ICTRoughi

Injury Crisis? Following on from the disappointing 1-0 defeat to Motherwell last weekend, John Hughes’ men face a shorter away trip down the A9 to face St Johnstone in Perth. The major talking point for tomorrow’s game will undoubtedly be concerning the injury list that just seem to keep growing, how long will it be before Yogi himself has to dust off those boots? The Caley Jags could be going to McDiarmid park with an estimated 7/8 first team players sitting on the sidelines. Last weekend saw Inverness defeated by a rejuvenated Motherwell side at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium. It was a very disappointing afternoon for all concerned at Caley Thistle where nothing seemed to go in our favour. Slack play from Greg Tansey gifted Motherwell a quick surge allowing debutant Wes Fletcher to score what proved to be the winner for the ‘well. The bad news didn’t end there as Gary Warren now faces several months out of action due to a devastating clash with Motherwell’s Stephen Pearson who also was left with an injury from the incident. After hearing the news that Gary had broken his leg I was a little taken a back, it was seen multiple times he was trying to ‘walk it off’ - a true warrior. It wasn’t all doom and gloom though as there were a couple positives to take from the game. Andrea Mbuyi-Mutombo made a promising start to his ICT career and Owain Fon Williams made some crucial saves, both players will be looking to continue in similar vein tomorrow. St Johnstone went to newly promoted Hearts where they were narrowly defeated 4-3 by the Tynecastle side. Saints new boys John Sutton and Graham Cummins got on the scoresheet and our defenders will definitely need to be keeping a close eye on. Tommy Wright has made some good transfer dealings this summer window. He has added John Sutton from Motherwell, Graham Cummins from Exeter City, Joe Shaughnessy from Aberdeen, Brad McKay (big ‘K’) from Hearts and also brought back former player Liam Craig from Hibernian. Like Inverness, St Johnstone have managed to keep a hold of the core of their team with the only notable departures being Lee Croft, Brian Graham and James McFadden. Last season’s run of results against St Johnstone at McDiarmid park was a 1-0 loss aided by a dive that Tom Daley would have been proud of and was then followed by a 1-1 draw in April with Aaron Doran putting Inverness ahead before Brian Graham got the equaliser. The games against St Johnstone always prove to be stern tests for Caley Thistle but tomorrow could be a whole different challenge with the hinderance of our current injuries. The referee for tomorrow’s game will be none other than Scotland’s most lovable referee Mr William Collum. If I was a betting man, I would be straight down to the bookies before the game to bet on some form of controversy in the way of a red card or penalty for either team. Inverness John Hughes stated to the press this week that ‘one or two’ could return from injury. It’s also been said that Josh Meekings could still play despite his current injury. Long term absentees Dean Brill and Gary Warren will be unavailable for the Caley Jags. St Johnstone will be without Steven Anderson and Chris Millar. Steven MacLean will make a return from his suspension and there also could be a slight chance that captain Dave Mackay and Murray Davidson could make their returns for the hosts. ICTRoughi’s prediction:- With a combination of our current injury list and also the evident lack of fire power in the final third, I predict ICT won’t score a goal. I also think John Sutton and co will pose too much of a threat for our makeshift defence. We will give it our all as per but ultimately I think St Johnstone will win this one quite comfortably.