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Ayr Pressure With our Premiership aspirations hanging by a thread, we entertain Ayr United on Saturday with our winless run having been extended to eight games after the 3-3 draw with Partick Thistle, albeit an improved performance, but the end result all too familiar recently. The game is scheduled for 3:00pm on Saturday, weather permitting, with storms due in midweek. Dudley seems to have bypassed Inverness, but Eunice is coming, so fingers crossed it misses us as well, however, snow is forecast so beware. Storm Ayr are coming North fresh from retaining the bragging rights after their excellent derby win over Killie; no pressure then. Weather update: Snowing fairly heavy in Sneck on Friday morning, so if it's starting to lie here then the A9 will be worse. Take care out there if you are travelling to the game and keep checking for updates. MATCH/TICKET/STREAMING INFO OFFICIAL PREVIEW STARS OF THE FUTURE Venue - Head2Head Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 21 10 10 1 35 20 +15 Away 22 10 5 7 42 28 +14 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 43 20 15 8 77 48 +29 Last 10 Competitive Meetings 2 - 2 (A) 1 - 0 (H) 2 - 2 (H) 2 - 0 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 0 - 1 (A) 2 - 0 (H) 2 - 0 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 3 - 1 (A) Loaded heavily in our favour, the stats don't lie, or do they? Only one defeat to Ayr at home on all competitions would seem to make Inverness odds on favourites to win this one. Unfortunately, we, the fans, know better. Our recent form has been poor and we are winless in eight. The previous encounters this season show a 1-0 win towards the end of August during our opening gambit of the season. CTO summary: Walsh nicks it: A slightly damp morning opening out into a muggy but calm afternoon in the Highlands made for near perfect conditions for this game. However, the football did not match the weather in a dour first half and it was goalless at the interval. Ayr rattled the top of the stand at the start of the second half as the game came to life. Tom Walsh looked to have opened the scoring when he bundled an inviting cross from Manny Duku behind the keeper after 54 minutes with Sean McGinty in close proximity trying to clear the ball. Joe Chalmers put a shot across the face of the Inverness goal that went narrowly wide. Walsh missed a glorious chance to double the lead moments later but pulled his shot across the face of the goal as well. Robbie Deas also missed an opportunity for a second goal, firing the ball over the bar from a great position inside the box. The game was more open but Inverness held on for their third 1-0 win of the season and top the league jointly with Killie. In the return fixture at Somerset Park we threw away an early advantage to draw 2-2, the slump was well and trully on. Another opportunity missed! At a windy Somerset Park, Inverness took the lead early on when Sean Welsh met a Tom Walsh cross at the back post unchallenged to head into the net. The lead only lasted a couple of minutes as Joe Chalmers scored after a corner with a couple of defenders being grappled to the ground as Chalmers slotted home. Gardyne was causing all sorts of problems and his next angled cross into the box was missed by Mckay but it bounced through and into the goal to give the visitors the advantage at the break. Reading levelled with a low shot eight minutes into the second half, Ridgers not covering his near post sufficiently. No more scoring partly due to Aidan McAdams in the home goal and another great opportunity to get back on top went abegging with Partick winning 1-0 at Rugby Park. Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Pars v Partick postponed 1. Arbroath 24 12 9 3 38 18 45 2. Kilmarnock 25 13 4 8 31 19 43 3. Inverness CT 25 10 9 6 33 23 39 4. Raith Rovers 25 9 11 5 34 27 38 5. Partick Thistle 22 10 7 5 37 22 37 6. Morton 24 6 9 9 29 34 27 7. Hamilton Ac. 25 6 9 10 27 40 27 8. Ayr United 25 6 8 11 23 38 26 9. Dunfermline 25 4 11 10 24 40 23 10. Q.O.S. 24 4 7 13 25 40 19 FRIDAY 18th FEBRUARY Dunfermline P v P Partick Thistle SATURDAY 19TH FEBRUARY Hamilton v Morton Caley Jags v Ayr United Kilmarnock v Raith Rovers Queen Sth v Arbroath Last time out Inverness came from behind three times to secure a point against an impressive Partick Thistle. Brian Graham was a thorn in our side again, claiming a hat-trick although the first one appeared to come off the shins of Wallace Duffy. We hit back through Billy Mckay, Shane Sutherland and a last gasp header from the enterprising Kirk. Ayr United won the Ayrshire derby as they came from behind to beat Kilmarnock 2-1 at Rugby Park to stun title favourites Killie. Fraser Murray had opened the scoring early in the first half but Ayr levelled soon after through Sean McGinty and he scored the winner with ten minutes left to stun their hosts. Latest Team News Billy Dodds will definitely be without Scott Allardice and Danny Devine. Somehow, Roddy MacGregor has disappeared from earth, possibly been abducted by a Chinese tennis player. If anyone spots him, can they call MacGregors Bar to let us know that he's safe and well. Thanks in advance. Aaron Doran has missed the last month but is back in full training and Tom Walsh has thrown his hat into the injured squad over the last couple of weeks. Thankfully we are covered up front with Sam Pearson looking good last week, but for some unknown reason we never looked at bringing in defensive cover from the start of the season, we'll soon be going with one at the back. New Ayr manager Lee Bullen will be looking for more of the same attitude displayed in the derby win over Killie. Here's his starting XI from the Killie game played in front of 7,560 fans. Adeloye and Rowe came on as second half subs, with Ayr playing a 4-4-1-1 formation. 1McAdams 2Houston4Muirhead5McGinty3Reading 22McKenzie6Murdoch8McInroy14Maxwell 18Dempsey 19Ashford There's been a lot of changes at Somerset Park since we last played Ayr. Our own Eric has been busy checking out their latest coming and goings. So, basically, a new look Ayr United will be here looking to improve their poor record at Inverness. Departures Cameron Salkeld - forward -has left the club due to long term injury Nick McAllister - back - on loan to Clyde FC until end of season Michael Miller - midfield - on loan to Stenhousemuir FC until end of season Joe Chalmers - midfield - Transferred to Dunfermline FC. Jonathon Afolabi - forward - was on loan from Celtic recalled and now at Airdrieonians Fc Steven Bradley - forward - was on loan from Hibs recalled and now at Dundalk FC Arrivals Blaine Rowe - right back - on loan from Coventry FC U23 until end of season. Kerr McInroy - defensive midfield - on loan from Celtic FC until end of season Ben Dempsey - attacking midfield - on loan from Charlton FC U23 until end of season Ryan Gondoh - left wing - the Ghanaian has signed from Wealdstone FC until May 2023 Paul Smith - centre forward - has returned after loan spell at Cumnock Juniors FC ( that should have toughened him up a bit ) Sam Ashworth - centre forward - signed from Crawley Town FC until May 2023 Fraser Brydon - centre forward - has been promoted to first team from Ayr U18s Manager Lee Bullen has had several spells as Caretaker manager of Sheffield Wednesday FC and was recently manager or their U23 side Age: 50 Years Appointed: Jan 7, 2022 Contract expires: May 31, 2024

Late Leveller Partick Thistle struck early to add to our gloom through Brian Graham, it may yet go down as an own goal, but as it stands, it's credited to the big striker. Billy Mckay squared the game after twenty minutes with an excellent close range finish from a Carson cross. Graham scored his second with a header soon after, Scott Tiffoney once again the provider and he almost scored one for himself but for a fine save from Ridgers. Shane Sutherland equalised just on the interval with a header from a McAlear corner. With twenty minutes left Deas conceded a stonewall penalty and Graham notched his hat-trick. Substitute Cammy Harper drove into the box but Sneddon blocked his shot and moments later Pearson appeared to hit the bar with an angled drive from twelve yards and Mckay rolled one just past the post. We got the draw with the last head of the ball deep into stoppage time when Broadfoot headed in a cross from McAlear. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With Inverness struggling so badly over the last two winless months, not much was expected from the hosts on a wet and windy night after a day of snow flurries and wind. Partick, on the other hand, have been resting since they beat Ayr United 1-0 on Tuesday 1st February and were lurking in fifth position ahead of this encounter, a win could bump them up to third and they will still have games in hand over everyone including three over us. With an Ayrshire derby in Kilmarnock tonight, that made it more crucial that we got back to winning ways before we hit the skids and slide out of the promotion race. Under fire Billy Dodds would be without the influential Scott Allardice (rest of season), central defender Danny Devine (month at least), Aaron Doran, Roddy MacGregor and Tom Walsh. Billy Mckay returned last week but like the rest of the side, he looked off the pace. Our bench was sparse with basically no threat on it and youth players and empty spaces. Wee Jobbie McCall had Brian Graham up front as a target man. Well he's always a target of our boo boys anyway. Zac Rudden left in the January sales so that's one threat less. Kevin Holt replaced former County defender Richard Foster. Inverness set the ball rolling kicking towards the South Stand, guess we lost the toss then. The stands were as sparsely populated as our bench as both sides set about feeling their way into the game on a bitter night in the Highland capital. Partick settled better and surprise surprise, Brian Graham tapped in from one yard as our static defence were prized open by Tiffoney down the left, easily bypassing David Carson to set up the opener after eight minutes. Kevin Holt fired narrowly over from twenty yards as Partick looked to add a second whilst Inverness struggled to get forward. However, David Carson turned a great ball into the box after a lay off from Sam Pearson and who else but Billy Mckay pounced from six yards to level the game as the snow was about to descend on the stadium. Tiffoney was the man causing the problems and once again he skinned Carson down the left and Graham headed his deep cross in at the back post from close range. Tiffoney almost added a third but for a great save by Mark Ridgers in the top corner from his curling twenty yard effort. Unlike their hosts, Partick looked dangerous every time they went forward and Holt ruffled the top of the net with a twenty yard shot watched closely by Ridgers. We forced a couple of corners before the break and from the second one Shane Sutherland scored at the back post, with only seconds to go before the interval, Reece McAlear the provider of the deep corner kick. Half Time: 2-2 No changes at the interval but six minutes in Dodds pulled Samuels and Logan Chalmers entered the fray. Sutherland almost muscled onto a ball into the box but it was knocked away for a corner. Good spell for Inverness and Sam Pearson and Sutherland were not far away from creating something, but a reminder from Partick as Cammy Smith fired just over after a corner. It's been an open encounter and it's looking likely that there's more goals in this one. Pearson did well again to win another corner but Partick eventually cleared their lines as Inverness showed more urgency than they did at the weekend. A rash tackle by Robbie Deas offered Partick the opportunity to go ahead for the third time and Graham completed his hat-trick from the spot smashing the ball straight down the middle. Deas was promptly subbed and his replacement Cammy Harper saw a low effort blocked by Sneddon after the defence parted to allow Cammy to get a shot away as he raced into the left side of the box. Pearson then looked to have hit the corner of the bar moments later and Mckay prodded one just wide of the post with fifteen minutes left and at the other end Tiffoney rifled one just wide. Sneddon produced another good save from a low twenty yard free kick by Chalmers as Inverness chased the game and MacAlear drilled one wide as we pushed for a leveller. The equaliser came after a wee flurry at the end saw Kirk Broadfoot head a McAlear cross into the net after a corner had been cleared and we got out of jail. Phew, that was close. Don't get me wrong, the result was thoroughly disappointing but the effort was there and with a bit of fortune we could easily have taken all three points, but when you are down on your luck, thems the breaks. An opportunity missed with Arbroath drawing thanks to an injury time penalty and Killie losing to Ayr United who are our next opponents, but a hugely better performance after the dross of the Morton game. All is not lost yet. MotM for me was Sam Pearson with some great forward runs and unlucky with his angled shot that rattled the top corner of the bar, and with Billy Mckay buzzing around to good effect and Shane Sutherland putting in the effort it was a massive improvement on recent achievements. Much easier to pick out the good performances this week in a highly entertaining match played out on a miserable night of winter weather. On the downside, Robbie Deas needs to ask himself why he made that poor challenge and that's now eight games without a win; Foranesque territory... Date: 09/02/2022 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 1781 Referee: Peter Stuart Inverness CT: 3 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers; Carson, Duffy, Broadfoot, Deas (Harper 72), Pearson (Hardy 82), Welsh, McAlear, Samuels (Chalmers 53), Sutherland, B Mckay Subs (not used): C Mackay; Hyde, L Nicolson Scorers: Mckay (21), Sutherland (45+1), Broadfoot (90+4) Booked: Deas (24) Sent Off: none Partick Thistle: 3 Manager: Ian McCall Lineup: Sneddon; McKenna, Akinola, Mayo, Holt, Tiffoney (Hendrie 83), Bannigan, Docherty, Crawford, Smith (Jakubiak 75), Graham (MacIver 90) Subs (not used): McCready; Turner, Murray, McAllister Scorers: Graham (8, 27, 65 pen) Booked: none Sent Off: none a

Fans patience is running out After another massive slump, this time against Morton, we are all but done with the Championship for another season. Partick are next up for us at the Caledonian Stadium on Wednesday night for a 7:45pm kick-off. I don't see many fans saying they are really looking forward to the next game. MATCH INFO/TICKETS/STREAMING Can we save our season? It has become alarmingly apparent that something is seriously wrong at the club. We can't buy a win at the moment. That's now seven games without a win or four points from a possible twenty-one since December 11th. That's the statistics that gets teams relegated and managers sacked. We seem to be at the crossroads and if something doesn't change soon, then we better get used to being in the Championship for the foreseeable future. On the plus side, there is still plenty games left to get back on track, unfortunately at this moment in time, that looks unlikely to happen. Our body language is a big giveaway and it looks like we have been found out. Venue - Head 2 Head Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 21 9 5 7 33 30 +3 Away 20 5 6 9 21 28 -7 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 41 14 11 16 54 58 -4 Last 10 Competitive Meetings with Partick 0 - 0 (A) 3 - 1 (H) 1 - 3 (A) 1 - 3 (H) 2 - 1 (A) 1 - 2 (H) 1 - 0 (A) 3 - 2 (H) 1 - 1 (A) 0 - 0 The two games played this season already coincided with some of our better performances. Much has gone wrong since then and I'm not sure we can turn that around overnight. Summary from 3-1 win in September: The run goes on - Partick Thistle came North with high hopes of ending Inverness' great start to the campaign in the knowledge that they have been scoring at the rate of three goals per game apart from Arbroath where they suffered a 3-0 defeat at the hands of the Red Lichties. Billy Dodds had food for thought after the cup win over Buckie last week where Billy Mckay and Lewis Jamieson staked their claims for a start after scoring performances over the Highland League side. They started on the bench as he went with the tried and tested so far this season. Ian McCall had old enemy Brian Graham up front with Zac Rudden on the bench and watch out for defender Tunji Akinola who packs a punch with his feet. After a difficult first half, Inverness ran out comfortable winners against Partick Thistle in a second half goal blitz. The visitors dominated the first forty-five and Scott Tiffoney drilled the opener out of nothing as the defence backed off. Manny Duku was denied by a combination of keeper and post but it was Partick that should have scored a second, however Mark Ridgers did well to deny Brian Graham. Harsh talking at the break saw Inverness come out for the second half with the bit between the teeth and Kirk Broadfoot was the unlikely hero as his twenty yard shot evaded the outstretched fingertips of the keeper to level the score. Shane Sutherland did well to drill in the second from an angle after the keeper fluffed his lines allowing Shane to slot in from twenty yards. The third was a peach as Duku stepped over the ball and Aaron Doran fired high into the net for a brilliant goal and game over. That's five wins out of five and the run goes on... The reverse fixture at Partick saw us emerge with a thoroughly deserved win at 0-0 . According to many Partick fans we were the best thing since sliced bread. How wrong were they... Caley Jags pay the penalty: Partick Thistle survived to earn a point after the woodwork saved them twice and keeper Jamie Sneddon denied Sean Welsh from the spot after guessing the right way. Inverness were well on top but it's only a point which means Killie pull further away at the top. Performance of the day was from Arbroath who came from two down to beat Dunfermline Athletic 4-2. Despite not getting the win that was easily one of our best performances of recent weeks and I would have taken a point before the game but given how it played out it was definitely 2 points dropped. Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts 1. Arbroath 23 12 8 3 36 16 44 2. Kilmarnock 23 12 4 7 28 16 40 3. Inverness CT 24 10 8 6 30 20 38 4. Raith Rovers 25 9 11 5 34 27 38 5. Partick Thistle 21 10 6 5 34 19 36 6. Hamilton Ac. 24 6 8 10 25 38 26 7. Morton 23 5 9 9 27 33 24 8. Dunfermline 24 4 11 9 23 38 23 9. Ayr United 24 5 8 11 21 37 23 10. Q.O.S. 23 4 7 12 24 38 19 Wednesday Night Fixtures all 19:45 Arbroath v Hamilton Inverness CT v Partick Thistle Kilmarnock v Ayr United Last time out we were a complete omnishambles (a situation that has been comprehensively mismanaged, characterized by a string of blunders and miscalculations.) Sounds about right as we plumbed the depths to go down meekly to a less than average Morton side where Lewis Strapp scored the winner. No wins in our last seven games (LLDDDDL) Shocking statistics. Particks last game was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch, the previous game was a 1-0 win over Ayr United giving them (PWWDD) since the turn of the year. The other win was against Airdrie in the Scottish Cup (1-0). Latest Team News We will still be without Allardice, Devine, MacGregor, Doran and possibly Walsh. Having only brought in forwards in the window, it was obvious to all what would happen, except our management team. We are performing like headless chickens at the moment. Partick will no doubt have thug player and cheat Brian Graham up front.