ICT look to overhaul high flying Hibees

Contributions from: Scotty, TM4TJ, Gringo Jnr

Hibs are the visitors this weekend as Inverness look to continue their recent good form, hoping for a home victory to consolidate their SPL position with the possibility of moving back to second place.  On the other hand, defeat could see us drop back to sixth, it's that tight.

If you said that you were off to watch second versus third, nobody would have batted an eyelid.  But if you added that it was Inverness against Hibernian, then a few eyebrows might have been raised.  What a change in fortunes for both clubs considering the trials and tribulations of last season, where the Easter Road club were courting relegation for most of the season before eventually seeing off doomed Dunfermline in a relegation six-pointer.  Inverness were not setting the heather on fire either, but eventually steered clear of the battle whilst finishing in the bottom six again.

Last weekend, a break from the rigours of the SPL saw differing fortunes.  Hibs erased part of the memory of their Cup Final thrashing they received at the hands of bitter rivals Hearts.  It was only 1-0, but it was a bitter sweet revenge for the Leith side who were humbled at Hampden last May.  For Inverness, the second Highland derby was a slow burner, but it exploded into life and reached a thrilling climax when the Caley Jags came back from the dead to snatch a draw in a see-saw encounter, low on technical quality, but high on drama and human contortionism. There was as much interest in the antics of Derek Adams as there was in the result of the match but after 95 minutes, we have it all to do again for the right to visit Kilmarnock in the fifth round.

Today (Friday), it was announced that Terry Butcher had been named as Manager of the Month for November. A run that included away victories at Kilmarnock, Celtic and Aberdeen and a home draw with Hearts made him a shoe-in (we wont mention Motherwell!). Billy McKay and Aaron Doran also received the player and young player awards for November making it a clean sweep for the Caley Jags. McKay has scored 8 SPL goals so far this season, with 4 of them coming in the 5 games in November. Doran has only scored 1 SPL goal this season (against County) but is joint top in the SPL with 5 assists and is becoming a more and more important player in the ICT team with every passing week. Hard to believe he is still only 21, he seems to have been around for longer and is only two games away from making his 50th appearance for the club !!

Hibernian may well be without the SPL's leading goal-scorer, Leigh Griffiths, who sustained an ankle injury in their Scottish Cup fixture at Easter Road last week. Billy McKay, who scored his fourth goal in three games for Inverness last weekend, will have a difficult task in beating Hibs 'keeper Ben Williams, although he's certainly not lacking in confidence during a fantastic run of form. Andrew Shinnie, without a goal in five games (or in front of the home crowd in over two months), will be looking to end his personal drought in an effort to thrust Inverness back into second spot.

Having met on 25 previous occasions in all competitions, there has only ever been one goalless encounter which occurred way back in August 2006. In total, Caley Thistle and Hibs have scored 58 goals and conceded 49 in a mere 16 games this season so we are hoping for plenty of goal mouth action and quality counter-attacking football from both teams, each of whom will both be hungry to establish themselves as Celtic's main rivals for the 2012/13 SPL title.

But it's three points that are up for grabs on Saturday, something that Hibs took a long time to do in Inverness.  It was ten games before Hibs would win in the Highlands, a smash and grab affair in July 2011 when bad boy Garry O'Connor scored a stoppage time winner after Inverness spurned a hatful of guilt edged chances.

The first encounter this season ended all square after Hibs blew a two goal lead only for Inverness to level the game with goals from Connor Pepper and a late Richie Foran strike. Eoin Doyle had somewhat fortuitously opened the scoring knocking in a rebound, but there was nothing wrong with David Wotherspoon's spectacular effort from 25 yards. Overall a draw was near enough, but Hibs would rue too many first half misses and Inverness finished strongly in the capital for the second time, having completed a similar comeback against Hearts.