tm4tj

Steelmen are no fools Rejuvenated Motherwell are the visitors as we enter April, a month where fools are tolerated, but just for one day. Going into this game, Inverness trail Motherwell by five points thanks to the Steelmen winning five of their last six games. In stark contrast, we have won only once in our last six as we struggled for some consistency. But what a win it was, 0-3 in the local derby as we crushed Dingwall at the Global Energy Stadium. Top-six looks just out of our reach, but we will have a better understanding of it after the results this weekend. It's almost out of our own hands. Defeat would probably end our aspirations. However, there are six teams vying for three places with St Johnstone, Motherwell and Ross County in pole position. We started our domestic season with a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Motherwell but we have the edge over them since then with a 3-1 league win and a 2-1 Scottish Cup win, both games at Fir Park. However, it looks as though Mark McGhee is turning their season round as they have surged into the top half of the table, leaving the relegation battle for others to contend. The last games for either side were fantastic occasions. Motherwell came from behind to beat the once famous Aberdeen. Second half goals from Scott McDonald and Louis Moult overcame a Kenny McLean penalty to secure the points and move Motherwell into fifth place in the league. Something that looked a long way off a couple of months ago. We kept our best performance of the season for Ross County to ensure the Highlands are still ours. We appeared to abandon our error strewn mis-passing game and the direct route paid dividends as we scored three tremendous goals. Miles Storey scored the pick of the bunch with a tremendous volley after great control of a long ball on his chest. Not only did he score, he was running at the County defence all afternoon and a worthy MotM. John Hughes has more choice available after the international break with James Vincent and Andrea Mutombo at his disposal. Still out are Aaron Doran, David Raven, Alex Fisher and Dean Brill, with Greg Tansey serving a one match ban. Mark McGhee can call on the returning captain Keith Lasley and defender Ben Hall to bolster his squad. However, James McFadden is out after breaking his ankle in training and Stephen Pearson and Louis Laing join him on the sidelines. tm4tj prediction:- If we continue where we left off at Dingwall, this should be a walk in the park. Unfortunately our season has been littered with disappointments and nothing is guaranteed in this league. With Motherwell on a roll and Inverness upping their strategy, this could make for an entertaining game. Both sides will be looking for maximum points and that should open the game up and make for plenty of opportunities. Miles Storey will have gained in confidence after last weeks performance and Liam Hughes showed us the value of a giant front man. With Josh Meekings back in defence things are looking up. We will need to shackle the Wells' top scorer Louis Moult as he has a habit of scoring against us. I'm going for a home win

Caley Jags reign on County's parade. Inverness trounced Ross County 0-3 in the local derby with a good old fashioned swashbuckling display to confirm what we all knew anyway, that the Highlands are still ours. County were massive favourites going in to this one and the fans turned out to get a glimpse of the Mickey Mouse Cup after the derby. The away end was also full and in good voice despite our recent form. As expected Jim McInally brought back Alex Schalk and Liam Boyce for this one with County looking to consolidate their top-six place. Yogi made a few alterations after the shambles in midweek and actually played with a striker on the pitch, albeit playing wide left. Miles Storey, Greg Tansey and Liam Polworth came back into the side and surprisingly Liam Hughes retained his forward roll with Richie Foran, Nat Wedderburn Lewis Horner and Danny Williams on the bench. No sign of Andrea Mutombo, must be too cold for him. Josh Meekings continued at right back in a defensive four with Devine, Warren and Tremarco making up our last line. Polworth, Draper, Tansey and Vigurs were in the engine room and Liam Hughes would be the target man hoping to feed on to Miles Storey. Great day for football and a big crowd expecting County to win at their own party. What could go wrong. Everything looked rosy for County and their party almost got off to a flying start. Owain Fon Williams was the party pooper when he saved brilliantly in the first couple of minutes from a Schalk header. Andrew Davies headed over and Liam Boyce failed with a shot as the celebrations began. Carl Tremarco almost broke the deadlock when he smashed a shot off the bar in 25 minutes and from that, County broke forward. The pitch opened up for Jackson Irvine and he raced into the box. His shot curled low round Fon Williams but the post spoiled his fun as the ball bounce off the base of the woodwork and away to safety. However, Inverness were right in the game now and just after the half hour we took the lead. Storey made great headway down the left before looking up and rolling the ball across to Polworth who had made the effort to keep up with him. Similar to midweek, he sped towards the box, but this time he got it right as he kept the ball down and fired it across the keeper and into the net, County were shell shocked and within five minutes we had scored again. From a Liam Hughes knockdown, Ross Draper made it look all too easy as he entered the box and clipped his shot into the net to silence the Jail End. How dare he! We could have been three up before the break but a Meekings header went just wide as we tore County a new one. Half Time 0-2 County made two changes at the break, Andrew Davies and Jackson Irvine staying in the dressing room and Chris Robertson and Jonathan Franks replacing them. Irvine had taken a sore one during the first half, Davies was probably just embarrassed. The next goal would be crucial to the outcome of this game, the question was who was going to get it? We didn't have long to wait for the answer and what a goal it was. A long ball towards Storey wide left was brilliantly chested down by the striker who had not scored since his goal in the New Years derby at Dingwall on the 2nd of January. He was about to put that right as the ball landed nicely for him as he cut inside before unleashing a dipping swerving volley that flashed over the keeper and into the net for a stunning goal. Take a bow Miles Storey. How's the party going? The young guns were having a ball, literally. Every time we shot wide of the goal, they somehow failed to find it quickly enough and County had to produce a new one. Meh. The game was over as a contest and it turned to shooty-in for our forward players. Draper, Storey and Tansey all fired just wide as the County Party turned sour and we turned on our hosts. The much maligned Liam Hughes was enjoying todays game and he even had the audacity to fire a shot on target but the keeper saved as we turned the screw, County were bedraggled as the game wore on and we looked likely to increase our lead every time we weaved patterns round their defence. Liam Polworth came closest to getting a fourth which would have by no means flattered us. He hit a thunderous shot from twenty yards which smacked the bar. What a strike that was. Josh Meekings nearly got on the end of a ball to the back post and he almost scored at the end with a header as we continued to torture our hosts. What were County doing during this half. Well, nothing really apart from watching us run rings round them. Their party was well and truly pooped. Full Time 0-3 What a season best performance from Inverness. We took the game by the scruff of the neck and had a real go at County. They had no answer to our power play and looked a sorry lot at the end. Great credit to Fon Williams for the early save and our defence cut out the errors and had the home strikers well marshalled all day. Yes, even Danny Devine, he took no chances today and was defensively solid. The midfield were superb, bossing and dictating the game and backing up the front men when required. Special mention to Liam Hughes who put in a great shift today and looked more like a footballer. But my Man of the Match is going to Miles Storey. If his confidence was low due to inactivity around the nets, then he will have received a massive boost after scoring that wonder goal today. It wasn't just about the goal though as he took on the County defence single handed at times and his pace saw him run them ragged, aided by some wonderful close control. Undoubtedly his best game yet, and what a match to do it in. Anyway, we enjoyed the party, thanks for the invite, will come back again next season. The Highlands are ours, Forever in our Shadows, Bragging rights (a temporary position of ascendancy in a closely contested rivalry) And finally, can we play you every week, etc etc................... Three wins this season = 9 points. . Date: 16/03/16 Venue: Victoria Park, Dingwall Attendance: 5912 Referee: Bobby Madden Ross County: 0 Lineup: Woods, Fraser, Quinn, Davies (Robertson 46), Foster, Gardyne (Goodwillie 54), Irvine (Franks 46), McShane, Murdoch, Schalk, Boyce Subs (not used): Konopka, Dingwall, De Vita, McLaughlin Scorers: none Booked: Foster (51), Boyce (63), Fraser (69) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 3 Lineup: Fon Williams, Meekings, Warren, Devine, Tremarco, Tansey, Draper, Vigurs (R.Williams 86), Polworth (D.Williams 89), Hughes (Foran 86), Storey Subs (not used): Esson, Roberts, Wedderburn, Horner Scorers: Polworth (32), Draper (37), Storey (48) Booked: Vigurs (41) Sent Off: none

Derby Day 　 It's over the bridge on Saturday as dethroned Inverness take on League Cup winners Ross County at the Global Energy Stadium. It's a big day for County as they have a parade immediately after the game to show off their recently acquired silverware. Would it be rude of us to actually turn up and have the temerity to win. That would be highly unlikely given our recent demise, but it is a derby and points are now at a premium. We slumped out of the Scottish Cup on Wednesday night against Hibernian, a result as much to do with team selection as the performance on the park. Yogi mysteriously kept his fire power on the bench when we needed to score goals to progress. Baffling decision and that needs to change if we want to harbour any thought about taking points from Dingwall. County of course beat Hibernian to lift the League Cup and followed that up by drawing at St Johnstone in midweek, coming from a goal down to get a point. They achieved that by virtue of a spot kick converted by Brian Graham. Current form will show that Inverness are on the slide with only one point from our last five League games, that being the 1-1 draw at Dens Park. That goal is the only one scored during this slump and we have conceded eight. County are on a high just now, two wins and a draw in their last five and the added boost of winning the Cup last Sunday. County are in fourth place with 40 points while we languish in ninth with 33 points. How times have changed. Inverness still have half a dozen casualties but it was good to see Josh Meekings and Richie Foran do ninety minutes in midweek. Let's hope they show no reaction to that. I also hope that Jordan Roberts, Miles Storey and Danny Williams will be on the park sooner than they were against Hibs. Greg Tansey returns after missing the Cup debacle through suspension. Ross County rested a few in midweek, namely Alex Schalk, Liam Boyce and Ricky Foster and they will be contenders for a start on Saturday. Scott Fox and Craig Curran are still out. We have already beaten County twice this season although they won at Inverness en-route to their League Cup triumph, but confidence is low at the Inverness side of the Kessock Bridge and with John Hughes tinkering with team selection then it's anyone's guess what Caley Jags team will turn up on Saturday. tm4tj Prediction:- Oh my, I fear for us if we allow County to settle on their own turf. I see no reason to believe that we can change our recent pattern of creating nothing over ninety minutes and with County in party mood then we will do well to hang on in there. Heart says a point, head says we will get thumped. Meh.

Yogi makes a Boo Boo. A shambolic team selection and performance saw Inverness gift Hibs safe passage into the semi-final with a deserved 1-2 win at Inverness, as Yogi goes from hero to zero in less than a year. Hughes kept all his attacking options on the bench for reasons only he will know and at the back we handed Hibs the opportunity to advance, and they did so with Anthony Stokes capitalising twice. That left Inverness with too much to do in the second half and we fell short despite getting one goal back through Iain Vigurs with almost fifteen minutes left. Hibernian took a large following to the Highland capital for this cup replay despite the disappointment of losing the League Cup final to Ross County on the Sunday. They had Jason Cummings up front with Anthony Stokes backing him up. Dylan McGeough failed to make the squad. John Hughes' line-up was the subject of much ridicule and probably one of the main reasons we are out of the cup. Despite the fact that we have struggled to score goals of late, Yogi chose to leave attacking options Miles Storey, Jordan Roberts, Danny Williams and to a lesser extent Liam Polworth on the bench. Instead we had Richie Foran starting after months out, Liam Hughes an almost untried midfielder at centre forward and Josh Meekings at right back for his first start in ages. Andrea Mutombo was not fit enough to make the squad. It was our defence of the trophy and surely we would take the game to Hibs to try and retain the trophy against the Championship side who have not won in five games. We began by getting forward well, but as is our frustrating habit of late we were soon void of attacking intent as Hibs got to grip with the game, realising that we were not an attacking threat. By playing Hughes up front, we seemed to abandon our sideways passing game and opt for route one, but more often than not the long balls were floundering on the heads of the visiting defenders. Hibernian went ahead after Stokes benefitted from a defensive cock-up. A decent ball in by Lewis Stevenson from the Hibs left saw Devine and Tremarco go for the same ball. Devine got a touch which flicked it over Tremarco and Stokes was on hand to receive the gift and stroke the ball home from eight yards. Five minutes later and the Cup was back in it's box ready for sending South. Danny Devine has become the master of disaster recently and he messed up trying to pass the ball out of defence. He scuffed his clearing pass five yards into the path of the impressive Liam Henderson who sped into the box before cutting it back to Jason Cummings. He got his shot away and Fon Williams saved brilliantly, but the ball fell nicely for Stokes who won't score an easier double than this. What were Inverness doing while all this was happening? Well, nothing really apart from a comedy of errors, and the half ended with boo's ringing in the ears of the home side, the away fans in fine voice though. Half Time 0-2 Another feeble first half would surely see a couple of changes at the interval, but no, Yogi persevered with his starting choice. Desperation was evident as we surged forward and Tremarco should have done better than stab a deep cross well over from five yards at the back post. Iain Vigurs hit a sweet right footer from 25 yards but Oxley was well placed to save as Inverness struggled to create the clear opening they needed. The cumbersome Nat Wedderburn was booked and substituted two minutes later and Lewis Horner went the same way. Attacking flair was introduce at last with Danny Williams and top scorer Miles Storey entering the field of play. Fifteen minutes later, the Inverness pressure paid off when Iain Vigurs was on hand to knock in a Foran header back across the box. Five minutes later and more comedy gold when Oxley clashed with Hughes as he blocked the makeshift strikers stab at goal. There followed a series of calls for medical attention for the keeper seemingly unable to see properly after dislodging one of his contact lenses. A booking for time wasting followed before he slumped to the ground, eventually being substituted. Seven minutes of added time resulted from that farce but we huffed and puffed without blowing the house down. In fact, Hibs could have scored a third or fourth as we threw everyone forward in an attempt to salvage something from he wreck, but good goalkeeping and poor finishing saw the game end 2-1 in Hibs favour and our defence of the cup was over. Full Time 1-2 Oh dear Yogi, what have you done. Seriously cheesed off lots of fans tonight with the team selection and tactics. Hibs at least tried to play football while we looked like a Highland League outfit. We missed a tremendous chance to get into another final and it has been snubbed as the players struggled to find any momentum. Fair play to Hibs, they did what they had to and I'm afraid the buck stops with John Hughes for that performance. His player selection was absolutely horrendous and one wonders what he was thinking about. We were the home side and we needed to go out and take the game to Hibs. Playing without forward minded players was not the right thing to do. MotM. I don't think I could pick one player from that shambles. I suppose Owain Fon Wiliams did nothing wrong and he did make a couple of excellent saves so he is my choice. Those certainly not considered were Liam Hughes, Carl Tremarco, Danny Devine, Josh Meekings, Lewis Horner, Ross Draper or Nat Wedderburn. Richie Foran, Gary Warren and Iain Vigurs get pass marks for neatness. We looked slightly more dangerous with the introduction of Storey, Williams and Polworth, but the horse had bolted by then and like lots of games this season, it was too little too late. Next up is County away. I'm not sure quite so many fans have the stomach to take this one in given our recent demise. Date: 16/03/16 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 3207 Referee: Stephen Finnie Inverness CT: 1 Lineup: Fon Williams, Meekings, Warren, Devine, Tremarco (Polworth 73), Horner (Storey 62), Draper, Wedderburn (D.Williams 62), Vigurs, Foran, Hughes Subs (not used): Esson, R.Williams, Roberts Scorers: Vigurs (77) Booked: Wedderburn (60), Meekings (64) Sent Off: none Hibernian: 2 Lineup: Oxley (Virtanen 88), Gray, McGregor, Fontaine, Stevenson, Bartley, McGinn, Henderson, Keatings, Cummings, Stokes Subs (not used): El Alagui, Handling, Boyle, Gunnarsson, Dagnall, Thomson Scorers: Stokes (36, 41) Booked: Keatings (69), Gray (83), Oxley (87) Sent Off: none 0

Another Chance. For one of these sides, their season is about to get worse. Hibernian travel North for this Scottish Cup replay at Inverness, hot on the heels of their League Cup final defeat at the hands of our dear neighbours and Highland compatriots, Ross County. It's a 7:45pm kick off at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, the prize for the victor will be a semi-final meeting with Dundee United and a tremendous opportunity to reach the Scottish Cup Final against either Celtic or the Rangers. The first game at Easter Road ended in stalemate as Hibs failed to capitalise on their early superiority. Inverness were content to faff around and wait for something to happen and it did. Hibs scored early in the second half through James Keatings with a smart finish. This roused Inverness and Andrea Mutombo scored an equally impressive goal after great work by Lewis Horner who chased a ball to the bye line before sliding a ball into the box where Jordan Roberts touched it on to Mutombo. He was calmness personified as he rolled the ball under his studs before lashing it home with his left peg. Rumour has it that around eighteen passes were involved in that goal. Both sides will have players returning for this game. Inverness have been seriously understrength of late with a full team of potential starters missing. One bright note on Saturday was the return to action of Richie Foran who injected some urgency and leadership on the park in what was an otherwise luckless display as we went down to legendary timewasters Hamilton Accies. Gary Warren and Carl Tremarco missed that game through suspension, and eight or nine others were out injured. Hibs will have their talismanic top scorer Jason Cummings back and he can be a handful with his shoot on sight ability. Former St Mirren player John McGinn has been called up to the Scotland set up and will also be a menace and Anthony Stokes knows his way around. Kevin Thomson is a seasoned pro and James Keatings is energetic enough to cause problems. Liam Henderson is another that looked promising for Hibs along with Lewis Stevenson. All in, Hibs are not short of talent and this will be another tough test for both sides. Latest team news:- Inverness will be without Greg Tansey, the latest to suffer the archaic rule of two bookings and yer out. It'll be jumpers for goalposts and three corners a penalty next. However, to balance that, Carl Tremarco and Gary Warren should return after their misdemeanours saw them miss the Hamilton match. Richie Foran had twenty minutes against Accies and looked OK. Meekings has started training but there is no hint of a return for Raven, Vincent, Doran, Brill, Fisher or Mutombo. Alan Stubbs will have Jason Cummings back after he missed the first game through suspension. Dylan McGeouch is a major doubt after he limped off in the first game and he missed the League Cup final. tm4tj prediction:- We have had a rough time of it lately and a win here would be a tremendous confidence booster. Hibs have been poor of late as have we, but going down to Morton, Dumbarton and Queen of the South in successive Championship games is not the sign of a side deserving of a promotion shot despite their tremendous facilities and potentially massive fanbase. I said it before the first game that we would go through after a replay and I will stick by that prediction, but only if we up our energy levels and compete from the off. We will certainly need to monitor Jason Cummings closely, but it's what we do at the other end that is more important to the outcome of this tie. We have been less than impressive when trying to create anything and even less impressive getting shots on target. That has to change or we will be handing the Cup back to Hampden Park and then their will only be one Cup left in the Highlands.