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Utter Drivel Inverness had a couple of fresh injury concerns ahead of this first Leg play off encounter at Links Park, and with the effect an artificial surface can have on recovering players James Carragher and Sean McAllister were benched with Samson Lawal getting a rare start. Alex Samuel had recovered from his face knock and will be our main target up front. Montrose had top scorers Kane Hester, Blair Lyons and Graham Webster on from the start with chief assister Michael Gardyne probing and providing the ammunition. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A bright start for Montrose as they ventured into the Inverness box a couple of times in the opening few minutes without troubling Mark Ridgers in goal. The visitors looked edgy on the unfamiliar surface and found it difficult to get forward, but that's nothing new for us to be honest. In the ninth minute Ridgers pulled off a brilliant save low down to his left to deny Graham Webster after determined work by Blair Lyons down the left. Webster got plenty power on his shot but Ridgers did enough to put the ball behind for a corner. Bit of pinball in the box after the corner but Ridgers eventually mopped up the loose ball. Fifteen minutes in and it's the hosts that are making all the early running with Inverness opting to pass sideways and backwards. Half an hour gone and the current Championship side have failed to muster a decent attempt on goal. Shockingly poor display from us, a spinning turn and drag from Samson Lawal our only highlight. Ridgers was called into action again as he denied a deflected shot from Kane Hester and then we had to look sharp to block another effort from him before scrambling the ball out for a corner. Meanwhile we continued to play possession football which has never won anything and troubled no defence ever. ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz. Rudely awoken from my slumber by an effort from Alex Samuel slipping by the post five minutes before the break as we eventually tried something. Oooft, almost on the interval and Lawal smashed a tremendous strike from over twenty-five yards but it smacked the junction of the bar and out to safety. Bit of a stramash in the home box as Pixie Lot followed a seagull heading towards the Inverness box. When Pixie caught up Montrose were awarded a free kick in their own box. We woke up briefly as half time approached but up until then it was shockingly poor. No urgency, no direction, no hope of staying up if this continues. HALF TIME: 0-0 Samuel got the first proper effort of the second half away as he shot from the edge of the box , but Cammy Gill was equal to it as he saved low down to his right. Montrose responded and Danny Devine did well to block a fierce shot on the edge of the Inveness box from Shrive. The pace of the game had thankfully picked up since the interval and Billy Mckay was close to linking inside the home area. However it was Montrose that went close again through Lyons. On the hour Duffy replaced Savage and Callaghan came on for Shrive. Ridgers easily gathered a flicked header as Montrose threatened from a free kick. Lawal found himself with the ball at his feet 10 yards from goal but he hastily stabbed his shot goalwards and Gill gathered comfortably. Ridgers did likewise as Webster tried a first time volley with twenty minutes left. Another free header from a free kick bounced past Ridgers' post as Inverness struggled to make any headway. With fifteen minutes left Carragher and McAllister entered the game. Inverness were reduced to hoofing the ball anywhere out of defence as Montrose looked to up the pressure. Another really poor gutless performance from Ferguson's side who will have to do much better if they are to stay up. Utter drivel springs to mind. FULL TIME: 0-0 All to play for on Saturday, but don't hold your breath... However, if we continue like this, it will be our final game this season. Best performer for us was Samson Lawal, the only bright spark on the field. Alloa 2-2 Hamilton was the other semi-final score tonight. On this evidence, I doubt either side will be quaking in their boots. Delighted not to lose aren't we... Some folk are easily pleased! Date: 07/05/2024 Venue: Links Park, Montrose Attendance: 1043 Referee: Chris Graham Montrose FC: 0 Manager: Stewart Petrie Lineup: Gill; Steeves, Dillon, Quinn, Graham, Webster (Williamson 78), Shrive (Callaghan 60), Brown (Machado 78), Gardyne, Lyons, Hester (Hermiston 85) Subs (not used): Mathews; Masson, Cochrane, Batchelor, Craig Scorers: none Booked: Steeves (45+3) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 0 Manager: Duncan Ferguson Lineup: Ridgers; Kerr, Devine, Boyes, Savage (Duffy 60), Longstaff (Carragher 77), Lawal, Anderson (McAllister 77), Harper, B Mckay (MacGregor 83), Alex Samuel (Pepple 83) Subs (not used): C Mackay; Ujdur, Austin Samuels, Brooks, Scorers: none Booked: Anderson (30) Sent Off: none a

1st Leg Play-Off As Dunc said, "It is what it is, isnt it". The dreaded play-offs are here and we find ourselves with more work to do if we want to retain our Championship status. Standing in our way are Montrose. A side we have not played against since 2009, prior to that we locked horns with them in the lower divisions until we were promoted after 1997. A man we all like to hate, Michael Gardyne has been a prominent player for them and Kane Hester is top scorer at Links Park. A mixture of old heads, journeymen and promising players against our bunch of mercenaries. The return leg is this Saturday at the Caledonian Stadium. Who will make it into the final showdown. Accies or Alloa are the other options. We will do well to not underestimate a Montrose team who do not lack some very experienced players. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Streaming Info ***AWAY FANS: Entry is strictly by online ticket only £17*** Supporters Bus Second Leg v Montrose ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue H2H Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 5 2 1 2 6 10 -4 Away 4 2 1 1 6 5 +1 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 9 4 2 3 12 15 -3 We don't have that great a record against Montrose to be honest, albeit our last meeting with them was a Challenge Cup game in 2009 which went to penalties before Inverness progressed scoring all five spot kicks. Summary: In the end, it was a set of 5 flawless penalties from the home side that forced the tie in their favour. Rooney, Tokely, the captain Munro, Duncan and Djebi-zadi scoring for Inverness, while Ryan Esson saved well from Hegarty. Davidson, Crighton and Gemmell all dispatched their penalties for the Gable Endies, but in the end it proved fruitless. For many the final whistle and the final penalty was the highlight of the match, although Lionel’s celebratory dance certainly forced some entertainment into a poor showing from the 1st division side. The home gathering left grateful to have snatched victory from their surprisingly tough 3rd division opponents, while the small but vocal away support left with heads held high. Montrose put up an admirable fight but a ring rusty ICT eventually forced their way to the end of the match and into the next round for a home tie against Stranraer. All nine Competitive Meetings v Montrose ***click on first score on left for full report on above game, or any other. 1 - 1 (H) 3 - 2 (H) 2 - 0 (A) 2 - 0 (H) 2 - 2 (A) 0 - 3 (H) 1 - 0 (A) 0 - 4 (H) 1 - 3 (A) Prior to that early season Alba Cup game, our encounters with Montrose started in October 1994 up until we left them behind in 1997, a 3 - 2 League win, Promotion, an Iain Stewart hat-trick and a customary lob in front of 3036! On our Way Up: A great day for Inverness as the home side won promotion with a superb hat trick from Iain Stewart. They started well and Charlie Christie hit the bar in 4 minutes. They took the lead in 13 minutes when Iain Stewart took a pass from Daisy Ross and slid it home from 8 yards. It all began to go wrong in 23 minutes when Colin McGlashan equalised from the penalty spot after Mike Noble pushed Craig Mailer. Shaun Smith made it 2-1 for Montrose in 42 minutes with a shot from 6 yards after a cut back from David Fisher. The home side came back strongly in the second half and were rewarded in 67 minutes - a Brian Thomson free kick from the left was turned in by Iain Stewart at the far post. The winner came in 81 minutes - a Brian Thomson through ball found Iain Stewart who ran 20 yards before chipping it over Jim Butter under severe pressure from Mark Haro. The Division Championship can be won next week - the only team that can overtake them is local rivals Ross County. Inverness find themselves in the play-offs after one of our most frustrating seasons ever, with many believing this is our worst ever squad. Injuries have been a big part of our last couple of seasons and this one was no different. Billy Dodds was relieved of his duties after winning just one point in our opening six games. Big Dunc the celebrity came in and it looked like we might be saved, despite his shocking track record in management. However, we soon reverted to type and constantly struggled to gain points at home, and on the field that is one of the main reasons we are up to our eyes in sh1te. Add in the continuing off field antics of our board and CEO, then the mismanagement from above is dragging us down. These play-offs are not about them though. This is about the players and the fans who have tried to lift us out of this gloom. Should we avoid the drop, and unless anything changes higher up the chain, then the same problems will exist within the club next season wherever we find ourselves. We did end the regular season with a home victory, unfortunately a bit of a hollow one with QP confining us to the relegation zone despite amassing 42 points and a positive goal difference (just). Montrose are here by virtue of an excellent season and finishing fourth in League1. 53 points; 15 wins, 8 draws and 13 defeats with 58 goals scored and 57 conceeded, that was enough to qualify for the play-offs despite a less than impressive end to the season with only two wins from their last six games L D L L W W . They look likely to have rested some legs once safe in fourth, the likes of Gardyne not used last week in the 3-2 comeback win over QotS. Familiar names in their ranks are Michael Gardyne, much hated around here. Matheus Machado the young Brazilian prospect once at Inverness and Kane Hester formerly at Elgin City. Sean Dillon, the former Dundee United defender is a player coach at Montrose, plenty experience there. No surprise that Gardyne tops the assists table with 10. Three players are well in front of the rest in the goals scored department: Kane Hester: 11 Blair Lyons: 10 Graham Webster: 10 Here's their team lines from the home defeat to Hamilton Accies three games ago. Starting XI: Gill; Williamson, Steeves (c), Graham, Dillon, Quinn, Gardyne, Shrive, Lyons, Batchelor, Webster Subs: Hester, Hermiston, Emslie, Callaghan, Craig, Matthews, Brown, Machado, Davies. Latest Team News Inverness: I doubt Ferguson has much wiggle room within his squad. Alex Samuel took a heavy knock last Friday and might be a doubt, will have to wait for Duncs pre-match spiel, and here it is: Sean McAllister is struggling as is James Carragher. The good news is Alex Samuel is fine, he only got a whack on the face so he is good to go. Longstaff is also ready after feeling a twinge in his knee. Much of these knocks are dependent on their plastic pitch. Montrose: They appear to have a solid squad and I have no news of any issues within. (and it's a bank holiday) Play Off Schedule Tuesday May 7th Championship play-off semi-finals, 1st leg Montrose v Inverness CT Alloa Ath v Hamilton Saturday May 11th Championship play-off semi-finals, 2nd leg Inverness CT v Montrose Hamilton v Alloa Ath Wednesday May 15th Championship play-off final, 1st leg Lowest-ranked team at home in 1st leg Live on BBC ALBA, kick-off 8.05pm Saturday May 18 Championship play-off final, 2nd leg Highest-ranked team at home in 2nd leg Live on BBC ALBA, kick-off 5.30pm

Play Off Despair Ahead of kick off it was out of our hands with Queens Park holding all the aces. To escape the play offs, we had to better what Queens Park did against Airdrie. First and foremost we had to ensure we did not lose and hope that the Spiders dropped points at Hampden versus the Diamonds on the last night of the regular season. Both sides were missing some important players for this game with Morton undefeated in their last five visits to the Caledonian Stadium. It was a lovely evening for a game of football, what could possibly go wrong? Well, what did go wrong was Queen's Park beat an understrength Airdrie 2-0 at Hampden, therefore despite beating Morton 3-1, Inverness head for the play-offs. Morgan Boyes opened the scoring with a thumping volley after half an hour. Kirk Broadfoot benefited from slack defending to level before the break then proceeded to earn the wrath of the home support with an embarrassing celebration in front of the North Stand. Cammy Harper relieved Billy Mckay of penalty kick duties and duly slotted home from the spot ten minutes after the break. The scoring was completed just after the hour when Sean McAllister drilled home into the bottom corner. Robbie Muirhead had been sent off for simulation then taking a wee fit to himself and was promptly sent off after 58 minutes just after Harper had knocked in his penalty kick, probably aggrieved that he never earned a spot kick for his dramatic dive. When news of Queen's Park going two up filtered through to the North Stand and the familiar tactic of sideways passing reared it's ugly head, the home fans turned their frustration to the main culprit, and chants of Gardiner Gardiner GTF rang round the home end. So, it's off to meet the Gable Endies for us on Tuesday 7th May with the return at the Caledonian Stadium on Saturday 11th May. Full Time 3-1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alex Samuel was injured after 69 minutes and that will be a blow should he miss out in the play-offs. Hopefully just a precaution. Samson Lawal looked up for it when he came on and gave us another dimension. Cammy Harper did brilliantly to ignore the distraction attempts by keeper Ryan Mullen before slotting the penalty in. Robbie Muirhead. What a tool! Having been booked he then put himself in the referee's face before angrily leaving the pitch and kicking anything within his reach. How's yer toes this morning ya rocket? We're in the play-offs, aren't we>>> Just the goals>>> Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Montrose here we come... 1. Dundee Utd 36 22 9 5 73 23 75 2. Raith Rovers 36 20 9 7 58 42 69 3. Partick Thistle 36 14 13 9 63 54 55 4. Airdrieonians 36 15 7 14 44 44 52 5. Morton 36 12 9 15 43 46 45 6. Dunfermline 36 11 12 13 43 48 45 7. Ayr United 36 12 8 16 53 61 44 8. Queens Park 36 11 10 15 50 56 43 9. Inverness CT 36 10 12 14 41 40 42 10. Arbroath 36 6 5 25 35 89 23 Tuesday May 7th Championship play-off semi-finals, 1st leg Montrose v Inverness CT Alloa Ath v Hamilton Saturday May 11th Championship play-off semi-finals, 2nd leg Inverness CT v Montrose Hamilton v Alloa Ath Wednesday May 15th Championship play-off final, 1st leg Lowest-ranked team at home in 1st leg Live on BBC ALBA, kick-off 8.05pm Saturday May 18 Championship play-off final, 2nd leg Highest-ranked team at home in 2nd leg Live on BBC ALBA, kick-off 5.30pm Date: 03/05/2024 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 2914 Referee: Craig Napier Inverness CT: 3 Manager: Duncan Ferguson Lineup: Ridgers; Carragher, Boyes, Savage (Devine 69), Longstaff (Lawal 50), Kerr, Anderson, Harper, McAllister (MacGregor 77), B Mckay (Duffy 77) Alex Samuel (Pepple 69) Subs (not used): C Mackay; Ujdur, Austin Samuel, Brooks Scorers: Boyes (30), Harper (56 pen), McAllister (62) Booked: none Sent Off: none Morton: 1 Manager: Dougie Imrie Lineup: Mullen; French, Broadfoot, Power (Bearne 64) Waters, Crawford, Blues, Gillespie (Wilson 80), Muirhead, Quintongo (McGrattan 64), Oakley Subs (not used): Murdoch; Scorers: Broadfoot (41) Booked: Gillespie (52), Power (55), Mullen (56), Muirhead (58) Sent Off: Muirhead (58) a

  Last Chance   It's the last chance in the last chance saloon for us if we want to avoid the dreaded relegation play offs with some olde adversaries licking their lips in anticipation that our insipid non scoring bunch of mercenaries will be the final piece of the relegation jigsaw. Morton are the visitors on Friday night whilst Queens Park host Airdrieonians. Waiting eagerly for us to drop in are perrenial hoodoo sides Hamilton Academicals and Alloa Athletic with Montrose, complete with Michael Gardyne and other journeymen and one Brazilian Matteus Machado, who spent some time at Inverness as a promising youth. However, first things first, it's Dougie Imrie's Morton side who come North looking to sign off their season on a high. Did Dougie dodge a bullet with Duncan Ferguson pulling the managerial rug from under his feet to get the Caley Jags gig. I'm sure that will be enough incentive for Dougie to throw the relegation spanner into the works.   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket Info Bring a friend for £££££ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue H2H v Morton Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 22 12 6 4 48 20 +28 Away 21 12 3 6 40 26 +14 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 43 24 9 10 88 46 +42 As the stats show, we have a massive advantage over Morton, however, as we have deteriorated over the last few years, Morton's more recent record against us has improved and given that, this game could go either way whereas a few years ago it was almost a gimmee. We have failed to beat Morton at the Caledonian Stadium in our last five encounters. Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Morton 2 - 0 (A) 0 - 0 (H) 1 - 2 (A) 2 - 1 (A) 2 - 2 (H) 0 - 4 (A) 0 - 1 (H) 1 - 0 (A) 0 - 1 (H) 6 - 1 (A) We could do with some of this from August 2019: 5 - 0 With BBC TV looking on, Inverness and Morton served up a Friday night first half horror show. Thankfully, in stark contrast, the second half was full of entertainment. In a lifeless first half at the Caledonian Stadium, neither side was able to get the handful of fans inside the ground excited, however, just before the interval Aaron Doran made a half yard of space for himself inside the box and fired a wicked shot at Rogers. He parried the shot away and James Keatings guided the loose ball back into the net from ten yards. One minute into the second half and Keatings bagged his second as he rifled the ball home from 12 yards on the right side of the box. The third came about after a good bit of ball retention ended with Jordan White rolling the ball into the net. Mark Ridgers saved a miserable penalty from Nicky Cadden after David Carson handled from an overhead attempt. Coll Donaldson met a corner from Keatings at the front post to nod down into the net to make it four nil. Substitute Nikolay Todorov got into the act and drilled one past Rogers from 18 yards, and there endeth the scoring. (click on above score for full report) How did we get into this mess: Take a bow the Inverness board and CEO. Well, where do you start. It was clear from the begining of the season that something was wrong. Poor signings, dismal performances in the League Cup followed by an abysmal start to the League campaign saw Billy Dodds removed from his position after winning one point in the first six Championship fixtures and replaced by a man with no track record as a manager. A sort of publicity stunt if you like. After the initial new manager bounce wore off, we found ourselves little better off with Big Dunc than we were with wee Billy. We did claw ourselves up to the coat tails of others but the most damning part of our season has been our inability to score goals, especially at home. Only already relegated Arbroath are worse than us. Our team is now full of mercenaries, loan players with no affiliation to our Highland pedigree and many fans have tagged us as being the worst squad ever in our short history. Where are the Golabeck's, Tokeley's, Wilson's..... Much of this can be attributed to our lack of financial nous in the boardroom, failed ventures and now the begging bowls are being put in place to save our club. Having drawn at Dunfermline last week thanks to Aribim Pepple's first goal for the club combined with Billy Mckay's penalty miss, it's now out of our own hands. LAST SIX: D L  W W L  D  Morton have slipped off the pace recently after looking like they were going to make the top four at one point. They are on a similar run to us, but safe from danger. They drew 0-0 with Raith Rovers last week and their only victory in April was a 2-1 win over 'tools down' Arbroath. LAST SIX:  W L  D L  W D . Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts We are on the bottom edge of a congested mid-table mediocrity 1. Dundee Utd 35 21 9 5 69 22 72 2. Raith Rovers 35 19 9 7 53 42 66 3. Partick Thistle 35 14 13 8 62 50 55 4. Airdrieonians 35 15 7 13 44 42 52 5. Morton 35 12 9 14 42 43 45 6. Dunfermline 35 11 11 13 40 45 44 7. Ayr United 35 12 7 16 50 58 43 8. Queens Park 35 10 10 15 48 56 40 9. Inverness CT 35 9 12 14 38 39 39 10. Arbroath 35 6 5 24 35 84 23 FRIDAY NIGHT 7:45pm    Ayr United v Dunfermline Dundee United v Partick Thistle   Inverness v Morton     Queens Park v Airdrieonians Raith Rovers v Arbroath     Latest Team News Inverness have very few options to change things around. Aaron Doran confirmed as long term injury. Don't expect many changes.   Morton will come North without Lewis Strapp, he of the looooong throw, injured against Dunfermline over a month ago. Kirk Broadfoot is still going strong and George Oakley has a new lease of life since leaving Inverness. They also have the dangerous and powerful Robbie Muirhead and Jao Quintongo. Dougie has his own injury problems to deal with>>>   Morton team v Raith (0-0) Mullen   French   O'Connor   Broadfoot   Waters   Blues   Gillespie (Power 90)   Crawford   Quintongo (McGrattan 70)   Muirhead (Bearne 70)   Oakley   McCann (Holmes 80)   Subs Not Used: Murdoch; Baird, Wilson