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Great Article published on the Courier website yesterday about our current sponsored player Matthew Strachan that pretty much epitomises why we have always tried to sponsor up and coming youngsters over the years: Inverness CourierFormer Millburn Academy pupil proud to break into Caley T...He has started both League Cup group games so far.

South West to East Kilbride Coming down from the North, It's a first for the Caley Jags as they visit the K-Park Training Academy which has a capacity of 700 (400seated), situated in the St Leonards area of East Kilbride at Calderglen Country Park, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 0QZ. It's a 3G synthetic surface so that might affect team selection. Inverness went down narrowly to a last minute goal at the weekend against St Johnstone having beaten Elgin City in our opening encounter. East Kilbride have been the shock troops in Group F so far. They led St Johnstone for fifty minutes before going down 3-1 in their first fixture. Their second game saw an astonishing comeback from the 88th minute when they had just gone 2-1 down to Raith Rovers. However, in a remarkable turnaround, they scored three goals over the next six minutes to take all three points in a 2-4 win at Starks Park. To prove it was no fluke, they then thumped Elgin City 1-4 on Saturday as they played their penultimate Group F fixture. No Listen! Here's Scott Kellacher ahead of match “We know we’re in for a real hard game, East Kilbride have made a great start and they’re desperate this season to go and win their league to get up. There’s a lot going on at their club and they are going in the right direction because their performances have been good.” “They have some cracking players there; Mick Kennedy and Simon Ferry are doing a great job. We’ve watched them a few times, the way they play the game is exciting so hopefully we’re in for a real good game tomorrow night.” We’ll assess Ross Millen today, it’ll most likely be 50/50 for the game but if he’s feeling it we won’t be taking any chances with him. We can’t afford to have players out long term, so we have to look after them in the short term.” East Kilbride v ICTFC ⚽ Premier Sports Cup Group Stage Tuesday 22nd July, 7.45pm kick-off Ross Commercial Finance Stadium Calderglen Country Park East Kilbride G75 0QZ Ticket Info 🎫 There will only be 290 tickets available for ICT fansTickets available from the following link via Fanbase for ICTFC supporters Travel Club Info 🚍 The ICT Supporters Travel Club are running a bus to Tuesday’s match against East Kilbride, leaving the Caledonian Stadium at 2pm. Both picking up in Aviemore. £20 a seat. Book through the Travel Club’s Facebook or 07462 218717 EK's team -V- Elgin City last Saturday where they ran away with the game. Skipper Jack Leitch opened the scoring in the third minute and he added a second after 21 minutes before Elgin pulled one back from the spot on half time. Nathan Flannagan scored soon after the interval before John Robertson ended the scoring with nearly half an hour to go. A great start to life in with the big boys and I'm sure they will be knocking on the promotion door come the end of the season. Former St Johnstone player John Robertson is the leading scorer in the League Cup this season with five goals from three games. Jack Leitch scored twice at Elgin. EK have scored nine goals in their three games. Here's how they did it at Elgin! Here's how we went down to St Johnstone. Caley Jags starting XI and Subs in the defeat to St Johnstone. Ross Millen and Adam MacKinnon were missing through injury and that was likely our strongest available squad. Substitutes Liam Sole and Jordan Alonge put in a strong case for a start against East Kilbride with a powerful display and added some much needed pace and power to our attack. Liam Sole looks like he will scare the sh!t out of defenders this season. Already got his own song (Gold) after a couple of substitute appearances with his twinkle toes and attacking prowess. Not seen anything like him for years, certainly not in a Caley Jags top. Sensational! Good confident display between the sticks by Ross Munro. Our Achilles heel on Saturday through no fault of his own was probably Calum MacLeod having to fill in at right back. A fish out of water but he stuck manfully to the task. He is much more suited to being a powerful midfielder. Chin up, this could be your season. Alfie Stewart and Paul Allan did a power of work and the defence were strong until the 90th minute when Ikpeazu did what he does best. What a beast he is. If anything, Wotherspoon and Longstaff were posted missing in the first half which meant we surrendered possession too easily. I doubt we will underestimate EK and I'm sure Kellacher will be well aware of the dangers and implications of this tie.

Yes, we get folk walking up and down the main aisles with popcorn, sweets, AND alcohol. Used to be a problem with over consumption but at current stadium prices I think most people now self-regulate! To be fair though, at TFC there are so many concession stands near to most sections that its not a problem to go get it yourself although at half-time the most popular ones do get pretty long queues but they move quick. Same for beers - at last count, 20+ different ones on tap around the Stadium and the lineups for those are not usually too bad ... they stop serving around the 65-minute mark though. Not sure how well this would translate to ICT given the lower crowds and lack of multiple serveries. Perhaps an initiative for popcorn, chocolate bars, crisps or other easy stuff might be an option? Its all about convenience. Where TFC do actually do well is in their app. I can (theoretically) order food to my seat (hot food and/or beers) during the game, buy 50-50 tickets, even from home and take advantage of offers or enter competitions etc. I did try to order to my seat one-time when I had my son with me but the delivery time was apparently 40 minutes, and this was part way through the second half ... so a few glitches to work out there methinks!

You are right - a winning team is absolutely the best motivation to get bums on seats. I look at what happens over here at TFC and it's kind of similar to things tried before at ICT so no bright ideas here .... There is a specific pre-match routine involving kids from youth teams around the Toronto area bringing out the huge pitch flags, then at half-time we have gone through the gamut of kids playing mini-games, adults trying to win stuff (from various sponsors) with trivia questions, or by kicking the ball half the length of pitch and having to score a goal or something similar to the car boot stuff. Not even had any cheerleaders at TFC so ICT are ahead of them there. The only thing we perhaps have not tried @ICT is where some of the concession providers at TFC (typically the Pizza guys) send a slice to every seat in a specific "random" row of the stadium. When I say random, I really mean in one of the expensive rows and not down with the proletariat where I stand ... not had a free slice in the supporters' section in 18 years! Can't see a burnt sausage roll from the servery downstairs being much of a draw to be honest ... lets stick to the original plan and start winning some football games.

Crystal Palace have had Cheerleaders for many years, initially they were a younger gymnastics based set up, but changed to a more Americanised version, many being professional dancers, singers, theatre based or PR industry. They work with others sports too and do quite a lot of charity work, and overall get a very good [and polite] reception. There was a brief period when they might have been axed when there was some political posturing over such girls in sport [Boxing and F1 I think}, but they survived that... wasn't quite expecting to hear of cheerleaders at Inverness, but could be a positive thing. …. meanwhile sounds like we had a decent run out against St Johnstone and may have been unlucky to lose. Positive words for Sole and Alonge. No sign of Millen? Or Mackinnon? We seem to have a decent looking side, short of an attacker or two at the moment. Obviously quite a lot of expectation after last season under SK, I would caution against expecting us to charge up the league straight away, it would be nice if it happens, but the next season is never the same as the last

I thought the lad Oystercatcher on the wing was pretty good. If he can stop straying into offside positions he could be a real find. 🤔

I think it's a bit unfair to say we looked disinterested, I think it was a question of being exhausted and the fact that we were chasing the game. Paul Allan and Alfie Stewart had put in a terrific shift all game. Arguably they could have been subbed after 75 minutes or so, but both were playing so well. I imagine that Alonge and Sole had been instructed to stay high up the park.

Thought we did well against superior opposition and I'd be more worried if I were a St Johnstone fan. The team are stil geling and it's obvious not everything from the training ground has fully translated into games quite yet, but there's positive signs there and seeing improvements from pre season games.

You can’t complain too much losing 1-0 to a team of their calibre. That’s a really poor goal to lose though, Danny has got to be annoyed with himself after that. East Kilbride will be a real test on Tuesday night and they will absolutely fancy themselves to take the 3 points. They have big aspirations to step up the leagues in the coming years.

In general, I think we played pretty well today. Judging by the numbers of supporters who were standing in the main stand to applaud the team off the pitch at the end of the game, I would say most would agree with me. Both Sole and Alonge showed promise when they came on, but both tend to overplay it and miss opportunities for a shot or a more effective pass. Hopefully that will come when they feel more confident as integral parts of the team. Munro looks like a solid keeper for the season. It will interesting to see more of Corner, as what we did see when he came on as a very late sub was a very effective long throw-in which could be a really effective weapon in the coming season. For me, the standout players were Paul Allan and Alfie Stewart. There was a terrific work rate from both, they both read the game well, won good balls and always looked to more the ball forward quickly. The next two games will be tricky and will tell us a bit more about the strengths and weaknesses of the squad, but from what I've seen in the games this week, I think we should look forward to the coming league season with genuine optimism.

So near - yet so far, for me. I enjoyed the match if not the result. Don’t want to be too critical of the result today as I expected STJ to come out on top as they are a couple of levels above us (just relegated but still Premiership structure and capable players), whilst we are still getting our team settled and short of a striker. So-near, in that sheer hard graft, good goal keeping, luck, poor finishing on STJ part and time wasting got us almost a well earned draw and into penalties. So-far, in that we were second to most balls, poor passing, caught ball watching and out-of-position for half the team, weak on both back positions, (Macleod simply not a RB). Goal kicks need work. I took heart in the attitude of the team however and the result should be a lesson on what we have to do (mostly on the training field) to correct the errors and step up the speed and accuracy needed at the higher game level. Liam looked a threat when he came on and something we can build on I’m convinced. Good to see Billy demanding more from the team. This attitude will serve us well if we take heed and work on improvement. Tough test it seems coming IMO against East Kilbride. Unknown entity but their results so far show they they mean business. Onwards! bc

Not much between the teams. I think we played some decent stuff, unlike under our previous manager it looks like there's a point to what we're doing. Shocking goal to give away, Danny will be really disappointed with that defending, fell for Ikpeazu's only trick. As many have commented we are desperate for something more upfront. We need to address that before the league season starts if this season is to be as successful as we hope. Calum Macleod performed admirably out of position but it will be good to get him back where he belongs. He could be key this season.

Must be a blow to lose after holding out for almost all of the game. One for Kell & co to spin to encourage the players - if they can do that against St J then they should have nothing to fear in League 1.

Keeper did well to Stop Alfie Stewarts free kick IMO.