tm4tj

Inverness are less appealing. Terry Butcher will be without the services of Owain Tudur-Jones for yet another stint after it was revealed that the club will not be appealing against his sending off last weekend. At £1000 a shot, it was felt that the club would be wasting their money trying to overturn the decision given the way the tribunal works, adding more fuel to the feud between Butcher and the beaks. Jones will miss the games at Easter Road and the league cup tie at Stenhousemuir. Inverness will take on a much improved Hibernian side this weekend still looking for that elusive first win of the season after we were held to our fourth draw of the campaign against Aberdeen, that leaves us languishing in eleventh spot in the SPL. Hibs fans must also be thinking they are in a false position as they find themselves in the runners up berth, one point behind pace setters Motherwell. Who would have thought that after last years calamitous showing from the Leith side? Such is their change in fortunes that Hibs have already equalled last seasons haul of home wins after beating Kilmarnock 2-1 last Saturday. A couple of cruel twists saw Inverness finish their last game with ten men for the third time this season, and the second time for Jones the Red. Another twist was more painful as young striker Shane Sutherland was stretchered off having twisted his knee near the end, and depending on the results of a scan could be facing a few weeks of gardening leave. With Chris Hogg and Nick Ross already sidelined, then we are fast catching up on last seasons unwanted statistic of having a horrendous injury list. A couple of cheerier points to take from the Dons game. On loan Celtic player, 21 year old Andre Blackman looks to have made himself a shoe-in for the left back slot with an excellent debut for the Caley Jags. He looks to have plenty of pace and judging by his ferocious 25 yard shot that went just wide he is well capable of getting forward and having a go. With Shane, Nick and the red-carded Jones out for a few weeks it will give Graeme Shinnie the opportunity to prove his versatility further up the field on the left side and will fill the void seamlessly. As a whole, the defence settled down after a ropey start and looked more comfortable, with Warren commanding his box until a late lapse when we were caught napping at a quick free kick that ultimately cost us the goal. The return of Hayes last weekend proved to be a bit of a smoke screen and he was outshone by Ryan Fraser. He looks to be a real handful and will torment many a defence with his pace and trickery, as Blackman kept little Jonny quiet for long periods of the game. The downside of Fraser's game is that he appears to go down as easily as Monica Lewinsky, culminating in a few warnings for Inverness players and the sending off for Jones the Red. But it's a trip to the capital on Saturday and this fixture last season saw a fabulous solo goal from Jonny Hayes level the scores after Gary O'Connor had opened the scoring with a superb free kick early in the game. In the ten SPL encounters at Easter Road, Hibs hold the advantage by winning five of the fixtures with Inverness victorious in three and just two drawn games. There has always been goals in this one, but never more than a two goal winning margin, apart from a Scottish Cup game in January 2008 when Hibs ran out 3-0 winners. Current form shows that Hibs are the favourites for this one. Wth six games played they sit on eleven points, one behind leaders Motherwell. The three home games have seen them remain unbeaten at Easter Road, two wins and a draw in the Edinburgh derby. Inverness have fared less well on their travels, two draws and a 4-2 drubbing at Motherwell, and reduced to ten men in two of those games, which incidentally resulted in the draws.........hmmmnnn. ***Latest Team News*** Inverness have Jones (suspended), Hogg (knee), Ross (shoulder), King (ankle) and Sutherland (knee) out. The scan on Shane's knee was promising and he may only be out for a few weeks with bruising to the tibia. On the other hand, or ankle, Simon King requires an operation to his uninjured ankle to clear out some shrapnel, leaving him unavailable for a couple of months. And Congratulations are in order to Chris hogg and his wife Lisa on the birth of their wee boy, Brody. That should keep him busy for a few months. Hibernian have concerns over the SPL's August player of the month Leigh Griffiths (Hiya pal) who has an ankle injury and new signing Tom Taiwo could make his debut for the hosts. Garry O'Connor, bad boy and one of Hibs nuisance scorers against Inverness in the past has signed a two-year deal with Russian side FC Tom Tomsk in the summer and won't be bothering us on Saturday. tm4tj Prediction:- I am tempted to go with the form guide which would suggest that Hibs will continue their great start to the season. However, we are at our best with our backs to the wall. Both sides are missing quality players from last season but goals are something not difficult to come by in this fixture. Inverness are scoring enough, but conceding plenty as well. Injuries will force Butcher's hand as our thin squad is stretched this week once more, but I'm hopeful we can take at least a point away from Edinburgh and kick start our season. I'll go for a scoring draw, possibly 2-2, fingers crossed. Result of the week in Scottish Football:- No gold for The Rangers as they were dumped out of the Ramsdens Cup by the Queens from the South. How gay is that! "With branches nationwide we are here to help with all your financial needs" is Ramsden's advertising boast. I'm afraid Green's blues will need more than Ramsden's help on this evidence. The Rangers pawned squad of second hand players were knocked out on penalties after drawing 2-2 with their second division opponents. There appeared to be a distinct disparity in quality between the sides, however The Rangers did manage to take the game to extra time and penalties before bowing out of the competition. So, no cup shock here for the third division minnows as Queens marched into the semi's and The Rangers go back to mounting a challenge for Scotlands bottom league. Move along folks, nothing to see here.

Stalemate. Aaron Doran welcomed his mate Jonny Hayes back to the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium with an early robust tackle which might just have turned their relationship stale. Jonny may have been back in Inverness, but it was Aaron Doran that made the headlines with an incredible miss that should have put the game beyond the Dons. I believe he claims he was fouled, and for his sake I hope so, otherwise it was a faux pas of gargantuan proportions. One on one with Langfield, he appeared to be caught in two minds what to do and in the end did nothing, much to the disdain of the home support, claiming he was fouled as he tried to shoot............I will need to check the video tape for that one. Substitute Shane Sutherland was brought down and captain superb Richie Foran sent Langfield the wrong way from the spot. However, Aberdeen sneaked a point as their young substitute Cammy Smith was left unattended to head home the equaliser from a Hayes cross late in the game, something the Dons scarcely deserved, although neither side troubled the opposition keeper throughout the ninety minutes. A couple of red cards, Owain Tudur-Jones once more sent packing; studs up challenge offering the referee the opportunity to send him off, and that he did, and Russell Anderson being deemed responsible for Shane Sutherland tumbling in the box for the penalty with Foran possibly fortunate to stay on the park after ploughing through a tackle and creating a new furrow in the park. ajsict will have a full report for you when he settles down after that turgid encounter............. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Old habits die hard A lacking combination of clinical finishing and concentration late on saw Caley Thistle drop yet another 2 points in a game they probably should have won. Many fans would have been sceptical having watched ICT ship 8 goals in 2 games but with only one win to their name this season the Dons were no great shakes so both teams would have seen it as an opportunity to grasp. It was also a game in which Jonny Hayes returned to TCS as an opposing player for the first time and he was greeted with a mixed reception from the home fans. Terry Butcher handed deadline day signing Andre Blackman his first start at left back since joining from Celtic with Graeme Shinnie reverting to left wing and after a credible display against Motherwell, Richie Foran retained his role as the lone striker. There was also a place in the squad for former Arsenal youngster George Brislen-Hall. Paw Broon recieved a lot of praise for the caliber of player he signed in the summer and he had his two new starlets Hayes and Niall McGinn at his disposal along with promising youngsters Cammy Smith and Ryan Fraser, both of whom left a lasting impression. In a game that was full of action the first half certainly was not. Both teams made the pitch look very congested, cancelling each other out and keeping the creative influence of both sides closely marked. ICT had the better of the first half with Aaron Doran shooting over and one or two promising attacks charged down by the Dons. Graeme Shinnie had the best opportunity. Esson's high ball was beautifully touched down by Shinnie but on his weaker right foot his shot was tame and easily gathered by Langfield. It certainly wasn't difficult for ICT to retain the ball but with the door to the goal being closed off the frustrations began to grow and Aberdeen began to create openings for themselves. Jonny Hayes looked to catch the ICT defence on the counter attack before he was taken out by Aaron Doran who received a booking for his troubles. As half time drew near ICT's defence was called into action with Ryan Jack having a shot blocked by Gary Warren and then Ryan Fraser showing good composure to set up Stephen Hughes who was thwarted in his attempts to score by Ross Draper who put in a superb challenge to keep the scores level. Half time ICT 0-0 Aberdeen The 2nd half began with a bit more urgency. From a corner Andrew Considine was left unmarked and his strike seemed a certain goal but for Owain Tudur-Jones who cleared the effort off the line and after a quick frenzy saw the ball gathered by Esson. ICT were next to try and break the deadlock. Andre Blackman nearly capped off an impressive debut with a goal, a neat change of play between Draper and OTJ set up the young full back who showed good composure to beat his man and get a powerful drive away from about 25 yards but the shot was just wide. The game then exploded into life just short of the hour mark when Tudur-Jones was shown his 2nd red card of the season (and of his career) when he lunged in on the menacing Ryan Fraser and the referee showed little hesitation in sending the big Welshman for an early bath. On initial viewing it seemed harsh with the challenge being nothing more than late and a little aggressive. Sky Sports reported it as being foul and abusive language that saw him go but I cant help but dismiss that as an error from them as he said next to nothing to the ref after the incident. Butcher was forced into a tactical re shuffle with Foran dropping back into midfield and Shane Sutherland being brought on to occupy the lone striker role. Ironically this seemed to galvanize ICT and after Aaron Doran was flagged offside after scoring ICT created another opening. Warren won the ball and fed it to Graeme Shinnie who threaded a beautiful through ball to Shane Sutherland who was hacked down while bearing down on goal by Russell Anderson. The Dons stalwart was then shown the first red card of his long Aberdeen career for a professional foul and ICT were awarded a penalty as a result. Richie Foran showed no hesitation as he tucked it into the bottom corner sending Langfield the wrong way. With the game returned to a level playing field both teams squandered further chances. Stephen Hughes and Jonny Hayes coming close for the Dons and Shane Sutherland firing over from the edge of the area. Aaron Doran had a frustrating afternoon and it was summed up when he wasted the best chance of the day to increase the home sides advantage. From a corner Draper won posession, fed the ball brilliantly to Foran and his unselfish lay off to Doran left the Irish winger with a golden opportunity to seal all three points for ICT but his first touch was poor and following a challenge from Mark Reynolds the chance was gone. With time running out Aberdeen sent on Niall McGinn and promising teenager Cammy Smith in search on an equalizer and it came with 6 minutes remaining. After giving away a cheap free kick the ICT defence was caught napping as it was taken quickly. Jonny Hayes did what he was renowned for during his time in the Highland capital. His improvisation with the free kick saw him set up youngster Smith who nodded the ball home at the back post to send the large travelling away support into raptures. A local boy scores his first goal for the club in front of his own support to rescue a point for his team? Its the stuff of dreams but my idea of a nightmare as we surrendered yet another lead to a late goal. With time running down neither team managed find a winning goal but there was time for Shane Sutherland to pick up what looked like a serious injury as he was stretchered off and required a large amount of medical attention. With that the game was drawn to a close. Full Time 1-1 To summarise:- It was certainly a step in the right direction after the last two games but our old problems continue to haunt us. Poor finishing and conceding late goals, needs sorting out pronto. Having only lost two games out of six sounds great but pairing it with the fact we havent won dents its credibility. Tudur-Jones will be a loss for the next three games. I doubt the club will appeal the decision and Foran will revert back to midfield. As good as he is there I thought Foran looked excellent as a lone striker, his work rate is a real quality and his physical presence makes him a menace for defenders. Defensively I thought we looked better but we lack communication at times and set pieces were conceded as a result of this. Hibs away will be a difficult task as they are on a great run of form and with Leigh Griffiths going great guns at present we will have to be at our best to keep him and the rest quiet. ajsict92's motm - Andre Blackman, this was a difficult call. Foran worked his socks off and Draper and Warren both put in solid performances but given the fact he was put straight in the starting 11 and was up against a quality winger like Hayes I thought he stuck to his task well and showed real potential as a youngster. Inverness CT: Esson, Meekings, Raven, Warren, Blackman, Graeme Shinnie, Tudur Jones, Draper, Doran (McKay 87), Andrew Shinnie (Sutherland 63 (Pepper 90)), Foran. Subs not used: Reguero (GK), Oswell, Morrison, Brislen-Hall. Aberdeen: Langfield, Jack (Smith 74), Anderson, Rae, Considine, Vernon (McGinn 74), Hayes, Hughes, Fraser (Fraser 81), Magennis, Reynolds. Subs not used: Jason Brown (GK), Robertson, Clark, Jordon Brown. Referee: George Salmond Attendance: 4,499.

Hayes Back at Inverness Jonny Hayes will be returning to Inverness on saturday, unfortunately only briefly as he will be playing for Aberdeen in this weekend's SPL fixture at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium. This will be Hayes' first visit to Inverness since joining the Dons at the end of last season and he will be relishing the prospect of lining up against his old team mates. I'm not sure our own fans are quite as enthusiastic about his return, but we have to get on with life after Hayes. The jury are still out on the Inverness back four after a second consecutive four goal bashing, Motherwell equalling Celtic's tally against us. It was a better performance than the scoreline suggests, but gifting goals has become an unwanted trait as this seasons newcomers look to settle down and give the free scoring forwards something to build on. Aaron Doran gave himself a massive confidence boost in midweek scoring twice for the Irish u21's in a stunning 4-2 victory in Italy. If he can transfer this form into the SPL games, then we may see the best of the young man from Charleville this season after last years injury disrupted campaign. Connor Pepper, Phillip Roberts, and Graeme Shinnie were also called up for international squads in midweek. On a lighter note, there has been talk on the Caley Thistle Online forum regarding the suitability of Terry Butcher to continue as the gaffer, a rather subtly entitled thread named Is butcher the man for the job (no comment, but we are not often seen in the same room). Well talk of this has now been overtaken by discussions about food and dairy products................Aye, it's been a slow news week right eenuff. Heres some quips to whet your appetite, all kicked off by Tichy_Blacks_Back who reckoned Terry was now doing the hospitality lunches as well, whereas LukeMackay reckoned he should be making piri piri chicken in Nando's which would help attract new players; that's why Hayes went to Aberdeen said RIG. There were of course some incredible revelations as Caley100 told us he ate a really hot pizza, and lost his sense of taste for a week whilst CaleyD prefers his mince and tatties from the Innes Bar, nom nom. Batchelors mushroom soup got a mention along with a bridge and a castle, as did Frankie and Benny's, KFC, TGI Friday, MacDonalds and Zizi's. Having raved about a Hungry Horse in Perth, ajsict is setting up tweet'n'eat parties after reading all this, while on another topic milk and dairy products came under scrutiny after a Staggy had the temerity to suggest that milk has been excluded from the players menu as it's too expensive. Spokesman Immortal Howden Ender was quick to dismiss this as a marketing ploy from a milk farm in Ross-Shire to re-assure the shocked Inverness fans. Apparently County fans were milking this on twitter said Capital Caley who also wanted to change their name to Ross Cownty, but Tichy_Blacks_Back preferred their udder name. A steering group was mooted by bughtmaster and that was the best idea herd yet as the comments flowed, but the normally optimistic Top Six Next Year urged caution as this could possibly turn sour. It's the Milky Way said tm4tj and the conversation moved to cows and goats, I kid you not, even strawberry milk shakes.....................who said supporting ICT was boring. Gringo has once again put pen to paper and after checking his old geography jotters here are his thoughts ahead of the game against the Dons ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Geography lesson for the SPL (Derby in Scotland?) I suppose every team has to have a local derby at some stage of the season and it appeared that our encounters with Aberdeen would be dubbed as such. Quite how a distance of 104 miles between the two clubs can be given such a title is beyond the realms of my intelligence! This season though we do have a real derby in prospect with ‘those up the road’ so the Dons game should become a normal game, I mean, Aberdeen isn’t even in the Highlands for goodness sake. (Is it?) This fixture has been subject, in the past, to re-arranged dates for the benefits of TV. Those end-to-end thrilling encounters must have had folk blocking the phone lines to Sky or ESPN to buy a subscription ......... I don’t think. For this fixture though we have a traditional Saturday date at 3:00pm which should attract a massive all-singing-all-dancing crowd (oh, hang on a minute…dancing? that’s not allowed) Over the years Aberdeen were fast becoming a bit of a bogey team for us as we never seemed to grab a win, home or away, in any competition. Our first encounter was a 3-0 home defeat in the League Cup back in 1998. In the SPL it took us fifteen attempts to record our first win and results have been mixed after that. Players from both clubs have made the journey to and from each other in search of success and/or first team football. Recently we lost Jonny Hayes to the Dons and we'll welcome him back to the TCS on Saturday...provided he has a poor game and leaves our benevolent defence alone that is. The Dons have players that can hurt us so, hopefully, Mr Butcher, along with Mr Malpas has been showing his defenders all of his International defending skills . There is no doubt that our style of football has changed drastically from that of last season. We have created more chances in front of goal during these first few SPL games but we still seem unable to find the net consistently. The result in Motherwell, whilst disappointing, wasn't as one sided as it sounded. Aberdeen have players that can hurt us and will do so if we are not on top of the defensive side of our game. The match isn't likely to be an end-to-end encounter and there will be goals, not many mind, but there will be goals. We have failed to keep a clean sheet in the SPL this season. To quote the Dons fans article in The Scotsman “There is a feeling that the team will finally click and, when they do, the opposition will be handed a heavy defeat. It’s hoped that this will happen sooner rather than later and it may be Inverness that suffer”. Well, having conceded eight goals in the last two SPL games it isn't difficult to see where he's coming from. Current form ICT:- As mentioned above, conceding eight goals in the last two SPL games doesn't make winning games very easy and when we have no prolific striker this just compounds the issue. In all fairness though, generally speaking, we haven't been playing too badly. Silly schoolboy errors at the back have cost us dearly. We sit joint top of the goalscoring chart and top by some margin of the goals against table. However, it's results that count on the day and with that in mind we are currently in relegation mode. Current form Aberdeen:- They only have one SPL win this season, which is one more than us. Despite the signing of ICT favourite Johnny Hayes, they too have failed to set the world alight. Their main worry is a lack of SPL goals and have only two to their name so far. At home they appear to be 0-0 specialists and the away form is only slightly better. They seem to be a better unit than last term though, proving difficult to break down which could be a worry for ICT. This fixture has been kinder to Aberdeen over the last six games, the Dons winning four against the two for Inverness. The highest scoring game was a seven goal thriller in 2008 when we had everything, two red cards, a late winner and a rare Roy McBain goal, a collectors item. Chris Maguire scored the winner in the fourth minute of injury time, something the Dons were getting adept at. The previous season Steve Lovell scored a late late leveller after Graham Bayne had opened the scoring, that was the last time these two clubs played out a draw at Inverness, eight games ago. 5,744 witnessed that game, I wonder how many still have the passion left for the game as the decline of Scottish football continues. Gringo's Prediction:– Another tough one to call. Dons can't score, we can't defend (or score enough). Does it have the makings of a 0-0 draw? No, I don't think so. Our defence concerns me and if they haven't been working on it in training then we could well be in for it. We aren't the tallest defence in the league so if Mr Hayes is allowed to get in his crosses (and shots) then we will be up against it. So, the key for me is, keep Hayes quiet and we may just do it...if not it could be any score. I think we can sneak this one with a nervy, nail biting, 2-1 victory. ***Latest Team News*** Inverness' Nick Ross is sporting a large scar after the operation to repair his damaged shoulder and will be in for a lengthy lay off. Good luck to him on his recovery. Chris Hogg is still out but is training now. Simon King remains an injury doubt for Caley Thistle ahead of Saturday’s home encounter against Aberdeen. Jason Oswell has recovered from his Achilles problem. Josh Meeking looks set to continue in defence should Simon King not recover from his ankle injury. Aberdeen boss Craig Brown has released Michael Paton despite some Dons fans having reservations over this, given that they have drawn blanks in their last three games. Broonie reckons that Paton was not going to be first choice as striker and this move will be in his best interests and will also realise the potential developement of other youngsters at the club like Cammy Smith, Ryan Fraser and Jordan Brown. Aberdeen have added an old new face to their backroom team in the shape of Jocky Scott. He joins other pensioners Brown and Knox as first team coach, mainly to develop the younger talents. The International break may have been enough time for Niall McGinn and Rory Fallon to recover from knocks, but Gary Naysmith and Rob Milsom are definitely out. Come on Caley Jags fans, let's get behind the team, remember, for better or for worse, that's what you signed on for. It's maybe not quite the US Open final but it's up to us to generate our own atmoshere and lift the gloom. Well done Andy.