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Bhoys just edge it. Celtic jumped over Inverness with a narrow win at Parkhead thanks to an early second half goal from in form striker John Guidetti. The hosts were well on top in terms of possession as expected but with the game drawing to a close, Inverness squandered two or three guilt edged chances to level the game as our out of form striker fluffed his lines and Watkins and Tremarco were denied by Zaluska who clawed away an injury time effort. The game ended with Celtic claiming all three points and Inverness maybe ruing the fact that they never took the game to Celtic earlier as we finished on the front foot but just short of taking something from the game. John Hughes sprung a wee surprise before a ball was kicked by putting under fire striker Billy McKay on the bench and promoting Carl Tremarco into the starting X1.Graeme Shinnie moved to left midfield to accommodate Tremarco as Yogi looked to deny Celtic room to move around our box. Celtic had a stronger line-up on the park than they did in the first encounter this season, but Craig Gordon was carrying a niggle and Lucasz Zaluska deputised for the big Scottish keeper with Mubarak Wakaso earning a start over Callum McGregor. It was clear from the off that Inverness would be looking to frustrate the Hoops for as long they could and this would mean a busy afternoon for our back four, and a lonely day out for Marley Watkins. Despite our intent, it was Shinnie that had the first pot at goal but Zaluska saved easily before Celtic went into attacking mode. We lived somewhat dangerously as the green machine surged forward and swarmed around our penalty box but Tremarco was showing his worth at the back and Shinnie was able to carry the ball forward when we broke up Celtic's play. However our forays forward were sporadic to say the least although we did win a couple of corners in a first half dominated by the hosts, John Guidetti headed over after twelve minutes as we dug ourselves in and Wakaso had a shot deflected by Tremarco as Celtic looked for an opener. With half an hour gone, Virgil Van Dijk unleashed a long range shot which stung Brill's hands, the keeper standing tall to deny the Dutch player. Stokes was next to shoot at the target but his effort fizzed wide as Celtic piled on the pressure. It was now one way traffic as the visitors buzzed around our half with menacing intent. Brill was left looking like a subbuteo goalie as a Scott Brown shot whistled just the wrong side of the post, the keeper stranded and wrong footed, but relieved to see the ball flash behind. However, Yogi's tactics seemed to be paying off as half time approached. Celtic dominating possession, Inverness stubborn in defence and the last chance of the half, like the first one, fell again to Shinnie, but his curling strike from just outside the box dipped just over the bar and at the break it was so far, so good. Half Time 0-0 Four minutes after the break and Inverness fell behind to a disputed goal. Nothing wrong with the finish from Guidetti as he jinked into the box and wrong footed Brill, but it all came about as a result of a dubious challenge in the Celtic half where Inverness stopped for a second expecting a free kick for a challenge on Williams. Stokes needed no second invitation as he headed down the left before feeding Guidetti who scored in style. Rough justice for Inverness who had stood up well to the onslaught of the first half. Guidetti was soon involved again, trying to claim a penalty after tumbling in the box, his claims waived away much to the annoyance of the home players and crowd, Guidetti and Draper booked for arguing the toss over the incident as Inverness survived this and the next few minutes as Celtic pushed for a second goal. Unperturbed, Inverness were still in the game as Celtic's one goal lead started to look catchable. Inverness almost levelled as they burst forward but Williams could only dig the ball out and over the bar when he should have made the keeper work. This gave Inverness fresh hope and they soon carved out another swift break forward and should have done better when they were five on three, but one too many passes saw the ball being difficult to tee up and Shinnie's shot was deflected just wide. From the resultant corner Watkins blazed one over from a promising position. The tide was turning though and the game became more stretched. Inverness went for broke in the last quarter with attacking substitutions as McKay, Christie and Doran entered the fray. It almost paid off as we took the game to Celtic who had been unable to kill of their visitors. Tansey shot over after Doran unselfishly set him up and Celtic's lead was beginning to look fragile. As the ninety minutes neared Celtic had a triple let off. Tremarco headed over from six yards and took a clash of heads at the same time as van Dijk challenged him. Billy McKay couldn't score in a brothel right now and that showed as he mishit a shot when he should have blasted it home from five yards and right at the death a Watkins header was saved at point blank range and Tremarco had Zaluska clawing the ball away when it looked as though we were about to snatch a point from the jaws of defeat. Full Time 1-0 tm4tj MotM:- Marley Watkins once again played well, and in the lone strikers role, but with the defence working overtime in the first half especially our defenders stood firm. Tremarco slotted in brilliantly and almost scored but for his ability to keep the talented Celtic front players in check, Josh Meekings gets my vote. Carl chats to wee Davie after the game, & Yogi dispels some myths ................ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 01/11/14 Venue: Parkhead Attendance: 42,553 Referee: Craig Thomson Celtic : 1 Lineup: Zaluska, Izaguirre, Van Dijk, Brown, Guidetti (Griffiths 80), Stokes, Mulgrew, Denayer, Lustig (Matthews 63), Johansen, Wakaso (McGregor 70). Subs (not used): Fasan, Ambrose, Scepovic, Kayal. Scorers: Guidetti Booked: Mulgrew, Wakaso Sent Off: none Inverness CT : 0 Lineup: Brill, Raven, Shinnie, Vincent (Mckay 70), Warren, Meekings, Draper (Doran 82), Watkins, Tansey, Tremarco, Williams (Christie 70) Subs (not used): Esson, Ross, Devine, Polworth, Scorers: none Booked: Tremarco, Draper Sent Off: none --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Inverness looking for the double Inverness make the arduous trip to the East end this weekend to face Ronny Deila's resurgent side in a game that could see Celtic hit the top spot if results go their way. Inverness had a free midweek as Celtic rampaged into the semi-finals of the League Cup with a 6-0 win over ten man Partick Thistle to join the Rangers, Aberdeen and Dundee United in the hat for the draw. John Guidetti scored a hat-trick against the hapless Jags. I wonder if the Glasgow clubs will get the mandatory safe passage into the finals or will we break from tradition and get an Old Firm derby semi? Mickey Mouse cup anyway this season. Last week saw Inverness overcome Dundee United with a Marley Watkins goal settling the game. United had started the brightest but before the end, Inverness were well on top and the only gripe is that they should have made more of the opportunities that came their way. However, three points off the Arabs will do and that result moved us level on points with the Accies at the head of the table, the first quarter of the season already over. Celtic limbered up with a comfortable 2-0 win over Killie last Sunday, and they also had a player sent off. It was an emphatic win with Killie doing well to minimise the damage after the sending off of their captain, Manuel Pascali ten minutes before the break. Celtic are the top scorers in the league with 22 goals compared to our 15. There's little between the defences though, Celtic conceding 1 less than us having played one game less. Celtic's goals for has been boosted by two games in particular. A 6-1 thrashing of Dundee United and a 5-0 pumping of Ross County. We have failed to score more than two in any league game so far, although we did come out on top when the sides met at Inverness in August, courtesy of an own goal. That day, Celtic were off the back of Euro football and a much changed squad faced Inverness. I doubt we will be afforded the same opponents this time as Celtic look to climb the table. Inverness are as near full strength as they can be. Ryan Christie is clear of suspension and Ross Draper kept a clean sheet last week so he is still available. Richie Foran is the only skiver with his long term injury. Ibra Sekajja never made it onto the park against United but could be an option given the lean spell for Billy McKay at the moment. James Vincent filled the gap well last week with an industrious performance in central midfield and looks a good bet to continue. Celtic gave Leigh Griffiths some air time in the League Cup and he scored a couple after coming on as a second half substitute. Kris Commons is close to a return but James Forrest and Derk Boerrigter remain out. Aleksandar Tonev is unavailable for Celtic as the club's appeal against his alleged racism remark has not been lodged on time. tm4tj Prediction:- The humiliating defeat handed out to Partick in midweek has made our task all the more difficult and nobody will be expecting anything other than a cakewalk for Celtic. It's difficult to see past a home win as the Bhoys go on a scoring spree. They dished out big licks to us last season scoring eleven in two months without reply at Parkhead. That was a far cry from the encouraging 2-2 draw we started last season with. So maybe it's not all doom and gloom as results can be achieved at Parkhead, but pay them too much respect and they will be all over you like a rash. I'm going for a cheeky point in the hope that our defence concentrates for the whole game and blunts Celtic's sharp attack. We haven't scored three at Parkhead since Feb8th 2000 and it seems unlikely that we will this week given the disparity in the squads. But then again, there was plenty of distance between the sides then. The Caley Jags were not the only winners last weekend. Shoot for the boot dished out £300

Inverness back on top Inverness leapfrogged over Dundee United to draw level with Hamilton Accies at the top of the table after a deserved win over the Arabs, despite the tight scoreline. United started the brightest with some slick interplay, pressed Inverness onto the back foot and rattled the home post, but once Marley Watkins opened the scoring after eleven minutes, there was no looking back as Inverness took the game to their much fancied visitors. Inverness should have added a couple more but United defended bravely and blocked a number of goalbound efforts and that resulted in Watkins strike being the only goal of the game. James Vincent returned to the starting X1 with Ryan Christie suspended, but Aaron Doran, Ibra Sekajja and Nick Ross all began on the bench. United as expected were minus Paul Paton and Mark Wilson, both players involved in an internal investigation at Tannadice after an altercation on Ashton Lane that left Celtic's Lukasz Zaluska with a black eye. Ryan Dow started in Paton's absence. A cold blustery autumnal afternoon saw United out of the blocks quickest and they looked likely to score with a series of tidy interplays and flicks around the hosts penalty area, opening up the home defence rather too easily for my liking. United squandered a couple of early opportunities, Erskine shooting over and Fojut missing with a header. However, after five minutes, Chris Erskine cracked one off the base of Brill's post as the keeper dived full length to his right and got a fingertip to the ball, United getting a corner as a result. The visitors looked as though they meant business at this point as the home fans puffed their cheeks, but that was about to change. Inverness worked the ball out wide on the right to David Raven and his low cross was cleared. Vincent battled to retrieve the ball and Greg Tansey picked it up as it broke back to him, his diagonal cross to the front post was brilliantly knocked home by a sliding Marley Watkins who was first to react as he beat his markers to the ball. Danny Williams tried his luck with a dipping volley from distance after the ball sat up nicely for him, but it looped just over the bar. Meekings should have scored with a header from a Tansey corner, but it was cleared off the line by Rankin with the keeper beaten and turned away to safety. It was Inverness that were now in control and Tansey shot wide as the hosts turned the screw, but the cushion of a second goal was not forthcoming. Just before the break, Meekings thundered a pacey cross behind Brill and just outside the posts, an important intervention to keep Inverness ahead at the interval. Half Time 1-0 It's not happening for Billy McKay so far this season and the fans frustration was evident as he fluffed his lines when through on goal. He should have taken a leaf out of the Iain Stewart book of lobbing goalies, but instead appeared to kick the ground or possibly even fresh aired and Cierzniack gathered the ball. But Billy is a trier if nothing else and he soon was at it again, firing an angled drive from the left, the keeper saving at the expense of a corner. Although we were almost in total control, we got lucky when Ciftci escaped down the left, but with Brill in no mans land, he gathered Ciftci's attempted strike to keep us ahead. Inverness were soon back in charge but United were getting bodies in the way as we tried to double our advantage. We appeared to choose the wrong option at times and our shooting boots were left in the dressing room as players slid around on the soft surface. Shots were raining in around the visitors goalmouth but too often they were charged down or wayward, McKay again being unfortunate to draw a blank as he swivelled and volleyed, but hit the marking defender. Vincent almost marked his return with a goal after rushing into the box, but he poked his effort just wide when it looked simpler to score, the fans in the North stand returning to their seats in disbelief. United tried to salvage something from the game but in all honesty Inverness saw out the game pretty comfortably despite not being able to add to their tally. Full Time 1-0 A game that started brightly for United, but they were well beaten long before the end, although Inverness could have been out of site sooner had they made more of their opportunities. Some shooting practice required this week in training and Billy needs a goal soon to get his confidence back. Sekajja never got on the park today, I suspect that was due to our inability to get a second goal. Nick Ross was the sub for Billy as Hughes held on to what we had. tm4tj MotM:- With Billy not scoring, it's reassuring to have Marley Watkins finding the back of the net and he was my MotM. Greg Tansey won the midfield battle and Josh Meekings made some timely interceptions and still found time to assist the attack. James Vincent made a telling contribution on his return to a more familiar central midfield role; he had been wasted playing wide previously. Another man worthy of mention is Scotty. All the way from Canada to see his team record this win. Enjoy the rest of your break boss. Oh, there was one more. Shoot for the boot was accomplished in the half time entertainment. Well done that man and 300 smackeroonies for your troubles. Inverness CT: Brill, Raven, Shinnie, Vincent, Warren, Meekings, Mckay (Ross 76), Draper, Watkins, Tansey, Williams. Subs not used: Esson (GK), Doran, Sekajja, Devine, Tremarco, Polworth. Dundee United: Cierzniak, Dillon (Townsend 57), Fojut, Ciftci, Rankin, Armstrong (Bilate 66), Mackay-Steven, Watson (Spittal 66), Morris, Erskine, Dow. Subs not used: Szromnik (GK), Bilate, Telfer, Connolly, Smith. Booked:- Townsend, Rankin Referee: Kevin Clancy. Attendance: 3,508. http://caleythistleonline.com/page/index.html/_/reports-2014-15/inverness-ct-v-dundee-utd-report-spfl-r1196'>