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Tangerines squash insipid Inverness Dundee United eased past Inverness with a goal on the stroke of half time from Danny Swanson. He capitalised on the frailties of the Inverness defence to drill a ball home after a half clearance from Tokely, and some head tennis from his team mates. Up to this point the game had been memorable for it's lack of adventure from either side. The visitors were always in the game right up to the end when despite a number of forays forward, they could not get the leveller to leapfrog Motherwell into the top-six. Hogg had the best opportunity in the first half for Inverness but keeper Pernis blocked the ball on the line with his legs and in the skirmish that followed the keeper was awarded a free kick for the follow up challenges on him. For United, David Goodwillie made a good turn and run forward but Esson was equal to it and blocked with his legs. The warning was not heeded however as Swanson scored what proved to be the winner as the clock ticked towards half time. Lee Cox had a shot on target in the second period, but overall it was too little too late for Butcher's boys as United gained their fifth win on the trot. 19th March 2011 Tannadice Park, Dundee DUNDEE UTD 1 - Swanson (43) TEAM: Pernis, Dixon, Douglas, Watson, Robertson, Robertson, Swanson, Gomis, Daly, Goodwillie, Russell (Armstrong 84) SUBS: Banks, van der Meulen, Severin, Kovacevic, Allan, Shala Booked: none Sent Off: none ICT 0 - TEAM: Esson, Tokely, Munro, Hogg, Duff, Cox (Gillet 68), Duncan, Hayes, Odhiambo (Doran 77), Foran, Rooney (MacDonald 56) SUBS: Tuffey, Innes, McBain, Sutherland Booked: Tokey (50), Hayes (63) Sent Off: none Referee George Salmond Attendance 6548 The scene was set, plenty of refreshment houses in Dundee for the supporters to sample their aperitif of choice, be it the Snug, Willie Frews or the Centenary on Cleppy road and no shortages of corner shops for the kerry oot. Could Inverness stun their hosts again, in what was arguably our finest ninety minutes this season back in August, every goal a belter? Would we see another Russell Duncan special, he only scores spectacular ones? Or would the malaise that has been lingering around since Xmas time rear it's ugly head to spoil what should be a good day out for the travelling fans, who were moistening their throats and ready to boo David Goodwillie at his every touch of the ball. Bright sunshine was the order of the day as both teams took to the park and a crowd of just over 6500 settled into their seats to watch the afternoons entertainment, using the word loosely. And then the game started.......... Top Six Next Year wanted to know if the tupperware box would make an appearance, theres only one way to find out, read on and all will be revealed by our intrepid reporter....... Inverness would make a couple of changes from the side that tumbled out of the cup on Wednesday night. Nick Ross was missing altogether, apparently unwell, and Shane Sutherland dropped to the bench with Hayes and Odhiambo starting. Kenny Gillet found a place on the bench after a long lay off with knee ligament damage sustained last year against Hibs, and it was good to see him eventually get some game time as a second half substitute, MacDonald and Doran also entering the fray. At last a left back making an appearance for us. United were still without Severin and Kovasevic who were both on the bench and longer term absentees Dods, Kenneth and Conway, while Prince Buaben was suspended. Jon Daly filled the centre back position admirably, maybe a new career beckons for the Irish striker. Davie will take up the story and tell it as it was .......................ooerrr, unfortunately he was seriously ill, he had man flu and was unable to attend the game and visit his mammy, get well soon davie. With the prelude covering the notable events, the only other talking points in the second half came mainly from the Arabs, with David Robertson volleying over after good work from Daly, and the crossbar saving Russell Duncan's blushes after he headed a dangerous Swanson inswinger against his own bar. Hayes had the best opportunity for the visitors other than Coxs' effort that was comfortably saved, when he sliced a shot wide, and at the other end Swanson should have made the keeper work but fired over, as did Johnny Russell. A late flurry from Inverness saw Foran try his luck and Munro head into the arms of Pernis, as I said earlier, too little too late. With our roving reporter out of commission, and the pre-amble pretty much describing the main talking points, I am going to let the fans do the talking, a few unhappy bunnies out there:- Alex Macleod said:- "Just home from what was a pretty rubbish game. The team selection and tactics left a lot to be desired. All in all the game was pretty scrappy. Too many needless stoppages and too many mistakes from both teams. We were lacking in ideas and any attacks we mounted came to nothing. Dundee U were no better but our big problem, and ultimately their goal, came from a failure to clear our box with any authority. We lacked communication and too many times found two or three players staring at a loose ball with nobody acting". gdm was not happy with Eric's contribution along with a few others and he posted:- "Was a poor game overall. Odi was indeed awful, his touch was left In Leicester when he left I think. Again the ball was being hoofed up the park and lost in the last third. I can't help but feel with the squad we have an attacking 5-3-2 formation might be worth a try. I know it prob sounds a bit defensive but counter attack wise it could be great. Maybe I'm just fed up of the recent performances !! Had a fun day footy aside! Roger Kettle, yes, the Roger Kettle has a view from the dark side :- "Having left Inverness-shire for Dundee a long time ago, I kind of have mixed emotions. I became a United fan because of some friends down here and I've been lucky enough to see some great football from the likes of Sturrock, Bannon, Narey etc. Despite that, I have retained my fondness for ICT and have witnessed some truly wonderful performances from them---and a level of football that was a joy to watch. Today was dire. Neither team played well but United were playing their 5th game in 12 days. To their credit, they were also fielding eight Scottish players under the age of 23 which, these days, has to be commended. On today's evidence, the neat football that has been played by ICT over the last few seasons appears to have gone but you guys will know better than me if this is true. There also seemed to be a lack of togetherness. Foran appeared to be mumping about everything and, once again, I have no idea if this is how he always is or if this was just a one-off performance. As I said earlier, not a great game but I was disappointed in the way my old team played". Alternative Maryhill was downbeat, but the one positive was the return of Kenny Gillet :- "Poor game all round. I didn't think Utd were much better than us apart from a spell in the second half when they passed it around quite nicely. Very little happening in front of either goal. It was good to see Hayes back - he looked quite dangerous early on and worked hard throughout - and as gingerjaggy has already mentioned, Richie Foran had a fine game. Rooney wasn't at his best but the decision to take him off on 57 minutes, especially when Odhiambo had been so ineffective, was baffling - it removed any chances we had of holding up the ball up front, and we needed to be able to do that because for most of the second half, it was back to long balls out of defence. One positive was that Kenny Gillet looked very good when he came on: strong and direct. On the other hand, Aaron Doran concerns me a little. Yesterday was the fourth or fifth time I've seen him, and while he clearly has a bit of ability, he looks a bit nervous about getting involved. There was one glaring example of this yesterday when Duff, I think, had the ball in the right back area and was looking for a pass. Doran was in acres of space wide left and would have had a clear run-in on goal, but didn't seem to want the ball. Maybe it's something that will develop with more game time, but I'm not sure if we can afford to give him that: we badly need attacking players who will have a go and in that regard I think I'd rather see Ross or Sutherland in the team. Unless there's a significant improvement against Celtic, Killie and Hearts, I can't see us making top six now, and what began as a very promising season will probably peter out into one that, although decent for a newly-promoted team, will feel rather mediocre". Caley Mad in Berks had to make do with BBC Alba last night and he was not impressed either, and not just because of the Gaelic:- "I watched it late last night on Alba. How sad is that? In the old days we would have said it was a typical mid table end of season game. Nothing to play for. But with top 6 still up for grabs there was a strange lack of urgency about us. Dundee Utd were there for the taking, clearly below par after 5 games in 10 days. But we seemingly could not motivate ourselves to give it a real go. Had this form over last 3 months happened at the beginning of the season I have no doubt that Butcher would have been long gone by now. Our early season good run bought him time, but he badly needs to motivate the team for an end of seson push. Somehow ending up 9th or 10th will seem like a poor season, even though, realistically most of us would have settled for that at day one. Come on lads, give us just a little more to be proud of in the last few games". Gringo_Junior is asking the question most of us want answered:- "For me the biggest question mark - and it gets repeated time and time again - is why we continue to go for the long ball punt and not play it to feet? F-knows how many times this happened, mostly in the second half. Doing that basically took Hayes out of the game, he had made a few decent runs in the first half. It also didnt help Doran when he came on either, and also MacDonald, who struggled to leap highest against their full-backs". Rinomac summed up the fans feelings spot on:- " A draw would probably have been a fair result. Both teams weren't exactly great, not many clear cut chances, pretty poor game. Odhiambo had the touch of an elephant, Rooney was isolated on his own a lot of the time and was left to run after long balls. If he did somehow manage to get to them, there was nobody in sight to help him. Bizarre decision to take him off - I would have gone with two up front as we were one goal down so where was the harm in going for it? Some baffling decisions by the referee but that doesn't mean we would have won if he had made the correct decisions. Gillet looked good when he came on. Since both he and Shinnie have been out, we have really been lacking a left back. Munro hasn't been bad in that position, he just doesn't offer us as much going forward as these two do. I really think that we should be playing with two up front. We played much better in the games where we moved Foran up top with Rooney. We are chasing a place in the Top 6, we need to go out and try to win games. Since this is not happening with our current tactics, and has not been happening for quite some time, it's time to try something else". ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I took a bit of a liberty lifting some of the comments from the forums, but with our reporter unable to attend I hope nobody has any objections to me using their words. It's always good to get different perspectives on how the team performed, but it looks like we are unanimous in our thoughts and are finding our recent form a bit hard to understand. On the brighter side; I never knew we had so many scribes in our midst. Thanks everybody. No game next week, but Celtic are up North in two weeks time, enjoy the break.

Tangerine Dream for Inverness. No let up for Butcher's boys this weekend as the battle for top six intensifies. The dream of staying in the top six is fading for Inverness while United have gone on to greater things, a far cry from the first meeting this season when the Tangerines were crushed on their own turf by the newly promoted Caley Jags. Four superb goals at Tannadice gave notice to the SPL clubs that the boys were back in town, but more recently we have slipped a little and now find ourselves just out of the elite group, with United up to fourth and still with a game in hand on most teams. Both clubs played in midweek and United certainly had the better fortune. Inverness battled hard in their Scottish Cup quarter final and ran Celtic close before bowing out of the national competition after a 2-1 defeat in the Highlands. It could have been a different outcome had the Inverness defence not hit the pause button to allow Joe Ledley to score both Celtic goals, and once again the makeshift defence has let the side down. Rooney buried a penalty to open the scoring but Ledley levelled within a couple of minutes before nodding home unchallenged in the second half. Nevertheless, Inverness gave an encouraging performance, much better than the recent dirge dished out against the Arabs. United climbed to fourth in the SPL with a 2-0 victory at a foggy Tannadice, courtesy of a late Johnny Russell brace. Peter Houston's side are on a decent run just now, with four straight SPL wins including that 2-0 win in Inverness at the beginning of March, as they play catch up. United are, in fact, unbeaten in seven games, including their 2-2 draw with Motherwell in the Scottish Cup. Sutton had scored twice for the Steelmen, but United levelled with goals from Goodwillie and Daly. Goodwillie's goal was a spectacular overhead kick, eat your heart out Wayne Rooney. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ davie goes back a long way, and he recalls some stories from deep inside his memory bank. 1001 Arabian nights My first memory of a football match was in the enclosure at Tannadice with my grandad in 1966. The ball was hoofed into touch near us, and I threw it back to the United No.7 who gave me a broad grin and a wink. His name was Lennart Wing, and he sold me on fitba. My granda told me then that the game “wisnae the same as it used to be” and never figured out that my interest in it would continue unabated to this day past Willie Pettigrew’s sideburns, proper shorts and 80’s casuals. But I’m getting ahead of myself here. I could just as easily be telling you that I was a Hibs fan, that’s what United were christened in 1909. There was, after all, a place in Dundee called Tipperary at that time so the Erse were not uncommon. Green & white leapt into a rebranding in 1924 and Dundee United were conceived wearing black & white, their “proper” colours. This lasted until 1969, when they played Dallas Tornado on an American tour and the manager’s wife thought their shirts looked “awfy braw” They were tangerine. No replica shirts in those days, I remember pestering my mum for an orange t-shirt that was never off my back. It could have been worse, just ask Heilan Dee. Nae Alan Gilzean for me. The late 70’s and early 80’s were prime time but always pursued with less of a demented vigour than the other half of the “new firm.” I guess that’s why United don’t seem crushed by their history in the same way as Aberdeen. 1982-3 saw a league win clinched in, of all places, Dens Park. It was like finding a £50 note in the cludgie! 1987 saw a UEFA cup final appearance in a heartrending/ hilarious year when United fell at the final hurdle in every competition they entered. If they were a horse, someone would have shot them. That team, however, gave me my first ever holiday away with my mates to Barcelona. A week of alcohol intake reaching self-harm proportions culminated in a win in the Camp Nou. Even through the vodka, we knew it mattered. I fell off a flagpole in a wee town called Blanes. I still have the scars. All this good time stuff was challenged only slightly by Jim MacLean, possibly the grumpiest wee man who ever lived. I remember him threatening to punch Hamish MacAlpine at a Forfarshire Cup game at Arbroath for swinging on the crossbar. No such thing as a dead rubber for Jim. United’s inevitable slide back to the middling girth of Scottish football was always enlivened by the nuggets that they unearthed; Duncan Ferguson, aka Duncan disorderly, Ivan Golac the dysfunctional Serbian hippy, Andy Gray sexist pundit etc. The best however was Sẽnor Walter Rojas and his story is thus. Jim McLean had been sent videos of a striker playing in the Argentine leagues, whose club was looking to cash in. United decided to take a chance on the guy, only when it came to the negotiations the player didn’t fancy a move to Dundee and was going to hang around in Buenos Aires. Undeterred, his agent said he had another player just as good who did fancy a crack at the sub arctic industrial wasteland. United took a chance there and then and signed Rojas without looking at him. He fetched up and trained, looked awful, complained of the weather, food, local talent etc. and generally got on McLean’s wick. He lasted less than a month and was sent back to Argentina. He was a footballer apparently, but there is a persistently credible rumour that he was actually a basketball player. Only in the land of the Beano. In the eighties, United won something; the cup, defeating Rangers 1-0. That day saw the elevation to near sainthood of one Craig Brewster. Erudite, intelligent and resourceful he seemed to have all the attributes of the successful manager in the making. It all went to pot after that, getting better only last year when they won the cup. Again. So we fetch up here at Arabia today, scene of our generally acknowledged best display of the season, cracking goals, the lot. Kevin McCann’s gone, but the rest remain, and are on a bit of form after disposing of Motherwell in an easy-peasy-japanesey style. United are also playing well and these matches have a history of being close. After Wednesday night’s loss to Celtic, we might be a bit down but there is the real consolation that Hayes and Doran are back and will offer a better counter to Conway and Swanson than that displayed in the last game. More of the same from the rest of the troops should reap dividends, United will be cock-a-hoop at beating the Jam Tarts 2-0 the same night, a result that consolidates their 4th position and gives them serious designs on 3rd. I don’t think we should underestimate them; Goodwillie is still on a high after that goal, several are called up to Levein's sacrificial squad to play Brazil and even the returning Kovacevic has got up to speed. All 94 mph of it, apparently. There are, after a trawl of the meedja, no indications of further injury, plague or scurvy amongst either sides troops although United must be getting a bit knackered by now. Life, as Ronan Keating would say, is a rollercoaster, and a downward swing is in order. Prediction; a sneaky but satisfying 1-0 win for the Caley Jags. Latest team news:- As you were for Inverness. Sanchez, Proctor, Gillet and Shinnie all sidelined but Doran and Hayes showed no ill effects after their substitutes appearance in midweek. The Tangerines have Scott Severin on the verge of a long awaited comeback. Peter Houston is also suffering some long term absentee's, notably Garry Kenneth, Craig Conway and Darren Dods, while Prince Buaben is suspended.

ICT v Hideous Green Orc Army Celtic squeezed past Inverness to earn a semi-final spot against Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup. Adam Rooney converted a penalty just before half time but Joe Ledley capitalised on some hesitant defending in first half stoppage time to level the scores. In the second half Shane Sutherland was unfortunate with a sweetly struck drive which Forster turned away but Inverness were caught out from a dead ball situation as one of the smallest players on the park nodded the ball home unchallenged, without having to get off the grass, soft goal to lose and that left Inverness with a mountain to climb, one which they fell just short of reaching the summit, good effort though. A serious of baffling decisions from Mike Tumilty incensed the home fans more than the away support and Terry Butcher vented his displeasure at the officials inability to officiate in the true spirit of the game, with the home support chanting for the foreign officials to be returned to Scottish Football, here here. Inverness started this cup tie with Ryan Esson restored to the starting eleven for his first Scottish Cup game this season, but there were no places for flying wingers Jonny Hayes or Aaron Doran. A back four of Duff, Tokely, Hogg and Munro were to be put on overtime and Duncan and Cox supported them from defensive midfield. Sutherland retained his place after his spectacular goal against Motherwell with Ross and Foran joining him across the middle offensive positions and Rooney being the loner up front. Hayes and Doran were introduced after the horse had bolted and made little impact as Celtic closed out the tie. 16th March 2011 Tulloch Caledonian Stadium INVERNESS CT 1 - Rooney (pen 44) TEAM: Esson, Tokely, Munro, Hogg, Duff, Cox, Duncan, Ross (Doran 84), Foran, Rooney, Sutherland (Hayes 73) SUBS: Tuffey, Innes, MacDonald Booked: Duff (68) Sent Off: none CELTIC 2 - Ledley (45), Ledley (68) TEAM: Forster, Izaguirre, Juarez, Mulgrew, Loovens, Ledley, Ki Sung-Yeung, Baram Kayal, Samaras, Commons (Forrest 65), Hooper SUBS: Zaluska, Rogne, McCourt, Stokes Booked: none Sent Off: none Referee Mike Tumilty Attendance 6064 Celtic had Forster in goal, and Mulgrew and Izaguirre at full back, with Loovens covering for the injured Majstorovic. The rest of the team seemed to be playing as strikers as they flooded forward at every opportunity, with Izaguirre darting down the flank like an Olympic sprinter. Stuart Duff will be having recurring nightmares about this fellow as he tore him a new one time and time again through no fault of his own, other than being asked to play at right back. Tough task Stuart, you're on your own there mate. Hapless ref Mike Tumilty, (I think that's the right word), seemed keen to endear himself to one of the ruling bodies of Scottish Football by awarding the visitors a series of free kicks, but strangely enough, the home side were not afforded the same luxury. Hold on a minute, I hear you say, we did get a penalty; but he found that difficult to judge until the far side linesman helped him out. Still, no sour grapes from me, Celtic did their talking on the pitch tonight and looked a quality side and edged out their Highland counterparts, just. Our sheer endeavour was not quite enough to pull us into the semi-finals although it could have been different had Forster not made a tremendous save from Shane, seeking his second goal in as many games. Alas, despite the best efforts of the God's to ensure a safe passage into the semi's, there was to be no repeat of the supercaley signature headline or the Wyness inspired victory of three years later. Maybe Jupiter was not quite lined up with Mars after all. Not even Richie Foran could prevent Celtic waking up to a St Paddy's day rush after giving his all in defence and attack. For him and the rest of the shamrock contingent at Inverness, it's a St Patrick's day hangover. Did someone kill a robin redbreast? And four leafed clovers are not for me, not even a kiss of the blarney stone, anyway, superstitions, who'd have them. Now then, where's my leprechaun gone. Davie will tell us what happened in more detail after he gets the lights on his bike sorted ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Looks like he managed to get home in the dark after all and here is his report Deadly Ledley Kills Off Thistle Sunday’s horizontal rain and howling gale was replaced last night by an altogether more benign TCS that welcomed Celtic in the Cup Quarter Final. We also welcomed the green and white hordes that follow them, singing tales of rebellion, an infallible man and dead heroes. All very west coast. The respective line ups looked up for the fight from the off, but there was a residual fear of the pace of Izaguirre and Commons that might overwhelm what is still a makeshift back line. Cox versus Kayal in midfield looked tasty and so it proved. The game started at a fair rate of knots (unsurprising for a cup tie) and without either manager anywhere near a dug out. There were so many paparazzi snapping Lennon in the stand, I thought Jordan had turned up. Maybe it was Terry they were after. Once attention was focussed on the game, however, a contest was brewing. Celtic, as anticipated, played the neater football but early chances were squandered (by Loovens) and defended well (from Commons, Samaras and Izaguirre) before a heartstoppingly brilliant chance for Foran was manufactured in 25 minutes by Shane Sutherland. Don’t know how you missed that one Richie. That Celtic were limited in clear chances thus far was in no small measure due to the midfield, Russell Duncan in particular who harried, chased and snapped into tackles. The louche Samaras - Captain - headed a good chance into Esson’s arms after Ledley crossed. In between all of this, Foran had hoofed a clearance off the line, and the Glasgow side were menacing. All, however, changed in 44 minutes, just as tea and a chat with big Terry loomed. The aforementioned Foran connected with a Duncan lobbed pass shortly before Loovens connected with him, and Mr Tumilty pointed to the spot after being told not to be a softie by the far side Linesman. I hope they got their stories right, Jordan must have been going ballistic. ROONEY smacked the ball past Forster for a hardly creditable 1-0, and a handy half time lead. Nice. Celtic then did what Celtic do and pressed savagely, but there was a couple of minutes to resist and surely ICT would manage that? Answer negative, as LEDLEY collected in the box from the seriously rapid Izaguirre, birled and whacked an effort past Ryan Esson. Cue crushing disappointment from ¾’s of the ground, an infernal racket from the rest and a real sense of the continuing fragility of this back four. Half Time:- ICT 1 Celtic 1 Half time was spent dissecting all of two minutes of the first period over a Bovril. Should Loovens have been sent off? Could Granty have caught yon speeding Honduran? In any event, Inverness seemed fired by the equaliser, and Ross and Sutherland came more into the game. No doubt Ross will again be criticised for his lack of physical presence, but his change of pace and direct running are worth more than the occasional outmuscling. If only he could finish, he'd be worth a fortune. Sutherland, on the other hand is a pocket battleship who is coming on to some real form, illustrated by his latching on to a Hogg free kick in 51 minutes that he lashed at Forster’s left corner. Justice was only partially done by the brilliance of the diving save, but the strike deserved a goal. Pressure was building, as evidenced by Forster and the mulish Mulgrew getting in a tangle with Foran loitering with intent. Pressure wasn't getting converted into chances, and how much we would regret that was shown by Izaguerre selling Mr Tumilty a quite beautiful dive, which resulted in a free kick out left for Celtic. The world’s tallest South Korean took the freeby that was met in splendid isolation by LEDLEY, who powered a header past an incandescent Esson. A collective nap resulted in marking being conspicuous by its complete and utter absence. Nicky Ross then scorned a great chance to equalise that pinged wide and in 72 minutes Hayes replaced the manful Sutherland. There is always hope where Jonny is concerned, but in truth his lack of games showed last night but he was honoured by the mob handed marking. Doran was less rusty, and there is promise in this line up. In truth, after Celtic's second the game was over bar the shouting and Esson’s customary world class save (from Ledley – again) and clawing back the deficit looked beyond us. Full time:- Inverness 1 Celtic 2 Who gave Grant Munro MotM? Russell Duncan got this one by a distance from Foran, closely followed by Sutherland and others. I felt genuinely sorry for the absent Tuffey, and wonder how long he can put up with constantly being second in line; it's that prince Andrew feeling. If you read the west coast press (not advisable) today, Celtic were sloppy and poor and that is why the scoreline was what it was. Rubbish, the game was closer than they will ever let on and TB was right – we deserved more out of the game. The ref was a bit of a mystery last night, allowing challenges that were “robust” in some instances and penalising the slightest contact in others. His rule book is a strange one. Roll on Saturday in Arabia. Cheers davie, how's the bike?