tm4tj

Six-Pointers from here on in! It's all six pointers from here on in as we travel to Firhill to take on Partick Thistle in the Premiership looking for more points to add to the rather unexpected but nonetheless welcome four we gleaned from Hearts and the Rangers recently. Despite those fantastic results, other clubs have not been so keen to help us out and we still find ourselves at the foot of the table, two points behind Hamilton. We suffered a setback in our last outing even before we kicked off against Celtic. Hamilton never read the script properly and defeated Aberdeen on the Friday night to leapfrog us in the table. With County getting a bonus win at Tynecastle on the Saturday and Killie losing to Motherwell on Sunday, Inverness were the big losers going down 0-4 to a rampant Celtic. After a battling first 45, we were the architects of our own downfall, gifting goals like they were going out of fashion. But enough of the doom and gloom. The good news is that we don't have to play Celtic again and our fate is in our own hands over the next eleven games, the most important in our history. There were plenty of positives against Celtic despite the crushing scoreline although they were undone by some calamitous errors that verged on comedy. We were never going to win this game, but after gifting a second and third goal our task was well beyond us and we had to take our punishment as a result. Partick have been one of the success stories of this season and we go down to Firhill with a less than impressive record there in recent years. Only four wins in our seventeen visits, one of which was a Scottish Cup game in 2015, that was a good year if I recall correctly. Others were a First Division game in 2010, our first visit in 1998 and one at the tail end of last season when the campaign was done and dusted (1-4). That was our best ever result against the Harry Wragg's Partick have been a bit of a bogey team for us although overall the stats will show that victories are fairly even. Historically, home advantage seems to prevail and at Firhill we have six defeats, four wins and seven draws. Our last encounter was at Inverness where the sides played out an unspectacular 0-0 draw. The first game at Partick ended in defeat for Inverness by 2-0, Foran's first game in charge. Goals by Chris Erskine and David Amoo gave Partick an untroubled victory. We all knew this early in the season that scoring goals would not be our strong point as we struggled to create anything. What we did not foresee was that our normally reliable defence would be even worse; and here we are today, bottom of the league on merit. Partick's last game saw them limp out of the Scottish Cup in a rather tame affair at the hands of Aberdeen, but in the League they have made their way under the radar into the top-six, ten points above Inverness. Goals for are similar, but once again it's our defensive record that is the main issue. Richie Foran spoke to the BBC after his first game in charge at Firhill back in August. I wonder what he thinks of his comments now? And who is Scott Boden? "It's only early. You don't become a bad team overnight. We're going to stay positive. "I thought we had poor imagination in the final third. With the quality that we have up there I expect a little bit more but we didn't get enough help around Scott Boden. "(It's a) disappointing result but I can't be too hard on the lads. They've been magnificent since I've come in. "I think we're in for a good season. We've got the quality. We just need to work on a few bits and pieces." Alan Archibald has doubts over Danny Devine and Christie Elliott after the pair sustained knocks during last weekend's defeat by Aberdeen. On-loan Crawley winger Jason Banton (groin) could be involved but long-term absentees Sean Welsh (foot), Ryan Scully (shoulder), Stuart Bannigan and Gary Fraser (both knee) remain out. Richie Foran hopes to have Jake Mulraney back after he missed the Celtic game. He will be needed as Aaron Doran is reported to be out for the season after undergoing surgery on his knee. The operation was not on the same knee that has been a problem over the last two seasons. Carl Tremarco will be out, either through injury or suspension and Ross Draper is suspended for one match, he will be a big miss. Josh Meekings and Lewis Horner are long term casualties but Kev McNaughton is making good progress and was on the bench for the Celtic game. Ryan Esson has returned to training and Horner is ready to begin legwork. Other crucial fixtures over this coming weekend that will have a bearing on our destiny. Hearts v Hamilton, Aberdeen v Motherwell and County v Killie tm4tj prediction:- Eleven games left to save our season. Celtic apart, we have shown some willingness to try and stay in this League with credible draws against Dundee and Hearts and an excellent win over Rangers. Unfortunately other results have meant that we are back on the bottom and we will remain there unless we show a real desire to fight for everything. In Billy Mckay we have one man who can almost work miracles, but he needs help and Jake Mulraney if fit could be his provider, with King on the opposite flank. Our creaking back four have been shuffled more than a deck of cards at a Las Vegas casino, through injury, suspension and parent club ruling. We need our best players on the park and they need to be performing at the top level. Owain Fon Williams has been sloppy lately, but he can perform much better as he has done on occasion, let's hope his confidence is not shattered after that Celtic debacle as we have no suitable cover for him with Esson not fully fit. Partick hold the Indian Sign over us, but I'm hopeful of at least a draw if not a rare win at Firhill. Beware the scalded cat!

Take this one on the chin and move on. Tough task ahead for Inverness as the runaway league leaders come calling on Wednesday night no doubt looking to avenge the draw in the Highlands earlier in the season, the only points Celtic have dropped so far. Since then, it's been 21 straight wins in the Premiership. It was a good weekend for Inverness as they clambered off the bottom of the table after beating Rangers 2-1 on Friday night. That coupled with Hamilton's loss at Parkhead on the Saturday saw us jump above the Accies in the race to avoid relegation. It was a throwback to the good olde days as Inverness beat Rangers with goals from Greg Tansey and Billy Mckay. Hard work and togetherness saw us get over the line with a little help from Billy Mckay who scored a wonder goal with an overhead kick in the last minute of normal time. You couldn't have scripted it better. We could even afford the luxury of a missed penalty, something Richie Foran needs to address as that's the third one in as many weeks that we have passed on. Note for Richie, make sure the guys know who will take the spot kick before they go on the park. Otherwise, great performance all round and a welcome three points. Celtic did us a favour on Saturday by beating Accies 2-0. Not the cricket score we were hoping for but no points for the Accies who take over at the bottom with Celtic cruising to the title and probably the treble. Moussa Dembele scored a brace, and that's nine goals in his last four games and twenty-six for the season overall. Sad news coming from Parkhead that Celtic legend Billy McNeill has been diagnosed as having dementia. The pinnacle of McNeill's career was in lifting the European Cup as captain of Celtic in 1967. They were the first British club to do so. This is the biggest battle of his life now and we wish him and his family well for the struggle ahead. A couple of weeks ago Celtic trounced us 6-0 in the Scottish Cup. We have gone back to basics since then and an excellent draw at Tynecastle followed by the win over Rangers has given everyone a lift, none moreso than manager Richie Foran. He had been taking plenty of flack recently as our worst run ever saw us go fourteen league games without a win. Now that monkey is off the back we can get back to business and look to make progress although this is the toughest gig on the fixture list. There's little point in bigging up everyone prior to this game as nothing is expected from us, and rightly so, but recent performances have shown that we have the desire to compete. We may have to wait until this fixture is out of the way before we continue our revival and it's more about how the teams around us perform whilst we take on Celtic, so we will be keeping a close eye on Accies v Aberdeen, Hearts v County and Killie v Motherwell, who look to be in trouble at the moment, shipping goals like nobody's business. Foran took the bull by the horns in our last outing and kept the previously suspended trio of Gary Warren, Brad Mckay and Iain Vigurs on the bench. His gamble worked well as he put his trust in the team that put the effort in at Tynecastle. We might see a similar pattern against Celtic although Carl Tremarco and Jake Mulraney came off through injury against Rangers and will be doubts for this one. Kev McNaughton is recovering well and has started training again so things are looking up with only Josh Meekings and Lewis Horner still considered longer term casualties with Kev maybe only a couple of weeks away from a return. The latest on Tremarco and Mulraney is that they hope to be fit enough for Celtic game, along with Henri Anier and Billy Mckay who has a slight strain. Aaron Doran has a knee injury and looks like missing out. Loanee Jamie McCart is unable to play against his parent club. Brendan Rodgers has a vast array of international talent to choose from and his injury list does not have the same impact on his side as ours does. That said, he will without the services of Tom Rogic. A plus for Inverness is that James Forrest is a doubt for Wednesday night. He destroyed us in the cup game and it will be a bonus for us if he misses out. Croatian defender Jozo Simunovic might not be fit either although Rodgers will not need to risk anyone given his strength in depth. tm4tj prediction:- As I said above, this is the toughest fixture we are likely to have left this season. It's a no brainer that Celtic will be massive favourites for this one and anything we can get from this game will be a bonus, and that includes damage limitation to our goal difference. We have taken four points from our last two games where many thought we might gain nothing, so this is one we might have to take on the chin. Nothing is impossible, but this is the nearest to that. We showed great character against Rangers and we will need plenty more of that against Celtic. I can't see past a sound beating, but a draw would be a marvellous achievement. Dembele and Scott Sinclair need to be kept quiet and that's not easy. With Leigh Griffiths and Patrick Roberts waiting in the wings for their chance, it doesn't rain but it pours. Fingers crossed it is then. Richie Foran looks ahead to the Celtic game with a renewed vigour after the result against Rangers..........