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Dons tamed by Williams belter Inverness defied the odds to turn the tables on in form Aberdeen. Danny Williams scored the only goal of the game to halt the Don's recent four game winning streak, smashing a shot off the underside of the bar in the 22nd minute. Aberdeen had been firm favourites to continue their run of wins at the expense of out of sorts Inverness, but make us underdogs at your peril. Greg Tansey and James Vincent made the bench as Yogi kept faith with the players that drew with United last week, minus the suspended Gary Warren whose place was filled by Danny Devine. A good crowd of over 12,000 turned up to see if the once famous Aberdeen could continue their good run or could Yogi be the party pooper and upset the odds, Inverness looking for their first win in six games. Rig was at the game and here is his thoughts............Full report to follow.............. Fantastic result against a team which I view to be the best in the rest of the league. I'm no fan of Hughes but even I have to say that was a very impressive showing so well done to him and the team. Our goal was very well taken. A quick counter attack down the right ended with Doran knocking a ball across the goal. Mckay stretched for it but only managed to get a faint touch on the ball which luckily found its way to Williams at the back post who lashed it into the net off the bar. Whilst Aberdeen had a number of chances they were all from set pieces and there were very few which were clear cut. ICT on the other hand seemed to be doing their best to try and keep the game close by not putting away the better chances which fell our way, particularly in the second half. Mckay and Shinnie passed up great chances to secure the game for us but Mckay pulled his shot wide after being played through, by Tansey I think, and Shinnie hit the bottom of the post with a lovely curling effort. Aberdeen were at their most threatening from corners with Robson getting some really dangerous balls in on top of Brill with the conditions making it really hard to deal with high, lofted balls. Vernon Crespo should have done better in the first and I think Considine or Anderson also had a good chance from a header as well. The defence was, at times, struggling to cope, and the midfield occasionally got over run but that can be expected with the players we have out. But the guys who did play today really put in a great shift (© John Hughes) and battled for every ball they could get near. Shinnie especially was fantastic in the middle of the park. MotM by an absolute mile with other great performances from Mckay and Williams who was a real live wire down the left hand side. Tait really struggled with him and had to be subbed off in the second half. Tansey and Vincent came on and both offered us a bit of freshness to carry the ball away from defence. Indeed it was Tansey who was setting up some of our chances late on with some clever balls in behind the Dons defence. It might be interesting to try him in behind Mckay once Foran and Draper return and take up the CM slots. Full Time 0-1 All in all a great performance, despite some very nervy moments, and one that all of the ICT guys can be very proud of. Now for the long trip down to Killie.......................... Aberdeen: Langfield, Tate (Shaughnessy 58), Considine, Jack, Anderson, Reynolds, Pawlett, Flood, Vernon (Magennis 65), Robson (Hayes 59), McGinn. Subs not used: Zola, Smith, Storie, Rodgers. Inverness CT: Brill, Raven, Tremarco, Shinnie, Meekings, Devine, Doran (Tansey 65), Williams, Mckay (Evans 88), Ross (Vincent 75), Polworth. Subs not used: Esson, Greenhalgh, Pepper, Christie. Referee: Iain Brines. Attendance: 12,021.

Greg's back It's A96 time this weekend as Aberdeen host Inverness with both sides vying for a Euro spot at the business end of the table. Second take on fifth in what is a six-pointer this early in the season. Inverness' depleted squad received a boost as news of Greg Tansey's return to the Highland Capital was greeted with much anticipation. We have lacked a dead ball expert recently, (well for a few years), and Tansey has a reputation for striking a decent free kick and I'm sure he could give the odd penalty some welly if required. Greg has signed a one and a half year deal since Stevenage released him early from his current contract. Russell Latapy has been lined up as Yogi's second in command, so will we be in for a laid back calypso style of soccer at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium? Seems like a good bit of business for Inverness and Greg had this to say on his return:- “I am very happy to return to Inverness I know the lads and I thoroughly enjoyed my last spell at the club. We have some exciting games coming up and I look forward to helping the club continue their magnificent progress over the past couple of years.” This is the third meeting between these clubs this season and Aberdeen are looking for a hat-trick of wins over Inverness. The first game at Pittodrie was tight, but Aberdeen edged it thanks to a superb Scott Vernon turn and strike. The second game was the proverbial game of two halves. Aberdeen were afforded a seemingly comfortable 4-0 half time lead, but by full time they were hanging on to a 4-3 lead which could easily have been overturned, but it was not to be for Inverness as the Dons held on for their second win over us this season. So, here we are, Inverness without a whole midfield and centre back and Aberdeen on a high just now. It looks like it could be a long day for us on Saturday. Aberdeen sit ten points above Inverness although we have two games in hand. Aberdeen have suffered only one defeat in eight games whilst Inverness have only one win in their last seven games. Both teams have lost 19 goals this season, but the Don's have moved 5 goals ahead in the scoring stakes. Inverness will be missing the suspended duo of Ross Draper and Gary Warren. Add to that the Injured James Vincent and Richie Foran and the struggling Marley Watkins, it's clear to see why bringing in a ready made replacement was vital at this stage of the season. Greg Tansey ticks most boxes and Danny Devine will no doubt deputise for the missing Warren. Danny Williams is picking up the pace after a slow start and Ben Greenhalgh is champing at the bit for some first team action. Nick Ross missed a penalty last week, but his overall game was decent enough, although Tansey will provide us with a bit more dig in the engine room. Dean Brill did not cover himself in glory last week and Ryan Esson will be waiting in the wings should he be relieved of his duties. Aberdeen's Andrew Considine returns for the visit of Inverness after his recovery from a calf injury. Full-back Clark Robertson remains out and Nicky Low is out for the second game of a two-match ban. tm4tj Prediction:- Damage limitation is something that springs to mind, but in adversity we are at our best and it doesn't come much tougher than playing a form team away from home without some of your most influential players. If Tansey were to start then that will go some way to lessening the blow of Draper, Foran, Vincent, Warren and possibly Watkins being unavailable. Danny Devine has been an able deputy previously, but he's no Gary Warren although he has played with Josh Meekings before. Some of the others need to step up to the plate and more is required of the likes of Danny Williams Aaron Doran and Nick Ross, three players with plenty of talent but so far, no end product. Billy McKay needs assistance up front, and while he is still here, we still have a chance, but for me it's a slim chance this weekend. A draw at best and minimise the damage at worst. 2-0 for the home side is my best guess. Here's a wee calypso to welcome Russell Latapy to Inverness

There is a God after all: GAME OFF A precautionary 08:00 pitch inspection has been arranged for Fir Park ahead of Inverness' visit after strong winds and heavy rain swept across Scotland, the Motherwell pitch not known for keeping the water away at the best of times. However Motherwell officials are confident the fixture will go ahead despite the weathers best efforts to disrupt the schedules. The game is an early kick off at 12:45 for those brave enough to make the trip. Unfortunately referee John Beaton has deemed the pitch unplayable and the game has been called off. Meh! Inverness travel to Motherwell on Saturday with plenty of trepidation after their poor festive account has failed to produce more than one point from four games, three of which were at home. Missing James Vincent since the end of September and Captain Richie Foran over the festive games was bad enough, but we will now be without the red carded Ross Draper and possibly even Marley Watkins for the trip to Fir Park. It doesn't get much more difficult does it! Our Xmas campaign has been a disaster in terms of points gained, league position, team confidence and managerial honeymoon. We have lost ground to two of the current form sides in the division and unfortunately we face both of them in the next few games away from home when we are at our lowest ebb of the season. Great! Inverness have only one win in their last six games, a 2-0 triumph in Edinburgh over the inexperienced Jambos. On the other hand, Motherwell have won five on the bounce since a 5-0 thrashing from Celtic on the 6th December, a run that sees them sit second in the league, our dismal streak taking us down to fourth, our game in hand against County away not such a good idea now. John Hughes is getting plenty of stick for the current problems on the park at Inverness but in all honesty a lot of this is out of his control. He has stuck to the tried and tested formulae that got Inverness into the top end of the league, but with Richie Foran out of the running with a shoulder injury lean times have hit the Caley Jags. One issue he could resolve is getting David Raven back in the starting eleven and returning Graeme Shinnie to the left side of the park. Danny Williams has been tried in Foran's absence and is starting to get the hang of it, but Richie Foran he aint. Aaron Doran has gone off the boil at the same time, and the supply Billy McKay requires has dried up. Our once reliable defence has been conceding goals at an alarming rate, and Dean Brill won't be too pleased with his attempt to stop County's second goal on New Years day. One bright light at the end of the tunnel was the introduction of Ryan Christie in the Celtic game. He only had a few minutes on the park but he carried his dazzling footwork from the u20's games into the first team and might be worth a few more minutes over the coming weeks. Liam Polworth is another knocking at the door and big Toby Agdestein had a decent substitute appearance against County and could be a help to McKay in his quest for the ball. Motherwell don't really need a boost at the minute, but Lionel Ainsworth has extended his loan until the end of the season. Four goals in four games is a great return from the 26 year old midfielder who packs a ferocious shot, scoring a couple of spectacular goals already this season. With the likes of James MacFadden in their side and the powerful Henri Anier available for at least another couple of weeks this will be a tough nut to crack. Inverness will be without the red carded Ross Draper for the trip to Fir Park. Wide midfielder Marley Watkins is a doubt, while captain Richie Foran and midfielder James Vincent are out. Motherwell goalkeeper Gunnar Neilson returns after on-loan Dan Twardzik returned to Dundee after his emergency loan expired. Lee Hollis remains out, as does forward Lee Erwin. tm4tj prediction:- I'm a bit worried about this clash. We did manage to turn Well over in the first meeting of the season, Foran and McKay doing the damage. Unfortunately without Foran and McKay not seeing enough of the ball times are hard just now. Motherwell on a roll, Inverness pedalling backwards and an understrength squad, the omens are against us. Strangely enough, we are most dangerous when the odds are stacked against us. I'm not sure this time though and we could be looking at damage limitations. My cup is half empty now and I am hoping we keep the score respectable, 2-0 for the Steelmen I'm afraid.

Must Try Harder Ross County first footed the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium on the 1st of January 2014 and took full advantage of their hosts accommodating hospitality by taking all three points. It was a towsy encounter which saw Inverness offer the hand of friendship to their neighbours by gently parting their once rock solid defence to allow Scott Boyd and Alex Cooper to tease the points away from the generous Inverness back four who did their level best to help out the Staggies by reducing themselves to ten men midway through the second half, and a late Aaron Doran counter proved once again to be too little too late. I'm afraid the teams report card of late has must try harder written on it, and it's easy to see why. County were without a win in nine games, gaining just one point from those games and stood 22 points adrift of Inverness, who themselves are not on the best of runs at the moment. The form book does tend to get shredded when it comes to Derby fixtures and so it turned out. David Raven once more sat on the bench and Danny Williams again filled the midfield vacated by the injured Richie Foran. How much longer will we have to suffer Raven, our natural right back being left out of the picture; over to you Yogi? County introduced Jordan Slew up front and the sturdy Blackburn Rovers loanee caused early alarm bells to sound with a couple of powerful runs at the Inverness defence. At 6ft 3in Slew is going to be a handful for many a defender, built like a brick shithouse and pace akin to Usain Bolt. The turning point in this game though was the withdrawal of Inverness' main supply route for Billy McKay as County managed to kick the legs away from our own super sprinter Marley Watkins, having to be subbed shortly after being hacked down by the County defence in the fourteenth minute. Aaron Doran was unfortunate to see a strike cannon back off a post from eighteen yards in the sixth minute and McKay missed with the rebound, struggling to tame the ball before firing wide. Must try harder. Just when we looked to have overcome County's initial surge, Tremarco conceded a corner, and when the ball fell to Boyd some ten yards out at the far post his shot caught Tremarco on the way past Brill into the net to give County the opener. Head tennis in your own box is no use. Must try harder Things went from worse to even worser, if you know what I mean. Shinnie passed the ball loosely in midfield, and play raced to the other end where young Cooper turned inside and outside the recovering Shinnie with ease, and beat Brill with not the most powerful of shots in the world. It mattered not to County as the ball rolled behind Brill and into the net for the second goal inside two minutes. Must try harder The home fans feared a repeat of the Aberdeen debacle as our defence seemed to be at sixes and sevens. A defence that a couple of weeks ago were the stingiest in the land were now starting to look like plonkers, gifting goals at will and unable to do the simplest of marking and tracking jobs. Just as in the Aberdeen game, a lot of our defensive issues have come in the right defensive area, an area normally covered by a certain Mr Raven, looking on from the bench. You would have thought this would have stung Inverness into action, but no, we plodded on without any conviction and a lack of imagination. Without Watkins we looked to Doran, Ross and Williams to spark us into life, but there was no spark, and ultimately no life about this Inverness side. Must try harder. Hallelujah, McKay almost flicked a long throw into the net but Fraser was alert to it and that was as near as we got apart from a weak Nick Ross header, McKay the provider. Half Time 0-2 Could we see a repeat of the Dons game was the talking point over the half time cuppa, most fans thinking that was impossible given our dire first half performance and few could see a way back into this game. Billy McKay once more being starved of the ball resorting to taking throw-ins just to get a touch of the ball, or maybe because like most of us he is simply fed up of the pathetic throw-ins that we seem to contrive. While I'm on a roll here, when was the last time we scored direct from a free kick. Nobody in my vicinity could recall one, Caley100 mentioned Barry Robson, he could be right. Unlike the Dons game, we showed little signs of urgency, still content to pass the ball sideways or back and the thought of turning the pitch 90% to offer more attacking possibilities did enter my mind as the football deteriorated to tedium. Free kick after free kick was wasted, crossing opportunities were wasted, most hitting the first defender and throw-ins were as good as a pass back to County. Must try harder. Draper did force Fraser to parry a shot, but it was straight at him and the rebound was hooked clear by Boyd. Doran flighted one onto the top of the bar but it would have been an injustice had it caught out Fraser. Must try harder. Draper was becoming a liability and a lunging tackle went unpunished, but when he led with the elbow in an aeriel challenge it was a straight red. He will get little sympathy from me, Inverness having to play out the last quarter 2-0 down and reduced to ten men. Tried too hard! Agdestein who had impressed since his early introduction went close with a rasping drive after Williams ran across the County defence, but his shot rose just over the bar. Time was running out fast as County defended in depth although Doran did score a tidy goal, flicking a Polworth through ball over Fraser and nodding it into the empty net, but it was too little too late I'm afraid, many having left the ground by the time this happened. Garry Warren still found time to drill a ball into the side netting from a tight angle and it was all over bar the shouting, County had won their first game in ten, and we take one point out of a possible twelve over Xmas. Must try harder. Full Time 1-2 tm4tj MotM:- Toby Agdestein was one player who looked interested and drove forward with intent, it's a pity nobody else turned up. Our defence has turned into a shambles right now and needs repaired, enter David Raven surely. This team has got us into a position that has raised our profile, unfortunately we are now on everybody's radar and teams are beginning to pick us off. We don't become a bad team overnight, but the absence of Foran is hurting us and we look vulnerable with another wafer thin first team squad struggling to cope with one or two absentee's. We might as well get rid of Billy McKay if we are not going to supply him with the ball, he would be as well playing elsewhere. It's a shame not to use his talents while he is here.