tm4tj

Joshtice hash been sherved Well, that was the week that was. And what a week it turned out to be. Inverness reached their first Scottish Cup Final, but the shine was taken off that when Celtic wrote to the SFA looking for help. The compliance officer tried a new trick and cited Josh Meekings, offering a one match ban. You couldn't make this up as the spineless suits that run our game took Josh back to Hampden to face the music, despite most of the world including Neil Lennon, Ronnie Deila and FIFA backing Justice for Josh. Even Sean Connery backed him, and said after the victory for common sense, Joshtice hash been sherved. Yes, Josh Meekings is free to play in the Scottish Cup Final against Falkirk. I wonder if we can get Gary Warren off. Saturday has Aberdeen visiting the Highland capital as the top-six games kick off. It looks a foregone conclusion that the Dons will secure second place before the end of the season. In fact, they could even do it this weekend, such is the gap between Aberdeen and Inverness, although the gap between the quality on the park is not so obvious. The Dons are on a great sequence in the league. The last team to beat the Dons in a premiership game outside of Celtic was Hamilton Academicals back in the middle of October. Aberdeen are six games unbeaten since losing 4-0 to Celtic on the 4th of March. They have beaten Inverness in all three games this season, although they have all been keenly contested, only one goal separating the sides on each occasion. Our own form has suffered in the League as we put our efforts into securing a cup final spot. With that achieved, we can look ahead to maintaining our push for third place. No wins in our last seven games is not the best form heading into the final games of the season, but as we showed at Hampden, we can be a match for anyone when we put our mind to it. The previous week we also played Celtic and drew with them on League duty. A fete Aberdeen have been unable to do having lost all three games to the champions, whilst we have taken four points off them so far and ousted them from the cup. Dean Brill and Richie Foran are out injured and Ross Draper is suspended for breaching the yellow card threshold. He also misses the next league game as well. Barry Robson is suspended for the Dons. He had a hard neck appealing against his red card after he elbowed/assaulted Dundee United's Charlie Telfer. Russell Anderson is fit again but will be a bit rusty after his long lay off. tm4tj prediction:- If we can't be buoyed by last weeks performance then we might as well give up. It was a fantastic effort last week and I would expect that to give everybody at the club a massive lift along with the news that Meekings will be available to play in the final. Aberdeen have the greatest depth of squad outside of Celtic and that is the only difference between the teams. Edward Ofere proved he can be a handful for defenders as he led the line well and held the ball up to allow others into play. Marley Watkins is coming back to form and Ryan Christie is the hottest prospect in the land. Aberdeen fans will be smiling to themselves when they see the quality that Graeme Shinnie will bring to their squad. What an engine that boy has. Of course we need to keep old boys Adam Rooney and Jonny Hayes quiet and Shay Logan is adept at surging forward. All in all, I expect another close encounter, but this time I will be looking for nothing less that at least one point, albeit we are good enough to take all three.

Third time lucky Could it be third time lucky for Inverness as we head towards our third Scottish Cup semi-final against hot favourites Celtic, a club that has reached that stage of the competition fifty-four times and won the cup on 36 occasions. Our last two semi's ended in defeat to Dundee and Dunfermline (after a replay at Pittodrie). The competition has opened up this season and one Championship side will be in the final as Falkirk play Hibs in the other tie. Inverness' progress to the semi has been steady if unspectacular. We entered the competition at the 4th Round and drew 1-1 away to St Mirren. In the replay we trounced them 4-0 at home. Celtic hammerd Hearts 0-4 at Tynecastle to book their place in the next round. Another away tie in Glasgow saw us beat bogey side Partick Thistle 1-2 whilst Celtic disposed of Dundee in the City of Discovery by 0-2. In the quarter finals, we struggled past the Rangers conquerors Raith Rovers when a late Danny Devine header put us through, the first attempt to play the game ended in misery when the heavens opened and caused a late postponement to the scheduled tie on the Saturday. Celtic were paired with Dundee United and that sparked a series of ugly clashes between the sides with red cards galore coming over the next couple of weeks. A 1-1 draw at Tannadice was followed by a 4-0 drubbing at Parkhead, and all this amidst playing two league encounters. The sides were sick of the sight of each other but it was Celtic that prevailed in these games. And that brings us up to date as we got the short straw when the balls came out of the hat, Inverness V Celtic and Falkirk V Hibernian. Last weekend we served notice to Celtic that they will have a fight on their hands to reach their 55th final. Not a dirty game but referee Craig Thomson saw fit to dish out seven yellow cards as the sides drew 1-1 in the Highlands. Inverness have now gone four games without a win since beating Raith Rovers a month ago. Not counting that cup game, it would be eight games without a win, not great statistic leading up to this game for Inverness it has to be said. Celtic's stats are somewhat better. Only St Johnstone and Inter Milan have beaten the Hoops in their last 21 games, where 15 of those ended in wins for Celtic. Wow, imagine Inter Milan being mentioned in the same sentence as St Johnstone; the mind boggles! However, it's not statistics that win football matches, it's what happens on the park. Remember February 8th 2000? Have a look on the official Caley Thistle Facebook page and you can listen to some audio interviews from the players in the run up to the semi-final. https://www.facebook.com/ICTFC?fref=ts Celtic warmed up for the cup game by thrashing Kilmarnock 4-1 on Wednesday night. Killie had taken the lead against the run of play but Celtic stormed back and a Leigh Griffiths hat-trick was the highlight. He may be a player of great ridicule, but his scoring prowess is very impressive. Leigh also scored Celtic's goal in the recent draw at Inverness and it would be advisable to keep a tight rein on him. The Hoops came through this game unscathed, although they had the luxury of resting a couple of players with Gary Mackay-Stevens and Stuart Armstrong playing. They are inelligible for the cup game as they were cup-tied with Dundee United. Another hat-trick that's possible to achieve this Sunday would be the third time we have knocked Celtic out of the cup. It's certainly difficult, but it's not impossible. Our near neighbours and good friends did it a few seasons back when they went to Hampden and beat Celtic 2-0 to reach their first ever Scottish Cup final, a milestone that we hope will be attained on Sunday. Dean Brill will be pulling a sickie after that horrific knee injury that will see him out for months. He was due to have a knee operation in London on Thursday and all Inverness fans will wish him a speedy recovery. Maybe Richie Foran will be back before him, but I'm no holding my breath on that. Other than that it's a full squad for Yogi with Ryan Esson taking over once more at No 1. Young Cammy Mackay will be the reserve keeper and that will be a tremendous occasion for him. Celtic have Charlie Mulgrew nearing fitness but will be without the duo of cup-tied Arabs, Thurso's Gary Mackay-Steven and Invernesian Stuart Armstrong. Anthony Stokes is suspended after his red card in one of the United battles. Mikael Lustig is also out. It's immaterial really as Celtic have the luxury of calling on some quality players throughout their multi million pound squad. tm4tj prediction:- Oh dear, I was hoping you would not ask. I'm glad I got it wrong last weekend as Inverness dug deep and kept Celtic quiet for most of the match although the Glasgow giants probably held the upper hand. A good fighting spirit amongst the Highland squad saw them go toe to toe with Celtic in a fairly scrappy match, mainly attributed to the blustery conditions and the bobbly pitch. I would like to think Hampden will be in better nick and that would suit us as we could get back to our possession game which would unsettle Celtic. It's a big ask though and with Leigh Griffiths scoring for fun it wont be easy. Kris Commons is another striker on fire just now, let's hope he burns out before Sunday. I wonder if Yogi will set out his stall looking to contain and hit on the break. That could go ti pear shaped if the hoops score early, although we did get back on level terms pretty rapidly last week. However, it's not often Celtic falter two games in a row. Edward Ofere will be a big player for us on Sunday, but he will need some assistance. Marley has pace to burn and if he is switched on, he will be a threat to Celtic. Ryan Esson will be in goal after Dean's injury but I have no worries over that. It's a big game for our younger stars like Ryan Christie. I hope the game will not pass him by as he has so much to offer, and Aaron Doran could be a match winner if he gets on the park. My heart says Inverness, my head says Celtic, but I will go with my heart, although it might take extra time and penalties to do it. I caught up with a club legend today and this is what Bobby Mann had to say when I asked him if he enjoyed beating Celtic in the Scottish Cup. "Haha which time. When I signed for ICT they were definitely on the up and the club was going places. There was a very good mix of players, some youth with potential and a few experienced players. I really enjoyed myself at the club and met and still keep in touch with many of the squad I played with over the years all good lads and a real family club. Obviously people will always remember the first cup win versus Celtic. Steve encouraged us to play attacking football and as you know over the years there was plenty of goals in our games. He was no different that night wanting us to attack. Even at half time when leading 2-1 he was at us to get at them as there was more goals in it for us. Probably as a one off game that was the highlight, but overall my favourite was winning the 1st division title. John and Donald came in after Steve left and they just made us more street wise, more difficult to beat". When asked for his thoughts about the game Bobby said "Got to hope it goes well. The team are more experienced at that level now compared to us all them years ago". I'm not nostalgic................... but I couldn't resist it!

The Bhoy's are back in town The games are coming thick and fast now and hot on the heels of our midweek trip to Pittodrie comes the visit of treble chasing Celtic to the Highlands in the prequel to next Sunday's Scottish Cup semi-final. Both sides played in midweek with Inverness losing once more, this time to Aberdeen at Pittodrie. That's only one win in eight games for Inverness and no signs as to where our next points are coming from. Only Hamilton, Dundee United and St Mirren can boast worse runs than us. Celtic kept on track for the treble by beating Partick Thistle 2-0 and are well on their way to retaining the title. The enormity of the season appears to have caught up with Inverness as we can't buy a win just now. The only team we have beaten in our last eight games has been Championship bound St Mirren who have suddenly become the Premiership whipping boys. That's just seven points from a possible twenty-four and a measely nine goals scored, just over one per game. Playing without a recognised striker does not help the cause, but such is the plight of those that can't afford to buy their way out of trouble. Celtic come North on the back of five straight wins without conceding, and the League Cup already in the trophy cabinet at Parkhead. The league table says it all really. 63 goals scored and only 14 against from 30 games has the Bhoys in a league of their own. They can be beaten though and St Johnstone did just that six weeks ago, but it took a stunning goal from Danny Swanson to do that. The two previous games this season show a win apiece, but we are now in reverse gear while Celtic are at full throttle. Eoghann O'Connell helped us out with an own goal back in August and a John Guidetti strike reversed the scoreline at the beginning of November. August seems like a long time ago now, and it would take a brave man to bet against Celtic slipping up, and given our recent form then it could be a tough week to be an Inverness fan. Ronny Deila has been singing the praises of the Caley Jags boss this season. However, as the games keep coming, our sparkling start to the campaign has been overtaken by some rather tentative football. Given our resources, it's hardly surprising, and without the option of a Billy Mckay, the wheels seem to have come off. How is the bench at Wigan by the way? Carl Tremarco missed the Pittodrie trip with an arm injury and Richie Foran is still being rebuilt. Dean Brill has been on the bench recently and many would like to see him start, however Esson is not the real problem here. Maybe Yogi is keeping his attacking options for the cup game; I wish! Ronny Deila has a wealth of talent to choose from, therefore any missing players will not impact on his side unfortunately. Scott Brown could return after suspension and Gary Mackay-Steven and Stuart Armstrong are available for league duty, but will miss next weeks cup game. Charlie Mulgrew and Mikael Lustig remain sidelined. tm4tj prediction:- It pains me to say it, but I can't see past a convincing win for the visitors. Like them or not, but they are head and shoulders above the rest of the division and get stronger as the season progresses when all around them stumble towards the summer break. Our lack of goals is getting frustrating and given the way Hughes sets the team out I can't see that changing this season now. It may seem to be a tad pessimistic, but I am only going by recent results and they are not showing us in a good light. A goal for us would be a bonus, but can we stop the green machine in full flow? I'm not holding my breath on this one.