Scotty

Inverness brush Hibs aside Inverness swept Hibs aside as they kept their great run going and leapfrogged the capital club to move into second place in the SPL on their own. Goals from Ross Draper, Richie Forans' face and Billy, he scores when he wants, McKay saw Inverness deservedly run away with the points. Terry Butcher's side virtually picks itself at the moment and it was no surprise that they were unchanged from the dramatic cup tie at Dingwall the previous week. Hibernian manager Pat Fenlon introduced speedy winger Ivan Sproule to the starting eleven and Leigh Griffiths made a swift recovery from his ankle knock after being stretchered off against Hearts the previous week. The first half was a bit of a dour tussle with both sides being a bit sloppy when in possession and Hibs had their best spell of the game. However, it was Inverness that took the lead when Ross Draper was left unmarked in the box and he powered a header low past a diving Williams from ten yards. The cross was delivered deep by Graeme Shinnie on the left from a free kick after brother Andy had been impeded. Reguero was forced into a spectacular save when Griffiths, for the only time in the game broke free. It was Tony himself who started the move, a poor clearance was quickly sent towards the Inverness goal and Griffiths latched onto it after Meekings missed the ball, but when he thumped a twenty yarder towards the top of the goal, Reguero redeemed himself by acrobatically tipping the ball over. Inverness were soon back on the ascendency and Ben Williams had to look lively to keep out efforts from Tudur-Jones and Draper, both from long range. Jones is fast getting a reputation for long range strikes after recent thunderous drives from distance have troubled keepers. Crawford Allan was continually stopping the flow of the game in the first half and aided by his linesmen, managed to spoil the spectacle, but the second half would open out much slicker as Inverness moved through the gears, with Hibs in reverse. Half Time 1-0 Inverness started the second half as they had finished the first, on the front foot. Aaron Doran had woken up and was now driving at the Hibs rearguard at pace, causing them all sorts of problems and he flashed a drive wide when put through on goal. A second goal was threatening as Inverness forced a series of corners and penned Hibs back into their own half for long periods. Jones fired another long range effort, but it was straight at the grateful Williams who plucked it out of the air. Plenty of effort from Inverness, but the end product was eluding them for now. It was becoming one way traffic now as Hibs were struggling to clear their lines from the eager Inverness grafters. Doran burst through a couple of times, skinning the defenders at will but we had to wait until the 76th minute before the game was over as a contest. The vastly imroved version two of David Raven overlapped once more and his magnificent cross from the byeline was knocked into the net by Richie Forans' face. That's becoming a habit now, but it was an excellent build up and a courageous finish by Foran, who put his head where it hurts to bundle the ball home. It certainly hurt Hibs. A third goal would be the icing on the cake and it was now a case of how many? With three minutes left goal machine Billy McKay answered the question as he nodded home Doran's cross to leave Hibs shattered and Inverness rampant. The pair of them had exchanged passes from one end of the pitch to the other when Billy rose majestically to finish off a superb move. We still had time to surge forward a few more times and could have scored even more but the final whistle came to the Hibees recue and a thoroughly deserved 3-0 win was completed. Full Time 3-0 Did we deserve this? You bet we did. A disruptive first half was quickly forgotten as we took the game to Hibs after the break and 3-0 flattered them. Plenty of talking points for afters, and going solo at second in the league is a great feeling, the only downside is once again the miserly crowd attending home matches to watch as attractive a side as there is in the SPL right now. tm4tj MotM:- Not an easy choice this week as there were plenty of contenders for this accolade. A clean sheet for Reguero who had little to do apart from that one Griffiths shot puts him out of the running. Tudur-Jones, like Draper, Meekings and Warren just get better and better every week. Aaron Doran sprung into life after the break and gets close, Richie Foran for his tireless grafting and goal, Billy McKay who is like a Duracell bunny on speed and Andy Shinnie for his close control, keeping many a lost cause alive, yes it's a tough call. Once more, the man to get my vote is the new and improved David Raven who has gone from zero to hero in the space of a couple of months. Great defending, pace on the break and another assist, aye, it's another good week for Dave the Rave. 8th Dec 2012 Scottish Premier League Tulloch Caledonian Stadium Inverness C.T. 3 - Draper (13), Foran (76), McKay (87) TEAM: Reguero, Raven, Warren, Meekings, G.Shinnie, Doran, Draper, Tudur Jones, A.Shinnie, Foran (Sutherland 90), McKay SUBS: Esson, Morrison, Laing, Polworth, Pepper, Cooper Booked: none Sent Off: none Hibernian 0 - TEAM: Williams, Maybury, Hanlon, McGivern, Stevenson, Claros, Taiwo, Wotherspoon (Kuqi 83), Cairney (Doyle 68), Sproule, Griffiths SUBS: Murdoch, Smith, Handling, Caldwell, Horribine Booked: none Sent Off: none Referee Crawford Allan Attendance 3422

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.