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Diamondonians Promoted Airdrie are sitting in fifth place in the table, just below the play-off places with former Caley Jag Nikolay Todorov getting amongst the goals and he will provide a big test for our central defence. We have found Airdrie a difficult proposition at times this season but we did win the last home encounter against them. Our off-field problems are out in the open now after a meeting with fans on Wednesday evening. See the responses below from the CTO forum page 16 onwards. Suffice to say it is worth a lot of money and it does have a massive part to play in the future of our club. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket Info Battery Farm - CTO Topic Chairmans Response after meeting ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 9 5 0 4 14 12 +2 Away 8 2 2 4 9 17 -8 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 17 7 2 8 23 29 -6 Only this season's games are relevant as prior to the 2-3 defeat in the League Cup group stages, our previous game against Airdrie was in 2002 when a Martin Bavidge strike was the only goal of the game. Not only that, it keeps our record thrashing of 0 - 6 out of sight as though it never happened. (just for the record, Owen Coyle scored a hat-trick, Neil McFarlane planted a header behind Nicky Walker, Lee Gardiner drove in from the edge of the box and Paul Armstrong ended the rout five minutes before the end. Gubbed!) This season's Competitive Meetings 0 - 2 (A) 1 - 0 (H) 1 - 2 (A) 2 - 3 (H) Not much success for us this season against the Diamonds although we did win the last home game against them thanks to a superb finish from the long gone Spoony: FULL TIME: 1 - 0. The fabulous execution of his goal was a great introduction for David Wotherspoon but for me the Man of the Match and new version of Bobby Mann was Nikola Ujdur. The Aussie defender is solid, strolled through the game unflustered and can pick a pass. Good graft in midfield but Sheridan and Big Harry need some work done. Shaw picked up a booking at the end when Big Dunc sent him back onto the pitch to get treatment. Last Time Out Inverness extended their unbeaten run to four games (3xD & 1xW) with an excellent result at Cappielow that ended Morton's 14 game Championship undefeated run. Clinical strikes from Billy Mckay, his 110th goal for the club, and a first from Sean McAllister (video below) ensured we grabbed all three points in a crucial game at the bottom end of the table given Arbroath's unexpected win over Raith Rovers the night before. Last Five: L D D D W Airdrieonians played twice this week. A 1-1 draw last Saturday at home to Queens Park was followed in midweek by a stunning 2-0 win at East End Park. Mason Hancock scored the leveler against QP with two former Dunfermline players Nikolay Todorov and Gabby McGill (video below) sinking their old team. Manager Rhys McCabe said on BBC Sport: "We knew coming here it was about playing the percentages really well, doing the basics really well. We never really felt in danger towards the latter stages of the game." Last Five: L L W D W Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Only four games this weekend as Morton are on Scottish Cup duty 1. Dundee Utd 27 16 7 4 51 17 55 2. Raith Rovers 26 15 6 5 46 36 51 3. Partick Thistle 26 10 9 7 51 45 39 4. Morton 27 10 7 10 34 31 37 5. Airdrieonians 26 10 5 11 28 30 35 6. Dunfermline 27 8 8 11 30 36 32 7. Ayr United 27 9 5 13 38 50 32 8. Queens Park 27 8 7 12 39 45 31 9. Inverness CT 27 7 9 11 32 32 30 10. Arbroath 26 6 5 15 28 55 23 SATURDAY 9TH MARCH Dundee Utd v Arbroath fc Inverness CT v Airdrieonians Queen's Park v Partick Thistle Raith Rovers v Dunfermline Latest Team News Inverness beat the injury woes last weekend to take all three points at Morton. New loan signing Samson Lawal from Livingston remained on the bench. We have a number of long term casualties in Charlie Gilmour, Luis Longstaff, Chilokoa-Mullen, Harry Lodovica and Lewis Nicolson. Roddy MacGregor, Nathan Shaw and Morgan Boyes were shorter term injuries. Austin Samuels has yet to be unleashed after his return to the bench and the similarly named Alex Samuel has been through the wars but has continued to feature despite a broken hand and numerous stitches about his body. He's a warrior. A number of players have also been carrying injuries so we will have to wait and see what Big Dunc is saying. Dunc's Update: Sean McAllister out for at least a couple of weeks (thigh). Boyes and Ujdur might make the bench. Dunc's loon (Cameron) might be a signing option👁️. And surprise surprise, even our trialists are picking up knocks aren't they! Airdrie had a good week picking up four points. Calum Gallagher and Nikolay Todorov are their top scorers this season so far with seven goals each. Despite that, they are the lowest scoring side in the Championship with only 28 goals, four less than Inverness. Defences are similar with Airdrie two goals better off although they have played one game less than us. Airdrie team v Pars: Rae Megwa Watson Fordyce Hancock McCabe Telfer Frizzell McStravick (McMaster 72) McGill (Donnell 66) Todorov (Gallagher 72) Subs Not Used: Hutton; Lyall, Dunlop, O'Connor, Taylor-Sinclair

The Chairman of the club Ross Morrison and the Board of Directors would like to invite Caley Thistle fans, shareholders and sponsors to an open meeting regarding the club’s Battery Farm application on this coming Wednesday 6th March 2024 at 7pm in the Highlander Lounge at the Caledonian Stadium. This Open Meeting will be a great opportunity for all fans to voice their concerns and hear straight from the horses mouth what is happening and why??? Be there to keep up to date with the process and why it means so much for our club. Plenty of discussion on CTO regarding this. You can read through the topic HERE LINK to ICTFC STATEMENT The meeting will be lead by Ross with the club’s full board and CEO also in attendance. The meeting will consist of a full presentation from the Chairman giving the latest on the club’s Battery Farm application with an open question and answer session following the presentation for those in attendance.

Billy Answers His Critics On the injury front we go from bad to worse. This time our midfield engine room has been disrupted with Charlie Gilmour out for the season and Nathan Shaw out with a hamstring injury to add to those already on the treatment table. Samson Lawal, on loan from Livi, comes into the squad. Both sides had sparse benches. Morton had doubts ahead of this clash over main striker George Oakley, midfielder Iain Wilson and keeper Ryan Mullen. As it happened, all three missed out as did. Jai Quitongo. With Robbie Muirhead on the park, they would still pose a formidable threat up front and long throw expert Lewis Strapp will provide plenty of ammunition for him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What a start for Inverness and Billy Mckay, who answered his abusers from last week by opening the scoring in the second minute, firing into the top corner after an assist from Cammy Harper. Robbie Muirhead looked to respond but Mark Ridgers was equal to his effort in the fifth minute. Ten minutes before the interval Sean McAllister curled in a low free kick from the edge of the box to double our advantage and open his scoring account at Inverness. Plenty of bookings but no further scoring saw Inverness pick up a vital three points in the relegation battle although we still remain in ninth spot but only two points from Dunfermline in fifth. FULL TIME: 0-2 What a crucial result that is after Arbroath won last night. Only two points separate 5th and 9th. Two excellent goals from Inverness in the first half paved the way for victory to end Morton's tremendous unbeaten run of fourteen Championship games. The hosts had a flurry of activity around our box towards the end of the game with Robbie Muirhead heading just wide and from a corner the ball was headed off a congested line aswel. They also had a goal disallowed in the 90th minute after a scramble in our box. However, Inverness held out for their second consecutive clean sheet to make it four games without defeat to remain seven points above Arbroath. We won didn't we>>> Here's wee Dougie>>> Date: 02/03/2024 Venue: Cappielow Park, Greenock Attendance: 1933 Referee: Graham Grainger Morton: 0 Manager: Dougie Imrie Lineup: MacDonald; French, Baird, O'Connor, Strapp, Crawford, McGrattan (Broadfoot 54), Power (Gillespie 86), Blues, Garrity (Bearne 76), Muirhead Subs (not used): Murdoch; Waters Scorers: none Booked: French (45+1) Power (60), O'Connor (76), Muirhead (88) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 2 Manager: Duncan Ferguson Lineup: Ridgers; Duffy, Carragher, Devine, Savage, McAllister (Brooks 84), Kerr, Anderson, Harper, Alex Samuel (Doran 79), B Mckay (Pepple 69) Subs (not used): C Mackay; Austin Samuels, Lawal Scorers: B Mckay (2), McAllister (34) Booked: Carragher (45), Duffy (45+1), Kerr (48), Savage (88) Sent Off: none a

A visit to the form team Morton host Inverness on Saturday at 3:00pm. They are unbeaten over ninety minutes in their last 17 outings, including a 5-0 pumping of the Pars, a 3-2 win at Tannadice and they also knocked Motherwell out of the Scottish Cup. It wasn't that long ago Morton were below us in the table and now they are in contention for a play-off place at the top end of the table. Us, on the other hand, have slumped to ninth in the table with the distinct possibility of making a play-off place as well. Unfortunately, that's at the relegation end of the table. Arbroath beating Raith Rovers last night shows that anything is possible. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Bus Info Samson Lawal ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue H2H v Morton Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 22 12 6 4 48 20 +28 Away 20 11 3 6 38 26 +12 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 42 23 9 10 86 46 +40 We hold a fair advantage over Morton but most of that will be historical. More recently the pendulum has swung towards the Greenock club although we did take a point from the last encounter with them played at the Caledonian Stadium 0 - 0 Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Morton 0 - 0 (H) 1 - 2 (A) 2 - 1 (A) 2 - 2 (H) 0 - 4 (A) 0 - 1 (H) 1 - 0 (A) 0 - 1 (H) 6 - 1 (A) 1 - 1 (A) Our last meeting at Cappielow ended in a 1 - 2 victory for the hosts. Sloppy Stuff in Greenock: Wallace Duffy missed out with a calf injury with Jake Davidson getting a rare start and the paternal David Carson was still on maternity leave. Good to see Roddy Macgregor was on the bench following another lengthy layoff through injury alongside Sean Welsh and Nathan Shaw. Morton had three players that were on our books recently. Defender Kirk Broadfoot, wide player Stephen Boyd and striker George Oakley. And it was that man Oakley that gave Morton the lead after errors in defence. Jack Baird smashed in a second ten minutes from time. Adam Brooks added a late consolation, but it was too little too late in Greenock as the revolution ground to a halt. Last Week Inverness have failed to beat two of their relegation candidates over the last week. A 1-1 draw at Arbroath, thanks to a late Cammy Harper strike, was followed by a goalless draw at home to Dunfermline in a rather turgid encounter as injuries curtailed the quality of both sides. Last Five: W L D D D Morton have no such issues after 17 unbeaten games. This week saw them gain four points with a win against Airdrie and a draw at Stark's Park against promotion chasing Raith Rovers, where Morton were unlucky not to come away with all three points having created the better chances. Last Five: L L D W .D It's not difficult to spot that none of the Inverness players feature in the top scorers list. However Robbie Muirhead and George Oakley of Morton are included. Ferguson has massive injury problems ahead of this game. The latest disaster has Charlie Gilmour out for the rest of the season. Just what we need with only ten games left to save our season. Nathan Shaw will miss a couple of weeks with a hamstring injury. Max Anderson should return after suspension. Portugese and Czech players on trial this week, we'll see how that goes. In the meantime, the Caley Jags are delighted to announce the signing of midfielder Samson Lawal on loan from Livingston until the end of the season. Lawal, 19 years-old, joined Livingston on a 3-year deal in August 2023 from Nigerian side Katsina United. We've got injuries, haven't we>>> Unbeaten in 17 games, Morton are on a high just now and are looking to get into second place soon. Morton team at Raith Rovers in midweek MacDonald French Baird O'Connor Strapp Power Blues Crawford Wilson (Gillespie 38) Quitongo (Garrity 82) Muirhead Subs Not Used: Murdoch; Bearne, McGrattan, Broadfoot, Waters

Devine intervention after Billy's penalty shocker A hugely depleted Inverness squad were cobbled together to face Dunfermline Athletic in a crucial wrong end of the table clash tonight. We had the possibility of jumping up to fifth had results all gone our way tonight as long as we did our job on the park. A long shot given our home form this season, but nonetheless still a possibility. That never aged well. The table is crying out for a team to go on a good run and challenge those that have had it too easy so far this season. Chris Kane missed out for the visitors which was a bonus for us. Alex Samuel, Billy Mckay and Wallace Duffy all started for Inverness which left us with no midfielders or defenders on the bench. A calm but chilly night greeted the teams at the Caledonian Stadium. It was all downhill after that. From the moment Billy Mckay saw his bland penalty dollied into Mehmet's arms in the first half, this game had 0-0 written all over it. And so it came to pass. It might have been an away win had we not conjured up two incredible goalmouth clearances in the first half. One a brave headed clearance from possibly McAllister that required some smelling salts to get him back on his feet and the second a sublime sliding clearance almost on the line by Danny. A sort of Devine intervention of the highest order after Jakubiak had rounded Ridgers to slot the ball into the seemingly empty net. Enter Danny with impeccable timing to thwart the burly striker. The second half deteriorated into an error ridden farce with neither side capable of stringing two passes together and a no scoring draw was more than the football on display merited. There was a couple of minutes when the ball never touched the ground as it was continuously kicked and headed vertically. Both sets of fans wondering if there were any footballers on the park or was this a new anti sport designed to close football stadiums for good. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Apart from the penalty save, both keepers could have sat in the Innes Bar and had a pint, such was the lack of penalty box entertainment. Wallace Duffy took a nasty injury to his arm but he remained on the park after treatment. However he might be missing next weekend after this. Also struggling at the end was Nathan Shaw who might have a hamstring problem. Unsavoury abuse being thrown around at the stadium towards one of our players' son. Not acceptable in the least. Highlights might be a tad misleading... Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts We've had better seasons... 1. Dundee Utd 25 15 6 4 49 16 51 2. Raith Rovers 25 15 6 4 44 33 51 3. Partick Thistle 25 10 8 7 50 44 38 4. Morton 25 10 7 8 34 28 37 5. Ayr United 26 9 5 12 38 48 32 6. Airdrieonians 24 9 4 11 25 29 31 7. Queens Park 26 8 6 12 38 44 30 8. Dunfermline 25 7 8 10 28 34 29 9. Inverness CT 26 6 9 11 30 32 27 10. Arbroath 25 5 5 15 25 53 20 Date: 27/02/2024 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 1958 Referee: Gavin Duncan Inverness CT: 0 Manager: Duncan Ferguson Lineup: Ridgers; Kerr, Duffy, Carragher, Devine, Savage, Shaw (Doran 78) McAllister, Harper, Alex Samuel, B Mckay (Pepple 90) Subs (not used): C Mackay; Austin Samuels, Brooks Scorers: none Booked: Carragher (60), Devine (88) Sent Off: none Dunfermline Ath: 0 Manager: James McPake Lineup: Mehmet; Edwards, Hamilton, Fagan-Walcott, Todd (Moffat 74), Otoo, McCann (Holmes 28), Summers (O'Halloran 45), Welch-Hayes, Allan (Chalmers 45), Jakubiak, Subs (not used): Little; Sutherland, Fenton, Benjamin Scorers: none Booked: Allan (30), Henderson (66) Sent Off: none a

  Every Point is a Prisoner   Apart from the top three teams, every point gained is crucial in the Championship, especially at the end of the table we find ourselves rooted to. Like us, Dunfermline hit a sticky patch but look to be over the worst and came away from Firhill with all three points on Friday night after nine winless games. We salvaged a draw in stoppage time at Arbroath. No rest for the wicked though, so it's back to action against our fellow strugglers on Tuesday night at 7:45pm. Ferguson has wholesale injuries to contend with for this one. It might be quicker to say who is fit. What could possibly go wrong! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket Info ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue H2H v Pars Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 24 10 9 5 31 22 +9 Away 25 9 11 5 30 27 +3 Neutral 2 0 1 1 3 4 -1 Total 51 19 21 11 64 53 +11 Overall, we have had the beating of Dunfermline over the years since we first crossed swords with them back in August 1999 where our first taste of Championship (Division 1) football ended in a 4-0 defeat at East End Park in front of 4865 fans. You can read the report on that game HERE. Five out of the last ten meetings have ended in draws with two wins apiece. Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Pars 1 - 1 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 2 - 0 (H) 1 - 1 (A) 1 - 2 (H) 0 - 0 (A) 1 - 0 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 1 - 3 (A) 2 - 1 (A)  Our last home win over Dunfermline:  2 - 0 Looking promising...Inverness took a massive step towards a play off place by defeating Dunfermline Athletic for the first time this season. An encouraging but goalless first half where Reece McAlear had hit the post was replaced by a two goal second half with chances at both ends. The deadlock was broken by a man who only scores screamers. Reece McAlear lashed the ball across the keeper and into the top right corner of the goal from a difficult position wide on the inside right area. What a strike that was but it only woke the Pars up from their lethargy and they had three or four great opportunities before substitute Austin Samuels sealed the points after he sprinted on to a through ball from Aaron Doran to slot neatly behind Mehmet in goal. Comfortable thereafter for the remainder of the game and an excellent three points to strengthen our hold on third place with Raith, Arbroath and Partick all dropping points.  Last Time Out A week after we let slip a two goal advantage over Partick Thistle, we salvaged a point at Gayfield with a 94th minute goal from Cammy Harper after loanee Adam Mackinnon had put Arbroath ahead ten minutes from the end. To be honest, we spurned far too many good opportunities, enough to win three games, but credit to the players for snatching a point at the death. Always a difficult venue, made moreso by a lengthy injury list that saw us without around ten players (Longstaff, Mullen, Ujdur, Boyes, Duffy, MacGregor, Lodovica, Nicolson) and a suspended Max Anderson who will miss the Dunfermline game as well. That left us with a sparse bench of only four outfield players, and not all of them were fully fit. Last five Championship games:  L W L D D  Dunfermline threw a relegation spanner in the works last Friday a week after they also drew with Arbroath to complete this wee quadrangle of fixtures. However, they landed us all in the kacke by defrauding Partick 3-1 at Firhill where shockingly poor refereeing decisions affected the result in Dunfermline's favour. Brian Graham should have had a hat-trick but officially is only credited with scoring once. Goals from Walcott, Todd and Benjamin turned this game on it's head, much to the chagrin of bottom clubs Arbroath and Inverness. Last five Championship games: D L L D W  Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Full fixture list on Tuesday night 1. Dundee Utd 24 15 6 3 49 14 51 2. Raith Rovers 24 15 5 4 44 33 50 3. Partick Thistle 24 10 8 6 47 40 38 4. Morton 24 10 6 8 34 28 36 5. Ayr United 25 8 5 12 34 45 29 6. Dunfermline 24 7 7 10 28 34 28 7. Airdrieonians 23 8 4 11 23 29 28 8. Queens Park 25 7 6 12 32 44 27 9. Inverness CT 25 6 8 11 30 32 26 10. Arbroath 24 5 5 14 25 47 20 Tuesday night 27th Feb all at 7:45pm Ayr United v Partick Thistle Dundee United v Airdrieonians Inverness CT v Dunfermline Queen's Park v Arbroath Rovers v Morton Latest Team News Jeremiah Chilokoa-Mullen is out for the season with a stress fracture in his back. We already have long term issues with Longstaff, Lodovica and Nicolson. Added to that list is Ujdur, Boyes, MacGregor, Duffy and now Charlie Gilmour who limped off injured to be substituted after an hour and is out with a knee injury. Alex Samuel managed to play the full game with his hand strapped and also picked up stitches after the tackle from Adam Mackinnon. Nathan Shaw was also a doubt on Saturday but played all 95 minutes as well. The good news is that Max Anderson is not injured. The bad news is that Max Anderson is suspended. Of our injured squad, Wallace Duffy and Alex Samuel look the most likely to make an appearance. Expect a another sparse bench tonight. We're injured, aren't we>>>   The addition of Chris Kane to the Pars squad was a great bit of business for them in the January sales. Here's all of their new additions, all loans: Chris Kane, forward (St Johnstone); Xavier Benjamin, defender (Cardiff City); Malachi Fagan-Walcott, defender (Cardiff City); Brad Holmes, forward (Blackpool). Pars team at Partick on Friday night Mehmet   Benjamin (Welch-Hayes 80)   Hamilton   Fagan-Walcott   Todd (Moffat 67)   Otoo   Allan   Edwards   Holmes (Jakubiak 61)   Kane   McCann   Subs Not Used: Little; Chalmers, Sutherland, Summers,