Scotty

Same old, same old Motherwell continue to hold the Indian sign over us after they completed a default 3-0 win over us at Fir Park. They certainly have the knack of beating us as we have donated twelve points to their cause so far this season and boosted their goal difference by a staggering ten goals; that's the difference between them being second or tenth, such is the fine line between success and failure this season. Who else but Michael Higdon opened the scoring after half an hour and Nicky Law added a second shortly after the break before Higdon again concluded the scoring. Inverness matched the Steelmen in the first half but still found themselves a goal down before Well eased away from us to claim second spot and the Inverness bubble is seemingly leaking like a sieve, just like the defence. An offside goal kept our dismal streak going, that's six games without a win and Billy McKay's drought is getting a tad worrying as it heads towards it's seventh match from open play. The fans are getting restless and the hitherto Caley Jags rising stars are no longer getting the plaudits from the fans as the tension at the top begins to take it's toll. Methinks the sooner Richie Foran gets better, the sooner we will get back on track. He is someone you don't notice until he's not there, then the problems start and our threadbare squad gets exposed. Capital Caley was on hand to witness the days event after his stroll from Glasgow........................ Off the Rails The ICT faithful headed to South Lanarkshire for a ‘battle for second’ game against Motherwell looking to get back on track. Caley Thistle have failed to gain a point against Motherwell this season and for the third game against the Steelmen, ICT were crushed. 156 away fans shared the Phil O’Donnell Stand with the home support. Two of the Highland Marchers used the day as a training walk and completed a 17 mile walk from the West end of Glasgow to Fir Park. There was some familiar faces in the Fir Park Social Club beforehand with most Inverness fans being very cautious about the game. Caley Thistle were in much need of a win after the League Cup defeat to Hearts, SPL defeat to the Midden, Scottish Cup defeat to Kilmarnock, SPL defeat to Celtic and SPL draw against Killie. The push for second was starting to falter before the match, but a victory would have taken ICT 4 points clear of Motherwell. Unfortunately it was not to be. Caley Thistle started the better team and were playing some very attractive football. The type of football that saw us reach the heights of second in the first place. However, in recent weeks although some of the midfield play has been great to watch, the final third has been poor. In the opening 15 minutes of the game, Caley Thistle tested the Motherwell goal a couple of times but Darren Randolph was always comfortable. After twenty five minutes Aaron Dorans' powerful shot was saved by Randolph and Andy Shinnie netted the rebound. However, the linesman adjudged Shinnie to be offside. It was certainly very tight and it did look like he was actually onside from our viewpoint. Gary Warren was booked minutes later for a foul on Henrik Ojamaa. A couple of minutes later Tom Hately's shot was brilliantly saved by goalkeeper Ryan Esson to keep the score line even. However, on the half hour mark, Motherwell took the lead. Henrik Ojamaa appeared to miss hit the ball and it fell into the feet of Michael HIGDON who slotted the ball into the back of the net. For all that initial good Caley Thistle play, it felt unfair to be 1-0 down at this point. However, from the goal Motherwell took control of the game and ICT were never going to get back into it. Motherwell started marking the Inverness players more tightly and closed them down quicker making it very difficult to carry on with the neat passing play we had previously seen. Motherwell went close to extending their lead just before half time but Ojamaa's effort went just wide. Although Motherwell started to play better after their goal, the ICT fans were encouraged by what they had seen for most of the first half and were optimistic that Caley Thistle would get back into the game in the second half. Half Time 1-0 Ross Draper was moved to the wide right position just after half time. It seemed a very bizarre move and one that didn’t work. The midfield looked lost for spells in the second half and the team were constantly out muscled by the Steelmen. However, Caley Thistle nearly equalised just after half time when Nick Ross broke away inside the box but his shot soared just high of the goal. However, Nicky LAW extended Motherwells lead six minutes after half time. Sloppy defending after Ojamaa's shot helped the ball land to Law who drilled it into the back of the net. There was a hint of hand ball in the build up play which angered the Caley Thistle faithful. To make matters worse, a few minutes later there looked to be a hand ball again against a Motherwell player ; this time in the other box but the referee did not award a penalty. The game was effectively over in the 55th minute when Stewart Carswell found Michael HIGDON who volleyed the ball past Ryan Esson. Owain-Tudur Jones was awarded the second and final booking of the match a couple of minutes later for a foul on Kallum Higginbotham. There was absolutely no way back for Inverness now as Motherwell looked to extend their lead. With twenty five minutes to go, ICT brought on Philip Roberts and Shane Sutherland for Aaron Doran and Billy McKay. Shortly afterwards Motherwell made a change with Adam Cummins on for Simon Ramsden. Motherwell then used the rest of their substitutes before Liam Polworth came on for Ross Draper for ICT. The Steelmen were looking likely to add to the score line but luckily the score didn’t get any worse. Full Time 3-0 Here's the evidence, without the footage from within the social club.................. As the ICT fans left the stadium, many of us really struggled to name a man of the match. Aaron Doran worked his socks off and Nick Ross was impressive but the second half performance all round was extremely poor. That’s no victories in six games for Caley Thistle in all competitions. We need a win against Hearts to help keep our top six hopes alive. It is very tight, but all is not lost. If we can get back to winning ways soon, we will secure top six. it's time to exorcise the ghost of the League Cup Semi Final. Onwards, to Tynecastle to get our top six campaign back on track. 16th Feb 2013 Scottish Premier League Fir Park, Motherwell Motherwell 3 - Higdon 30,56, Law 52 TEAM: Randolph, Hammell, Law, Hutchinson, Hateley, Humphrey, Ojamaa (McHugh 76), Higdon, Higginbotham (Francis-Angol 75), Ramsden (Cummins 69), Carswell SUBS: Hollis, Saunders, Daley, Erwin Booked: none Sent Off: none Inverness C.T. 0 TEAM: Esson, Raven, G. Shinnie, Warren, Meekings, Jones, Doran (Roberts 67), Draper (Polworth 82), McKay (Sutherland 66), A. Shinnie, Ross. SUBS: Reguero, Pepper, Devine, Taylor, Booked: Warren, Tudur-Jones Sent Off: none Referee C Murray Attendance 4179

Robbed Northern Constabulary are on the hunt for a band of robbers after Kilmarnock did a smash and grab act with virtually their only attack of note in the ninety minutes to snatch a point on a cold blustery night where squally showers soaked the park. Nick Ross scored his second goal in as many games but Borja Perez sickened the home fans as he scored in the ninetieth minute after Inverness squandered chance after chance to put this game beyond a bedraggled Kilmarnock. Richie Foran was missing once more as Inverness started with the same eleven that began against Celtic, Esson retaining the number one jersey. The game started with one of the Killie buses missing on the A9 as heavy snow made driving conditions treacherous on many roads outside of Inverness. The small band of away fans had little to cheer for the first eighty nine minutes of the game, but were rewarded for their efforts by the late equaliser. Inverness began on the front foot as Kilmarnock struggled to keep up with their hosts, the Inverness forwards ripping open the Killie defence at will. It was only a matter of time before Inverness would open their account, but not after some profligacy from the man formerly known as Billy (he scores when he wants) McKay. He tamely headed over as Inverness pushed for the opening and Letheren saved well from a Shinnie effort. We would not have to wait much longer though and Doran eventually got a telling ball into the box where Nick Ross was first to react and knock the ball home from close range. No more than we deserved and we looked hungry for more. Chances were coming at regular intervals and Ryan Esson could have stayed in front of his fire as Kilmarnock were penned in. Andy Shinnie miscued a volley after a great cross from his brother Graeme, and Doran snapped in a shot which Letheren just about managed to keep out low down at his near post, but the killer second goal eluded us. Half Time 1-0 The second half continued like the first, Inverness piling on the pressure, Kilmarnock soaking it up and hoofing the ball anywhere. Shinnie curled one wide as the search for that elusive goal continued, but it was surely coming. Sissoko was mugged by McKay but he recovered in unconvincing fashion as he appeared to bundle McKay off the ball inside the box but nothing doing from the ref. Graeme Shinnie then took on the lead role and had a number of runs through on goal but failed with his attempts to finish the game off either dragging his shot narrowly across the face of the goal or being blocked by Letheren. Some neat interplay was not being rewarded as the final shot was wayward or Sissoko blocked the ball as shots rained into the Killie box. If this was a boxing match the referee would have stopped the contest and their purse would have been withheld. But, just when you think we would have to settle for a solitary goal and three points, up popped Perez in the box to round off Killies only foray forward. Dayton broke on the left and his ball inside was turned in by Perez to the astonishment of the batch of Killie fans that made it to the ground and the disgust of the Inverness fans that suffered those misses. Groans all round. The icing was almost on the Killie Pie when Rory McKenzie went down under a challenge from David Raven, again no penalty and that was the catalyst to earn Kenny Shiels another trip to the stand for his outburst at the officials. Full Time 1-1 This match should have been the perfect tonic for Inverness and it was looking good after twenty minutes. We were creating numerous chances but not taking them and the longer the game went on, the more the feeling that we would rue those missed chances grew. We need to find out why we have taken a dip, and we need to find out quick. This game was crying out for substitutions about fifteen minutes before the end and Nick Ross looked jaded long before the end. You have to say that Killie made their substitutes at the right time and we did nothing until it was too late. It's all very well holding on to what you have, but we never achieved that and questions need to be asked. Some of our recent results have been down to misfortune, tonight was just poor play in front of goal and poor finishing. When is Billy McKay going to learn to put his boot through the ball, guilty of taking the extra touch again when scoring looked easier. Graeme Shinnie must have his boots on the wrong feet, but he did get into some interesting forward positions. Robbery caught on CCTV at Tulloch Caledonian Stadium.........meh. tm4tj MotM:- again difficult to single out a clear winner. Andrew Shinnie just oozes class, and Owain Tudur-Jones is not far behind. Aaron Doran ran the Killie rearguard ragged at times and he did get a couple of good balls into the danger area, but not often enough. Bill McKay got the sponsors man of the match, Christ knows why, but my MotM goes to big Ross Draper who worked tirelessly and covered every blade of grass tonight. 13th Feb 2013 Scottish Premier League Tulloch Caledonian Stadium Inverness C.T. 1 - Ross (21) TEAM: Esson, Raven, Warren, Meekings, G Shinnie, Doran, Draper, Jones, Ross (Sutherland 88), A Shinnie (Devine 85), McKay SUBS: Reguero, Taylor, Polwarth, Pepper, Roberts Booked: Warren Sent Off: none Kilmarnock 1- Perez (90) TEAM: Letheren, Tesselaar, Hay (Racchi 62), Barbour, O'Hara (McKenzie 78), Sissoko, Clingan (Perez 66), Dayton, Pascali, Gross, Heffernan SUBS: Jaakkola, O'Leary, Ibrahim, Winchester Booked: none Sent Off: none Referee B Madden Attendance 2529

Four in a row Inverness slumped to a fourth successive defeat at the hands of SPL Championees Celtic's second eleven as they overturned the loss of an early Nick Ross goal to eventually run out comfortable 3-1 winners, despite a series of goalmouth scrambles in the visitors box. Goals from Commons, Gershon and Miku sealed our fate. Ryan Esson retained the keepers jersey with Toni Reguero on the bench. Andy Shinnie was passed fit, and Ross Draper returned after suspension for the injured Richie Foran, with Nick Ross on from the start and he made an early impact in the ninth minute. Celtic had one eye on Juventus and there were rare outings for Paddy McCourt, Dylan McGeouch, and new Bhoy's Tom Rogic and Rami Gershon, with Forster returning from injury in goal. In fact Celtic fielded nine changes, Anthony Stokes up front with Miku and Kayal backing them up and young Marcus Fraser in defence, such is the depth of the Celtic squad. Inverness were left to pack the bench with youngsters, the tea lady and half-time raffle ticket sellers. Early kick off and TV saw plenty empty seats in the home end with latecomers filling the away end nicely as the game kicked off on a mild February afternoon, Inverness attacking to the away end and it was a bright start by the home side, taking the game to the re-arranged Celtic squad. Billy McKay was first to threaten as he curled a left footed effort just wide after Shinnie and Draper combined and fed him a ball on the edge of the box, Forster looking on seemingly unperturbed. The visitors defence had looked a bit shaky from the start and Inverness capitalised on some slackness. Doran fired a ball into the box which was blocked by big Fraser Forster and Nick Ross pounced on the loose ball to drive it low into the corner of the net from the edge of the box, right in front of the Celtic fans to stun the away support. Mind you, I did think that the 'Champions League, yer havin a laff,' chant was a bit presumptuous to be honest Inverness then went back into their shell as Celtic got to grips with the game and ten minutes later Kris Commons met a Rogic cut back flush on the run at the far side of the box and he sent a thunderous strike high past Esson from fifteen yards. No chance for Ryan on his home return to action, although we maybe never covered ourselves in glory as Rogic sprinted to the bye-line. Celtic now had the upper hand as we sat deeper and Rogic fired over from a Stokes cut back. We were living a tad dangerously and Celtic were awarded a soft free kick in a prime position, but Commons almost took out the camera man at the rear of the stand with this effort. This woke Inverness up and we managed to secure a bit more of the ball as half time approached with Andy Shinnie passing up our best moment as his attempt looped over the bar. Half-Time 1-1 Craig Thomson did not endear himself to the home support ignoring a penalty claim as the ball appeared to come of Fraser's elbow and Inverness were made to pay shortly after when Gershon rose highest to nod Celtic ahead after only 48 minutes. Loose defending by Inverness where Gary Warren has had better days. Once more Inverness handed the initiative to Celtic and we were under the cosh somewhat and Stokes had another free header which came back off the face of the bar as we struggled to clear our lines. However, as in the first half, we weathered the storm and exerted some pressure on the Celtic goal, Nick Ross' shot rebounding and Billy McKay being blocked on the line by some desperate Celtic defending, but they kept the ball out. Things were looking a bit more promising but as per normal, when chasing the game, along comes the sucker punch. At 2-1, Inverness were still in with a shout and looked likeliest to get the next goal which would have seen us take at least a point, but alas, it was not to be. Another goal line melee in the Celtic six yard box ended with Miku scoring at the other end and it was game over. The clearance was transferred quickly by Watt to Stokes and on to Miku, who stroked the ball past an exposed Ryan Esson. The same player also rattled the post with a close range flick as the game ran away from Inverness despite our best efforts. We still huffed and puffed but were unable to penetrate the visitors back row and Celtic saw out the game for an ultimately comfortable three points despite some frantic attempts and some misfortune in front of goal. Full-Time 1-3 Terry gave his post match interview with some background seat slamming thrown in and David Raven has his say on the match. tm4tj MotM:- No massive standouts in the home ranks but Andy Shinnie showed his class although he did look to be nursing himself a little and played within himself, but still good enough to get the nod from me. Owain Tudur-Jones also looked classy and his range of passing was sometimes spectacular, other times frustrating and he tried a few shots goalwards. Doran tried hard, but unlike his Celtic counterparts, his final ball was more often a let down. One man certainly not getting any awards is the baffling Craig Thomson. Only he will know why he stopped a promising attack to let Kayal receive attention, despite the player holding onto his leg whilst lying in the penalty box. He also allowed Celtic to break up play with persistent fouling which if taken accumulatively should surely have warranted a card or two. He's definitely off the Xmas card list. So that's four in a row now, but this was not an unexpected result although disappointing. On the other hand, we still retained second spot in the league with Motherwell losing at Kilmarnock and we also have a quick opportunity to get back on track as Killie visit Inverness on Wednesday night. Motherwell also finished their game with only nine men on the field which may rule them out for the next game or two, so it's not just us that are looking over our shoulders. The pack are closing in slowly but surely with only Dundee being cut adrift and Ross County now only five points behind second spot. Surely not! 9th Feb 2013 (12:00) Scottish Premier League Tulloch Caledonian Stadium Inverness C.T. 1 - Ross (9) TEAM: Esson, Raven, Warren, Meekings, G.Shinnie, Ross (Roberts 76), Draper, Tudur-Jones, Doran, (Sutherland 88) A.Shinnie, McKay SUBS: Reguero, Devine, Taylor, Pepper, Polwarth Booked: none Sent Off: none Celtic 3 - Commons (20), Gershon (4), Miku (82) TEAM: Forster, Gershon (Mathews 66), Rogne, Fraser, Commons (Chalmers 46) Rogic, McCourt (Watt 78), Kayal, McGeouch, Miku, Stokes SUBS: Zaluska, Herron, Nouioui, Atajic Booked: none Sent Off: none Referee Craig Thomson Attendance 6175

Week of Woe Our week of woe continued at Rugby Park as the misery worsened, not only by the defeat, but injuries to key players which will hamper our challenge for a top four finish over the next few weeks. Two second half goals from Paul Heffernan were enough to see off a battle weary Inverness as injuries removed captain Richie Foran and influential midfielder Anrew Shinnie from the action before half time. League Cup, no more. Scottish Cup, no more. And defeat at Paisley in the SPL will be followed up by the visit of Celtic next weekend. Aye, it's been a tough few days and it looks like getting even tougher. Ryan Esson got a rare outing in goal and Ross Draper missed out through suspension. Nick Ross started in midfield and David Raven returned after missing out at Paisley in midweek with an injury. Killies Mark O'Hara kept his place in the starting eleven but Paul Heffernan began on the bench, although he would play a big part in the outcome of this game after Cillian Sheridan limped off at half time. Capital Caley will have a full report when he recovers from his travels............ Saturday concluded an absolutely disastrous week for Caley Thistle. Defeated in a penalty shoot out to Hearts seven days previous and dropping three points at the Midden on Wednesday. The Caley Thistle faithful were hopeful that we could get over our League Cup heart break by storming into the Quarter Finals of the Scottish Cup. But an under par performance from the Caley Jags saw them crash out of the cup with a 2-0 defeat at Kilmarnock. It is the third time in twelve seasons that we have been eliminated from the Scottish Cup at Rugby Park, and probably our worst performance at Rugby Park in a long time. A number of the Caley Thistle ‘Juanjo’ fans made their way to the usual Killie assembly point, the Hunting Lodge. With it’s declining number of customers we fear that we won’t be back there despite the good hospitality over the years. I certainly hope it can be turned around. From there it was off to Rugby Park with the hope that we can extend our stay in the cup. Due to Scottish Cup rules, both teams had to have fewer substitutes than they would have had in an SPL game. Conor Pepper and Liam Polwarth looked on from the stand. The first half was pretty poor. Richie Foran received a caution after only a couple of minutes after a challenge on Mark O’Hara. It was a sluggish start from both teams and ICT were soon dealt a blow when Foran pulled up with an injury to be replaced with Philip Roberts. This was Roberts time to make amends for his League Cup penalty miss – or so we hoped. After half an hour both teams had half chances from far out but weren’t really testing Ryan Esson or Cammy Bell in the ICT and Killie goals respectively. Caley Thistle were dealt another blow when Andrew Shinnie had to come off with an injury and was replaced with new signing Charlie Taylor. Taylor impressed on his debut but the loss of Shinnie and Foran was a real blow to the team. Cillian Sheridan forced Ryan Esson into a good save just before half time but it was looking more and more likely that there would be a stalemate going into half time. Half Time 0-0 Inverness just couldn’t get going and any attempt at flowing build up play was just not working this time. Killie were starting to edge it and deservedly took the lead on 58 minutes with Paul Heffernan driving the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal after a unlucky intervention by Taylor went astray off the legs of Warren. Caley Thistle did carve out a few chances but never looked like they were going to score. With every attack, the ball would go astray, possession would be lost, balls over hit or timid shots at Bell in the Kilmarnock goal. New signing Jordan Gibbons replaced Nick Ross with ten minutes to go. But Kilmarnock were always looking like they would get the second goal and Esson pulled off a couple of good saves to keep Caley Thistle in it. However there was nothing he could do to stop Kilmarnocks second in the 85th minute. Ross Barbour assisted Paul Heffernan who slotted the ball into the middle of the goal to seal the victory with a neat back-heeled flick. Full Time 2-0 Despite elimination from the Scottish Cup there was some positives for ICT. Esson played well and commanded the box effectively. Despite shipping two goals the defence played very well. New signing Charlie Taylor impressed. However in general it was a poor team performance and the lads will need to really raise their game for next Saturday if they want to repeat their heroics from Celtic Park earlier in the season. For his composure and another solid performance my Man Of The Match is David Raven. Hopefully the whole team can click again against Celtic next week to get our title challenge back on track. This has been a week to forget. But we are second in the SPL. Despite our cup woes, we can still go forward in the league. Hampden however will have to wait. Highlights available @ BBC Sport 2nd Feb 2013 Scottish Cup Rugby Park, Kilmarnock Kilmarnock 2 - Heffernan (58, 85) TEAM: Bell, Tesselaar, Fowler, McKeown, Barbour, O'Hara, Sissoko, Dayton (Hay 70), Gross, Sheridan (Heffernan 45), Perez SUBS: Letheren, Pascali, McKenzie Booked: Hay (88) Sent Off: none Inverness CT 0 - TEAM: Esson, G.Shinnie, Warren, Meekings, Raven, Tudur-Jones, Ross (Gibbons 81), Foran (Roberts 16), A.Shinnie (Taylor 31), McKay, Doran SUBS: Reguero, Devine Booked: Foran (1) Sent Off: none Referee Willie Collum Attendance 3172