tm4tj

They think it's all over..... .........It is now! It's all over in the SPL bar the shouting. Hibernian relegated Dunfermline on monday night with three goals in a four nil win, (don't ask). That could be good news for Inverness on the park this weekend as I doubt they will be wanting any of their star players injured ahead of the landmark Scottish Cup final against Edinburgh rivals Heart of Midlothian. So, let's quickly run through who did what. Surprise surprise, Celtic won the SPL, Dunfermline were relegated. Motherwell finished third with Dundee United grabbing the other European spot in fourth. Govan FC are in yoyo administration and our own Inverness are safe for another season. Kilmarnock won the League Cup and cheered up everybody, well most people, and that's about it. Next season will see Ross County participate in the SPL for the first time and local interest will be intensified as the much anticipated derby rivalries resume. But we are here to discuss this weekends game, and Cup Finalist's Hibernian will provide the opposition. This season has seen Hibs overcome their Highland Hoodoo and start winning games in Inverness. Prior to this season, Hibs had gone nine games in Inverness without winning, and into the bargain they had only scored 3 goals in that period. Inverness had racked up 19 goals in those games. Lately they have bucked the trend and fashioned out two wins at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, so coming here for a third visit will hold no fears for them. This season Hibs fortunes changed, and a late Garry O'Connor goal saw Hibs take all three points south at the end of July. Ryan Esson will feel disappointed not to have stopped his mishit trundler that rolled wide of his outstretched arms to find the net. Inverness spurned numerous chances to win the match comfortably but were caught on the break with Hayes being upended and Hibs transferred the ball forward swiftly, O'Connor doing the needful. The last fixture in Inverness was on April Fools day. A rare occurrence saw Greg Tansey ably smash a penalty home, but the joy was short lived as Hanlon stooped to head home an equaliser. That man O'Connor put Hibs ahead before Jonny Hayes swerved a cross behind Stack for a deserved late leveller. Inverness though still managed to shoot themselves in the foot and Leigh Griffiths restored Hibs advantage two minutes later. Defensive lapses have cost us dear this season and losing goals so soon after scoring leans towards a lack of concentration being our downfall in this game. We did, however, secure a draw at Easter Road in late December, going behind to once again, a Garry O'Connor strike, this time a spanking free kick. Jonny Hayes scored a spectacular solo goal to earn a point, which was also Pat Fenlon's first point as Hibs manager. How has the season fared for both clubs? Well for Inverness it has been a total write off. Injuries, suspensions, referee's, managerial decisons, sending off's, we've seen it all this year. Report card will say, "must try harder". Thank you St Mirren for providing us with ten points, that's more than a quarter of our total for the season, and for Dunfermline being utterly gash and being bigger favourites than us for the drop, and so it proved. If our season has been rubbish, then Hibs season has been a total disaster. For a club with the pedigree of Hibernian to have struggled for so long this season then something was awry. Colin Calderwood was relieved of his duties mid-season and it has taken Pat Fenlon until the penultimate game of the season to mold his undoubtedly talented squad into a team. He must have thought the omens were against him, when his managerial debut for Hibs was disrupted with the game at Motherwell being abandoned after the floodlights failed. He only managed one point in his first five games, but last Monday saw his side safe from relegation and he now has a cup final to look forward to. Not any old cup final of course. The first all Edinburgh one for over a century. These don't come along too often, like trams on Princess Street I suppose. So, it's the last game of the season, and some will be moving on. Jonny Tuffey has indicated that he will be leaving at the end of the season as he needs first team football to further his international career. He has served this club well when called upon but the lure of first team football will see him leave Inverness, with Ryan Esson poised to remain as number one choice. The biggest mystery will surround star player Jonny Hayes. He will undoubtedly be able to command a higher wage elsewhere, especially if he were to move to the English Championship. Aberdeen have shown their cards early in an attempt to procure Jonny from the Highlands, and rumours abound about St Mirren having a sniff as well. Gregory Tade has already been offered a contract, and Butcher has stated his case for keeping Greg Tansey and Billy McKay for another season. Golobart and Williams are both on loan and will require to be prised from their parent clubs for another season. That leaves superman, AKA Ross Tokely. A club legend, but could he be the last link to the past to be removed from this club. Last season saw a surprise when Grant Munro and Russell Duncan were released, could this be the last remaining 'supercaley' hero to be shown the exit door. I firmly believe that Rossco still has plenty left in the tank and he has been one of our more consistant performers in an error strewn season. We have unfortunately become less parochial in our efforts to sustain SPL football and more cosmopolitan in recent times. A couple of weeks ago we had no Scottish players in our starting eleven. A sign of the times I'm afraid and possibly one of the reasons the passion has ebbed from the club. I sincerely hope that Mr Butcher has learned from his mistakes and views Rossco as an integral part of a well oiled Caley Thistle machine. tm4tj Prediction:- I don't see Hibernian exerting themselves too much this weekend with a big day out at Hampden looming. Inverness will be saying goodbye to one or two that will not be returning for next season and the term 'end of season game' springs to mind. Unless Hibs win by three clear goals, then they will remain in eleventh place and we will stay above them, therefore with all that in mind, I will sit on the fence and go for a 1-1 draw, but will be hoping for a finish with a flourish. The last game of the season will see special offers for under 12's as they will get free entry with a paying adult. See the official website for details http://ictfc.com/new...s-go-free-offer Saturday will also see the end of the Highland March #10. The guys set off from Paisley last Saturday and have walked back to Inverness, as you do. Give them a huge cheer as they enter the stadium as they put a lot of effort into this. You can read all about it at http://www.highlandmarch.co.uk/ See you all on Saturday. Latest Team News Inverness could be bolstered by the return of Tokely and Willams to the squad. Both suffered knocks and missed the win at Paisley last week. That put's paid to rumours that Rossco had mysteriously returned to the planet Krypton. Chris Hogg is out, hopefully, I won't be printing that next season, good luck with the rehab. Aaron Doran was subbed at St Mirren, and this was a precautionary move, but will be assessed before risking him in an end of season encounter. Hibernian will unsurprisingly field an understrength side in view of next weeks occasion at Hampden. James McPake (groin), Tom Soares (Achilles), Pa Kujabi (hamstring) and Jorge Claros (foot) will no doubt be 'rested' along with the injured Danny Galbraith (groin) and Graham Stack (thigh). Leigh Griffiths and David Wotherspoon are available again following suspension, I wonder if they will be risked? Club captain Ian Murray is on his way after the summer and this could be his last appearance for Hibs.

Saint's are on Inverness' side. Inverness took their 10th point off St Mirren this season as captain Richie Foran scored his first goal since August 20th to clinch victory in the 85th minute. He nodded home a delightful Greg Tansey free kick to ensure the Highland Marchers had plenty to discuss on the walk home, all 160 miles of it. Ross Tokely and Steve Williams were missing from the squad with Roman Golobart and Gregory Tade starting along with the returning Jonny Hayes, back from suspension. Billy Mckay was on the bench. Ajsict92 enjoyed his day out in Paisley and his report is ready for your perusal. More of the same please… ICT’s away day trips ended on a high yesterday as they maintained their unbeaten record at St Mirren park with a well earned victory. Given that it had been nearly a month since ICT’s last win you could excuse fans for not feeling so confident, especially those that were subjected to the goalless draw against Dunfermline, yet despite the poor performance it was a match that cemented ICT’s place in the SPL for next season and with St Mirren having already confirmed safety it was a game that had little influence on the rest of the season. What was a pleasing sight was the starting 11 that Terry Butcher had selected. With Hayes, Doran, Andrew Shinnie and Tade making the attack backed by a defence that saw Roman Golobart return to the starting line up, and the positive thinkers would have had every reason for feeling confident of gaining a result and rightly so. It was a game that was of great sentimental value to the Saints as well as it was the final home appearance of club stalwart Hugh Murray. Murray has amassed over 400 appearances for the Saints in a career spanning over 16 years with the club who gave him his debut at the age of 17. One of the few remaining players around in this country that could be referred to as a “one club man”. It was clear from kick off that without the pressure of relegation ICT were playing with a real freedom we hadn’t seen this season. The likes of Hayes and Tansey trying audacious passes and Andrew Shinnie displaying that energy and determination that has been badly missed over the last few months. St Mirren provided their own danger men though in the likes of Stephen Thompson, Paul McGowan and Nigel Hasselbaink, players who have shown their quality throughout the season and have been the key men in seeing St Mirren just miss out on a top 6 spot. With both sides looking evenly matched Gregory Tade had ICT’s first opening when he headed over from Shinnie’s corner but the first real chance fell to Aaron Doran. Following some neat build up play from Andrew Shinnie, he laid it back for the young Irishman who saw his powerful drive parried wide by Craig Samson for a corner. St Mirren then responded with Nigel Hasselbaink who turned Meekings and charged at ICT’s defence before laying the ball out wide for fellow Dutchman Jereon Tesselaar who blasted across the box but saw it fail to connect with anyone. The game remained in a fairly open nature with Doran again providing a goal threat, he picked the ball up and opened fire about 25 yards from goal, Samson was able to parry it as Tade kept the attack alive, and Tansey’s neat pass was flicked on to Andrew Shinnie who swivelled and managed to get his shot away but it was tame and easily gathered by Samson. As half time drew closer Aaron Doran suffered a knock to his ankle and was taken off for Nick Ross as St Mirren began to up the tempo to their game. Paul McGowan tried to twist Golobart inside out with some neat footwork before unleashing a dangerous strike that Foran managed to block though he knew little about it. Just before half time though Ryan Esson showed why he was the difference between ICT winning and losing this game as he pulled off 2 magnificent saves in a matter of moments. First from Tesselaar as his curling effort required a finger tip save from ICT’s number one and then a great block from Stephen Thompson’s header from the resulting corner. Half time – St Mirren 0-0 ICT The opening stages of the second half saw my eyes distracted by a blow up beach ball and banana that were, pushed, punched, headed and by some ambitious people kicked around the away end much to the amusement and enjoyment of all our travelling support so if there were any notable moments straight after half time that I missed I do apologise, but it was too good not to get involved. If memory does serve me right Jonny Hayes was the next to come closest to breaking the deadlock, he capitalised on a lazy pass from Van Zanten before weaving his way past a couple of challenges and testing Samson’s gloves with a swerving shot, Samson’s save saw him locked in a race for the ball with Gregory Tade for the rebound but fortunately for the Saints keeper he managed to claw it away. St Mirren then introduced Gary Teale to the fold and he added a bit more pace down the flanks as St Mirren also looked to claim the lead but Stephen Thompson seemed to be struggling to get a good finish away as he saw multiple efforts either drift wide or easily gathered by Esson as both sides were beginning to get frustrated in their attempts to find the opening goal. With time ticking away ICT caught St Mirren on the break and Nick Ross was hacked down in his pursuit by Gary Teale and from the resulting free kick Foran was found at the back post and his prod at goal was magnificently thwarted by Samson though the linesman had raised his flag for offside. However Tade was then barged off the ball in a similar area by McAusland and Tansey found Foran in exactly the same area only this time Foran was able to nod the ball home at the back post to send the away fans behind the goal into raptures and give ICT the advantage with just 5 minutes remaining. Time was running out for the home fans who I’m sure had experienced a frustrating afternoon watching their side fall short but they were nearly treated to a stunning volley from Paul McGowan. I remember him scoring a stunning volley against ICT last season and he nearly replicated it but sadly for him his effort fell just wide of the top corner. ICT held on for the remaining moments to grab the three points. Full time – St Mirren 0-1 ICT To summarise:– It was a game that had little to no effect to the completion of the league and it was played in such a manner. Both sides showed that they contained quality players but a combination of end of season attitude and certainly for some of our players lack of match practice saw both sides struggle to really unlock one another in the final third. Having seen Terry Butcher scrimp and scrape just to put together a fully fit starting 11 it was nice to see him have the freedom of picking and choosing a side that contained arguably every match winner within our current squad and I must admit there were times when they looked like a side of great potential and I can only imagine what would’ve been had they got more game time together, I really hope most of them can be kept together because I have no doubt that if we can add 3 or 4 quality players this team there is no doubt we can progress. ajsict92’s motm:– Ryan Esson:- Nobody was really at their best given the type of game it was but for his 2 saves from Tesselaar and Thompson it definitely goes to our number 1 stopper. How we haven’t lost him to a bigger club I will never know. 5th May 2012 Scottish Premier League St Mirren Park, Paisley St Mirren 0 - /media/images/club_badges/stmirren.png TEAM: Samson, van Zanten, McGregor, McAusland, Tesselaar, Goodwin, Imrie (Murray 33), McGowan, McLean (Reilly 73), Hasselbaink (Teale 52), Thompson SUBS: Smith, Mooy, Carey, Thomson Booked: Teale (66) Sent Off: none Inverness C.T. 1 - Foran (85) /media/images/club_badges/inverness.png TEAM: Esson, Meekings (Piermayr 58), Golobart, Gillet, G.Shinnie, Hayes, Foran, Tansey, Doran (Ross 36), A.Shinnie (McKay 69), Tade SUBS: Tuffey, Tudur-Jones, Winnall, Sutherland Booked: none Sent Off: none Referee Calum Murray Attendance 3540