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On the Road Again As Willie Nelson once said: "We are on the road again" to arguably the toughest test of the season so far as we make the long trek to Dumfries to play Queen of the South, one of the clubs who will fancy their chances at making the play-offs at the very least. Often a difficult venue to try and extricate points from, Palmerston will host the game this Saturday with a 3:00pm kick off. Our last visit last season saw Admin Brooks take his anger out on us as we were pumped 4-1. I believe we are a different beast this season though and barring injuries we should have enough in the locker to come away with something as long as we stay focussed on the job in hand. If you are needing cheered up, there's a comedy night at the stadium the night before the game at Dumfries. See details below ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Bus/Info Car Park for Sale: Sold KDM Trophy v DundeeB Hospitality v East Fife Comedy Night (This Friday) ⬇️ See Below ⬇️ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tickets available here It was the first outing of the new away strip last weekend and it was a successful outcome as thankfully the curse of Manager of the Month failed to materialise. LEAGUE 1 RESULTS Kelty 0-3 ICTFC ICTFC 2-0 P'Head ICTFC 1-2 Stenny Mont 0-2 ICTFC ICTFC 1-0 Alloa Cove R 0-1 ICTFC We came away with a hard fought 1-0 win over Cove Rangers at Balmoral Stadium thanks to a deflected second half strike from Calum MacLeod. That win pushed the Caley Jags up to second in the table behind the only team to beat us in the league, Stenhousemuir. Despite picking up the three points, if I can nit-pick somewhat, we disappointed on our TV debut with a less than flattering but hard grafted display. Defensively we dealt reasonably well with Cove and racked up our fifth clean sheet, which has not gone unnoticed. The part that was less aesthetically pleasing was our inability to carve out as many clear opportunities as we should have. I know, I know, it's nit-picking of the highest order, but with the quality of our options on and off the park I was expecting more. Maybe it was the fake grass or the lack of atmosphere amongst the portacabins, but we looked lacklustre from early on. Could do with Alfie Bavidge getting his shooting boots on. Are we expecting too much of him after his explosive entry last season. I'm sure it will come, let's hope it starts on Saturday at Palmerston. Calum MacLeod has rightly been getting the recognition he deserves after taking stick in his opening adventures at right back. Good wing back displays from him recently and always willing to add to the attack on occasion. Great to see him get his reward with the winner at Cove. As they say, "you've got to be in it to win it" and although there was a deflection, he backed himself to get on the end of Spoony's lay off and three points it was. Scott Kellacher has the usual script: "One or two struggling" So basically, that tells us nothing, therefore make your own team up for this one. Queens went down last weekend at East Fife with this squad. Reece Lyon headed them level just before the interval but Nathan Austin hit a second half winner just after the restart. LEAGUE 1 RESULTS Cove R 0-2 Queens Queens 1-4 Accies Queens 4-0 Peterhead Stenny 0-0 Queens Queens 2-1 Kelty East Fife 2-1 Queens Kai Kennedy is still at Palmerston but Adam Brooks is now at Crusaders in Northern Ireland. Kurtis Guthrie and Reece Lyon have three League1 goals and Kai Kennedy has scored twice. Peter Murphy was not a happy bunny after losing at East Fife hinting that they (QotS) deserved nothing from this game and simply did not turn up. I take it that that means they will have had their arses kicked and will be up for it this weekend Home advantage was an indicator last season with both sides taking full points in their home games. The last meeting at the end of March last season saw Adam Brooks hit a second half brace after we had the temerity to go ahead midway through the first half. We ended up getting thrashed 4-1 Meh! Saturday, March 29th, 2025, 3:00 PM at Palmerston Park, Dumfries. Attendance: 1,006 It was a miserable afternoon down South as the game kicked off and after the posturing was over, Ben Brannan put the first effort of the afternoon wide in the tenth minute. Alfie Stewart went even closer from distance. It had been a good opening twenty minutes from the visitors and after Keith Bray had a header saved Alfie Stewart scored into the bottom corner from inside the box. Perfect start from the Caley Jags but we were quickly pulled level when Jack Hannah headed high into the net from a Kai Kennedy ball into the box. That was Hannah's first goal for QotS. Bray had one chalked off for offside as Inverness responded to that setback but it was the hosts who were starting to look more threatening as half-time approached and Harry Cochrane went close after he latched onto a cross from the left but shot inches wide. HALF TIME: 1-1 Shortly after the break Connal Ewan blocked a shot from Kennedy as the hosts went on the front foot. Cochrane went close again and a minute later Jordan Allan put Queens in front, slotting into the bottom corner after an assist from Admin Brooks. Alfie Stewart tried his luck from outside the box but his namesake in goal saved easily. Musa Dibaga saved from Taylor Charters after a quick counter attack with Kennedy providing the opportunity. With around twenty minutes left Admin Brooks stuck the knife in lashing home from a tight angle into the top corner. Game over, but not the scoring. Kennedy was chief tormentor winning a free kick from which Luissint went close to a fourth but for Dibaga keeping the ball out. It was a bit of backs to the wall in the final moments but Admin Brooks finished his vendetta against us with a fourth in the last minute, smashing in a powerful strike to end our day of pain in the rain. FULL TIME: 4-1 Jack Hannah scored the equaliser five minutes after Alfie Stewart had opened the scoring for the visitors. Queens eventually routed the Caley Jags 4-1 with further goals from Jordan Allan and a brace from Admin Books. He really has it in for us and was a pain in the rain. Table ahead of Saturdays fixtures Formation: Queen of the South FC was formed in March 1919 from three existing Dumfries and Maxwelltown teams: Arrol-Johnston Car Company, Dumfries FC, and the 5th Kings Own Scottish Borderers. Another club, Dumfries Amateurs, said stuff that for a game of soldiers and declined the invitation to join and the other clubs agreed to the merger. Dumfries Amateurs dissolved in November 1920. National League Competitions Division 2 – Champions 1950–51, 2001–02, 2012–13; Runners-up 1932–33, 1961–62, 1974–75, 1980–81, 1985–86 National Cup Competitions Challenge Cup – Winners 2002–03, 2012–13; Runners-up 1997–98, 2010–11 Scottish Qualifying Cup – Winners 1923–24 Scottish Cup – Runners-up 2007–08 Here's the League1 fixtures for this weekend Some tasty fixtures that will affect the look of the table come 5:00pm on Saturday. It would of course be a big ask for all the games to align nicely again this weekend. Let's not forget that Alloa and Kelty have a catch-up game to play and that goes ahead on October 7th @ 19:45. With that in mind a Cove win this weekend would be much appreciated as would a win for Kelty. That said we need to do the business ourselves. Could Peterhead also do us a favour and take something away from Stenhousemuir. Turning out to be a competitive League with every team capable of getting a result on the day. Back home next week after a fortnight on the road with East Fife up North. Looking forward to it already. E FIFE HOSPITALITY EVENT

Three Points on the Road The Caley Jags were involved in the final game of the day in League1 which was being screened live on BBC Alba at 17:30. This was Cove's 200th game in the Leagues since they came into the SPFL set-up. Our brand spanking new pink kit got it's first airing today. Declan Glass and Michael Doyle being out was obviously a smokescreen as they both start today but Blair Yule and Aaron Darge are still missing. The Caley Jags started with Liam Sole, Alfie Bavidge and Billy Mckay up front with Ross Millen, Paul Allan and Adam MacKinnon on the bench. Also plenty of attacking options on standby. With most early results favourable for the Caley Jags, the opportunity was there to tuck in behind new leaders Stenhousemuir with Alloa and Queen of the south both losing. A pretty grim first half of few opportunities with Bavidge making a hash of the best opportunity, skying a cross over the bar from ten yards. Calum MacLeod scored the only goal in a tense second half with a deflected strike and that was enough for the Caley Jags to move up to second place. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A bit of a cagey opening to the game with Cove content to give us the ball and watch us fail to make much headway. Alfie Stewart was the first to have a proper go after winning the ball in midfield and driving forward before firing a powerful left footer a yard wide. Although we dominated the early possession we only had a shot from Bavidge thereafter that was easily plucked out of the air by Robbie Mutch. Glass only lasted seventeen minutes before hobbling off to be replaced by Mylchreest. Alfie Bavidge missed a great opportunity minutes later when he blazed a low Calum MacLeod cross high over the bar when he really should have been making the keeper work. Cove had their closest effort from a set piece when a Jackson Mylchreest glancing header went a few feet wide with keeper Munro scrambling across his line to cover. To be honest the rest of the half was poor, lacking in quality and urgency and there really was nothing to see here. HALF TIME: 0-0 Joe Chalmers curled an effort closer than the keeper anticipated methinks eight minutes after the restart. Either way, it was still wide with Cove also looking to be more of a threat this half already. Cove were unfortunate not to benefit from a ball ricocheting around inside our box following a corner. On the hour the changes came with the introduction of Zimba and Longstaff for Bavidge and Mckay who had been increasingly ineffective. The deadlock was broken when a great ball in by MacIntyre was fed out by Wotherspoon for Calum MacLeod to rifle a shot goalwards. It took a deflection off a defenders boot and ended up high into the net. Paul Allan replaced Wotherspoon for the final fifteen. Plenty of graft over the final minutes but not enough guile. Sole turned and shot with five minutes remaining but it was an easy gather by the keeper. Cove went up the other end and Ross Munro had to look lively to deny Lewis O'Donnell. Either side of the keeper and he might have been in trouble, fortunately it was straight down his throat. It all ended a bit frantic and we all held our breath when Danny Devine and David Eguaibor clashed in the box. The referee kept us all waiting before he eventually booked the big Cove striker. FULL TIME: 0-1 Three in a row for the Caley Jags. Once more, we seemed to make hard work of a simple task, but the three points stuck with us and with other results falling kindly we now sit second in the table. We did just enough to get the win but the performance was disappointing. Maybe we were lulling the rest of League1 into a false sense of security. Another difficult away game next week at a ground that we often struggle to take points away from. It's a visit to Palmerston to face Queen of the South who will be smarting after losing out to East Fife earlier today. Great to see Liam Sole engaging with the fans as he left the field to be substituted. Not his best day on the park, but he knows how to keep the fans happy. Calum MacLeod was TV MotM. 🏆 Pos Team Pld Gd Pts 1 Stenny 6 2 11 2 ICTFC 6 8 10 3 QueenS 6 3 10 4 E Fife 6 -1 10 5 Alloa 5 1 9 6 Acccies 6 3 8 7 Head 6 -2 7 8 Mo 6 -3 7 9 Kelty 5 -5 3 10 Cove 6 -6 2 Date: 13/09/2025 Venue: Balmoral Stadium, Cove Attendance: 0456 Referee: Alastair Grieve Cove Rangers: 0 Manager: Paul Hartley Lineup: Mutch, Bisland, Strachan, J Eguaibor, Doyle, Harrington, Glass (Mylchreest 17), D Eguaibor, O'Donnell, Megginson, Parker Subs (not used): Demus; Ochmanski, Donaldson, Milnes Scorers: none Booked: Mylchreest (22), Megginson (45), Parker (86), D Eguaibor (90+6) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 1 Manager: Scott Kellacher Lineup: Munro; MacLeod, Devine, Savage, MacIntyre, Sole (MacKinnon 90+3), Chalmers, Wotherspoon (Allan 75), Stewart, Bavidge (Longstaff 61), Mckay (Zimba 61) Subs (not used): Ross; Millen, Strachan, Robertson, Alonge Scorers: MacLeod (66) Booked: Stewart (80), Sole (90+5) Sent Off: none

Stinky Fish & hard stone Saturday in the Pink It's off to the bygone land of granite quarries and stinky fish meal factories this weekend as the Caley Jags head for Balmoral Park to tackle Cove Rangers on Matchday Six with League1 business high on the agenda. This will be Cove's 200th League game since gaining promotion to the SPFL. Inverness have made a solid start to the campaign and got themselves into positive figures within two weeks and now sit within the mid table group. On the other hand, Cove have made an inauspicious start with just two points from five games and sit at the bottom. Mind you, with David Eguaibor and his Bro on board adding to the experience of the evergreen Mitch Megginson, they will always pose a threat. However, we have our own threat in the form of Liam Sole. The fleet footed twinkle toed forward is exciting the fans and we can expect the unexpected from the in form player. Don't forget it's a 17:30 kick-off and if you can't make the game, it's live on BBC Alba. There's a lot to get through in this preview so click on the link to take you to the full preview on Caley Thistle Online ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Bus/Info Caley Jags in the Pink 📺 Game on BBC Alba 5:30pm 📺 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Curses Caution Scotty is the top dog>>> Congratulations to our Head Coach Scott Kellacher who has been named the Glen’s Vodka William Hill League 1 Manager of the Month for August 2025 In August, Caley Thistle secured league wins against Kelty Hearts, Peterhead, Montrose and Alloa Athletic while also getting wins in the KDM Evolution Trophy against Elgin City and Aberdeen B. Kellacher said: “It’s always nice to get an award but this isn’t just for me, it’s for everyone at the club. I’ve got a great staff, really good players and everyone has pulled their weight. Everyone works ever so hard, and this award recognises all our efforts.” And the laundry award for clean sheets goes to>>> Goalkeeper Ross Munro has been named the SPFL William Hill League 1 Player of the Month for August 2025. Munro, 25 years-old, kept clean sheets in our league wins against Kelty Hearts, Peterhead, Montrose and Alloa Athletic. Upon receiving the award, Ross Munro said: “It’s nice to get recognised, but this is a collective award. I wouldn’t have got this award without all in the boys in the squad, the management and the staff.” This is our Big Boys Squad for League1 business and the team we had out against the Wasps two weeks ago. The Wasps came North on Ladies day but it was the Caley Jags that took the three points with a deflected Liam Sole strike just enough to swat away the Wasps. We were somewhat wasteful throughout the game and by the end of the match had to rely on keeper Ross Munro to keep our noses just in front. Last weekend we were just as wasteful in the KDM Trophy and had Liam Sole to thank for saving our blushes with a 94th minute corner kick that ended up in the net after Binos keeper Robert Duffy had denied us with a series of wonderful saves during the ninety minutes. Ross Cuningham opened the scoring for the visitors with a stunning strike before Chanka Zimba levelled before the interval. We made heavy weather of seeing off the Binos and the sending off of Stewart Murdoch led to the cavalry charges that eventually paid off with the Sole goal deep into time added on. Ross Millen remained on the bench against Stirling Albion, so that might mean he is a real thing and he could be included this week again. Paul Allan missed out last week but is back in contention and Adam MacKinnon has been getting more game time recently as he gets up to speed. Scott Kellacher has plenty of attacking options available to him despite losing Robbie Thompson and Ben Gardiner who have both been loaned out to Brora Rangers until January. Robbie has bagged three goals in the two games he has played for the Cattachs so far with Ben also scoring in the last one in midweek. Caley Jags will be in the Pink on Saturday and that should brighten up the TV screens>>> LINK TO ICTFC The kit will be worn by the team for the first time tomorrow in our William Hill League 1 match against Cove Rangers, which is a 5.30pm kick-off live on BBC Alba. The club will also have a pop-up shop in Tesco Extra Inverness, Eastfield Way for the in-service days on Monday 15th and Tuesday 16th September from 10am until 4pm on both days, with both our new 2025/26 Home and Away kits on sale. Ticket's HereAdult: £15, Concession: £9, Youth (12-17): £6, Under 12s: Free ICT Supporters Travel Club 🚍Travel Club Bus leaves Sarens PSG Stadium at 1pm???. £20 a seat. Book through the Travel Club’s Facebook Or call 07462 218717 Cove drew 0-0 with Hamilton Accies in their last League1 encounter to gain just their second point this season. Their other point came in a 3-3 draw with Montrose a couple of weeks ago. Note that they only had two subs on the bench v Accies, one of which was keeper Bálint Demus. Striker David Eguaibor appears to be a handful for defences having scored all four of Coves League1 goals including a hat-trick in a dramatic encounter against Montrose. He also scored the only goal of the game against Dundee B recently. They lost 1-0 to Elgin City in the KDM Trophy game on Saturday. Blair Yule was against Peterhead and missed the game against Accies but should be back for this one. Cove have a few injuries to contend with and Arron Darge and Declan Glass out and defender Michael Doyle is a doubt. Mitch Megginson: Mitch’s tally of eighty-six league goals represents just over a quarter of the total Cove have scored during their time in Leagues One, Two, and the Championship, and he has been top marksman in four of their six campaigns to date. Always a danger and still the man that needs shackled. Tale of the Tape League1: Cove 0-2 QotS - Match 1 Muir 1-0 Cove - Match 2 Cove 3-3 Mo - Match 3 Heid 3-1 Cove - Match 4 Ham 0-0 Cove - Match 5 KDM Trophy Cove 1-1 Spartans (Darge ⚽) Cove 1-0 Dundee B Elgin 1-0 Cove From BBC Sport In: Robbie Mutch, (GK Ayr Utd); David Eguaibor, forward (Cobh Ramblers); Justin Eguaibor, defender (Cobh Ramblers); Liam Parker, defender (St Johnstone, loan to perm); Layton Bisland, defender (Arbroath); Mackenzie Strachan, midfielder (Annan). Loan in: Lewis O'Donnell, midfielder (Arabs); Jackson Mylchreest, forward (St Johnstone). Out: Nick Suman, goalkeeper (Aberdeen); Will Gillingham, defender (Port Melbourne); Myles Gaffney, forward (Annan); Finlay Murray, defender (Formartine); Connor Scully, midfielder. Loan ended: Adam Emslie, midfielder (Aberdeen); Dylan Lobban, midfielder (Aberdeen); Findlay Marshall, midfielder (Aberdeen); Liam Parker, defender (St Johnstone). League1 Table Pos Team Pld Gd Pts 1 Queens 5 4 10 2 Alloa 4 2 9 3 Stenny 5 1 8 4 ICTFC 5 7 7 5 Accies 5 3 7 6 E Fife 5 -2 7 7 Peter 5 -2 6 8 Mo 5 -4 4 9 Kelty 4 -4 3 10 Cove 5 -5 2 Some dates for your diary over the next few months. First up is the comedy night next Friday night and it's not at the next home game at the Global Energy Stadium in Dingwall. Maybe not as funny, but it will be held in the Kingsmills Lounge at the Caledonian Sarens PSG Stadium. It's fantastic to see so much now happening at the club since Alan Salvage came to the rescue and at a meeting on Friday Mr Savage put an end to our time in administration and banished our years of anguish and floundering in the doldrums in the bin. Alan Savage confirmed he has 100% control of the club and that the club is officially out of administration. Statue incoming! More to come on this story as the full details of the press conference will be released in due course. Suffice to say it's great news for the club. He reiterated plans to turn part of the car park into a music venue, replacing the Ironworks, but he believes that could also double up as a conference centre and multiple five-a-side football pitches. He also has plans to install a petrol station, or an electric vehicle charging station, on the ground around the club, and is in discussions with Highland Council regarding that. Before any of those plans come to fruition though, Savage will have to appoint a board of directors. He confirmed that Supporters’ Trust chair George Moodie will have a seat at the table, while it was confirmed on Companies’ House that Savage’s wife, Dawn, has been appointed too. Cove, near Aberdeen, is famous for its history as a fishing village and the local quarrying of hard, export-grade granite, and for the infamous Aberdeen Fish Meal Factory, known as "the stinker". The "Stinker": From 1894 to 1937, the Aberdeen Fish Meal Factory operated in the area, producing manure and earning the infamous nickname "the stinker" due to its processing smell. The local entertainer Harry Gordon even made a famous parody about it, "A Song of Cove". It's said that smell still lingers to this very day and that's where the saying "he's had a right stinker the day min" came from...Right eenufff!

Late Sole Goal Sinks Binos The third set of fixtures in the KDM Trophy brought Stirling Albion North to face Inverness at the Caledonian SarensPSG Stadium. The hosts had won their previous two Challenge Cup fixtures and the Binos have one win and one defeat. Inverness went with a strong squad, both on the bench and on the park with plenty of attacking options and Ross Millen appeared on the bench. Stirling once again put Robert Duffy between the sticks with their danger expected to come from Ross Cunningham and Russell MacLean. And it was Cunningham that opened the scoring after half an hour with a superb strike before Zimba levelled four minutes later in an open first forty-five. Less action after the break until Stewart Murdoch was red carded for clattering Oscar MacIntyre. Liam Sole waited until the 94th minute before grabbing the winner to make it three from three for Inverness. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After a minutes applause for Jimmy Bone the match got underway and Ross Cunningham was first to make a keeper work with a shot from just outside the box, Ross Munro saving low down. A second effort from Cunningham slipped wide and at the other end Danny Devine was blocked at close range and Alfie Bavidge shot wide. It had been a bright opening fifteen by both sides. Adam Brown's free kick was comfortably saved by Munro and there was no takers for Liam Sole's low cross into the box to the relief of the Binos defence. Joe Chalmers was denied by Duffy and Alfie Bavidge was unlucky not to open the scoring after great play by Sole down the left with Chanka Zimba's follow up looking like it came off the bar. Just after the half hour Cunningham's willingness to have a go paid off as he cut inside after beating two defenders before firing high into the net from twenty plus yards for a tremendous goal for the Binos. That lead was short lived when Zimba scored from close range four minutes later, who else but Liam Sole with the assist. Zimba was blocked from adding a second near to the interval from close range and on the interval Mckay headed over before also shooting wide. HALF TIME: 1-1 Billy Mckay continued where he left the first half with Duffy saving at the expense of a corner. Substitutions littered the final third of the game with play becoming disjointed. Plenty huff and puff in the second half but we failed to blow the house down. With fifteen minutes left the Binos were reduced to ten men when Stewart Murdoch was sent off for a late challenge on Oscar MacIntyre. We laid siege on the valiant defenders of the Albion thereafter and Mckay, Sole, Longstaff and MacLeod were all thwarted. Mitchell Robertson had a couple of go's late in the game as we tried to snatch a win from the jaws of a draw. Aaaaand finally, after sixteen corners, we eventually score from one. Liam Sole was yer man as he won the match in the 94th minute. Talk about leaving it late. Pic from CaleyJags.com FULL TIME: 2-1 More detail to follow Sole Goal... No Listen... Date: 05/09/2025 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 0543 Referee: Graham Grainger Inverness CT: 2 Manager: Scott Kellacher Lineup: Munro; MacLeod, Devine, Robertson, MacIntyre, Sole, Chalmers (Alonge 84), Wotherspoon, Bavidge (Longstaff 63), B McKay, Zimba (MacKinnon 72) Subs (not used): Ross; Millen, Kerr, Strachan, Savage, R Thompson Scorers: Zimba (35), Sole (90+4) Booked: Wotherspoon (52) Sent Off: none Stirling Albion: 1 Manager: Alan Maybury Lineup: Duffy; McGeachie, Murdoch, Hamilton (McNab 72), C Thomson (Banner 72), Carse, Cunningham, Brown, Ewen (Featherstone 72), McLean (Harkness 59), Cannon Subs (not used): Gaston; Knox, K Thomson Scorers: Cunningham (31) Booked: none Sent Off: Murdoch (76)