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Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war? Caley Thistle set to adopt aerial route to success Published: 19 February, 2008 CRAIG Brewster may be forced to change Caley Thistle's normal passing game in order to cope with conditions underfoot at Motherwell tomorrow evening. The pitch at Fir Park has come in for heavy criticism after a spate of matches were postponed throughout last month due to waterlogging. This has left the surface badly rutted and even Motherwell boss Mark McGhee was critical of it in the wake of Saturday's 3-1 triumph over tenants Gretna, claiming it was in no way conducive to one-touch football. Given the nature of the pitch, McGhee has been forced into opting for the aerial route to goal and Caley Thistle manager Brewster could do likewise tomorrow evening. "The one thing we know about the pitch at Motherwell is that it is going to be the same for both sides," he said. "By all accounts the condition of it isn't good, so suddenly we've got to really think about how we approach the game. "There's no doubt, however, we'll have to be that little bit smart and get the ball into certain areas of the pitch where we know we'll be able to play." Tomorrow night's encounter is the second game of a five-match spell in 14 days for Caley Thistle after they began with a 1-1 draw against Dundee United at home on Saturday. After Motherwell, Caley Thistle's difficult schedule of fixtures will see them visit Hibs on Saturday and Celtic a week tomorrow, before finishing off with a home encounter against Hearts. Brewster, however, remains unperturbed by the amount of games his side will have to play between now and the start of March, which could go some way to deciding if they are capable of finishing in the SPL's top six come the split. "We've simply got to deal with it," he stated. "It's going to be difficult, especially with three away games in a row, but this is the way it's worked out. "When you get a run of games like this in fairly quick succession then there's a few points to be won and lost, so it's up to us to pick up as many as we can in order to maintain the momentum we've built up." The fixture against Motherwell will see Caley Thistle reach another significant milestone in that it will be the club's 500th league game since joining the Scottish League in 1994. The occasion, however, will only be remembered should Inverness achieve a positive result against a side currently flying high in third place in Scotland's top flight. Caley Thistle have lost twice to the Steelmen this season already, but Brewster believes that if his players deliver a performance he knows they are capable of then they could come away from Lanarkshire with something tangible. "It's another difficult game for us, but then every one in the SPL is," he added. "However, if everyone plays to their potential then I don't see any reason why we can't put on a really good performance at Motherwell." With so many games coming up in such a short space of time, Brewster may contemplate changes for tomorrow even- ing in order to freshen up his team. The impact made by Graham Bayne after replacing Marius Niculae on Saturday was noted by Brewster and should he choose to adopt an aerial route, his presence in the air could well unlock Motherwell's defence. "Graham Bayne came on against United and played well," he said. "I know what he has in his locker and there's no doubt we got a real lift from him coming on, but I'll wait and see how training goes before deciding on any changes." There had been reports after Saturday's encounter that both Dennis Wyness and Barry Wilson had been ruled out after failing late fitness tests, but Brewster revealed they were simply left out of the final 18-man squad. The duo will be in contention for a place at Motherwell, although David Proctor is definitely out with a hamstring injury.

Aberdeen looked a shambles on Sunday and by all accounts they were gash on Tuesday as well. If they go on a bad run and we keep steady I could see them end up ensconsed in the bottom three. Hearts appear to be building up a head of steam though.

Brilliant stuff, this is what Scotsport should be like! Check out Dougie's barnet and Archie getting screamed at around 3:20

Totally agree. Is there a harder working player in the SPL? :010: Where the feck have you been? Bayne is under-rated, we did well to keep him.

You can't really predict how Imrie will do. One thing that can be said for certain is that he likes to get stuck in and have a bit of pace, which is important in the SPL. Pace is certainly something we nee.d

McGuire has played one game in the First Division in his career, the rest of his time in Scotland has been in the SPL with Aberdeen and latterly Dunfermline. Barry has a lot of top flight experience at Livingston. Malkowski has played 50 odd SPL games for Hibs. As for players from the lower leagues, can't complain about Cowie, Bayne, Dods etc. Many people were spitting feathers when we sold rankin as well.

I could care less if he's a good player! Having said that from his Bebo he likes James Blunt - unforgivable!

Apparently Gretna have released Martin Canning (ex tink), James Grady (Hamilton) and Allan Jenkins (Morton). They have signed a few 18 year olds on loan to replace them. Methinks they are resigned to relegation already, they are certainly looking one of the worst SPL teams ever.

Dougie Imrie has a bit of a 'rep' in the First Division. He certainly has a lot of bookings and was involved in a near-tragic incident involving Hamilton Accies player Ross McCabe. Apparently, McCabe tackled Imrie and they collided - during the collision McCabe was knocked unconcious, his heart stopped and he was rushed to hospital. The game was abandoned and McCabe had to retire from football. The clash was completely accidental - I think that Imrie landed awkwardly on McCabe after the tackle. Link 1 Link 2 From those links, Imrie went to speak to him in hospital and I think that the players involved all realised it was a terrible accidnet. From reading P&B though the incident fuelled intensive rivalry between Accies and Clyde fans, some nasty stuff there. Aside from that Imrie seems to like to get wired in - excellent, I like that in our team. Good to have a bit of dig about us. I hope we sign him.

Has he signed up then? Nothing on the fishul site.

I think IHE should turn his pyschological raindancing on himself and try to explain why he is so obsessed with Marius Niculae? Niculae does all this on a regular basis. Your main gripe with him is that he isn't brilliant 100% of the time - who is? Certainly not Bingham or Juanjo. Niculae hadn't played football for over a season when we signed him. Perhaps that's why he took a few games to get into his stride, since when he has been one of our best players, scoring several vital goals, contributing to a great run which has seen us move from relegation candidates to challenging for the top six. I imagine Niculae could score a hat-trick in every game from now until season's end and you'd still be on here complaining. With regards to Russell, I like him as a player. His passing can be wayward at times (i.e. last Sunday) but he is a vital cog in the machine. I really hope we make him a new offer to keep him - I'm sure he isn't expecting the mythical ?5,000/week that MN gets but just a raise. He is now an established SPL player after all. I'd hope that we aren't letting him go in order to fund pay hikes to other players - to coin a phrase "Why put another layer of gold paint on the Bentley when you are losing the entire engine"?

Brewster was at the St Johnstone-Raith cup tie the other night. Possible targets on the pitch - Andy Jackson, young St Johnstone striker who has scored about 10-12 goals this season and just turned 20. Represented Republic of Ireland Under 18s.

Just report any Rangers fans in our end to the police, who should remove them. It is against the law to sit in the 'wrong' end at a football match. The club should make sure that any Rangers fans have their ticket stubs confiscated, their seat numbers noted and are banned from our ground for life. They should also investigate why the ticket office are complicit in breaking the law by selling people 60 tickets in a block. There is no reason why this shouldn't be done, apart from that the club don't want to as it will be a lot of hassle and bad publicity (in terms of the media). Having said that one of my fondest memories of watching Caley was when Sir Caley The 3rd ran down the terrace to scream foul mouthed abuse at the Tims in our end when we beat Celtic in 2003, get it right up you, you manky doleite minkers! :015:

From today's Inverness Courier: I remember this guy from his farcical 'bid' for Elgin City. He is an absolute clown, your classic Walter Mitty character. Thank God David Sutherland doesn't want him.

He has scored one goal at SPL level in his entire career.

Get a striker with pace and a centre back.

Fantastic player.

Anyone speak Romanian?

Can you get it all over Scotland?

Watt has played in less than ten games in his entire career, it was a mistake signing him I think.

Who would have thunk it? :023:

Kurrant? Bus? :015: They sound like the names from made up Sensible Soccer teams

It was about Steve McGarry. We had him on trial and were going to sign him until his agent demanded a fee. Steve Paterson said that the agents fee should come out of the players cut and the deal fell through. When this was discussed on the site Callaghan registered, came on and made posts taht generally consisted of: hulo every1 iam tom callaghan and i am a gud ageent i desserve my persentige becos i am good and u r not good Very funny

Clyde v Dundee Utd is on Sky @ 1245 on Saturday.

The penalties we have given away: v Aberden 02/01 - Ross Tokely, foul v Killie 29/12 - Grant Munro, handball v hearts 22/12 - Phil McGuire, foul v Aberdeen 31/10 - Richard Hastings, foul v Aberdeen 31/10 - Stuart McCaffrey, foul v Hibernian 01/09 - Russell Duncan, handball v Dundee Utd 25/08 - Stuart McCaffrey, foul v Dundee Utd 25/08 - Grant Munro, foul v Motherwell 11/08 - Grant Munro, foul From what I've seen Rosscoe hasn't been up to his past standards this season. Proctor could be a better bet over the next few games.