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Champions elect coming North. St Mirren are the visitors on Saturday as we complete a hectic week with the Championship leaders looking to edge closer to promotion whilst we search for a way into the play-off zone. A large away support is expected for this one and the home fans might well be outnumbered given their reluctance to get down to the stadium. It has been a memorable week for Inverness as we won the IrnBru Cup after defeating Dumbarton last weekend courtesy of a Carl Tremarco stoppage time goal. We followed that up by beating pre-season title favourites Dundee United on Tuesday night, thanks to Aaron Doran's strike just on half time. It was a narrow win but well deserved and a decent performance to boot. That was in contrast to the rather dull Cup Final. However the result was the important thing and finals are often like that as nobody wants to be the one that makes the error. St Mirren are closing in on the title. Their charge began last season after being somewhat detached at the foot of the table, but Jack Ross has transformed the Buddies into a formidable side and one that thoroughly deserve to be promoted as Champions. St Mirren have almost double the points that Inverness have accumulated so far and sit top of the league by 14 points from Livingston. They are the highest scorers with 57 goals compared to our 32. Defensively we are much closer with the Buddies conceding three less than us. St Mirren have won the previous encounters this season although the games were closer than the scorelines suggest. St Mirren romped past Dumbarton in midweek banging in five goals without reply. Lewis Morgan bagging a hat-trick in that one. Four wins on the trot for the Paisley side. John Robertson has a doubt in Jake Mulraney but should have an otherwise injury free squad to choose from. Not often we can say that. tm4tj prediction:- Our season seems to have finally begun. We're a bit late to the party, but confidence can be a game changer and we need that from now to the end of the season. It would be a brave man to bet against St Mirren winning this one, but maybe we can take something from the game. Celtic bound Lewis Morgan is a big danger with 22 goal Gavin Reilly and Daniel Mullen on the goal trail as well. Formidable opposition it has to be said but it's not beyond the realms of possibility that we could take all three points, but that's optimism at it's best. A draw might be our best bet. Detailed Preview on Official ICTFC website

IrnBru Cup Final It's the IrnBru Cup Final this weekend as both Inverness and Dumbarton travel to the Fair City of Perth, to McDiarmid Park to be precise, to contest the 2018 Challenge Cup final. The game kicks off at 16:15 with TV coverage on BBC Alba, so get your Gaelic phrase book out if you can't get to the game and settle down with a glass of the rusty nectar, maybe fortified with your favourite tipple. We have won this competition before at the very same venue in 2003/2004 season when we overcame Airdrie United 2-0 to lift the then Bells Cup thanks to late strikes from David Bingham and Steve Hislop. We have also lost the final twice. Alloa winning a high scoring game on penalties (5-4) after a 4-4 draw at the Excelsior Stadium. In 2010 we surrendered a two goal lead at McDiarmid Park when Dundee came back to win 3-2 in the Alba Challenge Cup. We got to the final this season after wins over Aberdeen u20 (2-4), Peterhead (3-0), Falkirk (1-0) and Crusaders (3-2) after the proverbial game of two halves. Dumbarton have had equally tough games and have reached their first major final in 121 years. They have beaten Rangers u20 (2-1), Connah's Quay (2-1), Stranraer (2-1), Raith Rovers (2-0) and Welsh side The New Saints (2-1). Previous encounters this season in the Championship are one win apiece. Dumbarton won the fixture at The Rock, coming from behind to win 2-1. Connor Bell had given us an early lead but Dimitris Froxylias levelled just after the break. Sam Wardrop scored the winner around the hour mark and we failed to find an equaliser with Gary Warren being red carded with twenty minutes left. Inverness gained revenge with a narrow win in the Highlands in mid December by 1-0, Carl Tremarco the scorer. Neither club has performed consistently in the Championship and their respective league positions reflect that. Inverness are currently eighth and Dumbarton ninth and either club could be drawn into the play-off at the bottom. However, we will put league form aside and concentrate on the IrnBru Cup final this weekend. Team News Inverness will be without Brad Mckay (suspended) and Nathan Austin (cup-tied) Good news is that Coll Donaldson should be fit enough to start after sitting on the bench last week. Dumbarton boss Stevie Aitken has reservations over Dimitri Froxylias who has been called up to play for Cyprus the day before the Cup Final. He will be flying back to Glasgow after the game and Aitken will be hoping his Cyprus call up will not affect his performance. The Sons also have four players cup-tied. Liam Dick, Andy Stirling, Kevin Nisbet and Aidan Wilson are all out. No prediction from me for this one. Suffice to say it won't be easy and let's hope both sets of fans enjoy their day out. More detail can be found on the Official Preview and you can keep up to date with all the latest news from the Official Twitter Account for ICTFC If you can't make the game, TV coverage is exclusively live on BBC ALBA. Coverage begins at 4.00pm. If you can make the game, tickets will be onsale from 2.30pm at the McDiarmid Park ticket office: £15 for adults £10 for over 65s & students £5 for juveniles aged 13-16 Free for U12s

Cold Comfort at Tannadice A perishing cold and breezy March afternoon brought Inverness down to Tannadice to face Dundee United as our season hangs by a solitary thread, the IrnBru Cup thread. Defeat today coupled with an expected Dumbarton win over Brechin will plunge us into dangerous territory with a top four finish highly unlikely. It was pleasing to see that Coll Donaldson and Nathan Austin were deemed fit enough to make the bench along with Jake Mulraney, Riccardo Calder Aaron Doran and Daniel Mackay. Charlie Trafford comes in to midfield with Connor Bell reinstated up front. Brad Mckay partnered Gary Warren at the heart of the defence. United had Paul McMullen, Scott McDonald and William Edjenguele on the bench with midweek goal scorer Matty Smith keeping his place in the starting XI. A crowd of 4772 put their winter woolies on to brave the elements. Connor Bell got the ball rolling and Inverness were first to get into gear in a bright opening spell but it was United that threatened first, Tremarco blocking Mikkelsen. Vigurs put Oakley through on goal at the other end but Harry Lewis denied him. Gary Warren had a header cleared off the line after Lewis misjudged a cross and Oakley had the loose ball blocked behind for a corner which United managed to clear. Good spell for the visitors. Polworth found Oakley inside the box and he had another effort blocked as we kept the pressure on the home defence. Just past the half hour and Inverness got the lift they needed when our talented midfielder Iain Vigurs headed home a Liam Polworth corner and United can have no complaints as Inverness have taken the game to them at every opportunity, a complete reverse of our midweek fail. Vigurs was leading by example and he fired a long effort that keeper Lewis managed to hold. Five minutes before the break and Mark Durnan prevented Connor Bell from knocking in Oakley's cross. Would have been a tap-in for Bell had Durnan not intervened. It had been a good first half for Inverness who were able to exploit space behind the United defence with Iain Vigurs outstanding. Seedorf and Trafford both took heavy knocks in the first half and we will need to see if they will be back out for the second forty-five. Oakley had been wasteful so far, would that come back to haunt us. With the half time challenge going to team ICT by 6-4, the teams were back out for the second half with United replacing Quinn with Macdonald. Lewis saved from Vigurs and Chalmers as the second half got underway, and it was following the same pattern as the first half. Vigurs collected a booking as he halted a United burst forward. How often have we seen this turn into a red card this season. On the hour, United got an equaliser when Mikkelsen on the stretch knocked a ball to the back post back across goal and in from a Jamie Robson cross. Jake Mulraney replaced Charlie Trafford with twenty minutes left and United took Matty Smith off with Paul McMullen coming on as they looked to find a winner. Doran replaced Bell with ten minutes left as Vigurs fired a shot over the bar as we tried to get our noses in front once more. He almost made an immediate impact, bit his goalbound effort was blocked and United forced a corner at the other end as they broke up the park. Mark Ridgers had to look lively to tip shots from McMullan and Flood over and Inverness made their final change with Nathan Austin replacing George Oakley. Austin offered Mulraney a chance but he shot over and that was about it as the game ended a point apiece. RIG thought "we were best serve throughout by Warren, Bell and Tremarco as our standouts. Bell brings a real energy to our attack buzzing all over the place to try and support Oakley whilst Tremarco is much more solid at LB than Calder. If we want to win the Challenge Cup next weekend we will need to up our performance again but I'm not too sure if some of these players have much more to give". Iain Vigurs was prominent in the first half especially and Mark Ridgers continues to impress with a couple of crucial saves near the end. This was a vast improvement from the midweek game at Dunfermline and the stats will show that Inverness had the better of the game without being able to create a two goal cushion that would have gained us all three points. This draw means that Dumbarton have closed the gap at the bottom to just four points behind Inverness, albeit we have a game in hand which is another tough encounter with the Arabs, scheduled for Tuesday 27th of March. Next week is the IrnBru Cup Final at Perth against Dumbarton and the winners of this will gain more than just a cup, it will breed confidence for the battle at the bottom. Date: 17/03/2017 Venue: Tannadice Park, Dundee Attendance: 4772 Referee: Steven Kirkland Dundee United : 1 Lineup: Lewis: Murdoch, Durnan, Scobbie, Robson, Quinn (McDonald 45), Flood, Smith (McMullen 74), Stanton, King, Mikkelsen (Fraser 85) Subs (not used): Mehmet: Edjenguele, Slater, Ralston Scorers: Mikkelsen (64) Booked: Smith (70) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 1 Lineup: Ridgers: Seedorf, B Mckay, Warren, Tremarco, Polworth, Trafford (Mulraney 71), Vigurs, Chalmers, Bell (Doran 78), Oakley (Austin 87) Subs (not used): Esson, Calder, Donaldson, Mackay Scorers: Vigurs (30) Booked: Vigurs (57), Oakley (67) Sent Off: none a Full Time.jpg_large

Play-Off Possibility Inverness face Dundee United on Saturday with the season hanging in the balance after another defeat in midweek at East End Park. We are now closer to the relegation play-offs at the bottom end of the table than we are to the promotion play-offs. Our schoolboy errors on and off the park leave us with little hope of progressing this term and the outlook is bleak. All we have left to look forward to is the IrnBru cup final at McDiarmid Park Perth against Dumbarton. That is assuming we can stave off the relegation play-off position. After a lifeless performance against Dunfermline, we went down 1-0, but by all accounts we got off lightly with Mark Ridgers making a couple of wonderful saves to keep the score down. Our attempts to score were negligible and our antics off the park were laughable. I'm talking about the farce that ended with Brad Mckay not being named at all until Riccardo Calder pulled up, then only being named as a substitute but Cameron Harper who made his debut was suddenly injured after five minutes therefore Brad got on the park after all. What the hell was that all about? Our opponents, Dundee United managed to get back on track after a poor run of results. They came from behind to defeat Queen of the South with Mathew Smith bagging a brace, the first a thumping long range effort. Thomas Mikkelsen had scored the equaliser to get United back into the game. It was their first Championship win since they beat Brechin on the 2nd of January. During that poor run they had been thrashed 6-1 by Falkirk and 3-0 by Morton. Coll Donaldson and Nathan Austin are still sidelined so that leaves our back line a bit fragile. Who knows what's going on behind the scenes, but the Brad Mckay farce was odd to say the least. Let's hope this is sorted before it's too late. The Arabs have made an emergency loan signing in Anthony Ralston. I'm buggered if I know what the emergency is, but the young Celtic defender is at Tannadice for the rest of the season. He has made six starts for Celtic including a Champions League game against PSG. United went with this line-up against QotS:- Lewis, Durnan, Quinn, Scobbie, Murdoch, Flood (Slater 88), King (McMullan 84), Stanton, Robson, Smith, Mikkelsen (McDonald 73). tm4tj prediction:- Given our lame effort at East End Park, and without Coll Donaldson, I see no reason that we should expect anything from this game. Thumping win for United which coupled with a win for Dumbarton over Brechin City will leave us perilously close to the relegation play-off slot. Further news on the Official Site

Defeat leaves Inverness looking over their shoulder. At least we managed to get a kick about after the frustrating list of postponements recently. Unfortunately it ended in another defeat that effectively ends our season with James Craigen scoring an early goal. Midweek at East End Park was not the preferred choice of many, but we went down looking to get our slim play-off hopes back on track. Dunfermline were in the same boat as their season has gone pear shaped as well. They were without a win in their last seven games, since they beat Dumbarton 1-0 on the 6th of January. Nevertheless, 2249 folk turned up to watch this one. Inverness were without influential central defender Coll Donaldson and fragile front man Nathan Austin, both out with hamstring injuries. Brad Mckay was also out..........until Riccardo Calder pulled up. That gave 16 year old Cameron Harper his first start and put Brad onto the bench. Collin Seedorf started at right back and Carl Tremarco partnered Gary Warren in central defence. George Oakley was the front runner with Connor Bell on the bench. The Pars were without top player Jo Cardle but Kallum Higginbotham started. Former Caley Jags man and cup final hero James Vincent was on from the start, but Nat Wedderburn found himself on the bench. Vincent has been on loan from Dundee since the end of January. The game kicked off in total confusion over the Inverness team lines with Cameron Harper starting. Harper's only involvement prior to this game was as an unused sub in the 3-1 defeat at Falkirk in January. Alas, his debut lasted only five minutes as he was substituted with Brad Mckay coming on, but the farce was just beginning as James Craigen fired home a free kick one minute later to open the scoring. Inverness were on the back foot as Dunfermline surged forward and Declan McManus was blocked as the Pars looked to increase their advantage. However Inverness started to creep back into the game and Lee Ashcroft had to look lively on a couple of occasions to repel the visitors. Half an hour gone and the contest had become untidy with petty fouls interrupting the flow of the game and that was the process right up until the interval with nothing of note to report. This game has an end of season feel about it. If it continues like this our season will be over. Half Time 1-0 Polworth started the ball rolling for the second forty-five, and the fans were be looking for a bit more life on the park. After a chanceless first half Doran brought Pars keeper Robinson into action as he gathered the Caley Jags' players shot in the 47th minute. Mark Ridgers denied James Craigen his second goal with an excellent save down low as the game livened up, the keeper pushing the ball out for a corner. Meanwhile, the visiting fans were amusing themselves by cheering for Ryan Esson as he warmed up behind the goal. Jake Mulraney had been woken by something and he ventured deep into the home area but the ball eventually going out. However, there has been more activity in the first ten minutes of the second half than there was in the whole of the first. Robbo had seen enough of Mulraney and Doran and they were replaced by Connor Bell and Zak Elbouzedi with twenty minutes left but it was Nicky Clark that almost scored for the hosts with his cross which was missed by Ridgers but hooked clear by Tremarco. A couple of minutes later Clark fed McManus and he hit the post. Polworth had a shot blocked as Inverness looked to get an unlikely equaliser and Zak Elbouzedi had no takers for his cross into the box as Robbo raged while Clancy ticked him off. Iain Vigurs headed straight at Robinson as we tried to make amends for a dismal first half. Inverness had Ridgers to thank for a couple of tremendous saves from Martin and Higginbotham and Brian Rice had his chips as he was sent to the stand by Clancy. Full Time 1-0 Looks like our season has ended in tatters with defeat at East End Park. We petered out and Dunfermline were well worth the three points and should have won by a greater margin. Our lack of funds is showing in the lack of quality and threadbare squad and it's the IrnBru cup or bust. Dumbarton are now only six points behind Inverness and we should now concentrate on avoiding relegation instead of looking for promotion which was always beyond us after last seasons disaster. RIG had this to say after another disappointing display. A truly shambolic performance from ICT that should really be leaving fans very worried at the prospect of a second successive relegation. With Dumbarton playing Brechin again on Saturday there's a real chance they will be just 3 points behind us. Forget about possible Highland Derbies next season and focus on staying in this league. Even though the score line makes it look like a close game I'd say we were as bad as when we were thumped 5-1 there earlier in the season. At the back we floated between competent and clueless. Most of the time we coped easily with the Pars attacks. Other times we flapped at crosses and passed the ball out of defence straight to the home side. Polworth and Vigurs certainly tried but mainly succeeded in giving the ball away. Chalmers was anonymous, Mulraney kept running the ball out of play instead of crossing it and Oakley spent most of the game falling over after wrestling with his opponent. We were an utter shambles. Aimless punts up the park and truly woeful attacking play in the final third. There were very few plus points. Ridgers made some good saves and it was great to see Tremarco and Bell back in the side. But apart from that it was a night to forget for ICT. Here's Allan Johnston talking after his sides first win in eight games. Date: 13/03/2018 Venue: East End Park, Dunfermline Attendance: 2249 Referee: Kevin Clancy Dunfermline: 1 Lineup: Robinson; Williamson, Martin, Morris (C), Ashcroft, Craigen, Beadling, Vincent, Higginbotham, McManus, Clark. Subs (not used): Gill; Aird, Shiels, Armstrong, Wedderburn, Lochhead, Ryan. Scorers: Craigen (6) Booked: none Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 0 Lineup: Ridgers; Seedorf, Warren, Tremarco, Harper (B Mckay 5), Chalmers, Vigurs, Polworth, Doran (Bell 71), Mulraney (Elbouzedi 71), Oakley. Subs (not used): Esson; Brown, Trafford, Mackay Scorers: none Booked: Tremarco (89) B Mckay (90+2) Sent Off: none a

Heading towards last chance saloon After what seems like an entire season of games put on hold in the Winter of our discontent, we should take on fellow promotion hopefuls Dunfermline Athletic on Tuesday night. It's getting to the stage for both clubs where only a win will suffice. This game has been knocked back already due to inclement weather and frozen pipes but it looks like it could go ahead this time. Our last competitive game was on 24th February when we went down 0-2 against Morton in the Highlands. We only managed two games throughout February. The other one was the IrnBru Cup game against Irish side Crusaders which saw us get into the final after a pulsating 3-2 win. We will play Dumbarton at McDiarmid Park, Perth, in a couple of weeks. The fixtures are now stacking up for Inverness and we will be playing twice a week for the foreseeable future. Dunfermline are without a win in their last seven games since they defeated Dumbarton 0-1 on 6th January. Their last game was a 2-0 defeat to leaders St Mirren at the weekend. They still lead Inverness by five points and sit just outside the play-off zone in sixth place, but we do have two games in hand. We were dropped down into eighth position at the weekend when Falkirk beat Morton 3-1, and only Dumbarton and Brechin are below us. Our season now hinges on us making a grandstand finish to the season, but with our player of the year so far Coll Donaldson injured, it looks like the IrnBru Cup might be our only crumb of comfort after the massive rejig following relegation. Dunfermline warned us how tough this league was going to be by trouncing us 5-1 in the second league game of the season. We did gain a modicum of revenge with a 1-0 win at the Caledonian Stadium at the end of October, but only six wins from thirteen Championship fixtures since then has seen us struggle to climb the league. It's like one step forward and two back at the minute. Coll Donaldson and Nathan Austin are both out with hamstring injuries but Robbo should have a full squad otherwise. Here's the Pars line up in their last outing at St Mirren. Dunfermline: Robinson, Williamson, Talbot, M'Voto, Ashcroft, Craigen, Beadling, Vincent, Armstrong, McManus, Clark. SUBS: Gill, Morris, Martin, Cardle, Wedderburn, Higginbotham, Ryan tm4tj prediction:- With our lack of action recently it's difficult to guess how we will react to our inactivity. Coll Donaldson missing out is a big blow and our cover up front is thin with John Baird off to Morton and Nathan Austin injured. Dunfermline fans don't seem too bothered if we were to help remove Magic Johnston from the managers seat, so let's see if we can help them out here and record an away win. It looks like a tall order though, so I'm going with a no score draw.