stewart starting again for an unchanged visitors. Inverness took a first half lead through a Keith Bray header but immediately after the break Cameron O'Donnell equalised however Alfie Stewart got his first goal for Inverness with ten minutes remaining. We saw out the game thereafter and took a big step towards safety. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alloa were keen to take the initiative and Dibaga had to save from Conor Sammon in the first couple of minutes followed by Luke Rankin having his effort blocked. James Nolan and Stefan Scougall exchanged misses at opposite ends of the park after ten minutes as the game settled down. Almost midway through the half and a Sammon header brought Dibaga back into action, but it was at the other end that the first goal came. Keath Bray won a corner when his effort had been blocked and when Alfie Stewart swung the ball in Bray headed home to open the scoring. That's three in three for Bray, becoming a habit now! Adam MacKinnon fired goalwards after twenty-five but Morrison saved. Danny Devine picked up a booking and from the free kick Cameron O'Donnell went close but missed the target. Three minutes before the interval Alfie Bavidge almost got his four in four but his first time shot from outside the box hit the post. HALF TIME: 0-1 Here we go again as we lose a goal within a minute, Cameron O'Donnell scoring from close range to draw Alloa level. A bit of a lull in the game and possession had levelled out with a spate of corners for the Caley Jags producing nothing but a couple of bookings for Mckay, Bray and Nolan. Devine had a header pushed away from goal from an Allan free kick and with ten minutes left Alfie Stewart opened his account at the Caley Jags, slotting in after a great assist from Paul Allan. Kane Thomson had an effort saved by Dibaga in the bottom corner as the game approached the ninety minutes. Despite five minutes of time added on, the visitors saw out the game relatively unscathed and took a massive step towards safety. FULL TIME: 1-2 This was a huge win for the Caley Jags with Dumbarton losing and Annan Athletic drawing today after equalising in the last minute. Meh! Only two points behind Annan now and twelve points ahead of Dumbarton although they have a game in hand over us. We showed great resilience to weather the storm and push on for the win. Pleasing and deserved result after the disappointment in midweek at Dumfries. Biggest surprise was no goals for Alfie Bavidge today. Send him back Mantis on CTO: Never a dirty game but Alloa led us on bookings 4-1 before we came back to 4-4 but they snatched it with a last minute card Should have been out of sight at half time. Bavidge was probably poorer than usual but was unlucky when his drive came off the inside of the post. Paid for it within a minute of the restart and Alloa had a good spell for 15 minutes when we could have conceded. Any worries about tiredness after all the long away trips soon evaporated as we took control and forced corner after corner. Billy had a good chance but his legs gave up on him, then Stewart grabbed the winner, in a game where he started to show a bit of overdue class. What a player Keith Bray is. What a support we have right now Pos Team Pld Gd Pts 1 Arbroath 20 8 34 2 Stenny 22 5 32 3 Queens 22 -1 32 4 Cove 21 9 31 5 Kelty 21 9 31 6 Alloa 22 3 29 7 Montrose 21 -2 25 8 Annan 22 -19 21 9 Caley Jags 22 2 19 10 Sons 21 -14 07 Date: 25/01/2025 Venue: Recreation Park, Alloa Attendance: 0741 Referee: Steven Kirkland Alloa Athletic: 1 Manager: Andy Graham Lineup: Morrison; Thomson, Dewar, Neill, Taggart, O'Donnell (Buchanan 86), Virtanen, Scougall, Sammon (McDonnell 86), Rankin (Gentles 67), Donnelly Subs (not used): Ogayi; Graham, Honeyman, Mullen, Roberts, Cawley Scorers: O'Donnell (46) Booked: Virtanen (7), Thomson (48), O'Donnell (57), Scougall (70), Neill (90) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 2 Manager: Scott Kellacher Lineup: Dibaga; Bray, Devine, Savage, Nolan, Stewart, Gilmour, Allan MacKinnon, Bavidge, B Mckay (Cairns 83) Subs (not used): Rebilas; Strachan, Ewan, C Mackay, R Thompson, MacLeod, Scorers: Bray (21), Stewart (79) Booked: Devine (33), B Mckay (73), Bray (75), Nolan (77) Sent Off: none a

After the Wind It's our third away game on the trot as we head for Alloa on Saturday should Storm Eowyn relent sufficiently to allow Alloa to host our League1 encounter at Recreation Park. It's scheduled for a 3:00pm kick off and is the shortest trip of the trio of away days which has given us one win at Annan and a defeat at Queen of the South so far. Nine points in the last six games for Inverness whilst Alloa have gathered seven points from their last six games. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Travel/Info ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ INVERNESS CT The Season So Far D L D D W D D D L / W L(11)D W W W L W L W W L Since Scott Kellacher was handed the reins in game 11, there has been a more positive approach to our matches which has resulted in improved performances and a more enjoyable matchday experience all round. Alas we were brought back to earth with a disappointing result in our last game of 2024, a crushing 1-4 defeat at home to Cove Rangers. We'll have to put that one down to a bad day at the office. However, we bounced back in our first game of the second half of the season in the six pointer against Dumbarton with a hard fought 2-0 win. That win over Dumbarton was a vital one and the introduction of Alfie Bavidge was a welcome one as he opened the scoring early in the first half. Charlie Gilmour slotted in the clincher in the second half to give us a cushion over the Sons and to narrow the gap on Annan to seven points. We took part in the only League1 game last weekend and came away from Annan with a resounding 3-0 win, Alfie Bavidge netting again with Keith Bray and then Billy Mckay from the spot. It was then on to Palmerston on the Tuesday night but in a five goal encounter we went down 3-2. Alfie Bavidge notched his third goal in three games and Keith Bray added a second but goals from Adam Brooks (2) and Jordan Allan kept the points in Dumfries. Oh well, on to Alloa on Saturday... Plenty of positives to be taken from the defeat against Queen of the South in midweek. Alfie Bavidge is on form with three from three and Keith Bray added his third League goal of the season. Luis Longstaff was a big miss at Palmerston having been injured at Annan last Saturday. We threw away a two goal lead on our last visit to Recreation Park after Conor Sammon came on and changed the game. Danny Devine and Calum MacLeod had put us in the driving seat but goals from Sammon and Luke Donnelly earned the Wasps a point. In November a Charlie Gilmour goal was the difference between the sides at the Caledonian Stadium as the Caley Jags took the points in a 1-0 win. Pos Team Pld Gd Pts 1 Arbroath 20 8 34 2 Stenny 21 9 32 3 Kelty Hearts 21 9 31 4 Alloa Ath 21 4 29 5 Queens 21 -3 29 6 Cove 20 5 28 7 Montrose 20 -2 24 8 Annan Ath 21 -19 20 9 Inverness CT 21 1 16 10 Dumbarton 20 -12 07 Inverness CT Latest Team News Scott Kellacher talking at press/media conference: On Luis Longstaff“ He got a real bad dead leg. He’s going to be 50-50 for the match this weekend. He was a real big loss for us the other night because he’s a big player for us.” If he's giving nothing else away then that may be our major doubt, therefore expect us to be along similar lines to midweek against Queens. In fairness, we don't have much options available anyway. Alloa Athletic: W L L L W D A 2-0 win at Kelty was followed by three defeats on the trot to Montrose, Cove and Stenhousemuir (1-2, 2-0, 1-3). Highlight for Alloa would be their next game, a 3-1 win at Arbroath. They then drew 1-1 at home to Queen of the South last Saturday. Seven points from their last six League games. Luke Donnelly is top scorer with six goals backed up by the vastly experienced Conor Sammon (5) and Luke Rankin (5) Here's how Alloa lined up in the draw with Queen of the South last week. They have since added a couple of loan signings: Josh Gentles a striker from Rangers and Charlie Dewar a defender from Dundee United.