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Bell ends the contest Inverness eased their way into the semi-final of the IrnBru Challenge Cup thanks to a second half goal from striker Connor Bell, his fifth goal of the season. In doing this, we also established a new record for consecutive clean sheets. That's seven in a row now. By my calculations, that's 693 minutes of play without conceding, give or take a minute or two. Fantastic effort guys. Alex Cooper replaced Jake Mulraney who was on u21 international duty. For Falkirk, Kevin O'Hara began his eight match suspension and Nathan Austin, Alex Harris and James Craigen all started. Chances were at a premium in this tight contest but after a dogged first half, Inverness gradually got on top and their presence in the Falkirk half eventually paid off when the ball broke to Bell after a headed clearance cannoned off the back of John Baird into the path of Bell. He steadied himself before firing through Robbie Thomson to score the only goal of the game. Inverness were able to see out the game without too much fuss. Falkirks best moments came in the first half when Coll Donaldson cleared one off the line and Myles Hippolyte fluffed a couple of good opportunities. Carl Tremarco was voted MotM on Alba TV, Connor Bell got the vote from the match sponsors, but there were a few worthy winners. Aaron Doran was a surprise inclusion on the bench and he got on the park for the final twenty minutes. Great to see the wee winger back on the field after his horrendous injury problems over the last two seasons. The draw for the semi-finals will take place on Tuesday. Included in this are Crusaders from Northern Ireland, Dumbarton and the winners of Sunday's tie between Welsh league side New Saints and Queen of the South. Robboquote:- "The players are now playing for the name on the front of the jersey rather than the name on the back". Falkirk Manager Paul Hartley felt his side were a bit unfortunate. Highlights from Falkirk TV The BBC Alba broadcast of the game can be seen on iplayer for the next six days ICT -V- Falkirk Date: 11/11/2017 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 1078 Referee: Euan Anderson Inverness CT: 1 Lineup: : Ridgers, Raven, Tremarco, Chalmers, Polworth, Baird (Oakley 79), Vigurs, Bell (Calder 86), Cooper (Doran 71), Mckay, Donaldson. Subs (not used): Cameron Mackay (GK), Warren, Trafford, Daniel Mackay. Scorers: Connor Bell (57) Booked: Bell, Tremarco Sent Off: none Falkirk: 0 Lineup: Thomson, McGhee, Muirhead, McKee (Loy 63), Austin (Dunne 71), Hippolyte, Longridge, Harris, Balatoni, Craigen (Blues 84), Watson. Subs (not used): Mutch (GK), Grant, Gasparotto, Gallacher. Scorers: none Booked: Craigen Sent Off: none a

Fizzy Pop Football It's the Irn Bru quarter final today at the Caledonian Stadium and Falkirk are the visitors in a game that will kick off at 17:15. The chance for some silverware for the lower league clubs starts to gain some credence as the latter stages of the competition looms large. For fans living further afield, this game will be live on BBC Alba at 17:15 on Saturday 11th November. The curse has landed at the Caledonian Stadium. You can see the concern etched over the face of Tommy and Robbo on the image here. John Robertson won the Manager of the Month award for October after his side played four games without conceding, winning three and drawing one (Falkirk). Carl Tremarco was part of that achievement and his return to the side after long term injury and his defensive qualities were also rewarded with the Player of the Month trophy. A well deserved double for the club, congratulations to all concerned. Since beating Peterhead 3-0 in the last round, we find ourselves on a bit of a roll. Inverness are gaining in confidence after a sluggish start to the campaign. Goals from Liam Polworth, Riccardo Calder and young Daniel MacKay flattered us slightly, but the clean sheet was instrumental in our confidence booster. The recent league game between the two sides at the Westfield Stadium saw Inverness unfortunate not to win. We are on a bit of a resurgence with six clean sheets in a row, something that was unimaginable earlier in the season. Falkirk have also struggled to get their season going and sit second bottom in the Championship. It's not the position you expect to find the Bairns, but they too are going through a bit of a transition period. In the last round they disposed of Dunfermline Athletic 2-0, goals from Conrad Balatoni and Myles Hippolyte winning the tie. Like us, they have started to pick up recently, but a 4-2 defeat at Queen of the South was not what new manager Paul Hartley was hoping for. An Inverness XI played a bounce game against a Ross County XI in midweek for a good cause, the proceeds going to the Maggie's Highlands Appeal. It was an opportunity to get some of our injured contingent some game time. Collin Seedorf, Aaron Doran, Zak Elbouzedi all featured with Doran scoring. He likes a strike against the County. The game was won by County 3-2, but the real winner was the charity. George Oakley was our other scorer. Jake Mulraney is on international duty with the Ireland u21 squad. Collin Seedorf, Zak Elbouzedi and Aaron Doran will miss out despite playing the challenge game at Dingwall in midweek. Riccardo Calder will be a ready made replacement for Mulraney. Tom Taiwo and Craig Sibbald are out. Paul Hartley confirmed that both have started to do some light running but are well short of first team action. tm4tj Prediction:- It's a break from the league campaign and a chance for some silverware. I expect Falkirk to go into this one with more energy than they showed in the recent league game against us. We are a different beast though and the confidence gained from our unbeaten run will do us no harm at all. This will be a tight affair but home advantage could swing this in our favour. Inverness to edge this one, but it might take penalties to do it. One of our own fans has been getting some high praise for the fantastic sporting artwork she has been producing amongst other things. The talented Sophie Robb, who lives on the Black Isle overlooking the Caledonian Stadium has been producing remarkable images of great local sporting moments, captured in paintings. Some of her work can be seen here. There is also a great article on the BBC website about Sophie. Sophie's Art Well done Sophie, you are a very creative and artistic person. I hope Inverness Caledonian Thistle give you more opportunities to recreate the moment.

No goals at Pasta place. In John Robertson's 100th game in charge, Inverness made it six clean sheets in a row as they played out a 0-0 draw against Livingston at the Tony Macaroni Stadium. It was no surprise that John Robertson made no changes to the starting XI from the one that beat Dunfermline Athletic last week. That meant that John Baird was deemed fit enough to continue up front. Gary Warren remained on the bench with Coll Donaldson in his place once more and Alex Cooper returned to the squad after injury. David Hopkin made three changes to the starting line-up that beat Brechin City last week. Onto the bench went Nikolay Todorov, Rafa De-Vita and Jack McMillan. In came Jackson Longridge, Keaghan Jacobs and Danny Mullen. 1262 paid to witness this encounter with 267 in the away end making themselves heard. Livi came flying out of the blocks and had two attempts in the first couple of minutes, Josh Mullin testing Mark Ridgers and Craig Halkett heading over from a corner. Connor Bell had the ball in the net after six minutes from a John Baird cross, but the linesman flagged him for offside. Coll Donaldson was booked after twenty minutes as Livi looked to threaten and at the other end Jake Mulraney was close to connecting with a Joe Chalmers cross. Five minutes later and Mulraney was fed through on goal by Liam Polworth but Neil Alexander denied the pacey wide player saving low to his left. Ten minutes before the break Longridge went close after he found some space in the box from a Danny Mullen lay off. Mulraney turned on the after burners but Alexander foiled him as he lost control having done the difficult bit. Danny Mullen was yellow carded five minutes before the interval and Carl Tremarco followed him into the book a couple of minutes later after a late tackle. However, we made it to the interval without conceding and still had eleven players on the park. Inverness possibly shaded the first half with Mulraney looking dangerous. Half Time 0-0 As in the first half, Livi looked intent on breaching our defence and pressed hard without actually creating anything. Brad Mckay is next to have his name taken as the home side threatened to break forward. Around the hour mark, George Oakley replaced Baird who was reportedly struggling to make this one. Tremarco almost latched on to a Mulraney cross as the visitors made some progress. Livi subbed Penrice for Cadden. Shortly after, Tremarco was replaced by Riccardo Calder. Polworth tried his luck from outside the box but his shot ran out of steam and Alexander saved comfortably and at the opposite end Ridgers dealt easily with a cracker from Jacobs with twenty minutes left. Longridge upended Mulraney and was booked for his troubles. Jake dragged a shot wide moments later. Hopkin made his final changes and Danny Mullen and Josh Mullin went off, Nikolay Todorov and Dylan Mackin came on. Chalmers won a corner with ten minutes left but it came to nothing as Polworth fired well over. Moments later Polly fed Bell in on goal but Alexander came out on top once more, managing to get a toe on the ball to divert it from goal. Todorov and Cadden shot over as Livi tried to nick a winner but we made it six clean sheets in a row to take a hard earned point back up the A9. Full Time 0-0 Immortal Howden Ender will have the full version of the days events for us in due course......... and here it is. RETURN TO THE TOEKNEE MACARONI - NO GOALS BUT PLENTY OF POSITIVES First game I have been to since Dumbarton and it was like watching a brand new team – a much improved and organised outfit – and I was advised that this was below the standards set at Tannadice and against Dumbfarmlife. Well dropped the missus off at the Travelodge, a swift pint in the Hungry Horse at the top of the Hill and down to the petite Stadium Bar and a few swift voddie and cokes with Top Six. And then we were all paraded into the Main Stand. It was packed and we must have had close to 50% of the attendance – and we certainly made ourselves heard. A 0-0 always conjures up the idea of boredom and a lack of entertainment. Apart from the first 2-3 minutes - when Livi flew out of the blocks and had fashioned two chances – I felt that we were always in control, if anyone deserved to win it was us but most of the play was confined to the middle sections of the pitch. On show were two very well drilled defences but two teams clearly lacking in the necessary firepower to clinch all three points. In many ways we cancelled each other out as Livi’s style and system was almost identical to ours. We had two good chances to steal three points in both halves. Mulraney had the first half chance after a great through ball from (?) Vigurs, he outpaced the defence but brought out a good save from the veteran Alexander. IMHO Connor Bell had the better chance and really should have tucked it away. And what a through ball from Polworth. So we looked very solid and confident at the back. We won the midfield battle but I felt that we were lacking up front and the two “wee man attack” against the likes of Livi will not work. But we are getting better and better – fitter and fitter – and all of a sudden a play-off place is very much back on the cards. Only negative was our discipline (again) and picking up three cheap yellow cards – Mckay, Donaldson and Tremarco. And we picked up praise from both coaches. Inverness manager John Robertson: "That's six clean sheets and something the players should be immensely proud of because they're working their socks off. We had to match a really honest, intense, direct Livingston team and we managed to create a few opportunities. Livingston manager David Hopkin: "Inverness have really picked up defensively and Neil Alexander's pulled off a couple of great saves to keep us in it as well. Before the game I'd have taken a point. We were playing against an experienced and well-drilled side. SMILEYMOMETER RIDGERS Nowt to do with fitness, all to do with confidence and a much improved back four. RAVEN May not have many more opportunities so I will give him the MotM Award. More like the old Rave, kept going and overlapping for 90 minutes. MCKAY Not pretty but dogged and efficient. DONALDSON Mighty close in my MotM choice. Can't believe the difference in him in comparison with Dumbarton. TREMARCO Probably a real influence on the improvement defensively but I suspect he will be missing in action for another few weeks. MULRANEY Appears to have been given some “play for the shirt” medication but also played wide right and offensive which is undoubtedly where he is at his best. POLWORTH Another 110% display. If only we had a Brewster or Dargo to feed to. VIGURS Showed the usual class touches but I suspect that he was singled out for the “don’t let him play” attention by Livi. CHALMERS I really (always) liked him in midfield. A real battler and a great foil for Vigurs, Polworth and Mulraney. BAIRD Needs a goal. Plus he is the target man and I don’t think that he is comfortable with that. Better player running off the front man. BELL Well I would simply pick him in front of Baird – as the runner – at the present time. Great run on to a greater pass which led to him missing the 1:1 opportunity of the game. CALDER Looked a bit dodgy and not the ideal cover for Tremarco at full back/wing back OAKLEY WTF – what an action packed half hour put in. Probably boosted by the fan chants and evidently clapping enthusiastically at the final whistle. ROBBO Continues to improve. Will be interesting who he plays at left back and surely Oakley has booked a start as the Number 9. Here's the action from the Tony Macaroni......... Robbo was a bit disappointed not to take all three points, but he was very happy with the Caley Jags Away fans. Date: 04/11/2017 Venue: Tony Macaroni Stadium Attendance: 1262 Referee: Gavin Duncan Livingston: 0 Lineup: Alexander; Longridge, Byrne, Halkett, Gallagher, Lithgow, Mullin (Mackin, 77) Pittman, Penrice (Cadden, 65), Jacobs, Mullen (Todorov, 77). Subs (not used): Maley, Knox, Carrick, Todorov. Booked: Mullen, Longridge. Scorers: none Booked: D Mullen (40), Longridge (74) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 0 Lineup: Ridgers; Raven, Mckay, Donaldson, Tremarco (Calder, 69), Chalmers, Polworth, Vigurs, Mulraney, Bell, Baird (Oakley, 60). Subs (not used): Esson, Warren, Cooper, Trafford, Mackay. Booked: Donaldson, Tremarco, Mckay. Scorers: none Booked: Donaldson (21), Tremarco (44), B Mckay (56) Sent Off: none a

Tony Macaroni challenge We head down to Livingston on Saturday to face the upstarts of the season so far. David Hopkin has taken his promoted side to second in the Championship after eleven games. They have already beaten Inverness in the Highlands, but might find us a tougher nut to crack this time round as we look to make it six clean sheets in a row. Last time out we defeated Dunfermline at the Caledonian Stadium thanks to a goal from Connor Bell. That was on the back of an excellent away win at Tannadice the week before. It's six games since we conceded a goal, approaching 500 minutes of football. That's not bad for a side that began the season by gifting comedy goals every week. We have certainly tightened up at the back and credit has to go to Coll Donaldson who has come in and taken his chance to establish himself as the number one centre back. With the two returning full backs, David Raven and Carl Tremarco, and Brad Mckay alongside him, we are a different proposition and it's no coincidence that results have improved of late. Let's not forget the part keeper Mark Ridgers has played in this. Coming back in for the injured Fon Williams, Mark has kept three clean sheets in a row and I'm certain that having a more solid and settled back line makes his life easier. Confidence breeds more confidence. Livi went second thanks to a 3-2 win over Brechin City. Jack McMillan, Craig Halkett and Dylan Mackin did the damage. Halkett was also a scorer when Livi visited the Highlands in September and came away with a 1-3 win. They have scored twenty goals, seven more than us but their defence is only one goal better off, despite our poor start to the campaign. The Lions have won their last three home games, beating Brechin, Dundee United and Dumbarton. One lowlight was the 3-1 defeat at East End Park. Zak Elbouzedi played for an hour on Sunday in the 2-0 youth cup win over University of Stirling. Good to see Zak getting some match time after his injury troubles since coming North. Aaron Doran is building towards a return but some more fitness levels needed. Owain Fon Williams, Collin Seedorf and Felitciano Zschusschen remain out. Alex Cooper missed out last week. John Baird is a doubt. David Hopkin's last game was against Brechin and this was his preferred line-up: Alexander, Gallagher, Halkett, Lithgow, Mullen, Pittman, Byrne, Penrice, McMillan (Mackin 45), Todorov (Jacobs 64), De Vita (Knox 73). Mullen and Mackin scored for the U20's in midweek and will be looking for a start here. tm4tj prediction:- All these clean sheets are breeding confidence and it's starting to spread through the stands. The performance at Tannadice was commanding, the win over Dunfermline was harder work but thoroughly deserved and with Iain Vigurs pulling the strings in midfield we are able to create more for our eager front pairing of Connor Bell and John Baird. Jake Mulraney has two assists in the last two games, both put away by Bell, so a promising partnership is being nurtured by Robbo. Livi showed in the game at Inverness that they are well set up for the rigours of the Championsip. They work hard for each other and defend in depth when required. Not too easy to break down this will be a test for Mulraney and Bell. Given our recent upturn in fortune, a draw would be a decent result, a win would be a bonus, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. No score draw or narrow win either way is where the smart money will be. Confused.com. More detail on the Official site

Five in a row Inverness recorded their fifth clean sheet in a row to beat Dunfermline 1-0 thanks to a Connor Bell tap in in the 23rd minute after some tidy play down the right flank involving Raven, Baird, Polworth and Mulraney. No surprises in the starting eleven for Inverness as the impressive Coll Donaldson and Brad Mckay continued at the heart of the defence with Joe Chalmers further forward. Gary Warren and Charlie Trafford were on the bench. Goal shy striker John Baird led the line with on fire Jake Mulraney wide right on a bitter and blustery afternoon. Dunfermline started with Fraser Aird keeping Joe Cardle on the bench, but still had plenty of fire power in Kallum Higginbotham, Nicky Clark and Callum Smith all on from the start. Inverness started brightest with the visitors looking content to bide their time. Iain Vigurs tested keeper Sean Murdoch after just four minutes with a rasping shot that seemed to move on it's way to the target, the goalie pulling off a tremendous diving save to deny Vigurs. Fraser Aird replied for the Pars but he shot over as they came out of their shell to check out the other end of the park, and John Baird had a similar attempt in front of the South Stand. Vigurs saw a close range header blocked close to the line as we held the upper hand and it only looked to be a matter of time before we scored the opener. Baird missed the target again but soon after we got our just reward. From a throw in on the right midway through the half, some tidy interplay set Mulraney sprinting along the line before drilling a low cross into the box. An outstretched defending leg only succeeded in teeing up the effervescent Connor Bell who accepted the gift and tapped home. Liam Polworth brought out another fine save from Murdoch as we searched for a second goal, but it was at the other end that an unlikely goal almost came along. An error deep in Inverness territory by Brad McKay let Callum Smith run in on goal from the inside right position. Fortunately for McKay, he scuffed his shot badly and it dribbled well wide of Ridgers' right hand post. It was equal to the effort David Raven tried moments earlier, which looked more like a pass back than a shot from a promising position, meh! Pars had a couple booked in the first half due to there clumsy efforts to stop us overrunning them. Half Time 1-0 Mark Ridgers had to deal with a swirling cross that floated close to his crossbar, Ridgers acrobatically tipping the ball behind for a corner as the ball got caught in the gusty wind. Dunfermline were racking up the bookings by now as the game turned towsy, the visitors resorting to some rough house tactics. The home side had enough of this and retaliated with a couple of bookings of their own. Undaunted, Higginbotham won the fifth booking for Pars shortly after. There followed a spate of substitutions for Dunfermline, playing all their cards within a few minutes. Nicky Clark and Liam Polworth exchanged shots over the bar as we returned to some footballing action and John Baird spurned a couple of great opportunities to seal the points, Murdoch blocking the first volley well. His second misdemeanour brought a stiff rebuke from Polworth who was less than happy at Baird's reluctance to shoot for goal. Polworth should have scored from close range after a scrambulation in the box. A bit of composure would have won the day but he chose to smash the ball home. However, his shot smacked off the bar. A late flurry from Dunfermline saw some jitters run through the stands, but we dealt with it comfortably and the visitors were unable to fashion out any decent attempts throughout the full 96 minutes of play. Full Time 1-0 A gritty display from Inverness and we should have won at a canter had we taken the number of chances that came our way. The Pars started off a bit cagey and pressed higher after the break, but we remained untroubled and should have added to our tally. Comfortable win in the end despite their presence around our box late in the game which could have seen them picked off on the break had our final ball been better. We could also have benefited from some better refereeing decisions and on another day might have been awarded a couple of penalties. A few contenders for MotM. Coll Donaldson was once more pretty solid at the back, one or two loose moments apart. Mark Ridgers looks more confident by the game and another clean sheet will add to that. Iain Vigurs was totally dominant in midfield, spraying the ball at will. Liam Polworth and Jake Mulraney beavered away, Liam unfortunate not to score and Jake skinning defenders with his searing pace and trickery. However, my choice this week goes to a giant amongst men. Well, maybe not, but Connor Bell gets the nod for his Duracell Bunny impression and goal. His work rate was second to none, in attack and defence. What a find he has been. That result lifted us into seventh place in the league. The next target will be Morton who sit four points above us. Off to Livingston next week, another tough game against an in form team. Goal highlights and Robbo interview from Caley Jags TV Date: 28/10/2017 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 2948 Referee: Kevin Clancy Inverness CT: 1 Lineup: Ridgers, Raven, Mckay, Donaldson, Tremarco, Chalmers, Vigurs, Polworth, Bell (Warren, 90), Mulraney (Calder, 72), Baird (Oakley, 78). Subs (not used): Esson, Elsdon, Trafford, Mackay. Scorers: Connor Bell (23) Booked: Baird (57), Tremarco (60). Sent Off: none Dunfermline: 0 Lineup: Murdoch, Williamson, Morris, Ashcroft, Talbot, Splaine (Shiels, 76), Wedderburn, Aird (Cardle, 67), Higginbotham, Clark, Smith (McManus, 67). Subs (not used): Gill, Martin, M'Voto, Ryan. Scorers: none Booked: Morris, Splaine (45), Williamson (52), Clark (53), Higginbotham (65). Sent Off: none a

Time to get one over Pars We welcome Dunfermline Athletic to the Caledonian Stadium on Saturday and the opportunity to avenge the 5-1 thrashing we suffered at East End Park back in August. That was a sore one when we were still searching for our best eleven and formation. We might not be the finished article yet, but we have come a long way since then and four clean sheets in a row is testament to that. Build from the back they say. We have done that recently and an impressive display at Falkirk, coupled with a dominant performance at Tannadice has given us more optimism than was evident earlier in the campaign and shown that we are capable of competing with our revamped squad. Goals from Iain Vigurs and Connor Bell saw off United, but it was the overall display and composure that pleased most fans. Mark Ridgers was much criticised previously, but he also stepped up to the mark and looked more confident. Much of that will be gained from having a more efficient defence in front of him. He had a difficult time off the park recently and this article in the Inverness Courier explains all. Dunfermline are in great shape just now. Twenty points gleaned from their opening ten games from six wins, two defeats and two draws. Their defeats came at Morton and at home to the Arabs. However, they are the top scorers in the Championship with twenty-five goals, that's more than twice as many as we have managed. The Pars sit second only two points behind leaders St Mirren. Their last outing saw them defeat Livingston 3-1 thanks to a first half blitz, with goals from Kallum Higginbotham (2) and Fraser Aird. Inverness will soon be boosted with the return of a couple of players. Aaron Doran and Zak Elboudedi have returned to training but are short of full match fitness. They did play half a game in midweek and came through it unscathed. Warren and Trafford are recovering from hand injuries but are able to play, however, Alex Cooper is the latest casualty having injured an ankle. Collin Seedorf, Owain Fon Williams and Felitciano Zschusschen remain out. The Pars have top scorer Joe Cardle available again. Former Caley Jaggy Nat Wedderburn will feature for the Pars. tm4tj prediction:- We should offer a much stiffer test for Dunfermline than we did at East End Park. We must be wary of the fire power from the Pars who have the top three scorers in the league. Joe Cardle is an obvious threat, but Kallum Higginbotham likes a goal or two against us as well. Recent clean sheets have been very welcome, but scoring goals is not our strong point just now. For a striker, John Baird is not ideal, but his work rate can not be questioned. Jake Mulraney could be a key player today, his pace will be a tremendous asset and hopefully an end product will materialise. Might have to settle for a point, but that will be a massive improvement on the previous encounter and a good gauge of where we are at this stage of the campaign. More details in the Official Website preview.