Scotty

Inverness Delight Caley Thistle won this game at a canter long before the final whistle sounded after running rings round the County team who capitulated in the second half after being unable to breach the Inverness back line. David Raven scored his first goal after pick pocketing the defender on the goal line and Billy McKay rattled home a second before the interval to give the visitors a fully deserved lead, which flattered the home side somewhat. Substitute Marley Watkins steered home a third goal in the second half and it was no more than Inverness deserved. Slew and Arquin proved to be a handful for Warren and Meekings, but they were well marshalled long before the end and Brill was rarely troubled, but he did make an important acrobatic save early in the second half from a Songo'o header to enable Inverness to build on their lead and control the rest of the game. This win puts Inverness back into fourth position and only three points behind Motherwell with a game in hand; good times! Inverness light up the Global Energy Stadium Inverness literally lit up the Global Energy Stadium with a powerful display that left Ross County in the Shadows. Yes, it would appear that the Highlands are ours! There were a few firsts tonight. An unprecedented first ever ICT goal for David Raven. It will never win goal of the month, but what an occasion to score your first team goal, right in front of the Inverness fans in a high tempo derby. John Hughes doing what Terry Butcher never did for Inverness, he worked out how to beat Ross County on their own patch, and boy did he do it in style, our first win here since 2003. The Jailend emptied quicker than Grant Michaels' bottle of Glenmorangie after Marley Watkins stroked home the third goal and was completely vacant by the 95th minute: Jeepers! Hughes made a subtle change to the side that beat St Johnstone at the weekend bringing back James Vincent and placing Marley Watkins on the bench alongside Nick Ross and Carl Tremarco. Derek Adams started Alex Cooper ahead of the benched Graham Carey and would be looking to Slew and Arquin to use their height and power to unsettle the robust Inverness back line. After the last game at Dingwall ended in darkness, this one started brightly for Inverness who took the game to their fancied opponents, playing some neat football on the lush surface. Only eight minutes on the clock and Inverness took the lead from an unusual source. David Raven had not scored since he joined Inverness some 60 odd games ago, but tonight was his night. The move started in the Inverness six yard box, but six passes later it was in the back of the Dingwall net. Shinnie cleared his line to Doran who moved it on to Draper who in turn swept it forward to McKay. He turned his man then laid it into the path of Vincent who freed Doran who had sprinted forward and he proceeded to skin the defender on the left touch line. He drove into the corner of the box then hit a low ball across the six-yard line. Oikonomou should have put his foot through the ball, but he stopped it and Raven slid in to bundle the ball over the line for a vital first goal in this derby. Great build up play but horror defending from the nervy County back line. Inverness were on top and looked the slicker of the two sides and James Vincent should have done better than miss the target after great work by captain Richie Foran down the right, should have at least made the keeper work. County were clutching at straws and their only creation of note came from numerous free kicks around the visitors box and from one flurry they shouted for a handball, but Inverness swept forward briskly as Foran fed Shinnie who drove through the County defence and fizzed a cross come shot across Brown's box, but there were no takers. With just over half an hour gone, the troublesome Doran fired a wicked shot just wide as Inverness kept the pressure on the wobbly home defence. The decisive goal was coming though and a great one it was as well. County half cleared their lines, and Graeme Shinnie took full advantage of hesitation on the left midfield to drive towards the box. His cut back across the box was met perfectly by McKay on the run to hit a low left foot shot beyond Brown from twelve yards for a deserved second goal for Inverness, just five minutes before the break. Half Time 0-2 Inverness had worked themselves into a commanding position, but they had Brill to thank for preserving their two goal lead. A long ball from Brittain saw Cooper free on the left and his ball into the box was caught by Tidser on the penalty spot but Brill threw himself high to his right to palm the ball away for a corner. Filip Kiss went close with a long range strike which missed Brill's left upright by a yard but that was as close as County came to getting a foothold in this match. Billy McKay became the surprise provider after dispossessing substitute Graham Carey. He sent a tremendous forty yard ball into the path of Doran who was stopped in his tracks as he was about to pull the trigger by Cikos, an important block and well timed challenge. Slew suddenly found time to turn and shoot in the visitors box, the defenders standing off him fearful of giving away a penalty, but his drive was straight at a confident Brill. Doran looked to have won a penalty cutting in from the left, but the ref adjudged the ball to have crossed the bye line, despite seemingly awarding a penalty at first. He used to be indecisive, but now he's not so sure. In seventy eight minutes it was all over for County. Marley Watkins was on the park for less than two minutes when he raced onto a Doran pass and calmly slotted the ball low past an exposed Mark Brown from twelve yards. Contest over and the showboating began as Inverness played keep ball with the County players chasing shadows, the Jailend now empty as referee Calum Murray put County out of their misery after ninety five minutes. Full Time 0-3 Make no bones about it, this was a committed display from Inverness who took the game to County from the off and thoroughly deserved this win. John Hughes appeared to have got it spot on and his counterpart will need to lick his wounds and get his team sorted quickly before Partick come calling on Saturday. tm4tj MotM:- Richie Foran was missing during our lean spell and it's great to have him back leading the charge and defending when required. He was the driving force behind everything that Inverness did and is my MotM. To be honest, there were no failures in an ICT shirt, but Doran, Shinnie, McKay............ach to hell with it, they were all superb. Celtic at Parkhead next, tough game as they will be smarting from the defeat at Aberdeen. Let's just see how it goes. Date: 25.02.2014 Venue: Global Energy Stadium, Dingwall Attendance: 4805 Referee: Calum Murray Ross County: 0 Lineup: Brown, Cikos, Brittain (De Leeuw 66), Kiss, Tidser, Cooper, McLean, Slew, Ikonomou (Carey 54), Arquin, Songo'o Subs (not used): McCarthy, Gordon, Boyd, Quinn, Glen Scorers: none Booked: none Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 3 Lineup: Brill, Raven, Shinnie, Warren, Meekings, Draper, Foran (Ross 86), Doran (Tremarco 85), Vincent, Tansey, Mckay (Watkins 76) Subs (not used): Esson, Devine, Polworth, Pepper Scorers: Raven (8), Mckay (40), Watkins (78) Booked: Shinnie (42) Sent Off: none This post has been promoted to an article

Gary is the head man Gary Warren nodded home his third goal of the season, and it proved to be the winner at the end of the first half to give Inverness all three points against a side that have held the Indian sign over Inverness recently. Nigel Hasselbaink ensured we would take the points North with an astonishing miss in the second half after Brill had saved a Wotherspoon effort. Richie Foran continued his recovery on the park and Doran and Watkins started this game with Vincent and Ross on the bench. Inverness had not scored in Perth in their last four visits and generally tend to find goals hard to come by against St Johnstone. Inverness started the game on the front foot and Warren almost opened the scoring after he stole in behind the Perth defence to send a diving header narrowly past the post from a long Tansey through ball with Mannus struggling to cope. Billy McKay was his usual darting self and his twists and turns almost reaped rewards but there was always another defender to beat and Billy was often crowded out. Billy was first to test the keeper as he typically got ahead of the defenders to turn and fire a shot on target after great build up play from Draper and Watkins, Mannus blocking the shot. When the ball eventually broke to Tansey he fired a low daisy cutter just past Manus' right hand post from thirty yards, the keeper struggling to make up ground as the ball fizzed wide. Inverness were in command, but they had Dean Brill to thank for keeping them level as he pulled off a superb diving save from Nigel Hasselbaink as the wee Nigel tried to curl an effort in from eighteen yards. The wee man could hardly believe his eyes as Brill saved the day for the visitors, turning the ball round the post for a corner. St Johnstone were beginning to get into the game now Nigel was once more denied as he cut into the box, Brill blocking his angled drive well. Raven joined the attack and had a volley charged down inside the box as the game opened out. Doran and Watkins combined to set McKay through on goal but Mannus stood tall to block Billy's attempt on the six yard line. However, with three minutes of the half left, Inverness took the lead. St Johnstone were somewhat calamitous in their attempts to clear their lines and when Mackay sliced a Foran knock down across the face of the goal, Gary Warren rose to nod the ball home with Mannus stranded. Half Time 0-1 Chris Iwelumo entered the fray at half time and he was on hand to witness the aforementioned miss, one of Iwelumo proportion. Wotherspoon hit an angled drive across Brill and as he pushed it away, the ball flashed onto Nigel's head, but he missed the gaping goal to his disbelief once more. Nigel's day was complete when he fired high over from a good position inside the visitors box and Inverness held firm for their first win in Perth at the fifth attempt. Full Time 0-1 Great to end our dismal run of games in the Fair City and the result was merited. This puts St Johnstone nine points behind us and with Aberdeen and Motherwell losing this weekend there is still the faint hope of getting into the Euro positions by the end of the season. Inverness were best served by Graeme Shinnie, Greg Tansey and goal scorer and stopper Gary Warren. Dean Brill pulled off some great saves when called upon and the one to deny Hasselbaink was unbelievable. Ross County game coming up in midweek and this promises to be a cracker with County now looking much stronger than they were at the start of the season, and Inverness starting to regroup and consolidate in the top-six. Date: 22.02.2014 Venue: McDiarmid Park, Perth Attendance: 2415 Referee: Euan Norris St Johnstone: 0 Lineup: Mannus, Mackay, Anderson, Wright (Scobbie 37), Easton, Wotherspoon, Millar (Croft 71), Hasselbaink, Cregg (Iwelumo 46), McDonald, May Subs (not used): Banks, Dunne, Miller, O'Halloran Scorers: none Booked: Hasselbaink (31), Millar (32), Wotherspoon (33) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 1 Lineup: Brill, Raven, Warren, Meekings, Shinnie, Doran, Draper, Tansey, Watkins (Ross 74), Foran, McKay (Vincent 78) Subs (not used): Esson, Devine, Tremarco, Polworth, Pepper Scorers: Warren (42) Booked: Watkins (32), Draper (67) Sent Off: none

Inverness edge out Stranraer Inverness crept into the quarter finals with a low key performance that saw League One side Stranraer take all the plaudits, but not the scalp they wanted. An early ricochet off Nick Ross gave Inverness the lead but they could not build on it and it took a very late strike from substitute Aaron Doran before The Blues became stuck in the mud of Inverness. Not the swashbuckling performance the fans were hoping for, but constant rain all day almost scuppered the game completely before a second pitch inspection convinced referee Alan Muir it should go ahead. The heavy pitch looked like it would cause all sorts of problems on a miserable evening as the rain continued to fall on the already saturated playing surface, which had large areas of quagmire in the central sections near the penalty boxes, especially the North Stand side. Tommy's pride and joy looked more like Fir Park on a bad day than it's normally pristine self. The game was barely three minutes old when a somewhat fortuitous goal got Inverness off to the perfect start as Stranraer tried to clear their lines. Scott Robertson, in attempting to clear a through ball, smacked it off the shins of the fleet footed Nick Ross and the ball spun behind him and goalkeeper David Mitchell. Harsh on Stranraer and a break for Inverness. The early form continued for the home side as they ploughed their way forward and Shinnie made Mitchell work to deny the wing back. It was looking like the early goal would ignite some flame in the damp Inverness camp, but as the half wore on, Stranraer began to make some headway in the ankle deep mud and made the home side look cumbersome at best. Sean Winter forced his way into the box but sent his shot straight at Dean Brill when he could have done better. Nick Ross made one tremendous run down the left flank and then cut across the face of the box, but his parting shot was weak and simply gathered by Mitchell. Another Ross burst saw him feed McKay, but once again the Blues keeper was equal to the task and kept Stranraer within earshot at the break as Inverness toiled somewhat in the heavy conditions. Half Time 1-0 Chances were at a premium in the second half as Inverness continued to huff and puff, but Stranraer would not go away and it was the visitors who were playing the slicker football when they got possession. McKay had the ball in the net just past the hour mark but he was ruled offside and the home crowd groaned. It took a good diving save by Brill to prevent Steven Bell from levelling the tie as he tried a speculative thirty yard effort which almost caught Brill out, but he dived full length to tip the ball away as his feet seemed to spin in the soggy goalmouth. The home fans were dreading extra-time but substitute Aaron Doran put us out of our misery as he hit a late winner after a great run by Shinnie. Doran sent a low drive into the bottom corner from the edge of the box to send the fans home with a smile on their faces, but it could all have turned sour had Stranraer caught us out on a miserable night for football. Full Time 2-0 Inverness were best served by Nick Ross, especially in the first 45, and Graeme Shinnie who created the burst forward late in the game for the clincher. Greg Tansey showed plenty of graft in the middle and is the one player able to take on the long range shooting job, something often lacking in some of the other players. Stranraer should be well chuffed by their teams performances over the two games and they should go on to complete a fine season. Keeper Mitchell was solid and big striker Martin Grehan led the line well, backed up by a pair of flying wingers in Stirling and Winter who troubled Raven and Co on more than just a few occasions. Inverness CT manager John Hughes: "A lot of the credit has to go to Stranraer. I said to the boys at half-time we've got to get closer to them, to match up, get on the front foot and go press them. "For us on a sticky pitch it was all about getting through, we're thankful that is the case. We left it late, we always seem to make it difficult for ourselves up here. We were in total control in terms of getting on the ball and creating chances, but I've seen us play better." Stranraer manager Stephen Aitken: "We played well. I thought we competed well, again, over two games. Maybe the wee bit of quality they had over the two legs done us in. But I can't fault my players. "The conditions weren't ideal but I thought the two teams especially tried to make it a cup tie. We fought very hard against a very good side. You don't get to a League Cup final if you're a poor side." That now leaves the draw looking like this Aberdeen v Dumbarton Raith Rovers v St Johnstone Rangers v Albion Rovers Inverness v Dundee United Date: 18.02.2014 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 1458 Referee: Alan Muir Inverness CT: 2 Lineup: Brill, Raven, Warren, Meekings, Shinnie, Ross (Watkins 80), Draper (Doran 67), Tansey, Foran, Vincent, McKay Subs (not used): Esson, Devine, Tremarco, Pepper, Polworth Scorers: Ross (3), Doran (90) Booked: Draper (35), Watkins (90+1) Sent Off: none Stranraer: 0 Lineup: Mitchell, Robertson, Docherty, Rumsby, McKeown, Bell, Winter (McKenna 67), Gallacher, Grehan, Longworth (Forde 75), Stirling Subs (not used): Fahey, McGregor, Kinnaird, Scorers: none Booked: Docherty (69), Bell (90+1) Sent Off: none This post has been promoted to an article

Wood you believe it! Inverness pummelled the Hearts goal but the woodwork came to the Jambos rescue on a number of occasions to keep the score blank. When the woodwork was beaten, Jamie MacDonald was once again in fine form to deny the reluctant strikers of the home side with a series of excellent saves, and some great goal line clearances ensured the Edinburgh side went home with a valuable point. Inverness started the game with Foran on the bench and what looked like their strongest eleven on the park with Vincent and Watkins on from the start, along with Greg Tansey. The pattern of the game was set early on after Ryan Stevenson fired a warning shot across the Inverness bows. After that, it was constant pressure from Inverness who looked eager to score. Maybe too eager as a little composure might have seen some goals scored, but it all became a bit too frantic as chance after chance went abegging, the home side electing to take an extra touch or try to tee up someone else rather than take the bull by the horns. Inverness' wide players were having a field day with Watkins and Doran able to beat their man at will, but the final ball all too often going astray. When we did get a shot away, the woodwork was in brilliant form, denying Watkins, McKay, Raven and Tansey in a first half totally dominated by Inverness. Danny Wilson blocked a McKay effort and Jordan McGhee cleared a Watkins shot off the line, but the ball would just not fall kindly for Inverness as MacDonald staged a one man blockade to deny Inverness as he made a TV save to deny a Tansey header. Half Time 0-0 The process continued after the break, but Hearts realised it might just be their day and tried to smuggle the points out of Inverness. The ever popular Jamie Hamill tried a long range shot which went just wide but the domination continued and MacDonald denied Tansey with a superb save low down to his right. A few more scrambles in the Hearts box kept the fans interested but the extra touch thwarted the Inverness forwards as they seemingly tried to walk the ball into the net. With Hearts still in the game. they realised they might just get all three points and pushed forward late in the game, Hammil and McCallum having the best opportunities, but after dominating for so long, Inverness were not going to concede now and the game ended scoreless. Full Time 0-0 Shooting practice might just be on Yogi's agenda this week after our forwards failed to make the most of our superiority, but credit also has to go to a battling Hearts side desperately looking to avoid the drop. Marley Watkins was probably our most likely match winner but like the rest, he failed to hit the net. Good to see Foran back, and he added some urgency when he came on, but in the end we had to settle for a share of the points. At least we kept eleven men on the park this time...............meh Date: 15.02.2014 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 3392 Referee: Craig Thomson Inverness CT: 0 Lineup: Brill, Raven, Warren, Meekings, Shinnie, Watkins, Ross, Draper, Tansey, Doran, Vincent (Foran 74), McKay Subs (not used): Esson, Ross, Devine, Tremarco, Williams, Polworth Scorers: none Booked: Tansey Sent Off: none Hearts: 0 Lineup: MacDonald, McGowan, McKay, Wilson, McGhee, Hamill, Robinson, Carrick (King 74), Stevenson, Nicholson, McCallum Subs (not used): Ridgers, Holt, Oliver, Beith Scorers: none Booked: McCallum, Robinson Sent Off: none