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Stand to Attention We will play Arbroath on Saturday at Gayfield in a Stadium with recent damage to their stand. Well I never! Saturday is the 8th of February and it's 25 years to the day since the last time this happened. SuperCaleygobalisticArbroathareatrocious won't have the same impact or quite the same ring to it, but a repeat of that famous scoreline will do nicely. Of course this game was dependent on work to rectify the storm damage being done and or the insurers coughing up the money. I wonder if they already gave them an advance given the number of new faces joining in the January transfer window? A couple of recent defeats have knocked Arbroath off their perch at the top of the table. It's a League nobody is prepared to take the bull by the horns as the lead changes hands every couple of weeks. Some good news this week, it has been revealed that the Supporters Trust will have a seat on the Board of the club once they come out of Administration. George Moodie, Chairman of the Trust, was talking at the Football Memories group at at the stadium and said "We have been promised a seat around the boardroom table once the club gets out of administration". Unfortunately some sad news last week with the passing of former Highland League striker Billy Pirie at the age of 75. Billy played for a number of Scottish sides; Huntly, Arbroath, Aberdeen and Dundee where he scored 93 goals in 112 appearances for the Dark Blues. They don't make them like that anymore. RIP Billy. Attention Attention: Please note that due to damage caused to Arbroath’s stand last Friday, seating in the Coelbrew stand is unavailable to away fans at the moment. Repairs are underway and hopefully will be done before the game. Arbroath FC are doing their utmost to remedy this but the reality is that it may not be repaired in time for Saturday ***UPDATE: Repairs to the roof above the away seating in the Coelbrew Stand at Gayfield Park have now been completed and tickets are now available for that stand. Game On! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Supporters Bus/Info Arbroath Stand Keith Bray Calum Mackay Billy Pirie ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue H2H Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 28 18 5 5 62 24 +38 Away 26 11 7 8 36 31 +5 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 54 29 12 13 98 55 +43 Records will show that over the years we still have the edge over Arbroath. However, recent events, even before administration, reveal that Arbroath are narrowing the gap, especially at Gayfield. Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Arbroath 0 - 2 (H) 0 - 1 (A) 0 - 0 (H) 2 - 1 (H) 1 - 1 (A) 1 - 2 (H) 3 - 2 (A) 2 - 4 (A) 2 - 0 (H) 4 - 1 (A) 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 W W 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. We bounced back with a resilient 1-2 win at Alloa in our third away game on the bounce, Keith Bray with his fourth of the season and Alfie Stewart his first. Up next a revenge mission at home to QotS. *There were plenty of positives to be taken from the defeat against Queen of the South in last 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 and missed out again at Alloa. The good news for us was that Longstaff returned for the the home win against QotS and Alfie Bavidge notched his fourth goal in five appearances. Yay! Sadly it has been confirmed that we will be losing Keith Bray at the end of the season although his new club, Dunfermline, have loaned him back to us for the remainder of the season. Par for the course I suppose. Calum Mackay has left Inverness after mutual agreement between player and club. Scot Kellacher speaking to the media on the squad going forward after the transfer window: “I’m really confident in the squad, the squad we have now has got us to where we have got to. We have given ourselves a fighting chance, it has been a big ask in terms of the task we have been set. The boys have done great, every single one of them even the boys that haven’t played too many games. They’ve been on the training ground, pushing the other boys to their limits.” “We’re happy with the squad. Whether we can get another one in, we’ve got until the end of February [until the loan window shuts]. Hopefully nobody gets injured, we’ve got the squad we’ve got and that is more than enough for me.” Cove v Kelty is a casualty of Scottish Cup duty for the Balmoral Stadium side. Pos Team Pld Gd Pts 1 Stenny 23 8 35 2 Cove 22 10 34 3 Arbroath 21 7 34 4 Queen of Sth 23 -2 32 5 Kelty Hearts 22 7 31 6 Alloa Athletic 23 3 30 7 Montrose 22 -5 25 8 Annan Ath 23 -17 24 9 Caley Jags 23 3 22 10 Dumbarton 22 -14 08 Arbroath went down 2-1 at Cove after taking an early lead through Andy Winter. However, two late goals for the hosts saw them snatch all three points with Megginson and Harrington the scorers. This was their Starting XI at Cove. Arbroath's Last six League games: W L W W L L Working back from the defeat at Cove, they lost 3-1 at Alloa but scored seven without reply in big wins over Montrose and Annan. A 3-2 defeat at Kelty brings them back to our last encounter in the Highlands which Arbroath won 2-0 with goals from Smith and Reilly in a game that Inverness had Robbie Thompson red carded before half time when the score was 0-0. During that period Arbroath have had a couple of games postponed. The January sales have been good for Arbroath: Aaron Steele has returned from Stenhousemuir. Big coup getting Sam Stanton in on loan from Raith Rovers. The vastly experienced Billy King (once at ICTFC) has signed on at Gayfield. Andy Winter came in on loan from Livingston and scored at Cove. Kieran MacKechnie signs on from QotS and Keeper Jack McConnell extends his loan stay for the remainder of the season as has Robbie Hemphrey. Callum Penman has also been brought in on loan from St Mirren. A few outs: Ross County's highly rated young defender Dylan Smith has returned North. Craig Slater to Forfar, Gordon Walker (without club) and Brynn Sinclair (off down under). Liam Callaghan, Quinn Coulson and Layton Bisland (loaned out).

Lovely day for a bus ride and a game of footie. Hoping the lads remember that they need fear no one in the league - ICT being in pole position (if it wasn't for those pesky points deducted). Get out and enjoy yourselves while you bring home the 3 points. C'mon Caley

Appreciate the help guys, My wife is delighted that she only had to sit through a couple of highlights and news reports on youtube rather than a two hour video but my folks still live in the city so I'm sure if I ask nicely theyll send over a copy of the dvd for my birthday! Ive been away for over a decade so i missed the scottish cup so that night still ranks up the top of my football memories.

Disappointing but I believe we will win more than we will draw or lose between now and the end of the season and can still get above Annan and Montrose. This is a quote from Scott Kellacher’s pre-match interview which I think is spot on and hopefully today spurs us on to win next week: “What the group of players have done to get us to where we are right now has been incredible. From now until the end of the season, there may be a set back here or there, we understand that. I think you can see with the setbacks we’ve had, we’ve lost 1 out of the last 5 games and that set back pushed the boys on. There’s a good resilience about them, if we lose a game, they want to get right back on it at training and go again.”

Could be a timely kick up the backside. Really need to knuckle down now for the run-in. And other cliches like that.

Hopefully we can come back with 3 in the second half.

Lovely day here in Aberbrothick. That’s a great interview with Cammy Harper on the TWS podcast, great way to pass a train journey. Kudos @RedCard

Happy 8th February to you all HT 0-1 FT 1-2 Bavidge Winter 1259

https://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/sport/at-least-three-parties-showing-significant-interest-in-takin-373884/

Megapod has dropped featuring interviews with Cammy Harper and Martin Bavidge in addition to the usual football related chat and nonsense.