tm4tj

Time to Relax Dundee United are the visitors on Saturday with them still searching for the points that could lead to a European slot should Inverness win the Scottish Cup. Inverness can now approach this game under less pressure than previous weeks with qualification for Europe already assured and a place in the Cup final achieved. It's our third game in a row against Dundee teams and the last two were successful with victory over United eleven days ago and Dundee last weekend. Neither of these games were easy but it broke a rotten sequence of results for Inverness in the league and resulted in the club qualifying for Europe after 21 years in existence but almost 250 years of history. Our last game saw Edward Ofere score his fifth goal in six games and with Ryan Esson in superb form Inverness kept a blank sheet to secure that elusive place in history. Cue jubilation in the ranks and relief all round. What a season for Yogi and the boys and a great season if you are an ICT fan. Whilst Inverness were beating Dundee, United were drawing with Euro rivals St Johnstone at Perth and that leads us into this weekends games leaving the Tayside rivals trying to claim fourth in the league. United's quest might become more apparent after Friday night when St Johnstone take on Champions Celtic. United have only two wins in their last sixteen games which has co-incided with the departure of their young stars to Celtic. Inverness have won two of this seasons three meetings with the other one drawn. With Inverness relaxing, Yogi could rest one or two ahead of the Cup final and who could blame him. Falkirk already have that luxury, their season finished a couple of weeks ago, but we had to find that Euro push to secure the points. Our squad is still wafer thin and it has been a tough season. Thankfully injuries have been at a premium and that has helped enormously although suspensions rear their ugly heads at inoppertune moments. Nigerian striker Edward Ofere has hinted that he would like to further his career at Inverness and his agent will have to negotiate for him to remain in the Highland capital. In the meantime though, he is scoring for fun and is endearing himself to the Caley Jags fans. Inverness can call on a similar squad to last week at Dens Park although David Raven has reportedly broken through the yellow card threshold and will miss the game. That ommission should see Cup Final centre back Danny Devine continue at the heart of the defence with Josh Meekings continuing at right back. We have midfield options with Ross, Doran and Vincent looking to break into the final squad. Dundee United's Callum Morris has suffered a recurrence of a knee injury and will miss out. Ryan McGowan, Ryan Dow, Paul Paton and Mario Bilate had already been ruled out for the rest for the season. United should otherwise have an unchanged squad. tm4tj prediction:- At last a game where it doesn't really matter if we win lose or draw, although it would be nice to send the guys off to Hampden with a win. But hey ho, I'm sure Yogi will be looking for full committment from whoever he chooses to play tomorrow. Dundee United have more cause to battle for everything with the possibility of a European place still up for grabs and I would expect nothing less than a robust challenge on the park. That said, I will be backing Inverness for a minimum of one point and hopefully all three.

Passports on standby 　 　 Inverness travel to the City of Discovery on Saturday to discover if they can seal that elusive European spot prior to the Scottish Cup final. A win over Dundee would confirm Inverness as third in the country and ensure us of playing in the Europa League next season. There are other permutations of course but that is the favoured one. A deserved win over Dundee United in midweek has seen Inverness open up a seven point gap over challengers United and Tayside neighbours St Johnstone, who meet on Saturday, with only three games remaining. For Inverness, it's a winner takes all situation. The heavens opened on Tuesday night ahead of our re-arranged game against the Arabs and the pitch condition aided United to an early goal when Danny Devine's passback stuck in a puddle. Ryan Esson could only push the ball forward to around forty yards under challenge and Robbie Muirhead clipped the ball into the unguarded net thereafter. But Inverness went in front before the break and never looked back although a late United flurry produced some arse clenching moments. Eddie Ofere and Danny Williams with a spectacular volley sealed the points as we took a massive step to creating our own bit of history. Dundee played Celtic on the Friday night and were scalped, or should that be skelped by the champions. 5-0 was the final score as the Dark Blues were routed. Paul Hartley explained that Dundee were "at their worst" after the 0-2 defeat by St Johnstone. I shudder to think what he thought of the demolition at Parkhead. Unfortunately, Inverness have never really come to terms with playing at Dens Park and historical evidence reveals that we tend to struggle somewhat to get a result there. In saying that, in recent years we have fared much better, winning three of our last four visits to Dens Park. That included a League Cup win last season. This season our only win over the Dark Blues came at Dens Park, Ryan Christie scoring a late winner in a 2-1 victory. The other two games in the Highlands ended all square. Dundee scraped into the top-six on the last day of open games but they look like ending the season in sixth place. At the moment they sit fifteen points behind Inverness. We did get the monkey off our back with that win over United, our first league win at the tenth time of asking, but an important one at that. Dundee have lost their last four games, twice to St Johnstone and twice to Celtic. One word of warning however. They have scored only three goals less than us. Our defence though is more adept at keeping other teams out it seems and that is why we are third and they are sixth. Inverness have the same guys out long term but David Raven can return after suspension to give Yogi a selection choice after Devine and Meekings played well in midweek. Meekings took over Raven's right back slot and looked ever so comfortable there. Devine will also need game time ahead of the cup final when Gary Warren will be suspended. Paul Hartley may have to use Kyle Letheren in goals with Scott Bain struggling with a knee injury. Naughty boy Paul McGowan and Greg Stewart will return to the squad. They missed the thrashing at Parkhead, they'll be glad of that. Kevin McBride will not be in contention for a place in the squad as he has left the club by mutual consent. He should have used a taxi, meh. tm4tj prediction:- Well, we don't do anything the easy way and I can't see it being any different tomorrow. Dundee will fancy their chances against us and will be stronger than they were against Celtic with McGowan and Stewart returning. Eddie Ofere is endearing himself to the Inverness fans with his ability to score and Danny Williams is packing quite a punch in that left peg of his. If our passing game holds up then we could clinch the Euro slot tomorrow, if not then it will depend on the result in the Tayside derby, or we might need to rely on plan B, C, or D to see it through. I'm optimistic though after breaking our bad run of results and will be looking for a win. Remember there's more information at the Official Facebok page right here https://www.facebook.com/ICTFC?fref=ts

Yogi's joy It's getting rather tight now in the race for third place as St Johnstone and Dundee United close in on Inverness who are doing their best to let someone else take the European place for finishing third in the league. The games are coming thick and fast now and only three days after drawing at Perth, Inverness have another must not lose game to contend with as Dundee United come North. The Arabs looked to be out of the race but as Inverness falter in the home straight, United and St Johnstone lurk just four points behind us with only three games remaining after this postponed game gets played. Things are getting critical for Inverness now as there appears to be no end to the dismal run without a win. In fact it is getting very difficult to see where we can pick up points before the end of the season. Could it be that Yogi is putting all his eggs in one basket and looking to invade Europe on the back of a Scottish Cup win? That's a dangerous game to play, and given our tremendous start to the campaign, the last couple of months have been disappointing to say the least. Four games left. Two home games against United and away to Dundee before completing the season at Parkhead. Celtic will be in no mood to let us spoil their championship parade and Dens Park is historically a tough venue for us. That leaves the two games against United as the ones where we will have the best opportunity to clinch third place, although I'm sure Dundee United will believe they can overtake us. Next Saturday could prove to be the day when things swing our way if we can overcome Dundee. That same day there will be a crucial Tayside derby in Perth as St Johnstone take on Dundee United. It can be done, but we don't do anything the easy way. Where's the fun in that. There was some good news for Inverness fans as John Hughes picked up the PFA Manager of the Year award on Sunday night. Yogi was not everybody's favourite when he took the reins after Terry Butcher left, but he has transformed our style of play and has had an amazing season, guiding Inverness into our first ever Scottish Cup final and hopefully our highest ever league finish, although that has still to be finalised. Rumour has it that Celtic will be writing a letter to the SFA to ask for some clarification over the decision to award Yogi the title. Inverness have Ross Draper back after suspension, but David Raven sits this one out after his sending off at Perth. That should open up the back line for Danny Devine to step in, or the possibility of Carl Tremarco coming back with Shinnie swapping flanks. Richie Foran and Dean Brill are long term casualties. United will be without the injured trio Paul Paton, Ryan Dow and Mario Bilate. Like Foran and Brill, these three will miss the rest of the season. tm4tj prediction. Well, we can't buy a win just now and with United sensing our fear of finishing third it might be prudent to ensure we don't lose rather than try to win it and fail. Could be that Yogi is resting one or two ahead of the cup final, but I'm sure the local fans would like to see us confirm third place sooner rather than later. I will not be too downhearted with a draw considering what's at stake. A defeat will be a disaster and let United and St Johnstone right back into the mix. Score draw for me to keep United at bay.

The Race for Third 　 　 Thoughts of the Scottish Cup final will be on the back burner this weekend as Inverness travel to Perth to take on fast finishers St Johnstone who have clawed their way into the race for third place after overtaking Dundee United last weekend. The Perth side are once more making a late run for the finishing line and are now within four points of stuttering Inverness, having beaten the Dark Blues in last weeks Tayside derby. It is now nine games since Inverness last won a league game, the worst stat in the Premiership. That win was against Championship bound St Mirren. We have only won four points out of a possible twenty-four over the last eight games. St Johnstone have taken fourteen points over the same period which has included four wins, the pick of the bunch being that 1-0 win at Parkhead. It's not the first time we have allowed St Johnstone back into the frame right at the end of the season. They pipped us at the post two years ago as we went down in Dingwall on the last day of the season and the Perth men made a strong run on the blind side, winning at Motherwell to grab the last available Euro slot. Last week, Inverness played well enough but without the clinical finishing, it was always going to be a difficult task to take all three points from a miserly resolute Aberdeen. In the end we paid for some poor attempts at scoring, especially Watkins and Ross and suffered at set pieces. Lady luck deserted us and a Raven own goal got Aberdeen back in the game after a supine Edward Ofere scooped home the opener. McGinn knocked in the second following a corner but we lacked the cutting edge to get back on level terms. Not for the want of trying, and we can't fault the guys, especially after the previous weeks exertions. St Johnstone leap frogged Dundee United after beating their neighbours Dundee 2-0 at Dens Park. Second half goals from Swanson and Wotherspoon were enough to edge them past ten man Dundee, their second win over them in a fortnight. John Hughes has been nominated for Manager of the Year after guiding Inverness to their first ever Scottish Cup final and heading for our highest league finish, all that after persevering with the possession play that got us off to a flier at the start of the season. Tough competition for Yogi though with Championship winners gaffer Robbie Neilson also in the frame, alongside Derek MacInnes and Ronny Deila. All worthy winners in their own right. Good luck with that. After his cup heroics, David Raven has given Inverness fans more reason to cheer by extending his contract for a further year, that's adding to Greg Tansey who had already signed on for another two years. Ins and outs for this week Inverness will be without Richie Foran and Dean Brill for the rest of the season and Ross Draper misses out as he serves the second of his two match suspension St Johnstone can call upon the services of Steven Anderson and Simon Lappin as both are now free of suspension. Brian Easton could miss out after his injury against Dundee. tm4tj prediction:- We do, of course, have that minor distraction of the Cup Final to think about, but securing our highest finish in the top flight should be enough motivation to drive us onwards. However, we have been here before and blown it. Difficult to put the Cup game completely out of the mind and that could be enough for St Johnstone to narrow the gap to one point, but I will be looking for at least one point from this game. Remember, the official ICT Facebook site has more video and audio right here https://www.facebook.com/ICTFC?fref=ts