Search the Community

Another Chance Cup replay coming up on Tuesday night as Inverness welcome Stirling Albion back to the Highlands. The last time they were here, April 1999, they left Inverness with a point after a 2-2 draw thanks to a double from Alex Bone. Duncan Shearer had scored both Inverness goals. Inverness held the Binos to a scoreless draw at Forthbank a couple of Saturdays ago and the League Two side deserve another chance to progress in the competition as the Premiership side failed to get the better of their opponents. Having avoided the banana skin that day, you would have to fancy Inverness' chances of completing the job on Tuesday, but we are fairly inept at getting the better of underdogs and after a drab display at Forthbank, followed by a toothless performance at Rugby Park, one could be forgiven for wondering which club will be seen as the underdog. Stirling had their game on Saturday postponed at Elgin as Inverness struggled their way to defeat against Kilmarnock and the weather. The game was played out on a snowbound pitch as we once more failed to beat a club floundering at the bottom end of the league. The winning goal was a stunning volleyed strike, but it does not detract from another insipid performance from Yogi's side. The only bright spot for Inverness to come out of that game was our 1500th competitive goal. That landmark was achieved by Ross Draper. Not a regular scorer, 8 goals in 135 appearances, but nonetheless it's his name that goes into the record books. We are bereft of creativity at the moment and added to that is more injury woes that we are unable to cope with. Josh Meekings has not played for a month now and can be added to the longer term casualties. James Vincent missed out at Killie and Jordan Roberts once more filled a space on the bench but is yet to feature since his early season injury. Alex Fisher has been brought into the squad but will need time to get up to speed. Inverness will have Danny Devine back after he missed the Killie game through suspension. Richie Foran is another bench warmer, but not sure if he is ready for a full blooded cup tie yet. Doran, Brill and Meekings will not feature. Stirling Albion are without hamstring duo Kevin McKinlay and Ross McMillan, and new signing Scott Buist is ineligible, having signed too late for this 4th round replay. Motherwell await the victors at Fir Park in the 5th round and there's no guarantee that will be Inverness. In fact, given our reluctance to see games out, it would not surprise me if we struggle through this game as well. We should have enough in the tank to see off the Binos, but you could say that about the first game as well. I won't go as far as to say that Stirling will progress, but I will be pleasantly surprised if we can get through without any drama. Fingers crossed it is then.............

Early Xmas Present Inverness managed to get three points in a 2-1 victory, but not before losing another late goal to keep the fans on edge. An Iain Vigurs double saw us cruise in at the break two up but we conceded a late goal to give Killie a sight of the points. Mark Connolly scored with three minutes left but we managed to see out the game and get a much needed three points. This was a must not lose game and we achieved that. However, we made hard work of it in a poor second half showing when we let a sloppy Kilmarnock off the ropes and gave them every encouragement that they could possibly take something from a game that should have been well beyond them. John Hughes had a stronger squad available for this one as players returned from injury. Oddly, he still persists with Raven and Horner on the bench and Josh Meekings at right back with Danny Devine partnering Gary Warren at the heart of the back four. Carl Tremarco, Tobi Sho-Silva and Andrea Mutombo all started on the bench but all three of them would feature later in the game. Nat Wedderburn started this one with Ross Draper nowhere to be seen. Killie were much as expected with Kris Boyd and Josh Magennis the target men and a small band of hardy supporters had made the long trek to back the Ayrshire club. The opening exchanges were fairly even with Inverness doing their usual crisp passing without any penetration. We needed a little help and Kilmarnock duly obliged in the fourteenth minute. Comedy defending by two Killie players near the corner flag allowed Polworth to smuggle the ball from them. He ran along the line before teeing up Iain Vigurs who had the simplest of tasks to tap the ball home. An early Xmas present for Inverness, gift wrapped by the Kilmarnock defence. For all our dominance and good possession, we were still creating very little in the final third and more often than not seemed reluctant to build on our fortuitous start to the game. Kris Boyd gave the home fans cause for concern when he fired a powerful free kick a couple of feet over the corner of Fon Williams bar as Kilmarnock tried to get back on level terms, however it was Inverness who were busier around the penalty box, but without making keeper Jamie MacDonald work. That changed just after half an hour into the game and there was nothing fortunate about this one. We tore into the Kilmarnock defence down our right flank. Miles Storey got the better of the defenders this time and he rifled a ball into the box. James Vincent stepped over the ball and Iain Vigurs was left with time to pick his spot. Conrad Balatoni eventually got the booking he so richly deserved. The guy is a clown, getting his card not long after handbags when he tried to steal the ball when we were looking to take a throw in. Could easily have been an early bath for the hot-head. The half ended without much further ado and a comfortable position for Inverness to build on, surely. Half Time 2-0 Gary Locke decided enough was enough and he rang the changes at the break bringing on Carrick and Kiltie to replace Slater and Obadeyi. This appeared to inject a bit more urgency to the visitors, but Owain Fon Williams was still pretty much a spectator in the Inverness goal. We helped the Kilmarnock cause by being content to pass the ball sideways for long spells without looking to kill the game off and that would cause some unease in the stands. Storey limped out of the game on the hour being replaced by Andrea Mutombo, who's fleet of foot would entertain us for a bit although we were looking to kill the game off. We were content to hit on the break and at least half a dozen good bursts forward went without troubling the keeper as our efforts fizzled out before working the Killie defence. Liam Polworth missed the best chance of the half as he burst into the box after some intricate play just outside of it. Unfortunately he could not wrap his foot round the ball properly and he slid his shot just the wrong side of the post from close range. The game was slipping away from a lifeless Kilmarnock but we offered them a little help after failing to mop up from a corner. Mark Connolly scored from close range to unsettle the home support and set up a fraught last few minutes of play. Still time for substitute big Tobi to ruffle the side netting from a tight angle as we went seeking a third and Tansey brought out a save from MacDonald. We weathered the final moments fairly comfortably despite Killie winning a corner to keep their hopes alive. Full Time 2-1 Hard earned three points beginning with a gift from Kilmarnock. Cracking second goal and relatively comfortable passage despite Killie scoring late. Liam Polworth was a standout with his driving runs and incisive passing and is my MotM. Well backed up by Nat Wedderburn, especially in the first half and two goal hero Iain Vigurs. We tried to let Kilmarnock back into the game but they were unable to accept our generosity and were really there for the taking, but likewise, we were unable to give them the doing they should have had. However, a welcome three points which moves us in the right direction, up to seventh, but little in it between seventh and eleventh where Kilmarnock now find themselves. Next up is Dundee United, another must not lose game. Keep the faith as we look to enter the top-six. Date: 12/12/15 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 2775 Referee: Barry Cook Inverness CT: 2 Lineup: Fon Williams, Meekings, Warren, Devine, Williams, Wedderburn (Tremarco 77), Tansey, Polworth, Vincent, Vigurs (Sho-Silva 82), Storey (Mbuyi-Mutombo 60) Subs (not used): Esson, Raven, Lopez, Horner Scorers: Vigurs (14, 32) Booked: Vigurs (21) Sent Off: none Kilmarnock: 1 Lineup: MacDonald, O'Hara, Connolly, Balatoni, McHattie, Smith, Hamill (Robinson 82), Magennis, Slater (Carrick 46), Obadeyi (Kiltie 46), Boyd. Subs (not used): Ridgers, Barbour, Westlake, Ashcroft Scorers: Connolly (87) Booked: Balatoni (22), McHattie (38), Connolly (45), Boyd (90) Sent Off: none

Time to dig deep Kilmarnock are the visitors this weekend and hopefully the weather will allow the game to take place after last weeks chaotic fixture list was blown apart for many teams. Just in case there is another postponement, I'm keeping this weeks effort brief. The enforced lay off can only benefit us as the players get an extra week of recuperation in their search for full fitness. Carl Tremarco has shaken off his hamstring problem and Jordan Roberts has resumed full training. With Tobi Sho-Silva and Andrea Mutombo a couple of weeks ahead in their return things are starting to look slightly healthier for Yogi who will now have the problem of team selection to ponder over. Kilmarnock, on the other hand were involved in a 1-1 draw with bottom club Dundee United. The game was not without incident though. Kris Boyd scored his 95th goal for Killie but he scores when he wants, Billy (small K) Mckay, levelled from the spot. The Rugby Park side were reduced to ten men at the penalty when Stuart Findlay was sent off midway through the first half, but they held on for a point. We lost our earlier meeting with Killie at Rugby Park by 2-0 and the Caley Jags fans were less than enthusiastic with our performance on that October day. Alternative Maryhill was moved to pen - "The second half was as bad as I've seen us all season though: far too narrow, far too many misplaced passes, far too many lazy-looking through balls that seemed to suggest players thinking 'we'll just give it to Miles and he'll do the rest'. I felt sorry for Storey - he ran his socks off, but the Killie defence stuck close to him and dealt with him pretty effectively throughout." Rig backed this up with - "Later on when the game was getting increasingly congested in the middle of the pitch we strangely took off Williams who was playing quite well and at least gave us some kind of width to our play as an alternative to trying to force it through the middle of the pitch where Christie was struggling to impose himself and Storey was getting no change out of the excellent Killie centre backs. It seemed a very odd decision." So, plenty of food for thought for Yogi to get his teeth into. The consensus of opinion suggests that it's not a great idea for us to fall behind, because we seem incapable of turning the game around. Remember, this game was played when we had the services of Ryan Christie. Tobi reckons he would like to stay at Inverness after January should both clubs agree on this. He has some unfinished business I suppose having been injured for most of the time he has been here, but still wants the opportunity to show what he can do. Well, Miles Storey needs some support and Tobi could be the man to provide it. Inverness still have a couple of players out long term. Dean Brill, Aaron Doran and Ryan Christie are way off a return but Roberts and Foran are starting full training, with Foran having been involved in a couple of Development league games. Tremarco could be added to the squad as could bad boy Dani Lopez. Kallum Higginbotham is ruled out along with midfield absentees Rory McKenzie and Chris Johnston. tm4tj Prediction:- It's time we cuffed someone and what better time to start than against fellow strugglers. Our season has been a disaster so far and the league table backs that up, regardless of how we have achieved that. We are on the same points as Killie and Partick and this will surely be seen as a must not lose game. That usually means a bit of a defensive borefest, but we are hardly overladen with attacking flare options, and if we can blunder our way to all three points, I will be most grateful. Kris Boyd has scored 191 career goals in the top flight and will be a major worry for our fragile defence along with the steamroller that is Josh Magennis. I expect nothing less than a tough encounter as the teams battle it out at the wrong end of the table, but will be looking for all three points.

Celtic Edge TV Show Celtic ran out relatively comfortable 1-3 winners eventually, after the Caley Jags had matched them all over the park except in the vital goal scoring area. Miles Storey levelled the game before half time after Callum McGregor replicated his goal against Ajax. After the break Leigh Griffiths scored from close range and Carlton Cole managed to handle the ball into the net off Danny Devine's shins for what could be described as a scrappy own goal. Heavy rain meant an early pitch inspection ahead of this televised game. Inspection passed but the horrendous weather would make for a heavy pitch as Vivaldi's Four Seasons was played out in one day. Gary Warren made a welcome return to the starting X1 along with Ross Draper, but there was no room for David Raven who was joined on the bench by Andrea Mutombo and Tobi Sho-Silva. Danny Williams went to left back and Josh Meekings was the preferred option at right back. Celtic continued with Kieran Tierney in defence and Scott Allan on the bench, but there was no sign of the struggling Kris Commons. Anthony Stokes was on the bench as his twitter account revealed. Something that would not best please the Celtic management team. Both sides started crisply but Celtic took full advantage from a third misplaced pass in a row from Josh Meekings. The ball was transferred swiftly forward and Mcgregor raced towards the home goal and planted the ball beyond Fon-Williams as the home defence went into reverse. We are in good company here as this was a photo-copy of the goal he scored in midweek against Ajax. Craig Gordon was fortunate to keep out a point blank header from Warren. Not sure he knew much about it, but the ball stayed out of the net and from the ensuing stramash, Meekings slid a sot just wide. We had responded well to the early setback and we forced a couple of corners but to no avail and at the other end Lustig headed wide after a Celtic corner. In the 38th minute, Miles Storey broke into the box chasing a neat ball from Polworth who did well when he robbed Armstrong in midfield. His initial shot was saved by Gordon but the ball broke kindly for the speedy hitman and he mopped up by slotting the ball into an empty net. Game on! Bitton shot wide as the game approached the break but all square at the interval was no more than Inverness deserved. Half Time 1-1 A positive start to the second period saw Draper head just wide as we looked to get our noses in front. Celtic responded with a hat-trick of corners which came to nothing before introducing Scott Allan for the struggling Stuart Armstrong. That substitution injected a bit more urgency about the visitors and just before the hour Tierney and Allan combined down the left to set up Griffiths to hammer the ball high into the net from six yards for a smart finish from the Champions. Inverness were restricted to containing Celtic as the visitors tried to assert themselves on proceedings and this was having a detrimental effect on our attacking options. Most of our good work was being done in midfield and neither keeper was being overworked. Carlton Cole almost made an instant impact as he headed downward, but Fon-Williams was alert and saved well, however, the cumbersome Cole was instrumental in the goal that killed the game. Leigh Griffiths unleashed a powerful shot that Williams did well to Parry. The ball hung around the Inverness box and with Cole lying on the deck, he appeared to nudge the ball with his hand/arm onto the unfortunate Devine who could only watch in dismay as the ball trundled into the corner of the net. Goal given and game over with around ten minutes of play left. Mutombo and Sho-Silva also got some game time but were not able to influence this game as we ran out of time and ideas. Full Time 1-3 We competed well and it was encouraging to get Warren and Draper on from the start. Same old problems of not creating enough really and although the third goal should not have stood, we never quite did enough to warrant getting anything from the game after the break. This result has us staring at the play off position, but still within touching distance of the top-six. We don't play Celtic every week so all is not lost as we get more players up to speed. The news that Yogi has signed on for another couple of seasons has been welcomed by most involved with the club and we can now focus on climbing away from danger and maybe even a wee cup run, starting at Stirling Albion in January. The two players that combined for our goal were the pick of our bunch with Fon-Williams making a couple of excellent saves as well, but Hughes can now maybe sort out a contract for MotM and top scorer Miles Storey now that his own destiny has been decided. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVG9Sc6Ol6g Date: 29/11/15 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 5976 Referee: Willie Collum Inverness CT: 1 Lineup: Fon Williams, Meekings, Warren, Devine, Williams, Tansey, Draper, Polworth (Horner 84), Vincent (Mbuyi-Mutombo 73), Vigurs (Sho-Silva 73), Storey Subs (not used): Esson, Raven, Wedderburn Scorers: Storey (39) Booked: none Sent Off: none Celtic: 3 Lineup: Gordon, Lustig, Simunovic, Boyata, Tierney, Johansen, Bitton, Armstrong (Allan 53), Rogic (Cole 59), McGregor, Griffiths (Mackay-Steven 92) Subs (not used): Bailly, Izaguirre, Ambrose, Ciftci Scorers: McGregor (7), Griffiths (59), Devine (og.85) Booked: Biton (65) Sent Off: none

Hangover or Backlash? Fresh from their Euro game against four times European Champions Ajax Amsterdam, Celtic travel to the Highlands on Sunday in a 12:15 kick off to take on Inverness who have just returned from Buckie, the former Highland League champions. Yes, that's the difference a few million pounds can make to your lifestyle. Inverness could face either a Euro hangover or Backlash after a weakened Celtic lost out against Ajax on Thursday night in Glasgow whilst Inverness went to Buckie with a fairly strong squad of recovering casualties to help strengthen their limbs as the fixture list toughens up for the Xmas period. It was a worthwhile exercise for Yogi's men with Ryan Esson, David Raven, Nat Wedderburn, Richie Foran, Ross Draper, Gary Warren, Andrea Mutombo, Tobi Sho-Silva all stretching their legs against the Highland League side. Inverness ran out 6-0 winners with Mutombo notching a hat-trick and Tobi scoring a brace. The opposition might not be a household name in European football, but in terms of getting these players some match practice it was invaluable, and the added bonus of scoring a few goals will boost the confidence of the shot shy Inverness strikers. Our last Premiership game saw us lose yet another late goal as Partick Thistle took all three points with a 2-1 win at Firhill. Miles Storey had scored an early goal but Kris Doolan equalised before the break. Ryan Stevenson fluked a cross into the net to leave us pointless, and in doing so it undid the good work we carried out at Motherwell in the previous game and left us hovering just above the relegation battle. Celtic's last game was a disappointing goalless home draw with Kilmarnock. That broke a five game winning run where they had scored fifteen goals in the process; one less than we have scored all season. The clubs met at Parkhead in mid August when Celtic raced into a 4-0 lead over an understrength Inverness. However as Celtic eased their way to full time, Inverness scored two counters through Ryan Christie and Dani Lopez to give us a more flattering result. We are still underpowered but slowly getting players back on the park and match sharpness will benefit all of our returnees. I would suspect that almost half of that team will not start today. Celtic can call on virtually the full side that won them the points that day. Current form would suggest that Celtic will be massive favourites to win this game and the bookies agree at 1/4 for an away win. You can get 12/1 if you fancy Inverness to win and the draw comes in around 9/2. Your best chance of winning back some dosh would be to put something on Miles Storey to open the scoring (14/1). Miles has notched five of our sixteen Premiership goals. Tobi Sho-Silva could be the surprise packet here though and you can get 18/1 on him scoring first. Celtic have won 11 of their 15 league games this season with 3 draws and a solitary defeat to Aberdeen in the middle of September. We, on the other hand, have only 4 wins. For all the noise about Celtic having a poor defence, they are still the stingiest back line in the division having only conceded 11 goals. However, the league table doesn't lie and that shows that we languish in eighth place, only three points above second bottom. Inverness have dealt positively with the unsavoury incident in the Dani Lopez sending off and have disciplined the player internally on top of the two match ban he received from the SFA. Dani has been fined for his indiscretion which has lost him some respect across the board. The player has unreservedly apologised for the uncharacteristic incident and would now like to focus on getting back on track. On top of the Lopez ban, Inverness will be without Jason Roberts, Aaron Doran and Dean Brill, along with Ryan Christie who has gone to Parkhead for some rehab. The rest of the crocks all came through the game against Buckie unscathed and could be in contention for a place in the squad on Sunday. Celtic midfielder and captain Scott Brown will miss this one and possibly the next two or three months of football with a knee problem following the Kilmarnock game. He twisted his knee at the end of the game and has suffered outside ligament damage. That's fair enough considering the way he throws himself into some of these tackles and the damage he has caused to others. He looks better in his jimjams anyway. Kris Commons also missed the tie against the Dutch side and faces a late assessment to check on his fitness. Nir Bitton and Stefan Johansen were banned for the Euro game but should return with Scott Allan and Kieran Tierney likely to make room for them. tm4tj Prediction:- Not a game I look forward to as the Celtic entourage comes North looking to sweep all before them. In truth this game should be a total mismatch as Celtic come off the back of yet another Euro failure and we struggle to get any consistency with our troubled squad. Six points clear at the top, Celtic should be strong enough to see us off without too much bother, but we are at our best when the chips are down. Good news for us is the return of some more of our injured players and the game at Buckie will have benefited the likes of Warren, Draper and Foran in their journey back to full fitness. With Mutombo and Sho-Silva scoring as well, they could help ease the burden on Miles Storey's young shoulders and gives us more depth to our squad. Celtic showed against Ajax that one or two of their newer players still have a lot to learn, Scott Allan in particular will remember his input for quite some time, as will Callum McGregor, but for different reasons. You can't replace the experience of Scott Brown and Kris Commons with kids and expect it to work immediately. With that in mind, we could be thrown a lifeline. I would bite your hand off for a point out of this game, but I won't be holding my breath.

Tale of two penalties This game was decided by two penalties and a sending off as the sides had to settle for a point apiece in a 1-1 draw at the Caledonian Stadium. Rory Loy slotted Dundee's penalty home to take the lead after David Raven was sent packing, but Greg Tansey returned the favour just after the hour. That ended the scoring but not the chances, with Liam Polworth left pounding the turf after dragging a glorious opportunity wide late in the game. As expected, our injury situation dictated how we approached this game and the addition of Miles Storey to the casualty list saw Iain Vigurs start wide left with the versatile Danny Williams helping out up front. Gary Warren was a welcome addition to the bench, even if he might still be on crutches. Dundee began with the side that ended the Kilmarnock game. That meant there was no starts for Gary Harkins, Kane Hemmings or Darryll Meggatt. They made way for Thomas Konrad, Paul McGowan and Nicky Low. Heavy overnight wind and rain gave way to a pleasant Saturday afternoon and just under 3000 turned up to see if our fortunes could change. As is traditional, we started brightly without threatening and the game soon settled into a midfield tussle with neither keeper being troubled. There were a few half snippets, but everything would fizzle out before the keepers were made to work. We did find the net once our wide players worked out how to get the ball beyond the first defender, but unfortunately Josh Meekings was flagged for offside as he headed smartly into the net. I suppose the best chance of the half fell to Ryan Christie, but he elected to chest down a long cross rather than use his head, in doing so he was closed down before shooting. What were Dundee doing while we plugged away? Well, virtually nothing, that'll be why Hartley had them warming up on the pitch five minutes before the second half started. Half Time 0-0 Well, it seemed to work as Dundee raced to the opposition box right from the restart. Only five minutes into the second period David Raven tackled Greg Stewart as he was about to shoot and referee Brian Colvin who was handily placed had no doubt it was a spot kick and to make things worse, he sent Raven for an early bath for his troubles . Rory Loy converted from twelve yards as Fon-Williams tried to cover the opposite side of the goal frame. Things looked bleak for Inverness and we expected the worst. The sending off left acres of space for Dundee to exploit and we were now under the cosh. Nicky Low had a shot deflected for a corner and from he resultant ball into the box, Healey headed wide from a good position. Despite Dundee's dominance since Raven walked, Inverness drew level after 65 minutes. A decent break forward saw Polworth hitting the turf out wide in the box as he tried to cut back inside. It looked like a penalty, but play raged on and Ryan Christie spotted his chance. He burst onto the loose ball trying to head towards the corner flag, and before you could say for fecks sake ref, Colvin pointed to the spot as Christie was upended. Fair enough, one penalty from two shouts and when the dust settled, Greg Tansey tucked the ball into the bottom corner. That sparked Dundee into more activity around our box but again most moves were breaking down without Fon-Williams being pestered. Ricardo Calder and Kane Hemmings upped the pace when they were introduced and we did well to prevent Dundee from getting ahead. Healey and Hemmings had forced Fon-Williams into making tremendous stops but it was at the other end where the points should have been won. Josh Meekings saw the headlines in the Courier as he burst into the box wide on the right side, but he blazed his shot high and not very handsomely into the North Stand. Well at least that's where I thought it ended up. We received a boost when Gary Warren made a surprise return to action after his leg break and that locked the back door. We ventured forward, and after some neat interplay the ball looked to sit up nicely for Liam Polworth, but the midfielder dragged his shot across the goal from around twelve yards and that endeth the opportunities for the home side. Dundee would still pressure our defence, but with Warren in there we looked impenetrable and held on for a welcome point, much to Dundee's frustration, especially with us being reduced to 10 men for most of the second half. Full Time 1-1 It was a game of two penalties, simple as that. Neither side looked capable of carving out their own chances and it was probably fitting that the outcome was decided on penalties. Dundee will feel disappointed that they could not get the better of the ten men, but in all honesty they were atrocious in the first half and they could not take full advantage of a side reduced in numbers. Sounds familiar. A point each was probably a fair reflection on the overall play and neither side looked as if they were worth more than that. For us, it's a step in the right direction, even with more injuries to contend with and a sending off for Raven, but the biggest cheer of the day was reserved for ooooohhh Gary Warren. MotM could be nobody else but Ryan Christie, who at times looked like the only home player tying to achieve something. His work rate was simply tremendous and some of his touches were sublime, fitting that he won the penalty that gave us a point. He was well backed up by Owain Fon-Williams in goal and Josh Meekings at the back. One or two others need to up their work rate though and Iain Vigurs will need to know that his honeymoon period is over and he must knuckle down to some serious hard graft. We have no room for luxury players at the moment. James Vincent's goal in the cup final seems like a lifetime away now as he struggles to create anything. I'll put it down to a shortage of players and some guys having to play unaccustomed roles. Welcome back Gary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm8oRPZjnwo&t=11s Date: 31/10/15 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 2940 Referee: Brian Colvin Inverness CT: 1 Lineup: Fon Williams, Raven, Tremarco, Vincent, Meekings, Devine, Tansey, Williams (Warren 79) , Polworth, Christie, Vigurs (Sutherland 66) Subs (not used): Esson, Wedderburn, Horner, MacRae Scorers: Tansey (pen.64) Booked: none Sent Off: Raven (50) Dundee: 1 Lineup: Bain, Holt, Konrad, Stewart, Low (Calder 70), Loy (Hemmings 71), Ross, McGowan, McGinn, Healey, Gadzgalov Subs (not used): Mitchell, Irvine, Meggatt, Harkins, Skelly Scorers: Loy (50) Booked: none Sent Off: none

Survival of the fittest It's Halloween weekend and guisers Dundee FC come to the Highlands dressed as footballers in the hope that they can find Inverness Caledonian Thistle ready to dish out more gifts. We will be kitted up like patients at Raigmore. It's been a rough fortnight for Inverness after the euphoria of back to back league wins over Aberdeen and Ross County. Since then, we have lost two home games in a row. We went down insipidly to 10 man St Johnstone and were easily knocked out of the League Cup by derby rivals Ross County. Defeats are hard enough to take on their own, but the manner of these defeats has alarm bells ringing at the Caledonian Stadium. Against the Perth Saints, we were clueless as to how to break them down and the visiting keeper could have stayed in Perth. The County game was similar although we started brightly and finished strong, but the middle section of the game belonged to County and that was when the match was won. Once more, the lack of a cutting edge was evident as we struggled badly to create clear opportunities. Visitors Dundee have not exactly been a pillar of consistency themselves. They suffered a 6-0 thrashing from Celtic and their only win since then was against fellow strugglers Motherwell. That's one win in the last five for Dundee, but its still enough to keep them ahead of Inverness. They sit three points and two places above us in seventh place. We can't really complain about our league position given our lack of goals and reluctance to have a go at teams. I suppose it's a reflection on our lack of depth due to a lengthy injury list, but there comes a point where those given the opportunity have to grab the chance and stake a claim for a regular starting berth, even when the sidelined players return. Liam Polworth has had a few starts now and should be asserting himself in the engine room and Carl Tremarco needs to make the Graeme Shinnie slot his own as our purse strings seem reluctant to open any further. We drew the earlier game at Dens Park, surrendering an early lead to come away with a disappointing draw. Kane Hemmings popped in a last minute equaliser after David Raven had opened the scoring for Inverness earlier in the second half. We were unable to build on that and suffered a not unexpected lapse, a trait that seems to replicate itself this season. There's plenty of speculation surrounding the future of John Hughes. The silence was deafening after the board refused United permission to speak to Yogi, but the speculation is still rife as we appear no closer to getting the gaffer signed up on a new contract, fuelling the fires of discontent amongst the fans. At the last count, Yogi was said to be considering his options of the new contract, but has plenty to think about. He has been quoted on BBC Sport as saying "[It's] right down to trying to recruit players and budgets," he explained. "That's all part and parcel of me staying at this club, 100%. "I'm quite sure there might be one or two players that are out of contract and want to see what the manager does before they commit. "But I'm honest enough to say this; I would never hold a gun to anyone's head at Inverness to say, 'I want to make sure that this is the budget next year'. "I knew when I came up here I was working with the budget I was working with. It's never changed. "It's just before you sign that contract just getting to know exactly what tools you're working with next year. I don't want to sign a contract and something gets taken away. "I have to speak to my wife and family. I've been away for a long, long time and that's a big part of it as well but I love it up here." We have made cuts elsewhere. The nice lady that always appeared to be in control when you entered the club shop has not had her contract renewed, instead the club look as though they are going down the part-time route. Quality or quantity? Just like on the park, you can't replace quality players like Billy 'small k' Mckay, Marley Watkins or Graeme and Andy Shinnie with inferior products and expect the consistency to continue. Well, it's the same in the club shop. We need leaders on and off the park and it's time this whole sorry mess is sorted before it's too late. Inverness have more misery piled on them this week with the news that Miles Storey might not make the squad. He could join the others on the temporary list like Ross Draper, Andrea Mutombo, Tobi Sho-Silva and Dani Lopez. Looking further away, Gary Warren, Aaron Doran, Richie Foran, Dean Brill and Jordan Roberts are long term shirkers. It really is a case of the survival of the fittest. I sometimes wonder if they are still on our books. Meh! Jake McPake has been injured in training and misses out. He is joined on Dundee's short list by Julen Etxabeguren and Kevin Thomson. tm4tj Prediction:- Surely we won't screw it up three home games in a row? Or will we. We are running out of players fast as injuries ravage our squad. Injuries on top of more injuries. It's like a broken record now but we will just have to get on with it. Who knows who will be fit enough to turn out for us, but let's hope they can at least make the opposition work hard for their point. I'll settle for a draw out of this to help us get back on track. The damage done so far will take a while to repair and we will just have to take small steps before we can think about running. 0-0 is my best guesstimate.

Derby joy for County. Iain Vigurs started in the only change from last weekend with Danny Williams starting on the bench. The usual low attendance for a League Cup televised game was evident and the other change was our strip, playing in our away colours. A bright opening for the home side as they tried to banish the blues after a dreary ninety minues against St Johnstone. After ten minutes, Storey broke into the box from a ball slipped through the defence by Polworth, but as the keeper stood tall, Storey shot weakly at him and the chance was gone. Great opportunity to open the scoring and the young striker will be aggrieved that he never did better. Inverness were dominating the possession and Tremarco broke on the left. His cross was back headed by Storey but the defender was right behind him to block it. More persistence saw Inverness gain a free kick on their left side and Tansey's effort was deflected for a corner which came to nothing. Fifteen minutes gone and more had happened in this game so far than the entire ninety minutes last Saturday. Ryan Christie was prominent at the heart of every Caley Jags probing and was always looking to thread someone in. A quick throw out saw Polworth stumble on the ball as it hit his heels and Woods got a shot away, but it was deflected for a corner. Boyce could have done better with a header after 20 minutes, but he angled it just wide as County got to grips with the game, and Fon-Williams had to look sharp to deny the eager County strikers from a dangerous cross as he stooped to gather it. Martin Woods was denied by the bar with a stunning strike from thirty yards which dipped and sliced over Fon-Williams but smashed down off the bar and away to safety. A bolt from the blue and it almost broke the deadlock. The game was racing from end to end and there was plenty of action to keep the fans entertained. Half an hour gone and the game had evened out with both sides giving it a go, Ryan Christie receiving some rough treatment from the County midfielders. Iain Vigurs took some retribution and a deserved booking for a clumsy tackle on Gardyne but the free kick was easily cleared. The game was getting broken up with some petty fouling as the half time whistle approached and the crisp passing from the first quarter had disappeared. We really need to do something about our quality at throw-ins. Another one taking an eternity to see through and once more the ball lost cheaply. It's almost an advantage for the opposition when we gat a throw-in. Carl Tremarco gave away a free kick five minutes before the break and Christie skimmed a header behind for a corner. From the corner, Jackson Irvine stooped to head cleanly into the net as the defence stood watching with nobody on the back post. Criminal! Good goal for County, sloppy from Inverness. You have to say that goal was coming before the break as County were getting on top of the midfield as we ran out of ideas early. Half Time 0-1 Liam Boyce was first to try his luck after the break as he created a yard of space but fired over the bar from a tightish angle. But the warning signs are there and moments later a Gardyne shot is deflected behind Fon-Williams by Danny Devine after the keeper looked to have it covered. Game over, and Dingwall almost sealed it with a flashing header that went just over. Storey burst down the right but his cut back was missed by Vincent and straight to the other end where Fon-Williams fingertipped a shot behind at the expense of a goal kick. Meh. Devine almost gifted a third for County losing the ball in the right back position. When County worked it into the box, Gardyne was thwarted by a diving save from the home keeper. Another let off for a struggling Inverness. Martin Woods caught a booking for clipping Christie as Inverness tried to respond and Devine nodded a Tansey free kick just behind. Jackson Irvine was leading our midfield a merry dance as he strutted his stuff and drove County forward at every opportunity. Horrendous phase of the game for Inverness and Fon-Williams joined in the comedy as he let the ball fall from his grasp as he tried to throw it out then changed his mind. It's difficult to watch now as County look more likely to score a few more goals. Storey shot tamely into the keepers hands as he tried a rare shot, but it was not going to trouble anyone before County continued their dominance. Disaster struck once more as Miles Storey went down clutching his leg after a challenge from Robertson and everyone held their breath, but he was able to continue after some treatment. Tansey was next for the fresh air shot as he acrobatically missed an overhead kick. Oh how the County fans were enjoying this. Substitute Danny Williams fired a low ball into the box and a Ryan Christie flick almost went in, but it hit the base of the post and bounced into the keepers arms. Better from Inverness though. More punishment for Christie in midfield as he was once again targeted. With fifteen minutes left, it looked as though Inverness were out of the competition. Some good work by Williams and Storey on the left saw Inverness win a corner as Christie was manhandled to the ground once more. Nothing came from the corner, but once more we worked hard on the left and when the ball arrived at Tansey's feet some thirty yards out, the folk in row P in the North Stand ducked. No need to though as Greg hit a daisy cutter into the bottom corner. Inverness had woken up and another run forward by Christie saw him upended thirty yards out but nothing given. Plenty to play for as one more goal would set up extra-time. Christie was again clattered by Davies as Inverness searched for a leveller, but Tansey's free kick was too high for Devine who was adjudged to have been fouling anyway. Into the last ten minutes and the hosts had the impetus now, but one more for County would finish it and they knew it as they slowed the pace of the game making time wasting substitutions to eat away some valuable seconds. Tansey went close as he drove towards the box on the right side, however his shot across the keeper went a yard wide. A corner went abegging as well as the game went into 4 minutes of time added on and County used their noodle to waste more time near the corner flag. Woods blasted a free kick well over as time slipped away from Inverness and when Tremarco fell over the ball again the game was up. Full Time 1-2 Too little too late from Inverness and County deserved to go through against our makeshift side. We started well, finished well, but had little to offer in the middle hour of the game. Slack marking allowed Irvine his free header and a bit of misfortune for the second, but we could not complain at being only two down as County dominated the middle section of the game. Great finish from Tansey but overall, we did not do enough to take the game to another half hour. A not unexpected result, but nonetheless still hard to take given our recent troubles and little light at the end of the tunnel. MotM for Inverness was Ryan Christie who took a lot of stick from the robust County markers and was unlucky not to score with a neat flick late on. Where now for Inverness as County go into the hat along with St Johnstone. Well, it's league action on Saturday in what is looking like a must win game for us as our season disintegrates. Date: 27/10/15 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: ???? Referee: Steven McLean Inverness CT: 1 Lineup: Fon Williams, Raven, Tremarco, Vincent, Meekings, Devine, Tansey, Polworth, Christie, Vigurs, Storey Subs (not used): Esson, Wedderburn, Horner, Williams, Sutherland Scorers: Tansey (78) Booked: Vigurs (31) Raven (74) Sent Off: none Ross County: 2 Lineup: G.Woods, Fraser, Robertson, Davies, Reckord, Dingwall, M.Woods, Irvine, Gardyne, Boyce, Curran. Subs (not used): Severn, Boyd, Graham, Foster, Franks, Murdoch, Schalk Scorers: Irvine (41) Gardyne(48) Booked: Woods (57) Davies (80) Sent Off: none

League Cup derby After their dismal performance in the Premiership at the weekend, Inverness take on Ross County in the League Cup quarter final on Tuesday night and the fans will be hoping for some entertainment in this tie to make up for the non event against St Johnstone. County will go in to this game as favourites given their current status in the league and Inverness' continued struggle against injuries this season. Both sides had poor results on Saturday with Inverness failing to turn up against St Johnstone and losing to a last minute penalty. County had a tougher task at Tynecastle and lost 2-0 to Hearts. There were some similarities in these defeats. Both sides lost against ten men and both sides played poorly. Inverness could not muster one decent attempt but County at least forced the Hearts keeper to work harder. I would like to put the last couple of results down to misfortune, but it's beginning to look a bit deeper than that as we have struggled to create much of note in 180 minutes of football. That's a worry for the fans as we pass the ball around the back line but our inability to open up defences is becoming quite alarming. Miles Storey looked a forlorn figure as he was bereft of supply, and the worrying thing is that won't encourage him to stay here longer than he needs to. We will be better known as Injuries R Us after this season. Our sick list is still the envy of most hospitals and it is crippling our ability to perform at a high level. With enough players out to field another team we will do well to sustain any interest in this competition beyond this round and our league position will remain in doubt until we get sufficient players back on the park. Ross Draper is still doubtful to add to the woes and that was an area of the park that we never got to grip with against St Johnstone. Jim McIntyre will have virtually an unchanged squad to choose from. That means that Scott Fox is still out along with midfielder Rocco Quinn. tm4tj prediction:- I know the Highlands are still ours at the moment after our recent derby win, but that just papered over the cracks. Defeats by Kilmarnock and St Johnstone have shown us up as relegation candidates at the moment and unless we can get more bodies back in action I don't see that changing overnight. Liam Boyce will be the main threat to our defenders and although they lost the last derby, they certainly created enough to suggest that they will not be overawed in this encounter. I can't see past an away win and County into the next round. I'll be pleasantly surprised if we get through, but we have a long way to go to get back to full strength. Worrying times indeed and the need for the club to get a manager tied to a contract is unsettling everybody. I'm afraid it's all doom and gloom for the immediate future, but it's wonderful what a derby win can do for your confidence. Here's hoping.

Ultimate Anti Football Inverness and St Johnstone served up an utter borefest of a game as anti-football took over the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium. The Perth side took all three points in a 0-1 win over a punchless Inverness who had not a clue how to break down the 10 men of St Johnstone. Both sides should be ashamed of themselves as misplaced passes, poor tackles and miscontrol was the order of the day. Both keepers could have stayed in the dressing room and the score would have remained the same as a 90th minute Liam Craig penalty won the match for the visitors. It turned out to be a decent day for a game of football after overnight rain, the pitch left moist but it great condition. It should have led to an entertaining afternoon's sport. How wrong can you be. Inverness were still unable to field a full strength squad and it showed. Carl Tremarco played at left back, but there is still no sign of Jordan Roberts, Tobi Sho-Silva, Gary Warren, Aron Doran, Richie Foran, and Andrea Mutombo was also out. Iain Vigurs made the bench and James Vincent got a start along with Liam Polworth. St Johnstone had Liam Craig on the bench, but he would be instrumental in our downfall late in the game. Fon-Williams was fortunate a couple of times as he replicated some of Dean Brills twitchy moment from clearances, having to dive full length to save the first one from rebounding in. That was as close as anyone came to breaking sweat in a dire first half. Our only half chance came when Tremarco was well blocked by O'Halloran as he broke into the left side of the box, just before he was able to offload. What a tedious first forty-five, surely the second half would be better? Half Time. 0-0 Well, we didn't know it at the time, but the second half was equally poor, in fact even worse if anything. Dave Mackay was sent off after catching Tremarco on the halfway line. That would maybe give us the upper hand. No. Despite the numerical advantage, and oceans of possession, we hadn't a clue how to get behind the Perth bus and were unable to make Mannus work for his bonus. Fon-Williams was equally idle as the Saints looked to hold on for a point. Little did they know how inept we were about to become and in Michael O'Halloran, they had the only player on the park worthy of his wages. The boredom was now reaching world championship level and it was about to turn into utter chaos as Devine was adjudged to have impeded substitute Liam Craig after ninety minutes had passed. Craig himself took the kick and our misery was complete. Full Time 0-1 Oh dear, what can you say about that. There was lots of head shaking as disgruntled fans left the stadium, muttering the words, shambles, disgraceful, punchless, wet paper bag, useless, no strikers, headless chickens etc. To be honest, that is probably doing a disservice to headless chickens who I'm sure would have shown more aptitude and attitude than those on the park. I would have liked to tell you more about our efforts during the game, but to be honest, there were none, absolutely zilch, zero, nothing. Worst game of football I have ever witnessed. In truth, St Johnstone were no better and we would maybe have done better if they had eleven players on the park. As soon as Mackay went off, they retreated further into their already defensive shell and the writing was on the wall. Yogi needs to turn this around pretty quick or this week will be a complete disaster for us. League Cup action on Tuesday night and the fans might be voting with their feet after this one. MotM. Well, there were none in blue worthy of a mention. They all underperformed. Best on the park was a lively Michael O'Halloran who led the line well. Take note Yogi, we need someone to do this for us. Full match report to follow..............

The Great Unpredictables Inverness host St Johnstone in a busy week for the Highland club, ahead of their League Cup quarter final against Ross County and the league visit of Dundee, with all three games being played at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium. A poor result last week for Inverness who went down 2-0 at Kilmarnock despite showing well in the first half hour, but fading badly as the game progressed. We had been on fine form prior to this game, unbeaten in six including the league cup win at Livingston. However, after passing up two or three great opportunities to take the lead, we fell behind on the stroke of half time and lost an unfortunate second with the aid of a deflection to put the game beyond us and halt our revival. Ross Draper took a knock and James Vincent never started, somewhat blunting our engine room supply despite the return of Ryan Christie. Hopefully, we can put this one down to a bad day at the office, but time will tell. St Johnstone have been unpredictable since the start of the season and they too suffered defeat at the hands of the Harry Wraggs, going down 2-1 in Perth. That was also a disappointing result as far as the Perth men were concerned coming off the back of their 5-1 thrashing of Aberdeen and victory in the Tayside derby against struggling Dundee United. They have also meted out punishment to Hamilton when they stuffed them 4-1. Their other win was against Motherwell. That Jekyll And Hyde performances sees them sit only one point above us in the league, but their surprising goal rushes this season has them outscoring us by two to one, although we are defensively more robust normally. The earlier game this season saw the clubs share the points after Inverness were pegged back in the last few moments of the game. Ryan Christie had drilled home in the ninth minute, but substitute Graham Cummins levelled with a header at the death. That was the first points of the season for both clubs. Back to the future, and we have amassed 13 points with 3 wins and four draws. We are eighth in the table, one place below our opponents. Inverness have doubts over the fitness of Ross Draper, David Raven and James Vincent. Andrea Mutombo is out as are the permanently injured Warren, Doran and Foran along with Jason Roberts and Tobi Sho-Silva. Tommy Wright will be able to call upon Michael O'Halloran who featured last week, but Chris Millar is out for a couple of weeks. tm4tj prediction:- Predictions are frightening this year with all the teams below Celtic capable of beating each other on the day. St Johnstone have surprised a few with a couple of uncharacteristic high scoring games and that is a worry. Although we dug ourselves out of a hole with the Dons win and derby win we put ourselves back in it with a shoddy display at Rugby Park. St Johnstone were no better losing to Partick therefore I will sit on the fence and settle for a draw, a scoring one though.

Reds Rocked. Inverness ended Aberdeen's winning start to the league campaign with a 2-1 victory in the Highlands. This was no more that John Hughes' side deserved after a scintillating first half where the scoreline flattered the undefeated Dons. A large crowd were expected with Aberdeen getting 500 extra tickets hoping to see their side get back to winning ways after their shock defeat at the hands of Hibernian in the League Cup in midweek. It was an excellent day for a game of soccer and the large crowd were about to witness a devastating start for Inverness. A couple of surprises before kick off with Carl Tremarco out and Danny Williams dropping back to defence to cover that. In came Liam Polworth to midfield. Still no Tobi Sho-Silva, but the rapid Miles Storey started up top again. Derek McInnes sprung the bigger surprise after telling everybody that Graeme Shinnie would not make this game. But make it he did. His other surprises were having David Goodwillie and Adam Rooney starting on the bench. Jonny Hayes returned after suspension and Kenny McLean and Josh Parker accompanied him up front. Owain Fon-Williams was the first keeper called into action as he dived low to his left to turn a 30 yard effort from McLean round the post. That was the last we would see of Aberdeen as a goal threat until the second half. Inverness took the lead in the seventh minute and a fantastic goal it was too. James Vincent won the ball wide left on the half way line. He fed it inside to Greg Tansey who moved it on to Liam Polworth and he dropped it back to Ross Draper just inside his own half. The big man surged forward before feeding the ball to Ryan Christie. He spun and left his marker Graeme Shinnie for dead before sliding a precision pass to the feet of Miles Storey. He in turn sped forward five paces before rifling a shot across Ward and into the net from fifteen yards to stun the big away support behind the goal. Christie was causing havoc every time he got the ball, and he delivered another inch perfect pass for the runner who was Draper this time. Unfortunately, instead of putting his laces through the ball, he tried to dink it in and his effort was blocked by Paul Quinn eight yards from goal and a grateful Ward gathered the loose ball. Danny Williams injured himself making a thunderous tackle that also took out Meekings. As play raced to the other end, Storey teed up Liam Polworth, but Ward pulled off a tremendous one handed save diving high to his right to deny us a deserved second goal. After treatment, Williams was able to continue. However, our delightful attacking display paid off when Ryan Christie smashed a thirty five yard strike high beyond Ward and into the roof of the net. Draper involved in this again after breaking up play, but what a strike from Christie and no more then we deserved. Aberdeen were down and out at this point but we handed them a lifeline when Devine failed to deal with a cross into the box, his header going for a corner instead of the expected throw in. From the corner, Ash Taylor lost his marker and headed down and up into the net unchallenged. Sloppy from us and a gift for Aberdeen to kick start their game. Christie tried to replicate Taylors header at the other end but again Ward kept the dons in touch with another superb save. The half time whistle saved the visitors from further punishment and we went in with a scoreline that flattered Aberdeen. Half Time 2-1 Could we sustain the attacking threat we showed in the first forty-five? Well, the answer was no and that was obvious as we handed the midfield over to the Dons, inviting them forward to try to level the game. Aberdeen players were now falling to ground at every opportunity as they camped around our box, winning a number of free kicks in dangerous positions, but without troubling Fon-Williams. From one such opportunity, Peter Pawlett rattled a post, although Fon-Williams might have helped it onto the woodwork. Either way he had it covered and the danger was cleared. They did beat the keeper soon after, but Danny Devine popped up from nowhere right under the bar to head the ball away from the net. Now that was a close call. Not the first time Devine has done this either. Aberdeen made it an uncomfortable last fifteen minutes for Inverness with Rooney and Goodwillie on the park but we weathered the late storm and held firm. Our own sub Mutombo took the ball forward a couple of times late on to ease the pressure, but it certainly made a few keeky winkers twitch every time the ball entered our box, but the home side managed to stop Aberdeen's winning start and get a welcome three points for themselves. Only black mark was the sending off for Ryan Christie after his second yellow card for upending the same player. Yes, you've guessed it, that player was none other than our old Captain Graeme Shinnie. Welcome back Graeme. Full Time 2-1 Tremendous first half for Inverness merited this win as they took the game to there more fancied opponents. Ross Draper was involved in lots of the action and Christie's turn that saw him leave Shinnie awol for the first was also exquisite and his threaded passes were game winners. Despite that sending off, Christie was superb in every way and his goal is one to treasure. For all of that, he is my MotM. He was ably assisted by the rest of the side, and Devine, Meekings, Draper, Fon-Williams and Storey were easy on the eye as well. Sorry Hamish, but someone had to do it, and it might as well have been us. Onwards and upwards, exciting times ahead, with the local derby next week in Dingwall. Video from Caley Jags TV............... _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Date: 26/09/15 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 6410 Referee: John Beaton Inverness CT: 2 Lineup: Fon Williams, Raven, Meekings, Devine, Williams, Draper, Tansey, Vincent, Polworth (Mutombo 74), Christie, Storey (Wedderburn 83) Subs (not used): Esson, Sutherland, Horner Scorers: Storey (8), Christie (29) Booked: Christie (64, 90), Williams (72), Raven (80), Fon-Williams (92) Sent Off: Christie Aberdeen: 1 Lineup: Ward, Logan, Taylor, Quinn (Pawlett 45), Shinnie, Considine, Jack, McGinn (Rooney 43), McLean, Hayes, Parker (Goodwillie 65) Subs (not used): Brown, Smith, Robson, McLaughlin Scorers: Taylor (35) Booked: Jack (57) Taylor (76), Sent Off: None ______________________________________________________________________________________________

Shinnie's Back....... Unfortunately just for the day as his new club Aberdeen visit the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium in Inverness. However, he will only be watching from the stands after injury in midweek. It's the famous for once versus the once famous as Aberdeen look to reach nine in a row against the Scottish Cup holders. Yes, the one we have been dreading is fast approaching as table topping Dandy Dons come to the Highlands. Not only with Graeme Shinnie, but Adam Rooney, Jonny Hayes and Barry Robson as well. We warmed up for this clash by removing Livingston from the League Cup in midweek, goals from Miles Storey and Danny Devine enough to see us safely through to round four. Not the greatest of displays it has to be said, but that's cup football for you. The important factor is that we did progress, which is more than can be said for some clubs. Our last League game saw us take a point from Tannadice after coming from behind to merit the draw. It was another robotic performance, but it's also another game under the belt for our new look squad and more game time for our returning crocks. Josh Meekings thundered home a header to earn the point after that chap Billy Mckay had opened the scoring in a first half dominated by United. Aberdeen limbered up by beating Hearts 3-1 in Edinburgh to make it eight wins on the bounce in the Premiership. David Goodwillie bagged a brace and Niall McGinn scored the other. That is a fantastic start to the season for Aberdeen who are starting to look as good as their fans believe they are. In the League Cup on Wednesday night they took on Championship side Hibernian. Hibs had not read the script though and took the wind out of Aberdeen's sails with a stunning 2-0 win. Not the result the Dons were expecting, but the loss of Flood and Shinnie early on would not have helped their cause. So, who are the players that have put the Dandy back in front of the Dons. Well, the addition of Graeme Shinnie has proven to be a terrific signing for attack minded Aberdeen, able to get at defences on both sides of the park. Aberdeen have been building towards this for a couple of seasons now and Shinnie is one of the final pieces in the Dons jigsaw. The key pieces have been new keeper Danny Ward who joined on loan from Liverpool and has jumped in ahead of Scott Brown. Midfielder Paul Quinn has come in from Ross County and added some bite to the midfield. Ryan McGlaughlan is a defender signed on loan from Liverpool as well and is a useful squad player. They have also added a pair of strikers to the squad in Joe Nuttal from Manchester City and Josh Parker from Red Star Belgrade. Our own Graeme Shinnie is a difficult one for us to swallow, but he is a vital part of the red machine now. Derek McInnes had to reduce his budget to help subsidise these new arrivals and out went a host of recognised players. Russell Anderson retired, and keeper Jamie Langfield saw the writing on the wall and went to Paisley. Joe Shaughnessy and Nicky Low went to Tayside, Clark Robertson is at Blackpool and Declan McManus nearby at Fleetwood. Former Hearts player Andrew Driver has left the building and promising youngster Lawrence Shankland is on loan at St Mirren. A host of fringe players have also left the building. That's a lot of players out at Pittodrie, but he has brought in more quality and less quantity to continue the Aberdeen resurgence. It seems to be working so far. Recent form will show that Aberdeen are unbeaten since the start of the season in the League. They are not the highest scoring team in the League (15), but have still scored more than twice as many as us (7). Their defence has been rather miserly though conceding only three goals in eight games. We are the draw specialists with four and that could work in our favour given our reluctance to score goals. On the down side, Aberdeen won all four of our meetings last season. Meh! Crocks corner. Inverness are slowly getting players back, but it's three in and two out. Meekings, Vincent and Foran have returned the last couple of games, but Iain Vigurs and Tobi Sho-Silva missed out at Livingston. Longer term absentees Gary Warren, Aaron Doran, Dean Brill and Jordan Roberts are still out. Aberdeen took a couple of knocks in midweek against Hibs. Willo Flood and Graeme Shinnie were removed from the park in the first half with injuries, and Derek McInnes has confirmed that both will be out of this clash. Flood could be out for over a month. Mark Reynolds has a shoulder injury and sits this one out. Jonny Hayes is eligible after his red card ban and will return to the squad. tm4tj prediction:- Oh my, this really is a tough one. Aberdeen on the form of their life and Inverness struggling to get any momentum going. The statistics don't lie and it's difficult to see past a win for The Dons. Graeme Shinnie has settled in brilliantly and Adam Rooney was the top scorer in the land last term. If he's not scoring, then David Goodwillie is eager to step forward and Niall McGinn is not shy either. We are still struggling to come to terms with the loss of Shinnie, Mckay and Watkins, coupled with a crippling injury list which has denied us of our regular back line. Yes, it has been a struggle, but there is light at the end of the tunnel with Meekings and Vincent back. New striker Miles Storey has done well and has pace to burn. Mutombo can add a spark as well and Fon-Williams is looking solid between the sticks. Hibs showed the way to do it in the midweek League Cup encounter and that might unsettle the Dons. Ach well, somebody had to do it. I'll stick my neck out here and go for a dramatic draw to ruin the Dons perfect start in the League. I met a very nice couple called Hamish and Morag Rosie, whilst on holiday in Venice. We had a great time in the few days we spent together. Hamish is a very talented man, author and artist. He is originally from Orkney, but unfortunately he is an Aberdeen fan and has been rubbing it in since we met. I'm sorry Hamish, but it's our turn. Enjoy the preview.

Miles Better Inverness bagged their first win of the season against early pacesetters Hearts in an ultimately deserved 2-0 victory. It took a long time coming but we grew in confidence as the game went on and we were able to complete the job with a late clincher. James Vincent opened the scoring after 49 minutes and debut striker Miles Storey capped a whirlwind display with an Andy Shinnie like finish in the final minute. This was no more than we deserved as we finished the game with a flourish, Hearts on the other hand finished the game with ten men after Oshaniwa appeared to raise his fist against the napper of our other new face Tobi Sho-Silva. A very healthy away support swelled the attendance over the four thousand mark, no doubt looking to see if the Jambos could hit the top of the league, even if it might just be for one night ahead of the top of the table clash at Pittodrie. It was great to have James Vincent and Josh Meekings back in the side to stabilise the erratic recent performances and newbie Miles Storey was plunged in at the sharp end to address our lack of goals. On loan midfielder Ryan Christie started and Carl Tremarco was at left back with Danny Williams floating further forward. This looked to be our best starting eleven available given our injury problems. Iain Vigurs was on the bench along with another new signing, Tobi Sho-Silva and club captain Richie Foran. The visitors were pretty much at full strength and handed Danny Swanson his first start for his new club. Jamie Walker, Billy King and Gavin Reilly started on the bench. A bright evening saw Inverness strut their stuff on a well manicured pitch, and it was the home side that started better, but as in previous games, lacking any goalmouth action. One obvious difference was the pace shown by Miles Storey who was chasing balls, giving us another dimension that had been previously lacking. Hearts came more into the game after the first quarter and it looked as though it would be a repeat of the Hamilton game as errors began to creep into our play, offering Hearts the chances to get forward. If truth be told, whilst it was an entertaining enough encounter, the big away support was probably all that was keeping this game from slipping below mediocrity as both sides struggled to get behind defensive barriers and I imagine some stern words would be spoken by both managers at the break. Few first half highlights to report. Juanma tried to convince the referee he had been impeded in the box, aye right, and an appeal for handball against Ryan Christie who got in the way of a shot from a couple of yard distance on the edge of the box. Rightly dismissed and half time came without either keeper getting his hands dirty. Half Time 0-0 The pep talks seemed to get the message across that more was required and Inverness looked a yard smarter after the interval. We worked the ball down the left through Danny Wiliams but he was denied a cross into the box. He then back tackled the defender and Christie picked up the loose ball. He flicked it between two Hearts players and surged past them before arrowing a low ball into the box. Plenty to do yet, but James Vincent has done this before getting in ahead of the defender to ram the ball into the net for our first goal at home this season. Relief all round and joy in the North Stand. The game opened out after this but Fon Williams was still untroubled as Hearts were reduced to striking from distance, and striking them poorly at that. trundling a few wide of the mark. It was similar at the other end as we looked to add the killer second goal, but there were plenty of stoppages for niggly fouls and play was being repeatedly halted. At 1-0 there was always going to be the danger of losing the lead, something we have done twice already, but Yogi had other ideas and went for glory. Hearts sub Jamie Walker was lively when he came on and had a couple of attempts go wide and a jinking run into the box saw him prod the ball over. Yogi had seen enough and replaced Christie with Tobi in a bold move to get more out of this game. He had a dramatic impact after entering the fray, flashing a header over the bar when he could easily have scored. The tall striker certainly looks to be one to watch as he was winning headers and going on mazy runs, dragging the tiring defenders around the park. Hearts were still in it though and more misplaced efforts kept Inverness ahead as Iain Vigurs came on with fifteen to go, replacing scorer James Vincent. Ross Draper almost became an unlikely hero as he drifted forward, leaving defenders in his wake, but unfortunately he could not pick out Storey or get his shot away and the moment was gone. Great work by the big man though. You could sense something was going to give and it almost did in a goalmouth melee, Storey involved amongst others, but too many bodies got in the way and the ball was hacked off the line eventually. Oshaniwa saw red after clashing with Tobi on the goal line whilst waiting for a corner to be taken. I hope Gary Cornish has a better chin than Tobi, but no excuse for the defender pushing his fist onto Tobi's head. From the corner that ensued he almost headed the second, but Bauben got in the way in front of the line and the ball deflected off him just wide. We would not be denied though and Vigurs sent over a tantalising ball similar to Christie's for the opener and Storey picked up at the back edge of the six yard box. He shimmied and thrashed a left footer home from eight yards to settle the points and the jangling nerves. Still time for Hearts to salvage some pride, but Patterson headed wide and the game had passed the Jambos by as Inverness recorded their first win of the season. Full Time 2-0 tm4tj MotM:- Tough one to call with a few players performing well. James Vincent got the sponsors award, probably for his goal on his comeback from injury, but he did have a decent game. Most of the plus performances came in a better second half and Christie, showed why Celtic bought him as he set up the opener. Carl Tremarco was another who showed up well, linking defending with providing the extra man wide left. New strikers Miles Storey and Tobi indicated that they will be a handful for the best of them and look to be an exciting prospect. Storey might even be quicker than Marley Watkins, but for me, MotM goes to Ross Draper for his industry up front and at the back, not to mention his Diego Maradona impression where he burst through the Hearts midfield into the box. Deserved better, but he is my choice for Man of the Match. Date: 11/09/15 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 4160 Referee: Steven McLean Inverness CT: 2 Lineup: Fon Williams, Raven, Meekings, Devine, Tremarco, Draper, Tansey, Vincent (Vigurs 76), Christie (Sho-Silva 72), Williams, Storey Subs (not used): Esson, Lopez, Foran, Wedderburn, Horner Scorers: Vincent (49), Storey (89) Booked: Devine (51), Tansey (82) Sent Off: none Hearts: 0 Lineup: Alexander, Paterson, Ozturk, Rossi, Oshaniwa, Buaben, McKirdy (Reilly 77), Nicholson, Sow (King 59), Swanson (Walker 67), Delgado Subs (not used): Hamilton, Augustyn, Pallardo, McGee Scorers: none Booked: Paterson (43), Delgado (90) Sent Off: Oshaniwa (86)

Friday Footie Newly promoted Hearts will be our next problem as we take them on this Friday evening at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium in a televised match that kicks off at 19:45. Another tough task ahead as one of the front runners make their second journey to the Highlands this season, having already edged out Ross County 2-1 in Dingwall. Inverness have been in potential relegation form since the start of the season and are without a win since the Scottish Cup Final against Falkirk. That does seem like a long time ago now. We can't buy a win just now and our chances of that happening have been compounded by the sending off of the wreckless Andrea Mbuyi-Mutombo in our last game away to Dundee. How dare he try that on the humble Nick Ross. The Jambos have continued their Championship winning ways into the Premiership and have earned their third position with five wins on the bounce before they were overturned by Hamilton Accies last time out as they ended the game with ten men. That red card has been rescinded though and Callum Paterson will be available for selection against Inverness. Who are the players entrusted with putting Heart of Midlothian back on the footballing map. In came defenders Blazej Augustyn and Nigerian international Juwon Oshaniwa. Three forward players also joined the maroon platoon in the shape of Igor Rossi Branco, Juanma Manuel Delgado Lloria and Gavin Reilly who was plucked from Queen of the South. Out went Kevin McHattie, Scott Robinson and Dale Carrick to Kilmarnock. Brad McKay is off to Perth, Gary Oliver went South to Queens. Jason Holt and Danny Wilson are at Ibrox. Those are the main arrivals and departures and Robbie Neilson will feel that his squad will be good enough to compete at the top end of the table this year. Hearts have also added Danny Swanson to their impressive squad. The former Dundee United midfielder joins them until the end of the season as Neilson assembles a squad capable of pushing on from last years dominating performances. Inverness were involved in transfer activity at the end of the last window. We had some good news, and some bad news. I'll start with the bad news. The inevitable happened as Ryan Christie has signed a four year deal at Parkhead to play for his boyhood heroes. The good news is that he will be staying with us until January before Celtic will probably recall him. I'm sure every fan will wish him well in his career after Inverness. That doesn't mean we are all happy about it, but unfortunately this was going to happen sooner or later. We also acquired the services of two forward players in Miles Storey and Tobi Sho-Silva. Storey has arrived from Swindon and has been capped by England at u19 level. He had not made the hoped for breakthrough at Swindon where he came through the ranks and had been farmed out to Portsmouth and Newport County. He also had talks with St Mirren but nothing came of that. Sho-Silva joins from Charlton and both players appear to be stop gap loan signings until January brought about by our lack of quality in front of goal. Before the international break, we squandered a one goal advantage at Dens park to end up with a draw. David Raven had given Inverness the lead on the hour but Kane Hemmings prodded home a very late leveller for a share of the points. We would have taken a point before the game, but it was disappointing to concede so late in the game for what would have been our first win of the season. However, the performance was still not encouraging and we are not creating nearly enough opportunities to set us up for our first three pointer. Hearts fared little better by going down at Hamilton, having fought back from being a goal down to go ahead, only for Accies to snatch all three points after Hearts were wrongly reduced to ten men. King and Paterson were the Jambos scorers in a see-saw game. That was their first defeat this term, and the Accies have now beaten Inverness and Hearts in successive games. Nonetheless, it has been an excellent start to life at the top table for the capital club. The treatment table has been kinder to Inverness this last fortnight with news that Josh Meekings, Ricjie Foran and James Vincent could be fit enough to be included in the squad for this encounter. However, Jordan Roberts could be out for a further six weeks with an aggravated groin problem. So he can be added to the long term list of Brill, Warren and Doran. It's been a tough start to the season for Inverness injury wise, let's hope that eases a bit in the near future. Not helping is Mutombo as he will be sitting this one out after his ridiculous red card against Dundee. Hearts will have Callum Paterson available after his sending off was overturned. Neilson has a nearly full set of players to choose from and the added bonus of latest signing Danny Swanson. Soufian El Hassnaoui is the only injury worry. tm4tj prediction:- Our troubles are well documented this season and I don't know where or when our first win will come. We can hopefully shore up the defence a bit once Meekings gets back to full fitness, but that won't happen overnight. Our new strikers will need time to get to know how we roll up here so I won't be looking for miracles this Friday. Unlike Juanma, our Spanish striker has not exactly set the heather on fire. It may be time to try something different as it's not happening for Dani at the moment. Maybe the competition will spur him on to greater things. Juanma has netted four times this season and Osman Sow is a big threat as well. Reilly is scoring too and Hearts attacking flair could prove too much for our bedraggled troops. We have only lost one more goal than Hearts, but they have scored 15 times to our 4, and therein lies the problem. Given that horrendous stat, I can't see us picking up anything against Hearts, other than a thrashing. Comfortable win for the visitors by a couple of goals and little in the way of goalmouth action for Inverness. I'll still go along though and keep my fingers and toes crossed for a much healthier outcome. Yogi believes otherwise and thinks we are a match for Hearts. He will probably be tempted to throw in one of his new attacking options at the deep end in the hope that we can end our dismal run.

Rank rotten Hamilton Accies deservedly went home with all three points against a shambolic Inverness who are still under strength due to injuries to key players. Goals in each half where Hamilton profited from Inverness errors saw them leave the Caley Jags without a win since the Scottish Cup final. Carlton Morris and Louis Longridge did the damage after Inverness failed to capitalise on a bright opening where Dani Lopez failed to take any of his three excellent opportunities. A bright day at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium would soon be overshadowed by the bleak display on the park as Inverness toiled whilst Accies spoiled. A small band of visitors would leave the ground merry, the majority would vent their anguish and frustration at another inept display. Read on. Yogi gave starts to Ryan Christie and Dani Lopez in the hope that they could ease our striking problems, but, as would be revealed, the broken record continues with no cutting edge in the final third. Hamilton had not beaten Inverness last season, that was about to change. The home side got off to the better start and it looked as though it was only a matter of time before we would open the scoring. Christie, Mutombo and Lopez were linking well and creating chances. Lopez fired a shot across goal in his first attempt, narrowly missing the target and soon after he headed a Draper cross goalwards, but his effort lacked the power and direction to beat McGovern who dived low to his right to save well. His third effort should have resulted in the opening goal but somehow he could not direct the ball into the net from close range after good work down the wing by Mutombo. The fans were applauding every move as we danced our way forward. Those same fans were not so pleased at the end of the game. Accies were starting to get to grips with our play after fifteen minutes and Grant Gillespie came close with a long range shot which had Williams diving across goal, but the ball fizzed past the wrong side of the post. That warning was not heeded though and after eighteen minutes, Hamilton went ahead. We gave away cheap possession half way up the park. Crawford set Morris on his way and he kept his head to slot the ball easily behind Fon Williams for the opening goal. That might have been harsh on Inverness, but the lack of a proven striker is damning to say the least. From there on in, Hamilton were never really troubled and Inverness would do well to keep the score to one at the break as we fell out of the game. Gramoz Kurtaj had a shot blocked by Fon Williams and Ali Crawford could not adjust his wee feet quick enough to tap the ball into the net and the chance was gone. Lucky break for Inverness. Half Time 0-1 Would the second half bring some joy to the fizzogs of the home fans. Well, no would be the answer. Lopez did try to curl one into the top left corner from outside the box, but it was all a bit choreographed as McGovern clutched the ball comfortably. Not enough pace on the shot to beat the keeper although it was on target and Dani had another on target later, but it was a trundler that the former County keeper collected with ease. Hamilton were content to hold their advantage and we did our best to keep it that way as time after time moves broke down on the right side with David Raven in particular having an off day. The wine must have been extra strong in the hospitality suite as they awarded him the sponsors man of the match. My word! We did have a bit more joy on the left side after Wedderburn and Tremarco were introduced but there were no takers for a couple of inviting crosses into the penalty box, not helped of course when a fresh air shot sums up our day. Meh! The icing was on the Accies cake when they caught us out again right at the end and Longridge put the final nail in our coffin, game over. Full Time 0-2 Plenty of room for improvement as our poor start to the season continues, and at this moment it is difficult to see when or if their will be any change to that. Injuries of course are the big talking point, but lack of firepower is lingering long. In truth, we matched Hamilton in most aspects of the game without causing them too many problems. Both goals were the result of our own mistakes and unfortunately for us we were punished on both occasions. Difficult to pick out anybody after such a poor overall performance, but I suppose Fon Williams did what he had to do and when Wedderburn and Tremarco came on we looked better balanced. Time to get Tremarco in at left back and let the more creative Danny Williams forage further forward. Plenty of disgruntled fans leaving the stadium and the boos are getting more audible as the plight darkens. Next up we are away to Nick Ross and Dundee. Oh dear, it looks like it's going to be a long season if our fortunes don't change soon. Last year is history, time to start this campaign. Date: 22/08/15 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 3003 Referee: Euan Anderson Inverness CT: 0 Lineup: Fon Williams, Raven, Draper, Devine, Williams, Tansey (Tremarco 66), Polworth, Mbuyi-Mutombo, Christie, Vigurs (Wedderburn 76), Lopez (Horner 77) Subs (not used): Esson, Ferguson, Brown, Sutherland Scorers: none Booked: Devine (30), Tremarco (81) Sent Off: none Hamilton Acc: 2 Lineup: McGovern, Gordon, Tena, Tagliapietra, Kurakins, Gillespie (Docherty 63), Imrie, Crawford, MacKinnon, Kurtaj (Longridge 91), Morris (Nade 79) Subs (not used): Martin, MacDonald, Watson, Boyd Scorers: Morris (18), Longridge (91) Booked: Crawford (35), MacKinnon (43), Morris (60) Sent Off: none

Striking problem Matchday five this weekend as free scoring Hamilton come North to take on this seasons fall guys at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium. In truth, they kept the best for last weekend and scored all of their goal tally for this season in the one game, a 4-0 hammering of Dundee United. The Accies have been busy strengthening their squad for this season and they have parted company with a few regulars since we last played them. Out has gone proven strikers Nigel Hasselbaink and Jason Scotland. Other notable departees are Stephen Hendrie, Jon Routledge and Darren Smith. Christian Nade returns to the Scottish Premiership from Raith Rovers and defender Antons Kurakins arrives from Ventspils. Midfielders Gramoz Kurtaj and Chris Turner have signed on along with keeper Alan Martin from Clyde. Carlton Morris comes in on loan from Norwich City. Hamilton have only played three games so far with one win, one draw and one defeat. They drew the seasons opener against Partick Thistle (0-0). Their next game was at Dingwall where they went down 2-0 to Ross County and there was no reason to believe they would come up with that convincing score against Dundee United. Their goals came from the tricky Ali Crawford, a header from Lucas Tagliapietra, on loan Carlton Morris from Norwich and a very late Cristian Nade strike. Our lack of fire power has been well documented so it was a welcome couple of goals that were scored at Parkhead, albeit after the points had gone when Celtic took their eye off the ball a little. Still, it was good to see Dani Lopez get off the mark and the talented Ryan Christie scoring his second of the campaign. John Hughes has been actively trying to get his hands on another striker and we have had Portadown's Darren Murray on trial all week. Yogi was reasonably impressed, but their may be a fee involved if we were to further our interest and the lad would need time to get up to speed. Inverness will have a similar squad to last week, so no returns for Aaron Doran, James Vincent, Jordan Roberts and Josh Meekings. Longer term injuries will keep Dean Brill, Richie Foran and Gary Waren out. Hamilton are in better condition, and Danny Redmond should return to the squad. Gaffer Martin Canning is not fit enough to feature though. tm4tj prediction:- We dominated all three games against the Accies last season but it looks as though the encounters will be a lot tougher this time round. Accies surprise routing of Dundee United has raised eyebrows and our lack of attacking options is restricting our progress somewhat. The Inverness fans are desperate to get the first win under the belt and would like that to begin tomorrow. I'm not so sure that we are ready yet with our side badly depleted and maybe we will have to be content with not losing. I'll go for a no scoring draw.

Despite the 0-0 scoreline this was a relatively entertaining game. Dennis Wyness who will be playing for St Mirren next season could not score in his final game for ICT despite having a chance from two yards out and neither could Marius Niculae who - if speculation is to be believed - may also be moving on. 17/05/08 Tulloch Caledonian Stadium INVERNESS CALEDONIAN THISTLE 0 Team: Fraser, Tokely, Proctor, Hastings, McBain, Wilson (Hart 79), Duncan, Cowie, Imrie, Niculae (Bayne 72), Wyness (Black 57) SUBS: McAllister, Vigurs, Kerr, Malkowski ST MIRREN 0 Team: Howard, Barron, Haining, Potter, McCay, Dorman, Mason (Hamilton 72), Murray, O'Donnell (McGinn 90), Mehmet, Dargo SUBS: Burns, Crighton, Docherty, McAusland, Smith Referee Eddie Smith Attendance 378 I think ICT will have been unhappy not have been ahead before being reduced to ten men as we had the better of the chances before Proctors dismissal. After that, while we still had opportunities to go in front, St. Mirren had us on the back foot at times and in the end a draw was about right. Straight from the kick off we put ourselves under pressure when a slack Tokely pass across the centre of defence was seized upon by Dargo who picked the ball up and drove towards goal. Proctor was keeping close attention and eventually, when attempting to put in a challenge, only succeeded in bring down the former Inverness man resulting in a free kick to the Saints. Had Hastings not been tracking back with the ICT defender it could have been worse for Proctor but he was only awarded a yellow card. From the resultant free kick, taken twice after Niculae broke early from the wall, Home keeper Fraser easily held McCays shot. ICT retaliated when a surging Imrie run down the left side resulted in a cross being fired across goal which found ICTs Player of the Season Don Cowie at the back post but he was unable to steer the ball into the net instead firing over much to the relief of Howard in the Buddies goal. Inverness were on the attack again when a McBain cross was knocked down by Paisley bound Wyness to Niculae but the Romanian was unable to dig the ball out from under his feet as he was surrounded by Saint Mirren defenders who cleared the danger. An Imrie free kick was the next attempt on goal but the former Bully Wee star sent the ball wide of the post. Imrie threatened again as more direct running down the left saw him cut infield and send in a shot high towards goal which Howard was able to deal with. Saint Mirren threatened in spells in the first half as well. A superb cross field pass found right back Barron in acres of space. McBain was slow to close him down and gave the Saints man the time to send in a wicked ball right across the six yard box which left Fraser scrambling as Dargo closed in. Luckily for Inverness Dargo was unable to connect with the ball and it trickled out of play and away from danger. Yet again Dargo was involved as Saints built upon their good spell of possession. A Mehmet through ball found Dargo who headed towards goal but was shackled all the way by a determined Imrie who eventually won the ball off him continuing his strong start to the game. Barry Wilson, fresh from signing a new 6 month deal at Inverness sent in a cross which Wyness attacked but he was unable to put Inverness in front. Wilson was next to threaten as he sent in a testing drive which Howard palmed to safety. A wonderful passing move down the right involving Wilson, Tokely and Cowie set Wyness up again but yet again he failed to find the target. Even more staggering was the miss from Wyness minutes later. The ball ricocheted in the box before dropping to the feet of Wyness who somehow contrived to miss from inches out. Marius Niculae had been having a quiet game so far. He was next to test Saints keeper Howard with a drive the just flew over. This was to be the final action of the first 45 minutes in which Inverness had had by far the better chances but Saints still looked threatening on occasions too. Half Time: 0-0 Into the 2nd half and ICT nearly shot themselves in the foot again with another defensive mix up. Shoddy play at the back allowed Billy Mehmet the chance to put Saints in front but he was unable to take advantage as he blazed over. Inverness retaliated with a Niculae header which had Howard scrambling to save. A powerful effort from Saint Mirren's 22 was gathered by Fraser as the game started to open up a little. A Cowie half volley from a Wilson cross squirmed wide of the goal before Inverness were reduced to 10 men after another collision between Proctor and Dargo. With the ball on the far side touchline, a clever through ball sent Dargo scampering away towards goal with Proctor in hot pursuit. The players tangled and Proctor was shown a straight red for a professional foul leaving Inverness to play the remainder of the game with 10 men. Dorman tried his luck from the subsequent free kick but the ball flew over. Imrie was causing problems down the left hand side and drew Barron into a crude foul which set up another chance for Inverness. The free kick found its way to Niculae who had his header cleared by the Buddies rearguard. Brewster shuffled his pack by withdrawing the misfiring Wyness and tightened up the midfield with Black coming on. Wyness was given a standing ovation by the Home crowd in what is likely to be his last game for ICT before joining Saint Mirren in the summer. With the withdrawal of Wyness, Niculae was left to plough a lone furrow up front and he was next to threaten when a darting run saw him squeezed off the ball by three Saint Mirren players. Roy McBain cut in from the left and drove towards goal before unleashing a thundering shot. Unfortunately the shot was hit with his right foot and the ball ended up heading towards the Moray Firth! Saint Mirren then nearly took the lead through an unlikely source as Tokely came close to sending the ball into his own net as Saint Mirren upped the stakes as the clock wound down. A cross to Dargo found the goal shy striker in space but his low shot was saved by Fraser. There was a contentious moment when Bayne looked to have handled in the area with a cross cum shot that was drive at him. It was debateable whether he could have done anything about it but it might not have been too surprising if Eddie Smith had given a spot kick. Bayne, with plenty of time, inexplicably thumped the ball out for another corner under no pressure which prompted a verbal spat with Hastings over the needless pressure put under the ICT defence because of Baynes hurried clearance. Dargo threatened again with a shot that crept wide of the left hand post and Jim Hamilton was the man on the end of another Saint Mirren counter attack but he too was unable to put St. Mirren ahead as he shot at Fraser. Despite a good start to the game ICT were clinging on at the end with only 10 men after Proctors dismissal. They should really have been ahead before then but were unable to take their chances with Wyness guilty of some awful misses. However Saints had some chances of their own and will have been disappointed not to have taken at least one of them. It would seem that is Wyness's last game for ICT so best of luck to him wherever he might turn up next season. He's been a great player for ICT and I'm sorry to see him go. He used to be shite, but now he's alright, walking in a Wyness wonderland.

Caley Thistle ran out rampant 6-1 winners over Gretna at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium. It took only 31 seconds to grab the lead with a goal from Dougie Imrie. Rory McAllister made it 2-0 in 23 minutes. Gretna scored in 27 minutes to make it close at the half but 4 second half goals for the Caley Jags allowed ICT to record the second highest scoreline of the season in the SPL. 03/05/08 Tulloch Caledonian stadium, Inverness INVERNESS CALEDONIAN THISTLE 6 Imrie (37 secs), McAllister (23), Wilson (51), Cowie (70), Tokely (88), Vigurs (90) Team: Malkowski, Tokely, Proctor, Hastings, McBain, Wilson (Vigurs 80), Black (Kerr 85), Cowie, Imrie, Niculae, McAllister (Bayne 65) SUBS: Wyness, Duncan, Hart, Fraser GRETNA 1 Hogg (27) Team: Fleming, Barr, Meynell, Griffiths, Skelton, Deverdics, Hall (Wilkinson 62), Hogg (Taylor 69), McGill (Fisher 82), Osman, Naughton SUBS: Robinson, Murray, Scultz-Eklund, Sharples Referee Iain Brines Attendance 3639 From Site: That's about as easy as it gets, I think. We cut Gretna open whenever we could be bothered, and once we got Bayne on in the last 20 minutes we started causing havoc. Mostly great goals... 1. Great defence splitting pass puts Cowie in behind, he keeps his head and squares for Imrie to tap in. 30 seconds gone by my stopwatch. 2. Niculae's powerful header wonderfully saved by Fleming, but Rory shows unheard of athleticism to head in the rebound. Gretna goal - appalling marking at a set play, Tokely misses the header and Hogg flicks it in from six yards. Could Zibi have stopped it? I'll give him the benefit of the doubt - it was at close range. 3. Bazza, mate, that was a corker. 20 yards out, he steadied himself and hammered it into the keeper's bottom right hand corner. Magnificent goal, as good as any we've scored this season. 4. Great break by Imrie down the left, and he stood it up beautifully for Cowie to crack home on the volley - great technique from Chipper. Defence gave him all the time in the world to finish it off, mind. 5. Tokely gets on the end of a corner to head it in. Not much power on it, how it went in I have no idea. 6. Vigurs!!! Smashing volley on the turn after another Imrie run and cross. Gretna were utterly guff, but you can only beat what's put in front of you. We were pretty nonchalant in the first half, but only looked vaguely in trouble when defending set plays. Brew may have given them a kick up the rear end at the break. Commendations today for Imrie, Cowie and particularly Bazza who looked very classy indeed. I suspect, even despite his goal, that there may still be criticisms of young Rory, and I have to say that I've seen glaciers that move faster and sloths that put in more effort than he did today. He's like Steven Hislop but without the work rate. Still, he got a goal and that's what he's supposed to do. That's about as easy as it gets, I think. We cut Gretna open whenever we could be bothered, and once we got Bayne on in the last 20 minutes we started causing havoc. Mostly great goals...

Despite Kilmarnock coming out of the blocks the quickest to test ICT Goalkeeper Michael Fraser they did little else to threaten the Caley Jags for the remainder of the game. A fine free-kick from Dougie Imrie saw him score his first goal for the club. The second goal was awarded as an o.g. to Lilley and we'll have to wait for the television replay, but there's every chance that McBain had a foot on it. Marius Niculae scored the third with a World Class finish on 79 minutes, and got booked for jumping the hoardings to celebrate in front of a Romanian flag. All in all it was a successful day at the office. 19/04/08 Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, Inverness INVERNESS CALEDONIAN THISTLE 3 Imrie (10) Lilley OG (71) Niculae (79) Team: Fraser, Tokely, Proctor, Munro (Paatelainen 86), Hastings, Wilson (Hart 72), McBain, Cowie, Imrie, Niculae (McAllister 86), Wyness SUBS: Vigurs, Black, Kerr, Malkowski KILMARNOCK 0 Team: Combe, Fowler, Lilley, Hay, O'Leary, Clancy, Invincible, Flannigan, Locke (Hammil 63), Wales (Dalglish 60), Fernandaz (Di Giacomo 68) SUBS: Rascle, Murray, Ford, McInnes Referee A Muir Attendance 3420 This was the first of our post-split fixtures and as has been the case since the introduction of the split setup the run in to the end of the season becomes an almost meaningless affair, even more so this season as events at Gretna have already confirmed them as taking the drop. Things haven’t been too great at ICT since the start of the year with only 2 wins, both against Gretna, to be shown for “efforts” on the park, so I went in to this game with very little expectation and simply wanting to see some entertaining football and a bit of team cohesiveness and fight. Some indication that we were making the turn and starting to get things back on track seemed to be the common wish for those who ha met up before the match for a swift pint (or four) before heading to the Stadium. The meeting in the Innes turned up a surprise visitor for many as Scotty (site owner) had arrived from Canada earlier in the week, and the moment got a little more surreal when it transpired that Canuck, also from Toronto, was to be in attendance. Despite only living a (relatively) short distance from each other in Canada, the Innes Bar was, yet again, to prove to be the International meeting point for ICT fans. With vocal cords suitably lubricated it was off to the game. The sun was shining, spirits were high and with any luck the result wouldn’t spoil the day. The game got off to a relatively slow start, but Kilmarnock were creating the early chances with Michael Fraser called in to action to tip one over the bar and then see another safely round the post. In fact, things were so slow in the first 10 minutes that we found the idiotic antics of a Steward far more entertaining as he childishly tried to “stare down” the fans in Section G….although it later transpired he might have actually been in a Coma as he had to be woken from his slumber twice by his supervisor….lol. A huge Cheer then erupted from the Caley Jags faithful…oh damn, we’d missed our opening goal…apparently it was a well taken free-kick where Imrie managed to dupe the defensive wall and stick it straight in the back of the net for his first ever ICT goal. Eyes back on the game now, we weren’t going to miss anything else. Their wasn’t much to split the teams during the first 45 minutes of the match other than Caley Thistle creating more chances at the front. Barry Wilson and Dougie Imrie were delivering some great balls into the box, and they were coming with pace which was catching out the Kilmarnock defence...and unfortunately our own players too who have been more used to long balls or floated balls into the area in recent weeks (and months). We were getting contact on the ball, but were a little slow to get the feet off the ground to get above them and send them downwards instead of over the bar. Wyness, Niculae and Cowie all recorded half decent efforts before the half and our back four looked comfortable as they kept Kilmarnock at bay and made it a quiet half for Michael Fraser. HALF TIME: Inverness CT 1 v 0 Kilmarnock For the first time in long enough I can’t imagine Brewster would have had too much to shout about during the break. The first half had been slow, but it was controlled and the team were playing as a unit. If anything Brewster would be asking them to just pick up the pace a little. Both teams came on for the second half looking as if they were going to lift the tempo, but still Kilmarnock had little to offer in the final third of the pitch, and had it not been for their defensive it could have easily turned into a more comprehensive battering. Tokely was first to get a shot away within a minute of the re-start when he found himself with the ball on the right and he stuck his head down and made for goal. His shot from just inside the 18 yard box going narrowly wide on the left. The longer the game went on, the more comfortable ICT looked on the ball and the more Kilmarnock fell out of it. We were getting the ball down and passing it well in all areas of the park. Wilson and Imrie were commanding the wide areas, Cowie was sitting comfortable in the centre and McBain was covering ground like a man possessed…not in a long time have I seen one player appear in so many places on the park, and he was doing it with real purpose creating chances like they were going out of fashion. His rewards were to come in the 71st minute when his perseverance saw him chasing down a ball and pressuring Kilmarnock’s Lilley. Hard to tell who got the final touch on the ball, but no doubt at all that it beat a scrambling Combe to go in at the bottom corner to make it 2-0 to Caley Thistle. So far we’d seen Tokely miss narrowly wide and head one over, a Wilson shot saved, a Wyness lob tipped over the bar and Cowie shot also go over…so we were creating plenty of chances and getting our rewards. Wilson had taken a knock around about the hour mark so it wasn’t surprising to see him substituted in the 72nd minute. With Hart having already signed a pre-contract with Ross County for next season it was a little surprising to see him come on to the field and being 2 goals up it would have been nice to see one of the younger lads getting a chance, but que sera…Hart came on and slotted in well without upsetting the controlled and effective formation we’d been displaying all afternoon. Wyness hadn’t having his typical type game and looked a bit rusty when it came to the twists and turns we expect, but he had been doing a great job of holding up the ball and allowing us to get forward in numbers to support. This had been showing for almost the entire game when we seemed to have 5 or 6 guys in or around the goal for every cross ball and attacking play. A double corner was to lead to our next goal. Kilmarnock cleared the first but it came straight back at them and they were forced to play it out for a second corner. This too was cleared but not far enough and the ball came back to Niculae who was sitting on the right hand edge of the 18 yard box with only the on rushing keeper between him and the goal. He showed his class by staying composed and lifting the ball over and round Combe to find the back of the net and make it 3-0 for the Highlanders on 79 mins. If anyone ever doubted Niculae's passion for the game or the team then that was firmly put to bed as he showed his appreciation to the fans by jumping the wall to go and meet them in celebration. It might have resulted in the only card of the game, but you can be sure the fans aren’t complaining and chants of “Marius Niculae” were belted forth from the stands…his contract might have been the cause of some tension behind the scenes, but there’s no doubting that he is a firm favourite among the Caley Thistle followers. A double substitution on 86 minutes for ICT saw Niculae and Munro being replaced by McAllister and Paatelainen. Not sure if it was some streetwise antics by Niculae or not, but he made a bit of a meal in leaving the field to run down a little more of the clock, and ensured he shook the referees hand on the way. Both he and Munro were applauded from the park and deservedly so as both had had a great game. The final shot of the game came from Hart from 20 yards out after McAllister looked to pass up the opportunity for himself and send the ball into the middle. Once again Combe denied us a goal, but when your 3-0 up, nobody really cares. FULL TIME: Inverness CT 3 v 0 Kilmarnock Overall the game was pretty much what I had been hoping for. It wasn’t the worlds best ever display, but we were solid, we were passing well and creating chances. Our defence was solid at the back for the whole 90 minutes and we were once again playing as a complete unit. One Swallow does not make a summer…but our performance in the last 3 games has been much improved and the signs are there that we are starting to turn the corner. It’s off to Tynecasle next week to play Hearts and I’m sure todays results will go along way to adding a few to the crowd for that one….long may it continue.

Aberdeen only went and did it again didn't they!!!! 4 minutes into second half injury time Chris Maguire scored Aberdeen's 4th goal in a 4-3 win to keep their top 6 dreams alive and make it 17 games without a win against the Dons for ICT. This was a sickener for Caley Thistle in a game where the effort seemed to return to the players. This game had it all - 7 goals, 10 players booked, 2 sent off for off the pitch actions, and yet some excellent entertainment. Its been doom and gloom for the last few weeks but today's game, despite the last minute goal might have contained a glimmer of hope. Its bad for the defence to lose 4 goals, but there was effort, there were ICT goals, and there was entertainment... all things that had been missing in recent weeks. 29/03/08 Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, Inverness INVERNESS CALEDONIAN THISTLE 3 Bus (21 o.g.), Duncan (40), McBain (58) Team: Fraser, Tokely (Paatelainen 82), McGuire, Munro, Hastings, Proctor, Cowie, Duncan, McBain, Imrie (Hart 75), Niculae SUBS: Wyness, McAllister, Vigurs, Kerr, Malkowski ABERDEEN 4 Aluko (7), Nicholson (45), Miller (54), McGuire (94) Team: Soutar, Maybury, Considine, Bus (Maguire 46), McNamara, Foster, Nicholson, Severin, Aluko, Mackie (Duff 73), Miller SUBS: Pawlett, Walker, Touzani, Mair, Langfield Referee Dougie McDonald Attendance 5655 RIG: Just going to list various things I noticed or thought of during/after the game: Overall the game was poor in terms of the football played. Aberdeen seemed more likely to try and pass it but we were too reliant on hoofing the ball up the park as usual. However, there was some nice passing in places I felt. Our line up was odd. Not sure about Tokely in midfield really. He was caught out a lot by Aluko but stuck to his job well on most occasions. However, in our system the right midfielder needs to help cover back with our right sided full back and this he couldn't to due to this lack of pace and Proctor was often left exposed. The first Aberdeen goal was abysmal defending from Proctor, Tokely, Munro and McGuire. Far too easy for the lad to cut inside and stroke the ball past Fraser. Niculae being ball greedy! Why oh why did he not pick out Cowie all alone with an empty net in front if him? Worst decision by anyone of the entire 90 minutes. Odd goal to level with but we'll take it. I thought it was going to head out of play till Bus(s) arrived to smash a header into his own net. Duncans finish was a sweet strike and I believe his yellow for his celebration was incorrect however the highlights might clear this up as to what happened. Seemed that it was the reaction of Aberdeen players and fans that got him booked. Especially when you consider Nicholson celebrating in front of/baiting the ICT fans. Personally I think both should have been allowed but if MacDonald was to book Duncan then he should book Nicholson. It was a fantastic goal they equalised with but Hastings was too slow to close down and allowed Foster (?) too much time and space to pick out the runner into the box with McGuire static as Nicholson rose. Could Ikey have come for it? Cracking goal nonetheless but we made it easy. Duncans sending off - will be interesting to see just what he does with regards to "kicking the ball away" from MacDonald. Can't help but feel that there wasn't too much in it but we'll see (hopefully) in the highlights. Put us on the back foot for the 2nd half but we coped well under intense pressure at times though on other occasions we were falling apart. Seemed to galvanise the effort from the lads so that was appreciated given recent performances showing so little enthusiasm. Munro had a spectacular goal line clearance from Miller or Mackie I think it was. Miller then went on to miss an open goal as he sidefooted wide. More dodgy defending from us allowed this opportunity. Our free kicks at the edge of the box were atrocious. We had a horror one from Duncan against "Team X" but Imrie topped that yesterday with his one. Something we need to work on clearly. Any chance of Rankin giving the lads some pointers? Subs were interesting. I actually think the players he brought on were good - Hart added fresh legs and plenty of effort in the midfield and putting Marcus on retained our balance. However we could have used another pair of fresh legs in there to help us hold the ball up away from the goal. That's where Wyness came in. Players like McBain and Cowie were tiring badly although that's too be expected. We still looked a threat on the counter. Forced some corners and had a few reasonable efforts e.g. Marcus going for glory and I think Hart and Tokely both had breaks into the box that just failed to result in anything. Killer goal at the end where we just couldn't clear our lines and up popped Maguire to steal in to get the winner. Positives The sheer effort from the team was a huge positive and something we haven't seen in a long time. Some of the goals we scored were excellent I felt. I thought McBains goal was a great finish as it could so easily have got stuck under his feet (see Brown in the Rangers v Celtic game) Niculae was brilliant in holding the ball up and looking for the clever pass into space - no long ball mince here! Negatives The result obviously The possible lack of discipline from Duncan and Munro that resulted in the red cards The defence still needs a lot of work The fact that we were crying out for another pair of fresh legs to help take some of the heat off the lads towards the end was ignored FROM CTO Just back...traffic was shocking, much like our defending! However, I've been moaning about being bored at the last few games, and even though we lost that was an absolutely magnificent football match. We feared the worst after the Aberdeen opener, and at 3-2, but for the first time in months we had players out there who were sweating blood. Hundreds of fans stayed behind at the end to applaud the players off and they deserved it. Our third goal was a work of art as well - Niculae's one touch flick releases Cowie down the right, and his first time cross picks out McBain striding through the centre to score. Magic. POSITIVES Rossco - I was horrified by the decision to stick him on the right wing, and it took a while for him to settle there. But in the second half he was incredible. Had to be subbed because he looked like he would collapse from exhaustion. Roy McBain - also put in a magnificent shift second half, capped with a goal. Marius - simply a class act. Held up play well and set up so many of our attacks with clever flick on's. Hart - did well off the bench Brew - not his fault we lost. Tactically we were a bit better today, and the players gave everything second half. NEGATIVES Russell b***** Duncan - I think it is reasonable that your teammates receive a public apology. Whatever you got sent off for, you are an absolute moron. We're running out of central midfielders fast. Mind you, in his absence we looked twice the team we were. Phil McGuire - a wheelie bin would be more useful at centre-half. Utterly hopeless and a liability. Grant Munro - I don't care if the referee and standside linesman were completely incompetent (which they were) - if you were sent off after the game then you are a total idiot. Ian Black (or the absence of)- was apparently in the Heathmount while we were playing. Anyway, the best we've played in ages. At 3-3 we had at least as much chance of nicking it

Caley Thistle lose to an 86th minute Billy Clarke goal in a game that could certainly not be described as a classic. That's still only 1 win in 2008 for the Caley Jags and if Gretna go to the wall before the end of the season, that solitary win might even be expunged from the records !!! 15/03/08 Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, Inverness INVERNESS CT 0 Team: Fraser, Tokely, Munro, McGuire, Hastings, Duncan, Black, Cowie (McAllister 80), McBain (Imrie 80), Niculae, Wyness (Bayne 53) Subs: Proctor, Kerr, Vigurs, Malkowski FALKIRK 1 Clarke (86) Team: Olejnik, Aafjes, Scobbie, Barr, Milne, Cregg (Riera 57), McBride, Arfield, Moutinho (Clarke 70), Barrett, Finnigan (Latapy 57) Subs: Bradley, Stewert, Ross, Supple Referee Calum Murray Attendance 4012 ICT’s wretched run of form continued unabated as Billy Clarke‘s late strike gave visitors Falkirk a deserved win. The visitors had to work rather harder for a victory than Hearts did a fortnight ago, but otherwise there were few positives for Craig Brewster to find after yet another lukewarm, passionless performance. Caley had only a single victory, against Gretna, to show for their first ten matches of 2008 and Brewster reverted to a 4-4-2 after the defeat to the Jambos two weeks previously. Dennis Wyness and Roy McBain were recalled, with Dougie Imrie dropped to the bench and Markus Paatelainen left out of the matchday squad altogether. Falkirk, meanwhile, continued with the same eleven that drew with Motherwell in their last match, with John Hughes continuing to go with an attacking triumvirate of Moutinho, Barrett and Finnigan. Under the backdrop of a clear blue sky and some unseasonable warmth, it was the Bairns who dominated possession throughout the opening period, with Hughes clearly upset that his side, clearly missing the injured Michael Higdon, had few chances to show for it. Carl Finnigan had the best of them, but his stabbed effort from six yards was blocked by a spread-eagled Michael Fraser when a corner caused chaos in Caley’s box. The first forty-five minutes followed a familiar pattern, with Falkirk given licence to knock the ball about and Inverness happy to sit deep and soak up pressure. Robert Olejnik was briefly called into action to turn a Niculae shot round the post, though the shot was drifting wide anyway. That was the exception, though, as the Austrian keeper saw very little action in a first half best described as uninspiring. The only thing the sides had to show for their stalemate was a bit of a suntan. Half Time: 0-0 Unfortunately for the increasingly frustrated home support, there was little change in proceedings after the break, leading both managers to make early substitutions; Caley hooking Wyness for Graham Bayne and Falkirk replacing Cregg and Finnigan with Latapy and Riera. Caley finally found some impetus, with Bayne inches away from reaching McBain’s ball across goal, then somehow managing to head wide from six yards while unmarked. Ultimately, though, it was the introduction by Falkirk of their veteran Trinidadian schemer that decided the game. Caley threw on McAllister and Imrie as they looked to nick the win, but instead got caught on the break. Receiving the ball in the centre circle, Latapy waltzed through the Caley defence, dummied Phil McGuire with a lovely body swerve, and squared the ball for another substitute, Billy Clarke to tap home for his first goal for Falkirk. Clarke was booked for over celebrating, but his delight was understandable with the three points keeping his side in the driving seat for a top six place. In the remaining four minutes Caley never looked like grabbing an unlikely equaliser, and the home support vented their fury at another dour, pointless performance with a cacophony of boos at the final whistle. Full Time: 0-1 They now head to Rugby Park next week with any hopes of finishing in the top half well and truly extinguished, and aware that their campaign is now increasingly in freefall.

Inverness Caledonian Thistle were deserving losers in what has to be one of the worst performances they have ever put together since joining the SPL. The display on the park today was so bad it was verging on the comical and at times it was hard to know whether to laugh or cry. 0-3 going on 0-6 and we had nothing to respond with. 01/03/08 Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, Inverness INVERNESS CT 0 Team: Fraser, Tokely, McGuire, Munro, Hastings, Cowie (McAllister 83), Black (Proctor 73), Paatelainen (Wyness 46), Duncan, Imrie, Niculae Subs: Vigurs, McBain, Kerr, Malkowski HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN 3 Karipidis (22), Elliot (33, 47) Team: Banks, Neilson, Karipidis, Berra, Wallace, Jonsson, Palazuelos, Driver (Ivaskevicius 64), Mikoliunas (Screpis 72), Nade (Beniusis 84), Elliot Subs: Glen, Tall, Zalukas, Ridgers Referee Alan Freeland Attendance 4489 With only one win under our belt since Craig Brewster and Marius Niculae picked up Manager and Player of the month awards you could be forgiven for thinking that our demise is some kind of sick conspiracy. ICT seem to be on self-destruct and nobody seems to know what to do other than watch as the clock tics away!!! Recent results against Hibs and Celtic weren’t the best, but at least the team showed some willingness to fight and attempt to battle back in those matches, but against Hearts it was an entirely different kettle of fish. We got off to not too bad a start and were the ones applying pressure to Hearts in the first 20 minutes, albeit it phases and without much in the way of an end product. The only shot I can remember going in the direction of the goal was Duncan around the 15 minute mark, but even that sailed harmlessly high over the bar. We weren’t playing brilliant football, but we seemed to be edging it over what looked like an equally mediocre Hearts team….that was until the 22nd minute. Hearts won a corner and Driver delivered a high ball in to the middle of the box which Fraser looked to be coming to collect with ease, but for some reason he stopped and decided to back pedal towards his line giving Karipidis all the time in the world to pick his spot and head the ball in to the back of the net. This was the moment when the wheels really fell off for ICT, our midfield started to sit so deep they had the defence in their back pockets and even when we did manage to avoid tripping over each other and get the ball up the park, we had nobody to keep it there and it came straight back at us. The only time our midfield seemed willing to cross the half way line was when Fraser was taking a goal kick. To rub salt in the wounds, Referee (I use the word in it’s loosest form) Alan Freeland seemed to be making it up as he was going along. Despite Mikoliunas diving about like the Sugar Plum Faerie for most of the game it wasn’t until he tried to break the legs of Hastings that he caught the refs attention…and even then he got a yellow card for what was clearly a dangerous challenge and would have seen any other ref give a red without hesitation. On the few occasions we did push forward we were slow to get back and defend once we gave up possession and that was a regular occurrence during this match. Hearts second goal, and the first for Elliot in 2 years came when ICT were caught napping. We had lost possession on the left and failed to break down a run on the right before the ball was played down the line to Nade. Nade then made it look like he was out for a stroll in the park as he nutmegged Munro, stepped over a fresh air challenge by Duncan and then cut the ball back past McGuire who had left Elliot standing alone in the middle of the box….0-2 Hearts. The best efforts for Caley Thistle came towards the end of the first half when Niculae was unfortunate not to have stuck 2 half efforts away to level the scoring. The first chance came from a cross ball deep in to the box, but it was a little too high for Niculae to get above it to head it done and he nodded it over. The second chance saw Niculae again make a break deep in to the box as Tokely crossed the ball from the right. Niculae stuck out a leg, but the ball took a bounce and even at full stretch he couldn’t get enough on it to put it in to the net. 2 Goals down at half-time, but a glimmer of hope that we could actually create something up front and might be able to come back in to this if we could send out the real Caley Thistle team for the second half. For the first time I can remember in long enough, we actually made a tactically sound substitution at half time. Half Time: 0-2 Paatelainen made way for Wyness to give us 2 strikers up front. It wasn’t long before all hopes of a comeback were dashed though and on 47 minutes Black made the biggest error of the game. He attempted to pass the ball back through a crowd of players to Fraser, but he failed to get enough on the ball and it forced the Caley Jags goalkeeper to come out to the edge of his area to make the challenge. He was first to the ball but failed to clear it and was slow to get back to his line….this gave Elliot time to pick himself up off the ground and float the ball over the sauntering Fraser to make it 0-3 for Hearts. At this stage most of the team seemed to give up, even those who might have been accused of putting in some effort just weren’t bothering and the only people who seemed to be playing with any passion were Niculae and Tokely…we hadn’t exactly been peppering the Hearts goal, but for the bulk of the second half nobody seemed to be interested in having a go, even from distance. Freeland’s catalogue of ridiculous decisions continued to grow when he failed to book Mikolionas for diving, even after gesturing that is what he had done and telling him to get up. He also produced his card from his pocket in another tussle, but seemed to change his mind after much remonstrating from the Hearts players. The most bizarre decision of all came when the nearside linesman made what felt like the first correct decision of the game in awarding ICT a corner, only for Freeland to overrule it and give the goal kick. In all honesty, the poor refereeing had no effect on the outcome, but it’s no wonder other teams don’t want Freeland officiating their matches when you see such a poor and incompetent display as that…it really was a performance of the lowest order. Rory McAllister replaced Don Cowie on 83 minutes and showed that he was at least hungry to prove himself and win a starting place in the team on a more regular basis. A late drive from 25 yards would have had the Hearts Keeper beaten but it inched narrowly over the bar to put an end to what should have been a more comprehensive loss. Full Time: 0-3 “I Believe” is the adopted motto of the ICT fans, and they tried their hardest to lift the team throughout the match, but it becomes difficult when it is obvious to all that the team have lost belief and that the Manager and ICT Board are making decisions which are having a serious negative effect on the performances on the park.

Midfielder Markus Paatelainen came off the bench to grab a late equalizer for Caley Thistle. A match of few chances appeared to be heading in the visitors’ favour, after Prince Buaben struck midway through the second period but the home side managed to nick a point when the Finnish midfielder struck with only six minutes left on the clock. 16/02/08 Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, Inverness INVERNESS CT 1 Paatelainen (84) Team: Fraser, Tokely, McGuire, Munro, Hastings, Cowie, Black (Paatelainen 80), Duncan, McBain, Niculae (Bayne 61), Imrie Subs: McAllister, Vigurs, Kerr, Watt, Malkowski DUNDEE UTD 1 Buaben (68) Team: Zaluska, Dillon, Kenneth, Wilkie, Grainger, Flood (Swanson 58), Kerr, Buaben, Gomis, O'Brien, De Vries (Hunt 46) Subs: Odhiambo, Conway, Robertson, Dods, McLean Referee Stephen Finnie Attendance 4087 Craig Brewster made two changes for the clash with his former side, with Douglas Imrie making his first start and Phil McGuire returning from suspension to compensate for the loss of the injured David Proctor. Imrie was preferred to Dennis Wyness, conspicuously absent from the bench, in a 4-5-1 formation. Craig Levein, meanwhile, clearly felt the need to freshen things up after the midweek cup defeat by St. Mirren, making five changes, the most notable being the decision to leave ex-Caley skipper Darren Dods on the bench, with Garry Kenneth partnering Lee Wilkie in defence. United also relegated Noel Hunt and David Robertson to the substitutes, with Mark De Vries partnered up front by winger Jim O’Brien. It was the home side who started brightest on a cold, icy afternoon in the Highlands, as first Ian Black fired high and wide, and then Don Cowie raced clear but pulled his shot wide of the post. Unfortunately, this proved to be the best chance of an opening period that could be only be described as mediocre, as neither team proved capable of keeping or using the ball, and the match descended into a midfield scrap. Cowie had another half-chance, shooting straight at Zaluska in the United goal, while Michael Fraser was required to make two fairly routine stops from long range Prince Buaben efforts. Caley got little joy in the crowded midfield area, with only Imrie offering a spark with some darting, incisive runs, while Marius Niculae was left isolated and lonely up front for much of the half. Half Time: 0-0 It was United who attempted to change things, bringing on Hunt at the interval for the ineffectual, and possibly injured, De Vries. And though the second half began in much the same vein as the first, it was the Irishman’s tenacity which broke the deadlock, as he side-stepped Ian Black and fired a low ball across the face of goal for Ghanaian midfielder Buaben to tap in. By this point, Caley had tried to find a spark of their own, bringing off Niculae and replacing him with Graham Bayne. Bayne brought a save out of Zaluska with a tame half-volley, while Imrie then had an effort deflected past the post. However, with his side looking impotent in their search for a goal, Brewster threw on Paatelainen for Black and the move paid quick dividends, the leggy Finn latching onto a Roy McBain pass and lashing the ball into the top of the net with time running out. Having looked comfortable, United were rocked and suddenly looked vulnerable as Caley looked for the winner. Don Cowie nearly provided it, his late lob catching Zaluska off his line, but Kenneth headed clear the danger. Full Time: 1-1 In the end, it would have been harsh, for this was a game where the draw was very much the right result.

Basking in sunshine akin to the Caribbean, around 100 fans bathed in the heat wave, picnics in abundance and bikini's of all colours shapes and sizes on display. An interested array of managers also looked on, Brew and Patti of course, with Alex Rae, Kevin Drinkell, Neale Cooper and ex ICT leader John Robertson taking in the wares on offer. But I digress, on to the main ingredient, the game itself. An early chance for Hibs saw Zibi save with his legs from close in. Hart then had a shot blocked at the other end for a fruitless corner. After about seven minutes, Zibi effortlessly plucked an 18 yard shot out of the air, and two or three minutes later, Hibs did 'score' but the effort was ruled offside. Zibi seems better with his legs than his hands as he blocked another brisk shot from the angle of the six yard box with his shins, decent save this. Twenty minutes gone and Rory did some good hold up play after beating the defender, played the ball inwards to Hart but his low shot skidded just wide of the keepers right hand post. Some slack play all round as the bobbly pitch started to get the better of both sides. After twenty five minutes, Rory deservedly won a free kick in an encouraging position, but alas, Barry curled his effort into the keeper’s left hand side net, but the wrong side of the post. Half an hour gone and Watt started a decent move after a strong challenge deep in his own half, he surged forward before feeding Barry who shipped it on to Hart, but the shot was well blocked by the back tracking Hibees defenders. Hibs next to threaten when a free header from eight yards centre of goal was not powerful enough to beat a well positioned Zibi. Hibs number 8 was impressing in the first half and a good run and lay off from him resulted in one of the forwards curling a shot a yard too high. Next to show for ICT was Hart, but his final piece of action in his thrust through the Hibs defence saw him swipe at fresh air almost, and the ball eventually trundled towards the Hibs keeper. Good showing from Zibi Watt and Hart in the first half with Hibs having the sharper movement, but poor finishing from both sides evident. Half time picnics taken and still the afternoon sun blazing down, the teams returned to the fray and continued where they left off. Hibs first to attack but Zibi easily plucked the ball out of the air, like picking cherries for the ex Hibee. Another 'goal' for Hibs when Zibi was allegedly unfairly challenged twenty five yards from his goals and the ball was prodded home, but the ref gave a belated free kick to ICT. Regular reservist Richie Hart tried his luck again with a volley from 25 yards and forced the Hibs keeper to dive low to his right to save. About the hour mark, Deano came on for Martin Jack, who worked away without really threatening. Corner ensued for ICT who were beginning to get to grips with the slicker Hibees, and ball headed on to Patti, whose header was flicked wide. Centre half Bayne made not his first gaff in the box, but no takers for Hibs as the ball was cleared. A couple of minutes later, Hart shot over after decent three man move and Zibi then had to dive to his right as Hibs swiftly countered and shot goalward from right side of box about ten yards out. The game came bursting into life as the sunbathers were treated to a storming last twenty minutes with Rory shooting goalward but the keeper saving comfortably. Vigurs then burst forward but his shot was blocked. The action was coming faster than the shorthand from the reporter and a Hart corner and Watt header failed to break the deadlock, Hibs again countering quickly and a good step-over resulted in a shot deflected for a corner. Seventy five minutes gone and another strikers challenge from Bayne as he unceremoniously upended the impressive Mutumba. From the free kick Hibs effort was saved at the second attempt by Zibi as he blocked the rebound. Seconds after a Hart free kick was cleared, the ball landed at his feet and like a true Brazillian, he curled the ball with the outside of his boot to the unmarked Rory on the keepers right edge of the six yard box, he brought the ball under control, rounded the keeper and slid the ball home from six yards, a well taken goal and an impeccable cross from Hart............or maybe it was a badly sliced shot that landed lucky for Rory, anyhow, good finish from Rory. Hibs almost replied straight away but shot wide and had another close attempt a minute later. The sun-scorched crowd were just commenting on how disappointed Mixu must have been with his wee brother Markus, when out of the lengthening dark shadows on the left wing, he cut across the face of the box and struck a low right footer curling away from the diving keeper into his right hand side. Another good goal as unexpected as it was. Kerr fired in a low drive that whistled just wide as Hibs wilted in the afternoon haze. Patti was suddenly enjoying this and he dropped his shoulders to body swerve a couple of defenders but Hart again failed to trouble the scorers. Hibs were now demoralised and no doubt wondered how their slick play brought no rewards and an industrious ICT picked up all three points. Dale Gillespie just back from representing Scotland and playing against Dutch league players from Feyenoord, had a solid game playing in an unfamiliar role at right back. Pick of the ICT bunch were Zibi, Watt and Hart, with Rory and Patti taking their goals well. Deano played but nothing happened for him to make the visiting managers sit up and take notice. Barry was ineffective and Patti well shackled before coming to life. Bayne at centre back.... leave it out, too many mistimed tackles, but he also did a fair bit of clearances, although Watt was the one holding the back line firm. Kerr played at left back and did ok as well and Vigurs played deep left middle in the Roy McBain invisible man role. The sun was just dipping behind the distant snow capped hills as the teams left the pitch, the fans now able to take their hands down from their tanned faces to applaud the victors from the field, a hard fought victory but eventually deserved despite the ball being in the Inverness net three times. TM4TJ Man of the Match goes to Zibi, but Hart can once again be proud of his effort and Watt must be looking to stay as he put in a decent performance. Mutumba impressed for the visitors and McCann and Stevenson also showed up well. Sorry, no team lines available.