tm4tj

Ton Up for Cup visit. ***Game On*** Scottish Cup 5th round action this weekend as Inverness play host to Greenock Morton. Inverness left it late in the last round before seeing off a stubborn Elgin City with two goals after the ninety minutes had passed. Dani Sanchez and Adam Rooney were the late scorers in time added on, and that saw Inverness progress to this stage of the national competition. That victory was a break from the rigours of the SPL for an Inverness side without a home league victory since struggling Hibs came calling in November. Inverness have asked for a pitch inspection at 08:00 on Saturday morning ahead of this game as the weather has been unrelenting since the postponement of the Dundee United game in midweek. An early inspection should save most fans from making unnecessary journeys if game should be called off. Inspection carried out this morning and it is game on. Well done to Tommy and his team who have worked extremely hard to get the pitch ready for this game. Morton forced their way into the fifth round at the second time of asking by defeating Airdrie United 2-5 at the Shyberry Excelsior Stadium, the first match in Greenock ending in a 2-2 draw. Morton came back from the dead in the first game after Airdrie had stormed into a two goal lead just after half time. Brian Graham quickly reduced the deficit and a couple of minutes later the Ton were reduced to ten men with Marc Smyth being sent off. However, Morton stunned Airdrie ten minutes later with an equaliser from Stewart Kean. In the replay in Airdrie, Morton went nap, ending Airdrie's interest in the competition with a comprehensive 2-5 cuffing. Morton had raced into a 0-4 lead before eventually securing their trip North. Alan Jenkins scored a double to add to goals from O'brien, Graham and a Monti penalty. In the previous round, Morton eased past Dumbarton 1-2 after coming from behind. A brace from Brian Graham being enough to win this tie. Morton also finished this game with ten men, so beware if the ref flashes his red card in their direction. In our last season in the first division, we managed to beat Morton in all four games. Three of these games were won in convincing style, but last March, we huffed and puffed our way to a single goal victory over the Ton. The scorer on that occasion was none other than Nick Ross, who has since come on in leaps and bounds, but strangely enough that has been his only goal for Inverness. Inverness scored ten goals against Morton last season and conceded only one, that coming in a 4-1 defeat at Tulloch Caledonian Stadium in October. Another odd statistic is that in November 1999, Morton thumped Inverness 5-1 at Cappielow on a friday night, but only two months later Inverness went one better up North and hammered Morton 6-2, these games being the two highest aggregate scores between the two clubs. Morton will field former Caley Thistle favourite Stuart McCaffrey in the heart of their defence. Caff played over 160 games for ICT and won promotion with us the first time round. On leaving Inverness, he has played at St Johnstone before signing on at Cappielow in July 2010 on a free transfer after a season plagued with injuries at Perth. Stuart's finest moment in the Scottish Cup came on a certain February evening at Parkhead, when supercaleywentballistic, great memories for a great servant at Inverness. Another man familiar with this area is keeper Colin Stewart, who tried to keep the ball out of the County net for a while. No easy task. The Ton are on a bit of a roll at the moment, with Dundee being the only team to beat them in the last nine games. Last weekend they beat local side Ross County 2-1 after going behind before half time. Draws with Raith and Partick and a win over the Pars mean that Morton will be no push-overs in this game, and are not afraid to have a go after losing the first goal. Given Inverness' poor home record, then Morton fans have every right to feel confident of at least taking this tie back to Greenock to settle it, especially as Jonny Hayes looks like missing this one. With the midweek SPL game against Dundee United called off two and a half hours before kick off, it begs the question how well will the pitch stand up to the horrendous weather thrown at it in the last twenty four hours? Let's hope that a decision will be made long before any travelling fans require to leave for the game. It's not a common feature of football in Inverness being called off due to the condition of the pitch, but since the SPL criteria of insisting that we installed undersoil heating, the spiking of the surface to enhance the drainage has been less efficient due to the depth of the heating system, thus making it more prone to surface water. Award winning groundsman, Tommy Cumming, will no doubt do his best to keep the games coming, but sometimes the winter weather can be too harsh, even for Tommy. Ginger Jaggy has also put together a brief preview for this cup game, it just goes to show that great minds do think alike. On Saturday (Weather permitting ha-ha) we welcome 1st division outfit Greenock Morton to the Caledonian Stadium for a place in the quarter final of Scottish Cup. This year's cup competition looks like it will be as wide open as it was last season with a guaranteed elimination of one of the Old Firm in Sunday's clash at Ibrox. This could be our year to make a charge to Hampden. The dream of returning to Hampden after our last appearance in 2004 against Dunfermline at the semi stage is still a little way in the horizon as we first must defeat Morton and then win a potential quarter final. Bit of Information on our opponents Greenock Morton survived in the first division last year as we went on to become champions and promoted to where we are now. Morton has been in decent form of late and is in a comfortable mid table position. They recently beat our highland neighbours Ross county at Cappielow coming from behind to win 2-1 last weekend. They have only suffered one defeat in their last six matches in the league losing 1-0 at home to Dundee. They have had some impressive results in that period taking points off league leaders Raith Rovers away and Dunfermline at home. But this recent good run of form has stretched back from the tail end of November with a lot of scheduled games being hit by the winter weather through the Christmas and New Year period. Looking at their squad they have a few experienced players who have been around the Scottish circuit. One name that jumps out is defender Stuart McCaffrey who was a pivotal member of our first title winning team way back in 2004. The defender made over 150 appearances for us winning a 1stdivision medal and a Challenge Cup medal in six brilliant years with the club. Other names in the squad include Darren Young who made his name at Aberdeen and Dunfermline even though his career has been plagued by injury. Cup Form The boys have not won in ten competitive league matches but we did manage to win our Scottish cup 4th round tie against neighbours Elgin City at home in that time; even if only just. In a cup tie that we were clear favourites against our part time rivals we only just snuck through in the final minutes after being given a few scares. Elgin managed to create a few decent chances and almost won the tie outright missing a near open goal. It was forgotten man Dani Sanchez who scored a cracking volley when time had moved into injury time. Thankfully that goal gave Dani his chance to play in the SPL as many fans had been calling for. Elgin, heartbroken then conceded a second from Adam Rooney and we moved into this round even if not as comfortable as some fans had thought. Morton entered the cup in the round earlier than us winning 2-1 away from home at 2nd division club Dumbarton. In the 4th round they entertained another 2nddivision club Airdrie United. The original tie had been postponed due to the weather. The game was rearranged for the 18thof February the date of terry Butcher's priceless rant at the SPL. The game ended 2-2 with Caithness born Gary McKay Steven getting on the score line for the Diamonds. 2-2 was actually a decent result for Morton who were 2-0 down at home and facing elimination. The replay a week later at the impressive Excelsior Stadium saw Morton run out comfortable winners, winning 5-2. Gingerjaggy cup prediction It has been a hard time for all our supporters. We have been on a very poor run since the euphoria of our away run in 2010. No win in 10 has only been bettered by Hibs and Hamilton who are at the bottom of the league. But I think we have reached the light at the end of the tunnel. The window is shut now and Rooney can now concentrate on getting back to the form that earned him so much coverage. The two new lads look like they will add a bit of strength to a small squad and our last performance against Aberdeen was very good even with the one man disadvantage we faced for a long period of the match. There is a very good chance that we can produce a decent cup run and find ourselves at Hampden for at least a semi final if the draw is kind to us. Morton though cannot be underestimated and I don't think we will, like we did a few years ago, where we let home advantage slip by only drawing 1-1 at home to Partick and then losing the replay on pens. Terry will want to win as many games to gain some momentum as we push for the top six and a good cup run will do no harm. I am saying that we will win this one 2-0 with a good performance to add. ***Latest Team News*** Inverness have another late withdrawal to add to the list of Hayes, Gillet, Morrison and veteran Roy McBain. Under 21 prospect Nick Ross has an ankle knock and will miss this game along with the u21 camp next week. Opportunities abound for the January signings to stake a claim for SPL starts, with Hogg, Doran and Macdonald raring to go. Lee Cox is also ready for battle, and Jonny Tuffey may get the obligatory call to play in goals in the cup games. Grant Munro is suspended after his red card against Aberdeen, but Ross Tokely will not begin his suspension until possibly the St Mirren game. Morton are not forthcoming with much team news yet, but their last squad for the Ross County game was as follows :- Stewart, MacGregor, Smyth, McCaffrey, McKinlay, Kean, Jenkins, Tidser, O'Brien (Monti 60), Lyle (Holmes 87), Graham (Weatherson 57). Subs Not Used: Cuthbert, Bachirou. Darren Young is trying desperately to be ready for this cup game after seven weeks out with an achilles problem, picked up in a bounce game against Rangers. Peter Weatherson is still a couple of weeks away from full fitness, although he can contribute greatly from the bench. He has featured in the last four matches, most notably scoring an equaliser against Raith with a free kick. Derek Lyle who joined from Hamilton last month will be one to watch, having scored twice in the last two games for the Cappielow side.

********GAME OFF******** Davie is a poet, and he didnae know it. But McGonagall had the last laugh. Ach Davie, it's anither disaster Ye couldnae write it ony faster It looks as though yer prose' is in vain An all because oh this feckin rain But ne'er mind it saves ye's losin Cos the Arabs wid hae gein ye a doin Tae the teuchters and all the Irish too Eh think we'd hae triumphed, 1 tae 2 But next time I'm up a'm goin tae see The North's finest poet, it's HeilanDee It's just such a pity his team were deducted Twenty five points, it's what was instructed Dundee United are next up for Inverness this Wednesday evening with a 19:45 kick off. United have closed the gap on Inverness with only goal difference separating the sides on 29 points, although United have four games in hand over the men from the North. With no wins in ten now for Inverness, only Hibs and Hamilton can beat that, and that is the reason that they are at the foot of the table. United saw off the city slackers on Sunday with a crushing 3-0 win over Calderwood's hapless Hibees. Goals from Daly, Conway and Russell cofined Hibs to their fifth straight defeat and 634 minutes without scoring a goal. Playing only one game in December due to the wonderful Scottish weather, United are now left with a bit of catch up to do. They have played less games than everyone else but now find themselves in the top six after their unbeaten run has seen them crawl in behind ICT. United's recent form is almost the reverse of ICT's run. Nine games without defeat in the SPL for the Arab's, add to that two cup games against our old feeder team from the quaint market town of Dingwall and you have a team on the up after a slow start to the season. Our excellent early season form saw us fly out of the blocks to thump United in the second game of the season. A resounding 0-4 scoreline gave us hope of bettering our best ever finish in the SPL, but recent events have seen us slump badly and our faint hopes of a top six place look to be under threat from all quarters, Hibs and Hamilton excepted. With the transfer window open, Terry Butcher has brought in a few new faces. Aaron Doran being the first and he made a substitutes appearance against the Dons last week, but the game was lost by then. Former Hibs captain Chris Hogg has signed on at Inverness until the end of the season and will be required to help out at the back with suspensions looming for red carded Grant Munro, and Ross Tokely who's accumulated points tally will see him miss some action soon. Nineteen year old Alex Macdonald has signed on loan from Burnley for the remainder of this season. He is already a Scotland u21 player with an eye for goal. Head to Head :- These two clubs have met nineteen times in the SPL. Of the nine games played in Inverness, the home side have only won twice with United winning three. There has also been two cup games in the Highlands and ICT won both. In terms of goals scored during the SPL encounters in the Sneck, the overall aggregate for these would be ICT 6-10 United. Only one no scoring draw would indicate that goals might be on order for Wednesday's game, and the highest tally in Inverness was a 1-3 victory for United on the 6th December 2008. The overall picture is brighter for Inverness who lead the scoring at Tannadice by 16 goals to 13, with three wins apiece, the highest aggregate being a 2-4 win in what was Brewster's first game as Arabs manager against Charlie Christie's men; sweet. The most goals scored in one game belongs to Inverness with 4, twice at Tannadice. However, this is a home game for Butcher's lads and with goals at a premium in this particular home fixture, and given our recent scoring drought it looks to favour an away win in a tight game. A one time Arab in a previous life, CTO's very own davie found himself drawn into a war of words with a certain Mr McGonagall, a rather curious old fellow, a weaver, actor and infamous wordsmith. Like davie, McGonagall was misunderstood and his grasp of the English language left a lot to be desired, but it has withstood the test of time, and this preview is in honour of the bad Bard of Dundee, unlike davie, who was bad and barred from Dundee. In amongst this conversation, there is a preview, obscured by words, but trust me, read on, it's in there somewhere. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- William Topaz McGonagall sometime resided at Hawkhill Dundee in a ground floor tenement flat. It’s on the left as you go through the close, has high Victorian ceilings and not a bad line in cornice detail considering that this is Dundee and just along the road from the Tay Brig Bar. I noticed the cornices when I used to lie in my bed, musing on things. I lived in the same house, about 100 years after he did. “Nice hoose ye had here Willie” “Sir William to you boy, it wisnae so nice wi fourteen bairns and a wife and what do you want anyway?” “I know you’ve been deid for ages and all that, but what’s your favourite Dundonian thing if you don’t mind me asking?” “Fitba laddie, fitba. Ii’s the future and I’ve seen it from up here. The crowds, the noise and the good stewards, especially the ones at Tannadice. Nae publicans to throw peas at ye there. Grand.” “Don’t tell me yer a dark blue are ye? Publicans are always throwing things at them.” “Arab, you daft boy, through and through. I’m looking forward to meeting Jim MacLean soon, it must be near that time. He’s only lasted so long because he’s TT like me. I talk to Eddie Thompson a’ the time, he just wants another fight wi wee Jim. It should be fun; I think I might put it to verse” “Why an Arab, Sir Willie?” I ignored the offer of verse. “Do you know nothing boy? They used to be Dundee hibs, formed by Irish Labourers from Tipperary (“the tip” - part of Dundee, not great) and with a name like McGonagall, who else could I go for? Anyway, I like tangerine and they beat that Edinburgh hibs on sunday.” “What do you think of United just now?” “Ach, no bad. A bit like myself – never quite achieved the dizzy heights their undoubted talents merited, I could write about them so I could. But they’re getting there – they beat Ross County again you know and they have Irishmen playing for them” “So do we” “We?” “Inverness, Caleyjags and all that. You wrote about it once, and thanks for the County thing. Stayed in the Gellions if I remember, after some gig. You said at the time: Oh, magnificent city of Inverness, And your beautiful river, I must confess, With its lovely scenery on each side, Would be good for one's health there to reside¹. He looked shocked. "Surely there are no highlnders who could hold a candle to our Scots and Irishmen?" Little did he know. “Our Irishmen could beat yours you know” I said, sneaking in a challenge before he could recite the rest of that god awful poem. Whilst he spluttered away "You have Irishmen, how?" I told him: “Rooney is still here by some miracle and he can gub Garry Kenneth any day and wee Jonny looks like he could give Conway a run for his money. Richie Foran’s not quite firing on all cylinders but he’s good for this type of game and the new boy looks alright. Your full backs are toast.” His hand went up like a linesman’s flag: “Just let me write this son; the muse has got me! Rooney and Foran, Jonny and Doran, All in a line they are running and roamin’ Their skill is a dazzling, their strength is immense, All the way from Dublin to dear Inverness” Aye, right, I searched for anything to put him off, but couldn't figure how you put off a dead guy. “Willie, remember the last time we played you, what was the score?” We left it there, before my ears started to bleed and he tried to rhyme something with Goodwillie but he was in some ways right. It’s a strong spine to a team that has to come right soon even without Munro and Tokely. Proctor should get a chance to shine against his former employers and Lee Cox or Russell Duncan might come into contention to add bite. Our additional new boy MacDonald may feature at some point, especially if Adam escapes before the window shuts, that way he can get to know his fellow under 21 internationals Shinnie & Ross. Well done lads. United have no injury, suspension or selection worries betrayed by their website. In fact, their website betrays precious little. A long, long overdue home win please, cheers Willie. ¹ He actually wrote this! The heather blend club banquet, 1894. ---------------------------------------------------------- Thanks davie, I think I'll get Heilan Dee in to interpret this one. Maybe you could get him to write a song for us. tm4tj Prediction :- We are hoping that the Tay Bridge Disaster will turn into the Kessock Bridge Disaster for United, and Inverness can bury this dismal run of form, but I don't see anything to suggest that we are on the up. A better performance against the Dons left a bitter sweet taste in the mouth, with Munro red carded and Hayes injured again. On the sweet side, Rooney looked alert and was unlucky not to notch a goal or two, and Ryan Esson continues to perform heroics in goal. We may have to endure a share of the spoils, and it could all depend on Hayes, or no Hayes, that is the question. ***Latest Team News*** Inverness have held onto Adam Rooney through the transfer window, but with him being out of contract in the summer, he would be free to sign a pre-contract with any club. So three in, nobody out. Grant Munro is suspended after his curious red card against Aberdeen where Chris Maguire did his best to attract the ref's attention after some arm wrestling allegedly. Russell Duncan may be recalled with Duff surely filling the right back slot. This would leave Grant's space to be filled by either a semi-fit Hogg, or Innes, who has not endeared himself to the Caley Jags fans with some cumbersome performances. One other option would be to fit David Proctor along the back four somewhere. Plenty options now from midfield forward, with Doran, Macdonald, Eric, Dani, Sutherland, Ross, Foran and Hayes (if fit) all fighting over three or four places. Jonny Hayes looks like missing this one with the ankle knock sustained in the Aberdeen game. Dundee United have signed Timothy van der Meulen for the remainder of this season, providing international clearance is OK, he could be handed a place in the squad. He is a 20 year old defender who joins from Ajax, and is seen as a future prospect by Peter Houston. Danny Cadamarteri had left Tannadice by "mutual consent" after 18 months. Darren Dods, (machine), Paul Dixon and Scott Severin are all out, and Morgaro Gomis is rated as doubtful, which will make it a similar squad to the one that eased past Hibs at the weekend. As davie reported above, no new injury news from Tannadice, and we expect the same squad to face Inverness.