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Inverness Pay The Penalty Inverness slumped again when others around them were faltering, this time only drawing with second bottom Alloa. A first half penalty was tucked away by Iain Flannigan after Shaun Rooney and or Brad Mckay rashly bundled Kevin O'Hara over in the box. We eventually equalised through Jordan White on the hour when he held off the defenders challenge in the box to turn and slot home from close range. White should have won the game with the last attack of the match but headed against the bar when it looked easier to score. Despite a dominant second half, Mark Ridgers had to be alert to block an effort from close range on the rare occasion Alloa ventured forth while we squandered numerous opportunities to make debut keeper Wright work too hard. Despite the dropped points, Inverness remain second top, and Alloa remain second bottom. Shaun Rooney appears to be here until the summer and he was on the park at right back. Tom Walsh started with James Keatings out injured, and Brad Mckay and Kevin McHattie filled the Coll & Jamie shaped hole in the heart of our defence. Alloa were without the injured Jamie MacDonald and young debutante Kieran Wright was in goal. Goal shark Kevin O'Hara was the sting in the Wasps attack. Inverness kick started the game but it was Kevin O'Hara that was first to make a keeper work, Ridgers holding on to his long range effort. Inverness responded and a blocked shot from Aaron Doran brought a corner to the hosts and then Tom Walsh had his attempt blocked as well before O'Hara once more tried his lick from distance, the ball deflecting for a corner. The first decent opportunity fell to Jordan White but Kieran Wright grabbed the ball comfortably as White failed to connect properly. Carl Tremarco popped up towards the front of the box at a corner and his header dipped just over the bar as Inverness looked most likely to score. Alloa broke the one way traffic when a Kevin McHattie back header was intercepted by Robert Thomson, thankfully he shot wide, but it was the hosts that mostly held the upper hand. Miles Storey broke down the right side and cut the ball low across the box but Doran smothered his shot and it trundled safely into the arms of the keeper. White saw a header sail over the bar, unfortunately that would be a recurring theme for the big striker. Boom! Out of nowhere, Alloa were afforded room down our right side and when O'Hara broke into the box, a combination of Brad Mckay and Shaun Rooney targeted the Alloa man. It looked as though it was Rooney who unceremoniously barged O'Hara over as Mckay tugged his man and there was no hesitation from Kevin Clancy as he pointed to the spot. Ridgers guessed right, but Iain Flannigan had sufficient power on his spot kick to find the bottom corner, just out of Mark's reach. If it's any consolation to us, Coll Donaldson did likewise for County yesterday. Meh! Almost immediately, we could have equalised. However Storey set a new record for vertical shooting as he lashed a great ball into the box high above the stand, straight out of the Jordan White heading textbook. Trafford fired a shot from twenty-five yards but it was straight down the young keepers throat as he parried then picked up the ball. Storey saw a header saved by Wright but it was at the other end where a goal almost came. Ridgers and or McHattie had to be at their best to deny Cawley after we got in a bit of a scrambulation in and around our own box. Another chance would come our way as White met a deep cross, but as he stretched out to volley the ball he could only knock it tamely into the goalies gloves. Half Time 0-1 We looked more urgent at the start of the second half and pinned Alloa onto the back foot, but a couple of deflected efforts came and went without troubling Wright too much. Sean Welsh made a welcome return to action and on the hour, White would not be denied though and the big lad did well to control an awkward ball into the box from Welsh on the right, hold off his marker and turn the ball into the net from six yards. No more than we deserved at this point in the game. We looked as though we were going to overrun Alloa now as Rooney began to surge forward but his sterling efforts saw no takers in the box, Doran being denied a couple of times. However, Alloa reminded us that they were also on the park when Ridgers had to make a great save to deny O'Hara after James Vincent gift wrapped a loose ball to the visitors. Best moment of the match from the hosts when substitute David Carson skipped across the Alloa defence before shooting just wide. Close but no cigar! In a frantic ending to the game Ridgers made a desperate stop to deny O'Hara or Alan Trouten, White headed over, Doran had a shot saved and right at the death Jordan White smacked the bar with a close range header when he should have been bugling the net. Doh! Mark Ridgers was our MotM with Shaun Rooney having a good second half. Good to see Walsh and Welsh getting up to speed and wee David Carson looked lively when he came on, really unlucky with the rasping shot that fizzed past the corner of the post and bar. Bottom line though is it's more points dropped against teams at the bottom end of the table, and that won't be good enough to keep us in second place should we continue to falter. The goals.... Speaking to BBC Sport Inverness CT assistant manager Barry Wilson: "I'm frustrated. We were chasing the game after the penalty, which we felt was of the soft variety. Results elsewhere went for us but we've not taken our chance to go further ahead." Alloa Athletic manager Peter Grant: "I've been delighted with our performances. We showed another side today the way they had to dig in at a tough place to come." Full Highlights from Caley Jags TV........... Bazza was on post match duty........ Date: 01/02/2020 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 1914 Referee: Kevin Clancy Inverness CT: 1 Lineup: Ridgers; Rooney, B Mckay, McHattie, Tremarco, Doran, Trafford (Welsh 57), Vincent (MacGregor 73), Walsh (Carson 74), Storey, White Subs (not used): C Mackay; Harper, Toshney, Todorov Scorers: White (59) Booked: Storey (45+1) Sent Off: none Alloa Athletic: 1 Lineup: Wright; Taggart, Dick, Deas, Stirling, Hetherington, Cawley, Robertson, Flannigan, O'Hara, Thomson (Trouten (63)) Subs (not used): Wilson, Gilhooley, O'Donnell, Buchanan, Connelly Scorers: Flannigan (30 pen) Booked: Sent Off: none a

Window Pain This transfer window has become a real pain in the back passage for Inverness Caledonian Thistle with practically our entire first choice defenders leaving our ambitionless and penniless club for more lucrative contracts elsewhere. Only veteran defender and captain Carl Tremarco remains of what was once a solid back four. However, don't worry Caley Jags fans. Whilst all around us are strengthening their squads, we are going to do Gaelic translations across the tannoy at the stadium. That should be enough to get us back into the Premiership. You just couldn't make this up. Alloa are the visitors this week for the Championship clash at the Caledonian Stadium on Saturday at 3:00pm, and they will have hot property Kevin O'Hara in their line-up. He's the scorer of eight goals in his last six games, including two against Inverness in the Scottish Cup tie at Recreation Park. It's the fifth meeting of the clubs this season with three Inverness wins and one draw so far. The case for the defence..... The case for the defence rests with the Caley Jags board. It's now official, Jamie McCart has left the building, something we all knew for a few weeks, but it's official now Jamie McCart statement. He has sat on the bench for our last two games whilst the i's were dotted and the T's were crossed, so now we have the official line. He's off to Perth. So the heart has been ripped out of central defence with Coll Donaldson already playing in dark blue over the bridge. The season will really disintegrate should Shaun Rooney be whisked away. Here's hoping we can keep him as our defensive showing at Ayr did not fill the fans with confidence, so pick any two from Lewis Toshney, Brad Mckay and Kevin McHattie for central defence. I rest my case. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alloa Match information and ticket prices Scottish Cup 5th round information v Livingstone Official Preview Transfer deadline day and the best ICTFC can come up with is the introduction of Gaelic announcements. For the love of God. airson gràdh Dhè We'll laugh about it one day? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Inverness suffered a disappointing defeat at Ayr last week, going down 1-0 to the Honest men. However, it would have been rude to beat them on Burns night, so we helped them out with a wee assist from our defence. A sloppy pass out from Kevin McHattie saw the marked Charlie Trafford lose the ball to the alert Stephen Kelly who strode forward and slotted the ball past an exposed Mark Ridgers. Meh, just not the start of life after Coll and Jamie we were looking for. If truth be told we rode our luck on a number of occasions when Ayr looked likely to overrun us. However, we were also denied by the woodwork and some dubious refereeing decisions. That apart, Ayr would have been disappointed had they not kept all three points at Somerset Park. Alloa got themselves off the foot of the table with a tremendous away win at Palmerston combined with Arbroath beating Partick to send them to the bottom with a 2-1 win over the Jags. It was looking good for Alloa when they raced into a two goal lead over Queen of the South. Hot streak striker Kevin O'Hara opened the scoring and Robert Thomson added a second in the 14th minute. Queens hit back in the second half through substitute Jack Hamilton and equalised before the hour through Stephen Dobbie with a stunning strike. However, man of the moment O'Hara popped up again with ten minutes to go to give the Wasps a hard earned win. This weekend's Championship fixtures. Partick Thistle V Ayr United (Friday 7:05) Inverness CT v Alloa Athletic Dundee United v Arbroath Morton v Dundee Queens v Dunfermline A less than enthusiastic Robbo as reality kicks in....... ***Latest Team News*** James Keatings is a major doubt with a hip problem and Cameron Harper returns from his loan spell at Elgin as our defence falls apart. Donaldson no more, McCart no more, Rooney??? Alloa have taken in Rangers youth keeper Kieran Wright on loan til the end of the season with Jamie MacDonald injured. They have also managed a loan deal for Crystal Palace's Scott Banks. Here's top scorer Aaron Doran banging one in against Alloa this season.

Robbo Burns As Rabbie once said to me.... The best laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft a-gley, An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain For promis'd joy. On the day of the Bard of Ayrshire, Inverness faced the Honest Men at Somerset Park with a new look defence after Coll Donaldson jumped ship, with Lewis Toshney joining Tom Walsh and Sean Welsh on the bench. The departing Jamie McCart was also benched again.There was the added incentive of Dundee crashing 2-0 at East End Park last night and three points for either side would be a huge bonus. Stephen Kelly scored the only goal of the game after an hour and both sides hit the woodwork, but it was no more than Ayr deserved as they closed the gap on Inverness to just one point. Our new defence got in a fankle at the goal allowing Kelly to take advantage. From the quill of the Bard himself, and so true...... There is no such uncertainty as a sure thing. RIG was on hand to see the wee sleekit courin timerous beastie, also known as the referee...... I think whilst we were on the end of some pretty debatable calls from the referee, Ayr were the better team throughout the 90 minutes and deserved the win. Kerr seemed to set Ayr up a bit more defensively than previous match ups and they let us carry the ball forward with little pressure but we were swarmed as we entered the Ayr half and forced to thread balls through a well organised Ayr midfield and defence (which we couldn't do) or try and dink a ball up to White and later Todorov (which we also couldn't do). When Ayr seized the ball they broke with real pace and direction quickly feeding the ball wide to Forrest or Moffat on the flanks or looking to play a pass in behind the ICT centre backs and a lot of their good chances game from this. Only a triple block/save combination from McHattie and Ridgers stopped Ayr opening the scoring in the first half which saw wave after wave of attacks threaten the ICT rearguard. Fortunately we held them off and had the ball in the net when Keatings lifted a free kick in for White who beat Doohan to the ball and flicked it in but the referee gave a free kick for a foul by White. Seemed pretty soft but it would have been hard on Ayr had we gone ahead (though thoroughly pleasing obviously). Second half and there seemed to be a strong claim for a penalty when Doran broke into the box and looked like he was pushed in the back sending him to the ground but the referee waved play on. Not long after this Ayr scored. I didn't see what happened but after I had stopped admiring my new trainers I looked up to see Trafford on his arse and Kelly seizing on a loose ball, heading for goal before calmly slotting past Ridgers. No more than Ayr deserved in fairness but frustrating nonetheless from an ICT point of view. Ayr had more chances after this to extend their lead before Doran went down under another challenge however this time he got straight back up to chase the ball before Aitken blew for a foul and cautioned Doran for diving which seemed a bit odd given he didn't seem to be looking for anything. We went with 2 strikers for the final few minutes with Todorov coming on to partner White but we didn't really create anything of note until the final kick of the game when Ayr threw bodies to block a couple of ICT efforts from close range (these might even have been our only shots on target...). Bizarre to see us end the game with a couple of big lads up front and our two best crossers of the ball on the wings yet we persevered with little dinked balls up towards White and Todorov which almost never found them. Any ICT fan not bothered about losing Donaldson AND McCart should be worried after today's defensive showing. Whilst McHattie was solid enough Mckay with the ball at his feet was an absolute bombscare. Vincent was decent for us, possibly closest to ICT MotM. Kerr and Moffat looked good for Ayr and Drinan really gave Mckay and McHattie a torrid time. We have a real battle on to maintain second spot which could be huge come the end of the season.. Highlights from Ayr United TV Eagle4Caley left Crystal Palace behind for the weekend to go to Somerset Park and enjoyed the ambience...... The highlights suggest a close game, although I felt Ayr had more chances, but we hit the bar, and quite why our goal was disallowed is beyond me...White at no time is looking at the goalie only at the ball, and I'm not convinced he even touches him. Also Doran was clearly pushed over in the penalty area, and then next time he gets a booking for going down, when you can see he catches the defender legs and is trying to regain his feet. Their goal was a bit of a bummer, at first I thought that McHattie was at fault but credit to the Ayr player who actually closes Charlie Trafford down very quickly. I thought McHattie had a decent game, as did McKay...strange how quickly our CB pairing has changed (presumably to make ends meet). For me our midfielders were the pick of the bunch, plus Walsh when he came on. Our forwards were very much powder-puff, Doran was quieter than expected, Storey didn't offer much apart from two/three decent crosses, I'm not sure what Keatings was doing and White looks like he is the Centre Forward because he's tall, because he seemed unable to anticipate where high balls were going nor jump at the right time (except for the disallowed goal), he's definitely better with his feet! For me 2nd place is probably between us and Ayr, so this was a disappointing reverse, but I guess we can't win every match against them. Robbo's the man for a' that.... Date: 25/01/2020 Venue: Somerset Park, Ayr Attendance: 1200 Referee: Greg Aitken Ayr United: 1 Lineup: Doohan; Houston, Muirhead, Harvie, Bell, Kerr, Moffat (Rocco 90+3), Forrest (McKenzie 90), Drinan, Docherty, Kelly Subs (not used): Ellis Hare-Reid; Doolan, McCowan, McGuffie, Hewitt Scorers: Kelly (61) Booked: Docherty (85) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 0 Lineup: Ridgers; Rooney, B Mckay, McHattie, Tremarco, Doran, Trafford (Todorov 75), Vincent, Storey (Walsh 66), Keatings (Carson 66), White Subs (not used): C Mackay, Toshney, McCart, Welsh. Scorers: none Booked: B Mckay (71), White (72), Doran (78) Sent Off: none a

Ayr do Back to League business this weekend as Inverness make the journey to Somerset Park to take on Championship play-off contenders, Ayr United. The game kicks off at 3:00pm on Saturday at the same venue where Ross County were dumped out of the Scottish Cup last week. There's only four points separating the sides at the moment and this should be another tight affair. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match and Travel Information can be found on the OFFICIAL SITE @ ICTFC We're in the money £££ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It's been a rewarding fixture for us in recent seasons, including last season when we beat Ayr in the away leg of the play-off and both league fixtures at Somerset Park. We have already beaten Ayr away this season back in October when goals from James Vincent and Shaun Rooney were enough to earn the points. The second meeting this campaign was another 2-0 win in the Highlands, Jordan White and Miles Storey the scorers. Last time out we were on Cup duty and recorded a hard fought 2-3 win over Alloa Athletic at Recreation Park. We were pegged back twice after Aaron Doran opened the scoring. Jordan White put us ahead again only for Kevin O'Hara to get his second of the game. Charlie Trafford scored the vital winner with only a handful of minutes remaining. Ayr pulled off a minor upset by knocking our neighbours out of the Cup thanks to a powerful headed goal from seasoned professional Steven Bell. Form since we last met in the league Last time we met was back on the 7th of December, and after winning 2-0 in the Highlands we were five points ahead of Ayr. Since then we have won two (Pars & Dundee) and lost two (Partick & Arbroath), plus a win over Alloa in the Scottish Cup. Our game against Queen of the South fell foul of the weather. In December, Ayr had a midweek draw with Arbroath then beat Alloa before losing to Dundee United and Queen of the South. They started January with an away win at Dunfermline, a postponed fixture at Dens Park and beat Ross County in the Scottish Cup. So form is fairly even at the moment at that is mirrored in the League table with Ayr just one place and four points behind Inverness now. Fixtures this weekend Dunfermline v Dundee (Friday) Ayr United v Inverness Arbroath v Partick Thistle Dundee Utd v Morton Queen of Sth v Alloa Robbo said ahead of the game: “We’ve got to go down there and do what we’ve done at Dens Park and Alloa, that’s go down there and be very busy and very proactive with the ball and when we lose it make sure we’re nice and solid. The key to our success all season is our solidity at the back.” Whilst that is very true Robbo, you would wonder why the club can not hold on to the heart of the defence until the end of a possible promotion campaign. Is there enough ambition left at the Caledonian Stadium? Team News It was great to see Tom Walsh back on the park last week after hamstring problems and a further bonus to have Sean Welsh on the bench as he recovers from a second broken foot. These guys have been out for a while now and it will be like having two new signings when they are both back up to speed. Unfortunately the loss of Coll Donaldson is a blow and the impending departure of Jamie McCart adds to our misery. McCart is still here for now unless St Johnstone dig deep into their pockets. It remains to be seen if McCart will be asked to play for the club he wants away from. However, we have to go with what we have and Lewis Toshney will come into defence with Brad Mckay and Kevin McHattie also looking to claim a place. There will be plenty room for them all should Shaun Rooney turn his back on us as well. Mark Kerr has strengthened his squad by signing Grant Gillespie from Hamilton Accies. Jordan Houston has also joined from Rangers. Kerr will be without Craig Moore, Andy Geggan and Andy Murdoch, but Grant Gillespie will be added to the squad. Speaking on Ayr United's official site Kerr said : ”We don’t need reminding that we don’t have the greatest recent record against Inverness, it is just another game and another opportunity to pick up points and continue this wee run we are on. We know what Inverness are all about. They are extremely well organised, everyone knows their jobs and they play good football at times as well. It’s a challenge that we are looking forward to and we’ve been working had on a plan all week to get the best out of the players tomorrow afternoon. The last couple of games have proved that we are able to mix it up now and win games a different way.” Oops, sorry for the reminder Mark. We have some good news and some bad news for you this week First the good news. The club have reached their original investment target of £500K and have issued a statement to that effect. In fact they have exceeded expectations and you can read about it HERE The bad news is the break up of our defence with Coll Donaldson already away and Jamie McCart following him out the door in the summer if not sooner. As expected, after sitting on the bench at Alloa, Jamie McCart is next to go. He will be on his way to Perth in the summer unless we can sell him now for a few pennies. Sometimes life's a bitch! The final blow would be the departure of the much sought after Shaun Rooney who has been in tremendous form for the Caley Jags lately. Sadly Tommy Wright wants to tie up both players before the weekend. With the run in for a play-off place at stake, this is indeed not what the fans want to hear. Scottish Cup Draw Coll Donaldson is now confined to history after he left the building to join Ross County before last weeks Scottish Cup ties. However, unlike his former Inverness team mates, he won't be in the next round of the cup as Ayr sent them homewards, tae think again. Inverness will host Livingston in the next round, the weekend of February the 8th. Now then, that date rings a bell!

Charlie is me darling....... Inverness go into the hat for the fifth round draw tomorrow night, and that's not something that Coll Donaldson can say. Aaron Doran fired in a tremendous early opening goal but Kevin O'Hara levelled before the break. Jordan White headed a second on the hour but again the Wasps struck back again through Kevin O'Hara before a late Charlie Trafford header saw Inverness through this difficult tie without the need for a replay. Happy days for Inverness and even happier for Jordan White who scored a goal and announced a baby boy incoming with his wife Alana. Congratulations from all at CTOxxx. With Coll Donaldson preferring to play his football over the bridge, and Jamie McCart tellingly on the bench, we drafted fit again Brad Mckay and Kevin McHattie into central defence with Jordan White leading the attack. The good news was that Tom Walsh and Sean Welsh were both on the bench with Tom making an appearance after the interval. Alloa were without veteran and top scorer Alan Trouten, the onus falling to Liam Buchanan to get the goals. Top Championship shot stopper Jamie MacDonald was in goals for the Wasps with top shut-out keeper Mark Ridgers at the opposite end. Something was going to give. Thankfully the rain had relented and it was game on, and it only took eight minutes for Aaron Doran to bulge the net after a defensive slip gave him room to score after Shaun Rooney crossed in from the right. Ten minutes later Alloa were level when Kevin Cawley met a near post corner from Flannigan to squeeze the ball into the net. Jamie MacDonald had to save from Jordan White as the visitors tried to regain the upper hand but it was the hosts that began to take control of proceedings as Alloa's Jon Robertson shot wide. Adam Brown had two efforts saved by Mark Ridgers in the space of three minutes as the pace of the game increased, Ridgers making a third save from Brown just before the break. Half time 1-1 No changes at the interval and Inverness made a strong start to the second half with White hooking a ball over the bar and Ridgers making an excellent save to deny Liam Buchanan. Tom Walsh made his comeback with Storey leaving the field and after Inverness won a couple of corners, the third one proved fruitful when White headed Doran's ball behind MacDonald to put the visitors back in front. The lead lasted fourteen minutes this time before Kevin O'Hara volleyed a second equaliser for Alloa from a deflected cross. Game on once more! Carl Tremarco had a header deflected wide as we looked to get our noses back in front in this see-saw tussle and substitute Tom Walsh was just too high with a shot over the bar as the game entered the final ten minutes. An unlikely hero would emerge from the pack in the shape of Charlie Trafford when he nodded in from close range in the 86th minute after a Doran corner had been headed back into the box by Shaun Rooney. Scenes! Goal hero Trafford left the field shortly after scoring with a possible head knock to be replaced by David Carson to see out the final few minutes. Caught on camera.................. That's a good win for Inverness after a difficult week with tranfers and speculation. By the way, how did your weekend go Coll? Robbo happy enough after a tough tie....... Here's the scores on the doors from the Scottish Cup weekend. Dundee United v Hibs on Sunday afternoon. Only one replay so far and congratulations to BSC Glasgow who go into the fifth round. Aberdeen scrape through against the Sons, Hissy unlucky against Clyde and Ayr United dump some team out of the event. You've got to love a bit of Scottish Cup action. The highlights from Alloa TV Date: 18/01/2020 Venue: Recreation Park, Alloa Attendance: 590 Referee: Willie Collum Alloa Athletic : 2 Lineup: MacDonald; Robertson, Taggart, Deas, Dick, Cawley, Hetherington, Brown (Thomson 65), Flannigan, Buchanan (Connelly), O'Hara Subs (not used): Henry, Gilhooley, Malcolm, O'Donnell. Scorers: O'Hara (18) O'Hara(75) Booked: none Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 3 Lineup: Ridgers; Rooney, B Mckay, McHattie, Tremarco, Doran, Trafford (Carson 90), Vincent, Storey (Walsh 57), Keatings (MacGregor 83), White Subs (not used): C Mackay, McCart, Wesh, Todorov. Scorers: Doran (8), White (61), Trafford (86) Booked: none Sent Off: none a