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Matchday One Bogey side from last season Queens Park were the visitors on Matchday One with a much changed side and a new manager in Dutchman Robin Veldman. We had a few changes ourselves but the man in charge is still Billy Dodds. Roddy MacGregor and Lewis Nicolson were long term casualties before a ball has been kicked in earnest and Sean Welsh and Danny Devine were nursing knocks. Billy Mckay received his award for his record breaking exploits before kick-off and it was game on. Queens domination on this fixture continued as they went in at half time one goal up through Dom Thomas. Tommy Robson added a second just after the break and in a late push Jake Davidson scored for the hosts. Keith Bray was denied a last minute leveller by McKenna. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Same old same old: In a brisk opening to the game Jack Thomson flashed a volley just wide after a sclaffed clearance from Jake Davidson. Wallace Duffy headed over from a corner in the second minute and at the other end Mark Ridgers was brought into action to deny Jack Thomson. Nathan Shaw also had an effort from the edge of the box saved comfortably by Callan McKenna. A good move forward ended with Charlie Fox blocking Charlie Gilmour as he pulled the trigger after seventeen minutes and Billy Mckay went close but he dragged his effort wide of the mark. Queens were enjoying the majority of the possession and on the half hour we gifted them an opportunity when Harper got mugged. Barry Hepburn then fed Dom Thomas who scored into the roof of the net. Inverness responded and Shaw saw McKenna save his free kick. Ridgers then saved from Jack Spong as Queens dominance continued. However we were still able to carve out chances and McKenna did brilliantly to deny Mckay just on the interval from a Jake Davidson cross. HALF TIME: 0-1 Austin Samuels shot into the side netting from five yards at the start of the second half but it was Queens who added a second three minutes into the half through Tommy Robson, rolling the ball into into the bottom corner to leave us chasing the game after a comedy of defensive errors offered Queens the opening. Delaney was the main culprit this time. Thomas had an effort saved minutes later as Queens dominated play. Ridgers then saved from Louis Longridge at the expense of a corner kick as Queens Park threatened to run away with the game. Robson was then denied by the overworked Ridgers as QP looked to kill the game off. Substitute Keith Bray was denied by McKenna's legs as we probed for a way back into the game. Samuels blazed another shot high and wide and that brought about the introduction of Harry Lodovica. With time slipping away Davidson scored with a close range header from a Cammy Harper corner, the ball going in via the underside of the bar. Alas it was too little too late for Inverness who went down to an opening day defeat. FULL TIME: 1-2 Disappointing result to start the campaign. Robert on CTO: That was a very disappointing afternoon. We started fast but from about the fifth minute Queens Park started to dominate possession and just seemed sharper than us. Both teams had chances before we gifted the goal. The early goal in the second half really killed it and we only started showing some urgency after Bray and Hyde replaced Gilmour and Longstaff. Davidson got what turned out to be a consolation. Both ‘keepers had good saves and on another day there would have been more goals. As others have said, Bray was the pick of the players, followed by Shaw, Mckay and Duffy. Date: 05/08/2023 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 2030 Referee: Graham Grainger Inverness CT: 1 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers; Davidson, Duffy, Delaney, Harper, Samuels (Lodovica 70), Carson, Gilmour (Hyde 58), Longstaff (Bray 58), Shaw (Doran 78), B Mckay Subs (not used): C Mackay; Ram, Devine, Thompson Scorers: Davidson (86) Booked: Bray (78) Sent Off: none Queens Park: 2 Manager: Robin Veldman Lineup: McKenna; Longridge, Tizzard, Fox, Robson, Hepburn, Turner, Thomson, Spong, Thomas, Paton Subs (not used): Ferrie; Bannon, Healy, Bruce, Fugaccia, Williamson, Reid, Jarrett, McLeish Scorers: Thomas (31), Robson (48) Booked: Tizzard (16), Robson (28), Thomas (90+6) Sent Off: none a

  Let's Do This!   The Championship kicks off on Friday night with title favourites Dundee United visiting Arbroath. For the rest of us mere mortals, it all begins on Saturday at 3:00pm and we are at the Caledonian Stadium to host Queens Park, a side we never got the better of last season. Five attempts to beat them on the park and our only 'success' came off the park in the Scottish Cup when Queens were turfed out of the competition for fielding an ineligible player. Thank you Euan Henderson, you saved last season from being a complete failure to just a failure! We start the season with five new players and our major departures were Scott Allardice and Robbie Deas. Loan players Dan Mackay and Jay Henderson were also returned to their parent clubs.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket Info Harry Lodovica Mathew Strachan Harry Hennem Ethan Cairns OFFICIAL PREVIEW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~     Last seasons Meetings including 0-2 Cup Loss at Home 1 - 2 (A) 0 - 2 (H) 0 - 0 (H) 1 - 2 (A) 1 - 1 (H)   FRIDAY 4TH AUGUST   Arbroath v Dundee Utd SATURDAY 5TH AUGUST Dunfermline v Airdrieonians Morton v Ayr Utd. Inverness CT v Queen's Park Partick v Rovers Team News Inverness signed five players during the summer. Defender Jake Davidson, midfielder Charlie Gilmour, forwards Adam Brooks, Luis Longstaff and Harry Lodovica, a work in progress, being the last signing. Unfortunately we have lost young left back Lewis Nicolson to what seems to be a fairly serious knee injury. Promising youngsters Ethan Cairns, Harry Hennem and Mathew Strachan have all been loaned out to Highland League sides until January ahead of the start of the Championship. Roddy MacGregor is going back under surgery for his knee and will be out for possibly three/four months. Lewis Nicolson is out with a knee injury. Danny Devine and Sean Welsh will be touch and go but Adam Brooks should return to the squad. Keith Bray looks likely to be the breakthrough kid this season. He showed up well in pre-season and League Cup encounters. Hear from Dodds ahead of the Queens Park game   Caley Jags No1   Where's Harry? Here he is>>>     Queens Park are a much changed side from the one that toyed with us last season. New head coach Robin Veldman comes in from Anderlecht. Simon Murray left last January and is now scoring over the Bridge, and the giant defender Stephen Eze is away. In: Sam Kane, goalkeeper (Rangers); Will Tizzard, defender (Southampton); Jack Spong, midfielder (Brighton); Jack Turner, midfielder (Southampton); Rocco Hickey-Fugaccia, forward (Livingston); Ruiri Paton, forward (Queen of the South). Loans in: Barry Hepburn, midfielder (Bayern Munich). Out: Owen Coyle, head coach; Jake Davidson of course who joined ICT,  defenders Lee Kilday, Callum Yeats, Stephen Eze, Liam McQuaid and Max Gillies; midfielders Liam Brown, Calum Biggar and Lewis Moore; forward Gregor Nicol, Loan ended: Marcel Oakley, defender (Birmingham City); Malachi Boateng, midfielder (Crystal Palace), Josh McPake, midfielder (Rangers); Connor Shields, forward (Motherwell); Euan Henderson, forward (Hearts). Queens Park lost out 1-2 to Queen of the South in their last League Cup game and like us they failed to progress to the next stage of the competition. They were reduced to ten men when Fox was red carded just after the interval. They did miss a late penalty through Ruari Paton and Aaron Healy scored a last minute consolation for QP who won only 4 points in their group games with one win and a draw. They had scored six goals for the loss of three. Ruari Paton was the top scorer with four goals against Elgin City in a 5-0 thrashing with Charlie Fox scoring the other. Dom Thomas is credited with a couple of assists and he likes to wind us up. A 0-0 draw with East Fife was followed by a narrow 1-0 defeat at Motherwell where QP gave a good account of themselves. Queens Park team v Queen of the South: McKenna   Longridge   Bannon   Fox    Robson   Thomson (Healy 78)   Spong   Turner (Tizzard 49)   Hepburn (Bruce 64)   Paton   Thomas (McLeish 78)       If you need something to cheer you up, watch all of record breaker Billy Mckay's 102 Inverness CT goals>>>  

102 and Counting With his 102nd goal of his Caley Thistle career scored against Airdrie, William Robert Mckay became our top scorer ever surpassing the 101 goals of 'Sir' Dennis Wyness. What an achievement that is from Billy who is in his third spell at the Caledonian Stadium. Billy joined Inverness from Northampton Town in 2011 but there was little hint of what was to come when he made his debut in August 2011, replacing Aaron Doran in a 2-1 home win over Killie. He was sparingly used and often played out of position and suffered injury issues as well. He got off the mark scoring with a header in a 3-2 home defeat to Dundee United. His appearances were sporadic and he made only 24 appearances scoring only 3 goals by the end of the season. A two year deal was signed and things kicked on for Billy as he scored regularly and picked up the SPL Player of the Month award for November. It got even better the week after when he scored his first career hat-trick against Dundee United in an incredible 4-4 draw at Tannadice. The Legend status was building fast as his reputation spread. That brought about transfer speculation which Terry Butcher quoshed by offering Mckay a new contract which was secured in March of 2013. More speculation followed in 2013 with a move to Bulgaria rejected and the scoring continued. 9 goals from 9 matches and Septembers SPFL Player of the Month award in the bag. A great season ended with 22 goals from 46 games including a runners up medal in the League Cup loss on penalties to Aberdeen. A slow start to season 2014/2015 eventually took off but with his contract running out Billy was sold to Wigan Athletic for a cut price around £150K. What happened at Wigan stays at Wigan Billy was loaned back to Inverness at the end of January 2017 and he executed a brilliant overhead kick goal to beat Rangers at the end of February which ended a 15 game winless streak. He was then lured to the dark side which we won't go into on here. They released him at the end of the 20/21 season and Billy signed on again for his third spell for two years. He was in the PFA Championship Team of the Year at the end of season 21/22. The rest, as they say, is history. He scored his 99th and 100th goals at Hampden as we beat Falkirk 3-0 and he played in the 2023 Cup Final defeat to Celtic. His record breaking goal was a penalty kick, won by and scored by himself. He was the CTO Player of the Year 2023, an accolade he richly deserved. He won the ICTFC Players Player of the Year, the Fans Player of the Year and also the goal of the year. What a season that was for Billy! Billy made his 250th appearance against Dundee on Sunday and was given the Captains armband. Legend! He does what it says on the tin: 'He scores when he wants' Billy Mckay: Legend. Here is all of his 102 goals for Inverness Caledonian Thistle from ICTFC YouTube Channel

League Cup Over & Out With Dundee winning only 1-0, that was no use to either club and they both leave the League Cup at the end of the group stages. Zach Robinson's 60th minute header was not enough to put Dundee ahead of Raith Rovers to claim a slot in the draw as one of the three best of the rest. For Inverness, we meddled with our starting XI and Harry Lodovica made an appearance in the second half. Danny Devine, Sean Welsh, Roddy MacGregor, Charlie Gilmour and Adam Brooks were nowhere to be seen, hopefully being prepared for the start of the Championship next week. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Official report from ICTFC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Inverness gave as good as they got in this encounter but went down to a second half goal from Zach Robinson. Mark Ridgers made an early save from Pineda who flicked the ball forward from inside the six yard box but the keeper produced a brilliant reflex save to deny the Mexican and tip the ball over the bar for a corner. Billy Mckay had a close range shot tipped over by Jon McCracken in the Dundee goal and Nathan Shaw curled an effort inches wide after good work by Keith Bray. Austin Samuels lashed a shot over after a cut-back from Billy Mckay five minutes before the break as the visitors saw the better of the first half. After the break a Mckay shot rolled just wide when he got the break of the ball through on goal. Mark Ridgers was called into action as he made a good save to keep out sub Amadou Bakayoko's powerful effort after an initial mix-up in the Inverness defence. Robinson's goal, despite Ridgers' effort to claw the ball away on the hour, meant Dundee needed one more for pole position to qualify. It never came despite them upping their game with Bakayoko and McGhee going close for the hosts. McCracken saved a low effort from Samuels with ten minutes left. A frantic ending saw both sides flash the ball goalwards but the score remained at 1-0 to Dundee at full time. A decent workout and if we don't have fresh injuries, I presume we rested some players ahead of the start of the real season. Gilmour was suspended. Highlights from ViaPlay Billy Dodds post match>>> Where's Harry? Here he is>>> Date: 30/07/2023 Venue: Dens Park/Kilmac Stadium Attendance: 2337 Referee: John Beaton Dundee FC: 1 Manager: Tony Docherty Lineup: McCracken; Portales, Shaughnessy, Ashcroft, Mulligan (McCowan 58) Boateng, McGhee (Robertson 77), Tiffoney (Cameron 45), Beck, Robinson, Pineda (Bakayoko 45) Subs (not used): Legdzins; Kerr, Rudden, Anderson, Wilkie Scorers: Robinson (60) Booked: Beck (37) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 0 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers; Davidson (Ram 71), Duffy, Delaney, Harper, Samuels, Bray (Longstaff 64), Carson, Hyde (Thompson 71), Shaw (Lodovica 78), B Mckay (Doran 77) Subs (not used): C Mackay; Strachan Scorers: none Booked: Hyde (44), Duffy (69), Delaney (81), Harper (90) Sent Off: none a

Last chance if you believe in miracles Dens Park is the venue on Sunday for what will no doubt be our final league cup game of this 'pre-season' in a 3:00pm kick-off. All is lost as it's only the three best second placed teams that qualify for the knockout stages. In the other game in group E, Airdrie take on Bonnyrigg with Dumbarton having played all their games. The best we can take from Dens park is to find out our best starting XI and get more game time and understanding amongst the players before we open our Championship account against Queens Park next Saturday. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match Info/Tickets/Supporters Bus Ethan Cairns & Harry Hennem on Loan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Team P W D L GF GA GD Pts 1 Air 3 3 0 0 6 2 4 9 2 Dun 3 2 0 1 4 2 2 6 3 Dum 4 1 1 2 3 6 -3 5 4 ICT 3 1 0 2 5 6 -1 3 5 Bon 3 0 1 2 1 3 -2 1 Latest Team News Sean Welsh and Roddy MacGregor missed out against Airdrie. Lewis Nicolson has injured his knee and will be out for some time. Keith Bray was a stand-out in the second half against Airdrie with Nathan Shaw looking the most likely to add a few assists from his creative wing play. Luis Longstaff might have potential, only game time will tell. However, our defence needs to cut out the glaring individual errors which have blighted our games so far. Dundee are in the big boys league now. Decent squad with plenty in reserve. By all accounts the two Mexicans are excellent acquisitions. They have added to their attacking options with the addition of physical striker Amadou Bakayoko on loan from Forest Green Rovers. Here's their squad from the 3-1 win over Dumbarton: Legzdins Portales Shaughnessy Ashcroft (Robertson 83) Mulligan Boateng McGhee Tiffoney Beck Robinson Pineda (Cameron 67) Subs not used: McCracken; Kerr, Byrne, Rudden, Anderson, Sharp, Wilkie

Diamond Presents Sean Welsh and Roddy MacGregor missed out in this one and Wallace Duffy dropped to the bench but new signing Luis Longstaff started and Max Ram made the bench. Nikolay Todorov started for the Diamonds, and he would have the final say.. An early opportunity gifted to the visitors almost brought about the opening goal. A short pass back allowed Todorov to latch onto the ball but fortunately Cammy Mackay was out quickly to block the shot. A couple of forays forward gave us half chances to no avail. Lewis Nicolson left the field on a stretcher as our injury woes started early to be replaced by Cammy Harper after quarter of an hour. However we never learned from our early slackness and Airdrie were allowed to stroke home the opener from the edge of the box through a grateful Ballantyne after a defensive blunder by Davidson who gave the ball away too easily. Before the half hour it was two blunders and two goals for the Diamonds who didn't have to do too much for their lead. This time it was Devine caught dwelling on the ball on the edge of his own box and Telfer clipped the returned ball home tidily. Shoddy stuff from the hosts who were chasing the game already. Substitute Harper lashed a free kick from a promising position into the wall and that was about as much as we could muster in a shockingly poor first half. The Caley Jags sheepishly left the field at the interval to the sound of boos. HALF TIME: 0-2 Second half changes saw Duffy, Bray and Brooks on at the restart. Almost a third for Airdrie after a corner seemed to ricochet onto Mackays left hand post and he then blocked the rebound shot with his legs. We had upped our game in this half without threatening the goal but it did come when Charlie Gilmour lashed a tremendous volley from near thirty yards behind Rae after an hour. Duffy headed over from a good position off a free kick as we pushed for an equaliser. Inverness won a penalty when Billy Mckay burst into the box and was brought down. He then rewrote the record books as he slotted home comfortably to level the tie. We continued to force the game but the final ball or shot was elusive. We were undone in the final minute when Airdrie broke forward and again the ball was stroked into the net for what would be the winning goal by former Inverness favourite Nikolay Todorov. We incredibly missed a couple of opportunities to level the game but the ball just would not hit the back of the net with Rae making a point blank save at the death after Shaw's shot was deflected, the keeper clawing the ball away from the line. FULL TIME: 2-3 A rank rotten first half where we gifted goals to the Diamonds was our downfall. Having got back into the match with a superb strike from Charlie Gilmour and a record breaking goal from Billy Mckay we looked likeliest to go on and win the game. However Todorov had the final say with a late winner to end our League cup chances. One shining light was the second half performance of Keith Bray who made a few marauding runs forward. A bright future ahead for this young man. Is he a modern day Ted McMinn? Nathan Shaw was probably the pick of our players with some neat wide play but his crosses went unanswered. Charlie Gilmour opened his account with a long range volley from thirty-yards A nasty looking injury to Lewis Nicolson might shorten his season after he appeared to catch his studs and twist his knee. Here's hoping the scans are favourable for another of our promising youngsters. Overall, it wasn't a great performance although the second half picked up somewhat until Toddy drilled home at the end. Meh! These performances have pretty much taken the shine off of Billy Mckay's 102 goal record which has just about been swept under the carpet. Absolute legend is Billy and he has plenty more to come. Date: 25/07/2023 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 1117 Referee: Mathew MacDermid Inverness CT: 2 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: C Mackay; Davidson (Bray 45), Devine (Duffy 45), Delaney, Nicolson (Harper 16), Doran (Brooks 45), Carson, Gilmour, Longstaff (Samuels 65), Shaw, B Mckay Subs (not used): Ridgers; Ram, Hyde Scorers: Gilmour (62), Mckay (pen 78) Booked: Gilmour (32) Sent Off: none Airdrieonians: 3 Manager: Rhys McCabe Lineup: Rae; Ballantyne, Fordyce, Taylor-Sinclair, O'Connor (Gallagher 72), McGregor, Frizzell (Devenny 90), McMaster, Watson, Todorov, Telfer (Aiken 90) Subs (not used): Hutton; McCabe, Dunlop, Spalding, Fellows, Gunn Scorers: Ballantyne (22), Telfer (29), Todorov (88) Booked: Frizzell (70) Sent Off: none