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Hat-Trix Alex With a raft of new defenders coming in to the Inverness squad, it was anyones guess which four defenders Big Dunc would select from the eleven he now has at his disposal. He has an easier choice which new striker will be involved and that will be Alex Samuel. Ian Murray has taken Zak Rudden in on loan from Dundee but has lost Jamie Gullan to Dundalk ahead of this one, he of the powerful shot who likes a goal against Inverness. Sam Stanton was missing for Raith. Three debut's were dished out by Dunc. Cammy Kerr, Remi Savage and Jeremiah Chilokoa-Mullen all started as did Alex Samuel with a few big names on the bench. Ewan Murray was the only change for Rovers with Zak Rudden on the bench. All that defenders and we still lose a headed goal from a corner as Jack Hamilton opened the scoring. Alex Samuel levelled five minutes later on the half hour and another five minutes later he put the visitors ahead. Alex completed his hat-trick in nine minutes to put Inverness in the driving seat at the Interval. Lewis Vaughan pulled one back early in the second half but Inverness held on for all three points. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FULL TIME: 2-3 Normal Service Resumed as Alex bags a hat-trick ⚽ ⚽ ⚽ Man of the match Alex Samuel scored a nine minute hat-trick as normal service was resumed at Stark's Park. Will that be another 23 years before Raith beat us again? Mantis was on hand and gave us this round-up: That was sweet. Never in doubt even after going behind. When I saw the orange strips it took me back to November 2001 when we went behind to a Nacho Novo penalty and won 5-1. Sure the last 20 minutes were nervy but that was all in our heads. A lot of that spell was Rovers knocking it about in their own half looking for a gap. The players looked composed and some of the passing was superb. Hamiltons goal was really sloppy on our part with two newbies in the back three so they will need to work on who is picking up at corners. No failures today and we looked physically strong and made Rovers look a shadow of the side which was flying earlier in the season. The double- barrel Jeremiah looked very impressive apart from his blunder which let Vaughan away to score for 3-2, which made the second half a much less comfortable watch. The other three were solid too. Cammy Kerr, Savage and of course Samuel - Machine #2. What a warrior. On another day Billy might have grabbed a fourth but his touch let him down. A bit risky changing defenders late in the game but hey, it made no difference to the result and we got a chance to see Duffy’s haircut. We have lost 10 games and have probably left too much to do for the playoffs but we should be looking up at Dunfermline, Ayr and Airdrie. At least watching ICT isn’t a chore any longer. Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Table after today's games. 1. Dundee Utd 21 13 6 2 43 10 45 2. Raith Rovers 22 13 5 4 40 31 44 3. Partick Thistle 22 10 7 5 43 34 37 4. Morton 21 8 5 8 27 27 29 5. Airdrieonians 21 8 4 9 20 24 28 6. Ayr United 22 7 5 10 29 39 26 7. Dunfermline 20 6 6 8 24 24 24 8. Inverness CT 22 6 6 10 26 27 24 9. Queens Park 21 5 5 11 27 41 20 10. Arbroath 22 5 3 14 23 45 18

They used to be sh!te, but now they're alright Inverness face a treacherous trip to the home of the new, improved version of Raith Rovers. This would have been a game where we might have expected to pick up at least a point over the last twenty odd years. However, they are more resillient of late and testament to that is our two meetings this season when late goals saw Rovers snatch all six points from Inverness who deserved more from both games. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All the ins and outs Match/Ticket Info Scottish Cup v Hibs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 22 14 5 3 41 17 +24 Away 18 9 5 4 34 22 +12 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 40 23 10 7 75 39 +36 Raith broke the mold back in September when they won for the first time in 23 years: Record Breakers Never had there been a better time for Raith Rovers to break the Caley Jags hoodoo! Inverness, without a win in their last eight games, and Billy Dodds and the management team under fire. A 23 year run of games without a win for Raith Rovers was brought to an end today when Jamie Gullan smashed home from 15 yards with five minutes left. It was harsh on Inverness who dominated for long spells earlier in the game, but it leaves the management with some tough decisions to make. There will be dancing on the streets of Raith tonight! 1 - 2 (H) 0 - 1 (A) 2 - 0 (H) 2 - 2 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 2 - 0 (A) 3 - 2 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 0 - 0 (H) 1 - 1 (A) And in December: Just Like Buses None for 23 years then two in a row as Raith came from behind to win with a time added on penalty converted by Jamie Gullan. Billy Mckay had opened the scoring with a header on the hour but a late surge by Rovers won it. Lewis Vaughan four minutes from the end then the penalty to take the win at the death scored by Jamie Gullan. We should have had a penalty of our own after that, but Mr Williams chose to ignore it. We snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, and that one hurt. Championship Points Dundee Utd - 44 Raith Rovers - 44 Partick Thistle -36 Airdrieonians - 27 Morton - 26 Dunfermline - 23 Ayr United - 23 Inverness CT - 21 Queens Park - 20 Arbroath FC - 18 Latest Team News Inverness Last 5 Championship results: D D L W L Big Dunc has been dabbling in the January sales both in and out over the last couple of weeks. Out: Sean Welsh, David Wotherspoon, Cillian Sheridan, Zak Delaney, Harry Hennem (departed), Lewis Hyde, Keith Bray, Ethan Cairns (loaned out) In: Striker Alex Samuel, the rest are all defenders:- James Carracher, Cammy Kerr, Jeremiah Chilokoa-Mullen, Remi Savage Raith Rovers have suffered three defeats on the trot: Airdrie & Queens Park in the Championship and a 2-1 defeat to Livingston in the Scottish Cup last weekend. Zak Rudden, Shaun Byrne and Kyle Turner are new additions in the January sales. Rudden was the latest signing and he will be available for tomorrow. Jamie Gullan has left Rovers to sign for Dundalk. Last 5 Championship results: D D W L L Team v Livi in the Cup last week Dabrowski Millen Brown Dick Connolly Mullin Byrne (Gullan 83) Turner (Easton 67) Smith Hamilton Vaughan Subs Not Used: Thomson; Masson, Hannah, McGill, Corr, McNeil, Murray

Happy Gilmour Inverness met Broomhill FC for the first time ever in the 4th round of the Scottish Cup at a defrosted Caledonian Stadium. We put Cowdenbeath out of the Cup in the last round, but Broomhill have been busier putting Cumbernauld Colts, Beith Juniors, and Cumnock out, scoring three times on each occasion. This week we dipped our toe into the January sales and borrowed striker Alex Samuel from Dingwall yesterday and he started up front with Billy Mckay on the bench. Aaron Doran also got a rare start and Cammy Mackay took the gloves for this one. Captain for the day Charlie Gilmour opened the scoring just on half time with a low strike from the edge of the box as we mounted a bit of a flurry as the interval approached. After the break, Samuel had a penalty saved as Broomhill were reduced to ten but he got his goal after the hour. Adam Brooks curled in a third with twenty minutes left and he added another two minutes from time with a cheeky back heel. Into the fifth round we go. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Image from Caleyjags.com as Duffy deflects Dorans shot. <<< Wallace Duffy had the first effort in the seventh minute but it went narrowly wide as Inverness, predictably dominated the early possession. Duffy had already contributed to an offside goal when he deflected Aaron Doran's shot into the net a minute earlier. However, twenty-five minutes gone and our lack of penetration is a worry as Broomhill saw a bit more of the ball. On the half hour Boyes fed debutant Alex Samuel but his powerful shot cleared the bar. A timely reminder for the hosts saw Darren Miller bring Cammy Mackay into action as he saved Miller's shot from distance. Up the other end and Doran dragged an effort wide after Charlie Gilmour fed him on the edge of the box. Just before the break we had our first attempt on target when Scullion saved from Duffy at the expense of a corner. After the corner Max Anderson brought out another save from Scullion and Samuel's effort on the rebound resulted in another corner with Scullion blocking bravely. From there Gilmour broke the deadlock to put Inverness ahead with a low strike from the edge of the box, only his second goal for the Caley Jags. HALF TIME: 1-0 Five minutes after the break and it all happened. Michael Miller brought down Aaron Doran in the box, penalty given, Miller red carded and then Alex Samuel saw his penalty saved by Scullion. (he was probably feeling low as news filtered through that Partick Thistle were 3-0 up in Dingwall). He would not be denied a debut goal though and on the hour he turned the ball in to put us two ahead. Nikola Ujdur headed wide from a corner as Inverness continued to dominate. Substitute Adam Brook scored a super curling third but Cammy Mackay had to deny Darren Miller at the other end. Brooks scored another two minutes before the end to round off the scoring and put us into the hat for the next round draw. FULL TIME: 4-0 Robert on CTO: We got the job done, which was the main thing seeing what happened in some other games. I thought we started well and were trying to utilise the pace of Samuel, but after the early disallowed goal by Doran, we reverted to slow build up play and taking passes when shots were on for most of the first half. Gilmour’s goal was needed as otherwise the first half would have been one of our worst 45s this season. We showed a bit more urgency at the start of the second half and should have been 2 up with the penalty. I felt the red was a bit harsh but he was wresting with Doran for about 10 yards! Samuel’s kick was saved comfortably but he made amends a short time later with Carragher getting the assist. We failed to capitalise until the late double from Brooks added gloss to the score line. MacKay also pulled off one fine save to maintain the clean sheet. We started as a 3 5 2 with Duffy and Longstaff as wing backs, with all of Anderson, Carson and Gilmour in central midfield. We switched to 4 at the back late on after Ujdur went off, with Longstaff at left back. He did ok, but I felt Duffy was the more dangerous of the wide players. Carson had a quiet first half but made some decent passes after the break. It was good to see Doran and MacGregor get game time, along with Samuel and Brooks being amongst the goals. So job done with a good result after a largely unconvincing performance. Date: 20/01/2024 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 0983 Referee: Craig Napier Inverness CT: 4 Manager: Duncan Ferguson Lineup: C Mackay; Duffy, Ujdur (Thompson 75), Carragher, Boyes, Carson (MacGregor 75), Gilmour, Anderson (Shaw 69), Longstaff, Doran (Brooks 57), Alex Samuel (B Mckay 70) Subs (not used): Ridgers; Davidson, Harper, Devine Scorers: Gilmour (45+1), Samuel (62), Brooks (73, 88) Booked: none Sent Off: none Broomhill FC: 0 Manager: Stephen Swift Lineup: Scullion; McNight, M Miller, Moy (McPhie 70), Ellis, Roberts (Smith 68), Kennedy (O'Donnell 53), Murphy, McCrystal (Higgins 53), Grehan (Hunter 63), D Miller Subs (not used): Barr; Ben Wright, Max Wright, Chalmers Scorers: none Booked: Scullion (20), Grehan (24), McKnight (86) Sent Off: Michael Miller (50) a