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Losers Go Home Time Not quite a winner takes all encounter as a draw would maybe suffice for us, but it's certainly a loser exits the League Cup competition kind of day. We had a smashing win at East Kilbride after a first half that gave little clue about what was to happen after the break. Five goals in a 14 minute spell ensured the points went North and the tie was over just after the hour. Raith lost 3-1 to St Johnstone which leaves them three points behind Inverness in the proverbial six-pointer with every goal having a two goal swing. We currently enjoy the advantage in Group F. At present four second placed teams are better off than us and four teams are on the same six points than us. Therefore it would appear that only a win will suffice for either team with Raith Rovers unlikely to progress either way. Looking ahead to the Raith Rovers game, Scott Kellacher said “We’re looking forward to it, we know it is going to be a real hard game. I was delighted with the performance against East Kilbride on Tuesday but we won’t get carried away and we’ll keep our feet on the ground.” “We know it’ll be a hard game against Raith Rovers, they have some great quality players that can hurt you at any time, so we need to be at our best. It’ll be the fourth team from the Championship we’ve played in the last month, which is good preparations for us going forward, we’ve learnt a lot from the games.” “I think we’re going in the right direction; we’re building a good squad but it is important we go down there and believe in ourselves, are ruthless in front of goal like we were on Tuesday and look to get a clean sheet too. Overall, we just need to go there and work hard.” Here's the format for this season's League Cup The group stage will involve all 38 teams not involved in European competition, plus the winners of the Highland League and Lowland League. There will be eight groups of five teams playing each other once in a round-robin format, to take place across five July dates (16, 20, 23, 27 and 30) and will use the traditional three points for a win and one point for a draw model. Straight to penalties for the bonus point, Eight group winners and the three best runners-up progress to the second round, when they are joined by the five clubs competing in Europe, and revert to a traditional knockout format. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Raith Rovers v ICTFCPremier Sports Cup Group Stage Saturday 26th July - 3pm kick-off - Stark’s Park Ticket InfoAdult: £15 - Over 65: £10 - Under 16: £6 Disabled tickets are priced at the relevant age category but are entitled to a free carer. This can be purchased online or from the Ticket Office, however proof of entitlement needs to be shown at the turnstile on the way in. Tickets available via FANBASE LINK ICT Supporters Travel ClubThe Travel Club are running a bus to this Saturday’s match against Raith Rovers which leaves the Stadium at 10am Both picking up in Aviemore. £20 a seat. Book through the Travel Club’s Facebook or on 07462218717. Table after Tuesday nights games Pos Team Pld Gd Pts 1 St. J 3 5 9 2 ICTFC 3 5 6 3 E K 4 -1 6 4 Raith 3 0 3 5 Elgin 3 -9 😂 Here's our team lines from midweek where we thrashed East Kilbride 6-2 at the K-Park Stadium. A relatively tight first 45 ended at 1-1 with an opening goal for EK knocked in by Mr Trialist and Billy Mckay replying with a fine header off a superb cross from Alfie Stewart. No hint about what was about to happen. Within three minutes of the restart Paul Allan scored through the keeper from an impossible angle. That started the deluge. Luis Longstaff whipped one in before Calum MacLeod drill one behind the keeper from a tight angle again. Longstaff lobbed his second over the keeper and in off the post before Alfie Stewart rifled a free kick into the bottom corner to end the spree on 64 minutes. Robertson got a late consolation for EK after lots of substitutions disrupted the flow. Overall, a stunning performance from the Caley Jags whilst keeper Morrison might not want to watch the replays. Scott Kellacher is still on the look out to increase his squad with back-up for Billy Mckay one of his priorities and more cover in defence. Inverness fans will be situated in the North Stand, and these tickets will go on sale once the priority window has closed. RaithTV will provide live video coverage of this match to international subscribers. Cash and card are accepted at the Ticket Office and kiosks. If you are unable to purchase online, please call the Raith on 01592 263514 or visit us during our office hours. Looking suspiciously like Barry Robson's Raith Rovers have nicked one of our olde strips, this was their squad for Tuesday nights defeat in Perth where St Johnstone ran out 3-1 winners. Gullan and McPake had St Johnstone in control by five minutes after the break. Substitute Jack Hamilton halved the deficit before the hour but a late strike by Kirk secured the win with ten minutes remaining. The stats will show that Rovers got more shots away but it's goals that count and they went home pointless. Raith started the campaign well with a healthy 5-1 win at Elgin. Easton (x2), Rowe, Vaughan and Mullin were the scorers. They were caught late in the fixture with East Kilbride, going down 4-2 in the space of six minutes after conceding three goals from the 88th minute for a surprise defeat with Rowe and Vaughan getting the goals. In midweek their consolation was netted by Jack Hamilton. According to Barry Robson, Raith were hard done by and should have had a couple of penalties. They were the better team for large parts of the game and his keeper never had a save to make. Always did have a big chip on his shoulder Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC are delighted to announce the permanent transfer of defender Oscar MacIntyre from Hibernian FC, on an initial 1-year deal subject to SFA clearance. Oscar, 20 years-old, is predominately a left back but can also play right back. He signed for the Hibernian Academy in 2019 from fellow Edinburgh side The Spartans. He signed his first professional contract with the Hibees in 2021 and he made his first team debut in May 2022. While at Hibs, Oscar had two loan spells with League One side Queen of the South both last season and previously for the first half of season 2023-24. He spent the second half of 2023-24 on loan at Annan Athletic.

Damn! I'm at an air show* tomorrow. Otherwise I'd have gone abroad Great write-up, as always - thank you! * https://www.shuttleworth.org/events/summer-air-show in case there are any aviation buffs here

New signing today! Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC are delighted to announce the permanent transfer of defender Oscar MacIntyre from Hibernian FC, on an initial 1-year deal subject to SFA clearance. Oscar, 20 years-old, predominately a left back but can also play right back. He signed for the Hibernian Academy in 2019 from fellow Edinburgh side The Spartans. He signed his first professional contract with the Hibees in 2021 and he made his first team debut in May 2022. While at Hibs, Oscar had two loan spells with League One side Queen of the South both last season and previously for the first half of season 2023-24. He spent the second half of 2023-24 on loan at Annan Athletic.

RAINING GOALS @ THE K-Stadium

I think you should take the dog for a long walk on Saturday

Obviously a very enjoyable game. We were on top in the first half, threatened early with Sole looking dangerous. He won a free kick that Allen came close from but the keeper put it wide. Billy had a chance with a low shot that was just wide. EK took the lead with a goal from a set piece, hard to see from our end of the pitch but looked like a fairly simple goal from a corner - poor defending on our part. We equalised shortly afterwards, when Alfie Stewart put in a great ball for Mckay to head home. For the rest of the half we were teh better team, Stewart had a chance when he was put through but the keeper saved and also he knocked one wide. EK hit the post after a short backpass but didn't threaten that much. Second half and we went on a run where just about everything we did went in. Sole knocked a ball back in and Allen finished it to put us in front. For the third Chalmers drove on from midfield, played in Longstaff who finished really well from the right. Callum MacLeod came in from right back and hit a low shot to make it 4-1. Savage hit a long pass for Longstaff to go in and score his second and then a free kick on the right saw Stewart hit a low shot straight into the far corner. At this point I was wondering if we were going to equal or overhaul our record victory but the game naturally got back to a bit of balance and we made five subsitutions which, as you would expect, disrupted the rhythm of play a bit. We did have one or two other chances, Wotherspoon probably should have scored but their keeper blocked it. EK scored a free kick right at the end for their second. Overall, a fantastic performance - the start of the second half we literally looked like we'd score every time we had the ball, and pretty mcuh did just that. I lost count of our goals, not sure I've ever done that at a game before. I thought Longstaff was outstanding in that spell - scored twice, set up one and (I think) won the free kick for the sixth. Alfie Stewart also had a great game, he was all over the place, looking dangerous and using the ball well every time he had it. Paul Allen covered so much ground and was available all the time as well. LIam Sole had a good start - his booking by the ref, former Ross County player Jamie McCunnie for diving was ridiculous - I felt he faded a little when he and Longstaff switched wings but he was always an outlet. With a bit more time in the team he could be fantastic.

No Listen!

Quite a remarkable day so far and in complete contrast to the start of last season and subsequent plunge into administration. We are very fortunate so far as to how things are beginning to improve.

I’m a fan of a programme. When I had seen EK were doing one it showed me that there’s no reason why we shouldn’t do one either.