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  1. Spiders are coming High Scoring League Leaders Queens Park come North on Saturday looking to keep ahead of the chasing pack as they face a recently revitalised Caley Thistle in an eagerly awaited cinch Championship encounter. Kick-off is scheduled for 3:00pm. We can look forward to this one with a bit more optimism after two high scoring wins since the turn of the year has breathed some new life into the struggling Caley Jags and their ailing fans. However this is a different beast we face after the relatively easy time we had against Cove and Arbroath. Queens themselves are scoring for fun and will be a massive test for us to see if we have really turned the corner or are we still a long way short of the finished article. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket info Official Preview New Signing Ben Woods ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue H2H v Queens Park Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 10 4 4 2 15 12 +3 Away 7 5 0 2 14 10 +4 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 17 9 4 4 29 22 +7 We've not seen much of Queens park over recent years, but this new improved version are proving to be quite a handful. This is just the third meeting since 2010 when we won 3 - 0 in a League Cup fixture in Inverness. Last 10 Competitive Meetings. First two are from this season, the rest start at 2010 backwards. 1 - 2 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 3 - 0 (H) 1 - 2 (H) 2 - 0 (H) 2 - 1 (A) 1 - 0 (H) 3 - 2 (A) 2 - 2 (H) 2 - 1 (A) We drew the first fixture 1 - 1 at the Caledonian Stadium this season. Here's the CTO summary from that game in July: Queens make their point: Queens 39 year hiatus from this tier of football ended as they ventured into the Championship, and it all started well when Jake Davidson opened the scoring in the thirteenth minute. In a half of many chances, Bily Mckay levelled the score a minute before the interval. That's how it stood until the final whistle with neither side able to make the breakthrough despite numerous opportunities at both ends thanks to Callum Ferrie and Mark Ridgers and some wayward finishing. Queens Park showing they are not here just to make up the numbers and were good value for their point. Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts 1. Queens Park 20 12 3 5 44 27 39 2. Ayr United 20 10 5 5 39 27 35 3. Dundee 20 10 5 5 33 25 35 4. Partick Thistle 21 10 3 8 42 36 33 5. Morton 19 8 6 5 28 21 30 6. Inverness CT 20 8 5 7 30 28 29 7. Raith Rovers 21 8 4 9 26 27 28 8. Cove Rangers 20 5 6 9 28 40 21 9. Arbroath 21 3 8 10 18 34 17 10. Hamilton Ac. 20 2 5 13 16 39 11 SATURDAY 14TH JANUARY (all 3:00pm) Ayr United v Arbroath Cove Rangers v Raith Rovers Dundee v Partick Accies v Morton Inverness CT v Queens Park Last Time Out Our last two games since the turn of the year saw us bang in an unprecedented of late ten goals. Six against Cove was followed by four at Arbroath. Billy Mckay scored a hat-trick against Cove and one at Arbroath to put him on 90 goals. Few would bet against him reaching Dennis Wyness' all time record of 102. Queens Park also stuffed six past Cove and beat Partick Thistle 2-0 in 2023. They also played Raith Rovers in the Challenge Cup but went down 1-0 to a late goal from Rovers. I wouldn't read too much into that result, they have bigger fish to fry. Queens are the highest scoring team in the League but they are defensively similar to Inverness. Latest Team News Nathan Shaw will return to the squad after injury and Daniel Mackay should be fit enough after taking a knock at Arbroath. Max Ram will require another couple of weeks after being injured at Cove. New signing, midfielder Ben Woods, is available for selection tomorrow. Here's birthday boy Zak Delaney Inverness Caledonian Thistle are delighted to announce the signing of English midfielder Ben Woods on a deal until the end of the season. Woods, 20 years-old, spent part of his youth career at Manchester United’s Academy signing for them at age 9 and playing there until he was 16 years-old which included having been called up for England at age 15, before moving to fellow Premiership Academy Burnley at 16 years-old. Ben left the Clarets 4 years later in 2022. Welcome aboard Ben
  2. Smokies Smoked Both clubs had big wins in the first games of 2023 and it was Inverness that continued in style with a 4-1 win at Gayfield. Billy Mckay, who scored a hat-trick last week, opened the scoring at the back post in the ninth minute but Ben El-Mhanni levelled fifteen minutes later when he slotted into the bottom corner. Jay Henderson put us ahead just before the break as he lifted a shot high into the net from inside the box. Twenty minutes into the second half Dan Mackay shot into the bottom corner to double our advantage. Substitute Lewis Nicolson concluded the scoring in the 86th minute with a header from sub Steven Boyd's cross. Great win on the road for the Caley Jags that moves us into sixth place in the table, eleven points behind table toppers Queens Park who we face next week. Great start to 2023 for the Caley Jags with two big wins on the bounce. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wallace Duffy returned to the starting XI after suspension and Zak Delaney showed no adverse reaction to continue at left back. Jay Henderson played his second game for the club. No other returnees and Max Ram looks to have been added to the still extensive injury list. Arbroath had four new signings in the squad with Ben El-Mhannie, Balde and Adarkwa all starting. Arbroath got the game underway but it was the visitors that took an early lead. Good work by Lewis Hyde down the right and his low cross saw Dan Mackay take a swipe at the ball. He sclaffed it somewhat but one again it was poacher extraordinaire Billy Mckay who reacted best to get to the ball at the back post to knock it in from less than a yard. Great start for the visitors. Sean Ardarkwa cut in from the left but his curling shot from the edge of the box dipped just over the bar. However the hosts were level when the tidy Yasin Ben El-Mhannie met a low João Baldé cross into the box to slot home from around twelve yards, his first goal for Arbroath after two great assists last week against Dundee. Inverness almost regained the lead immediately but for Thomas O'Brien with a goal line clearance from Billy Mckay. Five minutes before the interval the bustling Ardarkwa shot just wide across the face of Ridgers' goal with the keeper scrambling across his line to cover his far post. Just on the break Jay Henderson opened his Caley Jags account after a corner fell to him around the penalty spot. It appears that his knee made contact with the ball and it lifted into the top of the net above the floundering defenders. Maybe Inverness could consider themselves slightly fortunate to go in ahead at the interval, but thems the breaks. HALF TIME: 1-2 After half time it was encouraging to see Inverness looking to build on their first half advantage. Sean Welsh fired a free kick at Gaston, the keeper gathering the curling ball at the second attempt. Gaston did brilliantly to deny Billy Mckay from six yards after Aaron Doran flashed a low ball into the box from the right side. From the resultant corner, Gaston again did brilliantly to deny Mckay as tried to divert Sean Welsh's header into the net, the keeper clawing the header away from danger. Inverness looked likely to run away with the game early in the second half. Dan Mackay gave us the cushion to do just that as he slotted home a through ball from Welsh after we broke play up in the right midfield area. Unfortunately Mackay was replaced by Lewis Nicolson with fifteen minutes remaining after taking a sore one, hopefully just bruising as hinted at by Billy Dodds after the game. Ben El-Mhannie drilled a shot just the wrong side of the post as Arbroath tried to respond, but it was a bit of too little too late and Aaron Doran did well down the left before drilling a dangerous low cross into the box that was heading for a tap-in before a defender sliced it over his own bar. The last goal was the icing on the cake when substitute Lewis Nicolson nudged a header back across the six yard box and into an unguarded net. Mckay and then Steven Boyd combined to set up the chance which Lewis executed exquisitely, his second goal for the club enjoyed muchly by the 143 away fans at Gayfield. FULL TIME: 1-4 Downside of this win was another injury for Dan Mackay. Great to see Jay Henderson and Lewis Nicolson getting amongst the goals and another for Billy Mckay as he chases Dennis Wyness' scoring record of 102 goals. Billy is now on 91. Arbroath is never an easy place to get a win, never mind a big one, we'll take that. Date: 07/01/2023 Venue: Gayfield, Arbroath Attendance: 1803 Referee: Gavin Duncan Arbroath: 1 Manager: Dick Campbell Lineup: Gaston; Oakley (Linn 67), Bitsindou (Hilson 67), O'Brien, Hamilton, Ben El-Mhanni (Dow 77), Mckenna, Gold (Little 45), Balde, Stewart, Adarkwa Subs (not used): Gill; Hoti, Allan Scorers: El-Mhanni (26) Booked: Gold (35), Hamilton (55) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 4 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers; Carson, Duffy, Devine, Delaney (Strachan 88), D Mackay (A Nicolson 75), Welsh, Hyde, Doran (Boyd 84), Henderson (Thompson 88), B Mckay (Oakley 88) Subs (not used): C Mackay; Cairns Scorers: B Mckay (9) Henderson (45), D Mackay (65), L Nicolson (86) Booked: Devine (16), Duffy (33), Henderson (61), Sent Off: none a
  3. Happy New Year Inverness began 2023 with a crushing win against Cove. Two first half strikes from Billy Mckay and one from Danny Devine countered the opening goal from Jack Sanders. Two quickfire own goals within five minutes of the restart put the hosts 5-1 ahead. Mckay notched his hat-trick from close range as we ran away with the game. Big win to start the year, just what we needed. Jay Henderson started in his first game for the Caley Jags after signing on loan for the rest of the season. Zak Delaney returned after injury but he was the only returnee with a sparse bench, Oakley and Boyd were the only senior outfield players on it with returning loan youngsters. Gilmour and Logan missed out for Cove who had Iain Vigurs on the bench. After a minutes silence for the legend that was Pele, the game got underway on a crisp afternoon in the Highlands. Billy Mckay struck the post in the first minute from twenty yards. Megginson flicked a header just over five minutes later and Longstaff shot over after fifteen minutes as Cove got to grips with the pace of the game. Doran has a shot blocked by McKenzie and Billy Mckay put the rebound just wide. Hyde then saw McKenzie block with his legs as Mckay put him through on goal. Jack Sanders headed in the opener after twenty two minutes. Doran went close soon after, his deflected shot sliding past for a fruitless corner. Just after the half hour Billy Mckay drew Inverness level with a diving header from six yards after a Sean Welsh cross. Danny Devine put Inverness ahead five minutes before the break with a half volley into the bottom corner, Sean Welsh again the provider. A minute before the half time whistle, it was 3-1 when Billy Mckay netted from the spot after hand ball by Jack Sanders. Just after the interval a Dan Mackay shot/cross ended up in the net via Kyle McClelland. It's raining own goals now and Scott Ross was next to put through his own net. Mark Ridgers denied Fraser Fyvie and Luis Longstaff with excellent saves and Dan Mackay went close on the hour. Billy got his hat-trick and Dan Mackay went close to number seven. The three returning youngsters came on for the final ten minutes and more followed as we saw out the game. Who saw that coming??? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Not many saw that result coming, probably not even Billy Dodds but it's a badly needed flying start to 2023. Six goals and a hat-trick for the evergreen Billy Mckay. As much as we have criticised the team on here, surely nobody can have any complaints after that result, our biggest of the season. Good to see Mark Ridgers back between the sticks and Zak Delaney back after injury. Billy Mckay, poacher extraordinaire back to his best. That's his fourth Hat-Trick for the Caley Jags. What's not to like! Happy Days are here again... Hat-Trick Hero... it's my ball All the Goals Date: 02/01/2023 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 2052 Referee: Craig Napier Inverness CT: 6 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers; Carson, Ram (Strachan 85), Devine, Delaney, Doran (Nicolson 81), Welsh, Hyde, D Mackay (Boyd 73), Henderson (Thompson 81), B Mckay (Cairns 81) Subs (not used): C Mackay; L Nicolson, Oakley Scorers: Mckay (32, 44 pen, 64), Devine (40), McClelland (50 og) Ross (52 og) Booked: none Sent Off: none Cove Rangers: 1 Manager: Jim McInally Lineup: McKenzie; Ross, Sanders, Reynolds (McClelland 45), Scully, Longstaff, Yule, McIntosh, Fyvie, McDonagh (Masson 34), Megginson Subs (not used): Gourlay; Towler, Vigurs, Leitch, Dunne Scorers: Sanders (22) Booked: Ross (33), Sanders (44), Scully (69) Sent Off: none a
  4. Arbroath Test   Inverness and Arbroath started 2023 with a bang, something's got to give as the New Year big hitters collide at Gayfield on Saturday. Both sides had been struggling to build anything before Xmas but found their goal scoring boots in the New Year games. Inverness put six past Cove Rangers and Arbroath had a stunning 4-2 win at League leaders Dundee. Plenty of changes at Arbroath for Inverness to contend with, however Dick and Dom are still going strong at the helm. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Bus Info Arbroath Audio available ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue H2H v Arbroath Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 23 16 4 3 57 19 +38 Away 21 9 6 6 26 22 +4 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 44 25 10 9 83 41 +42 Inverness shading the away fixtures but the games have generally been tight affairs in recent years apart from a rogue 3 - 0 win for the Caley Jags in March 2022. No scoring draw anyone? Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Arbroath - Honours even over last seven meetings 1 - 1 (H) 0 - 0 (A) 0 - 0 (A) 0 - 0 (H) 3 - 0 (H) 0 - 0 (A) 0 - 1 (H) 1 - 0 (A) 1 - 0 (H) 1 - 1 (A) Last away win at Arbroath was a 1 - 0 win back in July 2021 when Shane Sutherland was the difference between the sides in a tight game on a difficult day for football. CTO summary: After a goalless first half Shane Sutherland broke through the middle to drink the ball neatly over Gaston for the opening goal with just over twenty minutes left. A late rally from the hosts should have drawn them level but Inverness hung on grimly to take all three points. In the opening forty-five, Sutherland had an effort cleared off the line and Nouble proved to be an awkward customer as he bulldozed his way around the park spurning the Lichties best chance of the first half. It was a welcome three points but a difficult watch throughout. Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts   1. Queens Park 19 11 3 5 38 27 36 2. Dundee 19 10 4 5 32 24 34 3. Ayr United 19 9 5 5 38 27 32 4. Morton 18 8 6 4 27 19 30 5. Partick Thistle 20 9 3 8 40 35 30 6. Raith Rovers 20 8 3 9 25 26 27 7. Inverness CT 19 7 5 7 26 27 26 8. Cove Rangers 19 5 6 8 28 34 21 9. Arbroath 20 3 8 9 17 30 17 10. Hamilton Ac. 19 2 5 12 16 38 11   FRIDAY 6TH JANUARY (7:45pm) Raith Rovers v Dundee Fc SATURDAY 7TH JANUARY (3:00pm)   Arbroath v Inverness Ayr United v Hamilton     Cove R v Queen's     Partick v Morton Meetings this season It's the third meeting this season and both previous games had ended all square. No goals back in August in the first fixture and a 1 - 1 draw back at the Caledonian Stadium in November thanks to goals from Nathan Shaw and Kieran Shanks. Mark Ridgers had been benched after the Morton gubbing as we entered our slump. Both sides have only one win in their last six games, but what wins they were. Six of the best including a Billy Mckay hat-trick, his fourth for the Caley Jags, with Devine and a couple of og's. Arbroath stung Dundee with four away from home for the Smokies at Dens Park. McKenna, Hamilton, O'Brien and Hilson put ten man Dundee to the sword and toppled them off their lofty perch. Latest Team News Great to see Mark Ridgers back between the sticks against Cove. Hopefully that's the end of the Ridgers Rift. Zak Delaney returned from injury and Sean Welsh played again but no sign of more recent casualties like Nathan Shaw, Cammy Harper. Roddy MacGrgor or Austin Samuels. Jay Henderson fitted in well on his debut and looks to be an asset and we have also taken young loan players back on board. Ryan Barrett has left the building after his loan deal ended. Wallace Duffy should be available for selection after his suspension last week.       Arbroath  OUT x4: Lot of changes at Arbroath as they try to save their season. Kareem Isiaka has left Arbroath after his loan deal expired and Kieran Shanks has gone on loan to Peterhead with Ryan Dow moving in the opposite direction. Daniel Fosu has left and Mason Hancock has returned to Aberdeen with a knee injury that has ended his season.  IN x4: Yasin Ben El-Mhanni made his debut against Dundee and ran the show in that stunning away win and has plenty of quality. Former West Ham and QPR striker Sean Adarkwa is another new to the Smokies as is Joao Balde coming in from Hibernian.  As noted above, the experienced Ryan Dow comes in from Peterhead on an 18 month deal. Midfielder Keaghan Jacobs is in rehab after a knee operation.          
  5. Is Dodds the Man 4 the Job Cove first foot the Caledonian Stadium on 2nd January with many fans questioning whether Billy Dodds should still be in charge as we head into 2023 in a massive slump and slide towards the bottom end of the table. Yes there has been an incredible amount of injuries to contend with, but the majority of the support are questioning his ability to turn things around. It can't be an easy task trying to run a team on a shoestring but it's the nature of the beast, and has been for some time. Money does not affect the style of play though and that is a major concern with many citing the current team as one of the worst since we joined the leagues back in 1994. Has he lost the dressing room? The feud with Ridgers? He was removed at half time against Morton. What now for Cammy Mackay who shipped five at Partick? For Dodds' sake, I hope we can get a few players back as soon as possible, otherwise his position will become untenable, a word that is usually followed by news of a new manager. And what of Robbo? Is that a burden the club can do without? Come to think of it, maybe a complete clear out is the only answer. Have a good New Year when it comes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket info Jay Henderson ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Only six competitive meetings v Cove 1 - 0 (A) 4 - 1 (H) 1 - 1 (H) 1 - 3 (A) 3 - 2 (H) 2 - 0 (H) Recent form table over last six games, horrendous stuff and shipping goals like nobody's business. Overall Home Away Pos Team Pld W D L F A W D L F A W D L F A +/- Pts 1. Dundee 6 5 1 0 11 4 2 0 0 3 0 3 1 0 8 4 +7 16 2. Queens Park 6 4 1 1 17 8 2 1 0 8 3 2 0 1 9 5 +9 13 3. Morton 6 3 3 0 12 6 2 0 0 6 1 1 3 0 6 5 +6 12 4. Partick Thistle 6 3 1 2 15 9 3 0 1 13 6 0 1 1 2 3 +6 10 5. Cove Rangers 6 2 3 1 11 8 2 1 1 6 3 0 2 0 5 5 +3 9 6. Ayr United 6 2 2 2 10 10 1 1 1 3 3 1 1 1 7 7 0 8 7. Raith Rovers 6 1 2 3 8 13 1 2 1 8 9 0 0 2 0 4 -5 5 8. Arbroath 6 0 4 2 5 11 0 2 1 3 6 0 2 1 2 5 -6 4 9. Inverness CT 6 0 2 4 5 15 0 2 1 3 4 0 0 3 2 11 -10 2 10. Hamilton Ac. 6 0 1 5 7 17 0 1 1 6 7 0 0 4 1 10 -10 1 We opened our home League games with a 4 - 1 win over newly promoted Cove Rangers back in the middle of August. Austin Powers: Man of Mystery Goals: Austin Samuels scored twice as Inverness registered their first win of the Championship this season. Aaron Doran and substitute Nathan Shaw opened their accounts with Robbie Leitch tapping in for Cove just after the interval. An ultimately comfortable win for the hosts that bumps them up the table into second spot behind Dundee. Sadly we have been found out since then and are now just two points above Cove in 7th place on 23 points. We also surprisingly beat them 1 - 0 at Balmoral Park against the run of play as we started to struggle with injuries but still picked up points somehow. Cove kept at Bay: Our first visit to Balmoral Park on League business ended with a hard fought win, our fifth on the bounce. Inverness opened the scoring after twenty minutes through Steven Boyd, his first of the season. However Roddy MacGregor was helped off the pitch after being injured in the build up to that goal. Allardice stayed in the dressing room at the interval to be replaced by Lewis Hyde. Ridgers did well to deny Cove after the break and right at the end Cove were reduced to ten men as McIntosh was sent off. Still joint top as Partick also win with Dundee and Morton leading the chasing pack. That win at Balmoral left us joint top with Partick on 20 points. Dundee were three points further back but they now top the table on 34 points. Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Current table at the end of 2022 1. Dundee 18 10 4 4 30 20 34 2. Queens Park 18 10 3 5 36 27 33 3. Ayr United 19 9 5 5 38 27 32 4. Morton 18 8 6 4 27 19 30 5. Partick Thistle 19 9 3 7 40 33 30 6. Raith Rovers 19 7 3 9 24 26 24 7. Inverness CT 18 6 5 7 20 26 23 8. Cove Rangers 18 5 6 7 27 28 21 9. Arbroath 19 2 8 9 13 28 14 10. Hamilton Ac. 18 2 5 11 16 37 11 MONDAY 2ND JANUARY - All 3:00pm Dundee v Arbroath Hamilton v Raith Rovers Morton v Ayr United Queen's v Partick Thistle Caley Jags v Cove Rangers Latest Team News Your guess is as good as mine??? Its two steps forward and three steps back on the injury front. One man who will be there: 'We have signed St Mirren winger Jay Henderson on loan until the end of the season'. Something positive I suppose. We have also recalled a raft of youngsters who were out on loan. Here's Billy Dodds to tell us all about it. For Cove: Midfielder Charlie Gilmour is out for a couple of months and Shay Logan has been missing recently through injury.
  6. Firhill for Chills It's not a TV spectacular for us on Friday night as we venture down to the big smoke after the freeze to take on Partick Thistle at Firhill. All Championship games this week are to be played on Friday evening at 7:45pm with our game at Firhill your preferred Xmas viewing if you stream it from Partick TV, or maybe not given our TV horror earlier in the season when Partick romped home 4-1. We had last weekend off after New Douglas park was deemed unplayable whilst Partick beat Ayr 3-2 to re-ignite their failing season. Partick are fifth on 27 points and we slipped to seventh on 23 points with Raith jumping above us after drawing with Arbroath. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Supporters Bus Info Partick TV Carnihan & Nicolson Half season tickets on sale now MD CCST Orth MFSEM FRCS ICTFC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue Head 2 Head Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 24 11 6 7 38 33 +5 Away 23 6 6 11 24 34 -10 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 47 17 12 18 62 67 -5 Home advantage historically denotes the winner in these fixtures and we tend to find Firhill a difficult place to pick up wins with only six in twenty-three attempts. Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Partick Thistle 1 - 0 (H) 1 - 4 (A) 1 - 0 (H) 2 - 1 (A) 0 - 1 (A) 3 - 3 (H) 0 - 0 (A) 3 - 1 (H) 1 - 3 (A) 1 - 3 (H) Here's our overview from our last visit to Firhill Firhill Flops: 1 - 4 A Brian Graham double gave Partick a first half lead. For the first the defenders got the wrong side of him, the second a gift from the Inverness defence with a loose pass across the box. It was a lacklustre performance from the visitors in the first forty-five with Billy Mckay having the best effort after an Aaron Dorran lay off, but David Mitchell was equal to the shot to deny the striker from twelve yards. We almost gifted a third early in the second half with a short header back, but Ridgers stood tall to deny Graham his hat-trick. A third did come from the spot after Carson was alleged to have brought down his man. Kevin Holt kept his cool to slot home. Anton Dowds bulleted a header home with five minutes left to add to our miserable night. George Oakley powerfully headed a consolation in time added on, but that won't detract from the rubbish on show tonight. Embarrassing night for the Caley Jags, and on national TV too! Current form over the last six games Partick beat League leaders Ayr 3-2 last Saturday Overall Home Away Pos Team Pld W D L F A W D L F A W D L F A +/- Pts 1. Dundee 6 4 2 0 9 4 2 1 0 3 0 2 1 0 6 4 +5 14 2. Queens Park 6 4 1 1 17 7 2 1 0 8 3 2 0 1 9 4 +10 13 3. Morton 6 3 3 0 10 4 2 0 0 6 1 1 3 0 4 3 +6 12 4. Ayr United 6 3 2 1 12 8 1 1 0 3 1 2 1 1 9 7 +4 11 5. Cove Rangers 6 1 4 1 11 10 1 1 1 4 3 0 3 0 7 7 +1 7 6. Partick Thistle 6 2 1 3 10 11 2 0 1 8 5 0 1 2 2 6 -1 7 7. Raith Rovers 6 2 1 3 9 11 2 1 1 9 7 0 0 2 0 4 -2 7 8. Arbroath 6 0 4 2 4 9 0 2 1 2 4 0 2 1 2 5 -5 4 9. Inverness CT 6 0 3 3 5 11 0 3 1 4 5 0 0 2 1 6 -6 3 10. Hamilton Ac. 6 0 1 5 7 16 0 1 1 6 7 0 0 4 1 9 -9 1 All games FRIDAY 23RD DECEMBER 7:45pm Arbroath v Queen's Ayr Utd v Dundee Cove R v Accies Rovers v Morton Partick Th v Inverness CT We did beat Partick last time out at the Caledonian Stadium on 7th October He scores when he wants: 1 - 0 A first half where defences were on top offered little opportunity for either side to create the clear cut chance required until the half hour when Robbie Deas pounced on a loose clearance within the box. His header was bundled away from goal a yard from the line by two defenders with Mitchell floundering. A couple of minutes later and Mitchell was called into action to scramble the ball away low down at his post from a Duffy header. Billy Mckay clipped one over the bar after a tremendous turn and run by Daniel Mackay. Kyle Turner was red carded for what appeared to be a slightly high tackle on Roddy MacGregor and Inverness ended the half knocking on the Partick door. Cammy Harper brought out a super save from Mitchell with 65 minutes gone, diving high to his top left corner. Ten minutes later Billy Mckay opened the scoring with his fifth goal of the season, drilling home from twelve yards after good work by MotM Dan Mackay. Kevin Holt came close to an unlikely equaliser with a low shot across the face of the goal ten minutes from the end, but Partick rarely threatened. Oakley had an effort kept out on the line acrobatically by Holt as Inverness looked to close out the game. However, Inverness saw out the game to go joint top of the table after their fourth win in a row. That'll do nicely. That win put us joint top. A couple of weeks later it all went tits up and we now have no wins in our last 7 League games. Latest Team News We have had an extra week to get more bodies back, but given the seriousness of most of our injuries the extra time off is like a drop in the ocean. The Ridgers rift saw Mark playing with the youngsters at Accies a couple of weeks ago. Our last meaningful game was on the 3rd of December when we went down at home to Dundee 0 - 1. Bily Mckay and Sean Welsh missed that one but I would imagine they might be available for this one. If not, why not! This isn't the team lines for the Dundee game, it's just the players that were unavailable: Ridgers, Deas, Delaney, Welsh, Allardice, MacGregor, Walsh, Sutherland, Mckay, Samuels. There may be others, the list is inexhaustible. Off the Park: Panos Thomas: MD, CCST Orth, MFSEM, FRCS as a Director of ICTFC. It's not an anagram, it's our new director. Eck's Partick peek: Reveals nothing new happening at Firhill. They did beat Ayr last week with goals from Milne, Graham and Lawless in an entertaining five goal encounter. Harry Milne beginning to attract a bit of attention. Of course Brian Graham likes a goal against the Caley Jags. As normal, Partick will have a full bench to pick from with the likes of Dowds, Holt and Mullen starting on the bench last week. Off the Park: BBC Sport 14th December: Former Glasgow Rocks owner Duncan Smillie has been confirmed as strife-torn Partick Thistle's new chairman. Chair Jacqui Low and six directors resigned last week after recent fan protests followed the Partick Thistle FC Trust becoming majority shareholder. Smillie was the only director not to resign and has become interim chair until the end of the season. Not just us that are in some turmoil then!
  7. Xmas Grinch's Inverness went to Glasgow for their pre-Xmas fare looking for three points for their Xmas stocking. In the end we were stuffed like Turkeys and got our chestnuts roasted. We looked like Turkeys in the first half as Partick knocked in two simple goals through Brian Graham and Kyle Turner. Meanwhile Inverness were at sixes and sevens as they tried to stem the flow without success whilst failing to make an attacking contribution to the game. After the interval McKinnon and Muirhead added early goals like the Grinch to completely ruin Xmas for the Highland folk. Doran nicked a consolation but Mullen added a fifth immediately. To add insult to injury, Duffy was red carded, probably too embarrassed to wait until the end. A few more should have walked with him. Embarrassing stuff from Inverness. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Billy Dodds was still without a squad of injured players as we went to Firhill on the Friday before Xmas hoping for a wee present from the West End. Sean Welsh, Zak Delaney and Billy Mckay returned after injury but Danny Devine, Cammy Harper and Nathan Shaw were now missing and only five on the bench including Mark Ridgers who is still on the naughty boy step. Sounds like plenty of work for our new director, alphabet man, to contend with. For Partick, Scott Tiffoney has been out for a couple of months and has been missed as Partick floundered. Still, a strong squad with a full bench for the Maryhill Magyars. Inverness were in their red'nblack away strip for this one as Partick kicked off in a mostly yellow kit. There appeared to be a false dawn following good pressing by the visitors in the opening exchanges but it was Partick that forced the first corner where Brian Graham snatched at his opportunity and hit it wide into the side net at the back post. That was just a warning. Who else but Brian Graham tapped in the opener after an Aiden Fitzpatrick cross picked him out inside the six yard box. All too easy for the big striker. Almost a second from a similar break down the left five minutes later but the defence scrambled it clear. It had been all Partick since the opening five minutes as Inverness failed miserably to build anything whatsoever, totally devoid of any attacking intent. As if by magic, Dan Mackay managed to get a cross into the middle where Billy Mckay spun but his shot from the edge of the box was weak and easily gathered by Sneddon. Dan Mackay was looking our man most likely to succeed with the limited time he was having on the ball, but his moments were fleeting to say the least. The replica second goal came from Kyle Turner after a tremendous diagonal ball from Lawless found Harry Milne whose low cross was turned into the net by Turner five minutes before the interval. HALF TIME: 2-0 Aaron Doran came on at the interval replacing the ineffective Steven Boyd. Mind you, they were all ineffective, or maybe just defective. Max Ram continued where he left off in the first half, in fact he went one better picking out absolutely nobody for a throw in to Partick out of nothing. Men against boys as Partick scored a third after Graham unselfishly knocked down a ball for Cole McKinnon to drill home from fifteen yards. FFS, a fourth followed minutes later after a corner was met early by Muirhead at the near post and planted firmly behind the keeper to surely loosen the shoogly peg holding Dodds' coat. We have been an absolute shambles for seventy minutes here and it will get worse. We got a consolation goal from Aaron Doran but that just angered Partick who went up the park and scored a fifth goal through Danny Mullen moments later. Wallace Duffy saw red when he tugged back a player bursting forward. Just what we needed on top of all our injuries. To be honest it could have been more as we failed to participate in the game. A late goalline clearance denied Partick number six as the game petered out. As it was, that was our heaviest defeat by Partick Thistle who didn't need to be anything other than competent. FULL TIME: 5-1 Match Reaction from Alsy: ICTFC playing like a team assembled from random characters found in the car park 20 minutes before kick off. What’s going on here? From CTO: 5-1 is embarrassing, and now down to 10 men. Something is beyond wrong. It can’t all be blamed on injury and bad luck, surely it is managements job to manage and motivate ???? That’s what’s lacking Here's a cutting assessment from the Immortal Howden Ender Any match report simply has to focus on the 109 supporters who had to suffer this total embarrassment. Even if 10-20% left before the final whistle which in itself is a rarity and basically sums the whole night up. I did stay until the final whistle just to ensure that I had witnessed the worst ICT performance ever. I usually include comments on the tactics and the formation but I couldn’t suss out who was playing where and what their roles were. The main one to confuse me was Carson as he appeared to be just roaming around the midfield area and rarely where the play was taking place. Welsh meanwhile was the man looking for the ball to be played to him but usually lobbed the ball forward to Billy McKay surrounded by four defenders!! It may be cruel but Ridgers is the biggest miss of the lot. MacKay looks to have lost all his confidence and that evidently affects the defence in front of him. And add to that the system of holding a line is unknown as is pressing the ball. Who scouted Barrett who makes Djebi-Zadi look like Carlos Alberto. Duffy was unfortunate to get a red but probably looked at it as a blessing. Billy McKay tried but he simply looks fed up as does Dan. He intermittently held his hamstring and he must have been hoping that it will keep him out for a few weeks. And why were our players slipping so often and why was Oakley kept on the bench and why were there more of a smattering of the kids who apparently did us proud at Hamilton. At least Doran showed glimpses of his old self. I am going to stop as I could go on and on. It is absolutely obvious that Dodds has lost the dressing room and the support. Sure there are injuries but selection and tactics are non existent. We will survive but is that enough? It may cost to get rid of Dodds and his supporters but a deal has to be done sooner than later as the support will surely dwindle. To me seeing fellow supporters and the social aspect is what will keep me going at the moment. At this time of year Dodds is Ebenezer Scrooge and we need a Jacob Marley to haunt him as soon as possible, OR, we will all be stuffed. Merry Christmas to you all - well apart from?? From CTO: I think it's not unreasonable to say that was probably the weakest starting XI the club has ever put on the field (recent Hamilton game aside) and I'm including 3rd division days here. A number of these guys are simply not professional footballers, and these are Dodds' signings. 9-1 on aggregate from our two visits to Firhill this season is quite the statistic yet Gardiner and Co. will do nothing. The club is in terminal decline and we need radical change NOW! Cringe... Date: 23/12/2022 Venue: Firhill, Partick Attendance: 2243 Referee: Peter Stuart Partick Thistle: 5 Manager: Ian McCall Lineup: Sneddon; McMillan (Holt 62), Brownlie, Muirhead, Milne (MacKenzie 68), Turner, Bannigan, McKinnon, Lawless (Mullen 68), Graham (Weston 80), Fitzpatrick (Lyon 79) Subs (not used): Mitchell; Smith, Stanway, Dowds Scorers: Graham (16), Turner (39), McKinnon (53), Muirhead (57), Mullen (74) Booked: none Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 1 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: C Mackay; Barrett, Duffy, Ram, Delaney, Boyd (Doran 45), Welsh, Carson, Hyde (Strachan 80), D Mackay, B Mckay Subs (not used): Ridgers; Bray, Oakley Scorers: Doran (73) Booked: none Sent Off: Duffy (77) a
  8. Firhill for Chills It's not a TV spectacular for us on Friday night as we venture down to the big smoke after the freeze to take on Partick Thistle at Firhill. All Championship games this week are to be played on Friday evening at 7:45pm with our game at Firhill your preferred Xmas viewing if you stream it from Partick TV, or maybe not given our TV horror earlier in the season when Partick romped home 4-1. We had last weekend off after New Douglas park was deemed unplayable whilst Partick beat Ayr 3-2 to re-ignite their failing season. Partick are fifth on 27 points and we slipped to seventh on 23 points with Raith jumping above us after drawing with Arbroath. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Supporters Bus Info Partick TV Carnihan & Nicolson Half season tickets on sale now MD CCST Orth MFSEM FRCS ICTFC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue Head 2 Head Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 24 11 6 7 38 33 +5 Away 23 6 6 11 24 34 -10 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 47 17 12 18 62 67 -5 Home advantage historically denotes the winner in these fixtures and we tend to find Firhill a difficult place to pick up wins with only six in twenty-three attempts. Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Partick Thistle 1 - 0 (H) 1 - 4 (A) 1 - 0 (H) 2 - 1 (A) 0 - 1 (A) 3 - 3 (H) 0 - 0 (A) 3 - 1 (H) 1 - 3 (A) 1 - 3 (H) Here's our overview from our last visit to Firhill Firhill Flops: 1 - 4 A Brian Graham double gave Partick a first half lead. For the first the defenders got the wrong side of him, the second a gift from the Inverness defence with a loose pass across the box. It was a lacklustre performance from the visitors in the first forty-five with Billy Mckay having the best effort after an Aaron Dorran lay off, but David Mitchell was equal to the shot to deny the striker from twelve yards. We almost gifted a third early in the second half with a short header back, but Ridgers stood tall to deny Graham his hat-trick. A third did come from the spot after Carson was alleged to have brought down his man. Kevin Holt kept his cool to slot home. Anton Dowds bulleted a header home with five minutes left to add to our miserable night. George Oakley powerfully headed a consolation in time added on, but that won't detract from the rubbish on show tonight. Embarrassing night for the Caley Jags, and on national TV too! Current form over the last six games Partick beat League leaders Ayr 3-2 last Saturday Overall Home Away Pos Team Pld W D L F A W D L F A W D L F A +/- Pts 1. Dundee 6 4 2 0 9 4 2 1 0 3 0 2 1 0 6 4 +5 14 2. Queens Park 6 4 1 1 17 7 2 1 0 8 3 2 0 1 9 4 +10 13 3. Morton 6 3 3 0 10 4 2 0 0 6 1 1 3 0 4 3 +6 12 4. Ayr United 6 3 2 1 12 8 1 1 0 3 1 2 1 1 9 7 +4 11 5. Cove Rangers 6 1 4 1 11 10 1 1 1 4 3 0 3 0 7 7 +1 7 6. Partick Thistle 6 2 1 3 10 11 2 0 1 8 5 0 1 2 2 6 -1 7 7. Raith Rovers 6 2 1 3 9 11 2 1 1 9 7 0 0 2 0 4 -2 7 8. Arbroath 6 0 4 2 4 9 0 2 1 2 4 0 2 1 2 5 -5 4 9. Inverness CT 6 0 3 3 5 11 0 3 1 4 5 0 0 2 1 6 -6 3 10. Hamilton Ac. 6 0 1 5 7 16 0 1 1 6 7 0 0 4 1 9 -9 1 All games FRIDAY 23RD DECEMBER 7:45pm Arbroath v Queen's Ayr Utd v Dundee Cove R v Accies Rovers v Morton Partick Th v Inverness CT We did beat Partick last time out at the Caledonian Stadium on 7th October He scores when he wants: 1 - 0 A first half where defences were on top offered little opportunity for either side to create the clear cut chance required until the half hour when Robbie Deas pounced on a loose clearance within the box. His header was bundled away from goal a yard from the line by two defenders with Mitchell floundering. A couple of minutes later and Mitchell was called into action to scramble the ball away low down at his post from a Duffy header. Billy Mckay clipped one over the bar after a tremendous turn and run by Daniel Mackay. Kyle Turner was red carded for what appeared to be a slightly high tackle on Roddy MacGregor and Inverness ended the half knocking on the Partick door. Cammy Harper brought out a super save from Mitchell with 65 minutes gone, diving high to his top left corner. Ten minutes later Billy Mckay opened the scoring with his fifth goal of the season, drilling home from twelve yards after good work by MotM Dan Mackay. Kevin Holt came close to an unlikely equaliser with a low shot across the face of the goal ten minutes from the end, but Partick rarely threatened. Oakley had an effort kept out on the line acrobatically by Holt as Inverness looked to close out the game. However, Inverness saw out the game to go joint top of the table after their fourth win in a row. That'll do nicely. That win put us joint top. A couple of weeks later it all went tits up and we now have no wins in our last 7 League games. Latest Team News We have had an extra week to get more bodies back, but given the seriousness of most of our injuries the extra time off is like a drop in the ocean. The Ridgers rift saw Mark playing with the youngsters at Accies a couple of weeks ago. Our last meaningful game was on the 3rd of December when we went down at home to Dundee 0 - 1. Bily Mckay and Sean Welsh missed that one but I would imagine they might be available for this one. If not, why not! This isn't the team lines for the Dundee game, it's just the players that were unavailable: Ridgers, Deas, Delaney, Welsh, Allardice, MacGregor, Walsh, Sutherland, Mckay, Samuels. There may be others, the list is inexhaustible. Off the Park: Panos Thomas: MD, CCST Orth, MFSEM, FRCS as a Director of ICTFC. It's not an anagram, it's our new director. Eck's Partick peek: Reveals nothing new happening at Firhill. They did beat Ayr last week with goals from Milne, Graham and Lawless in an entertaining five goal encounter. Harry Milne beginning to attract a bit of attention. Of course Brian Graham likes a goal against the Caley Jags. As normal, Partick will have a full bench to pick from with the likes of Dowds, Holt and Mullen starting on the bench last week. Off the Park: BBC Sport 14th December: Former Glasgow Rocks owner Duncan Smillie has been confirmed as strife-torn Partick Thistle's new chairman. Chair Jacqui Low and six directors resigned last week after recent fan protests followed the Partick Thistle FC Trust becoming majority shareholder. Smillie was the only director not to resign and has become interim chair until the end of the season. Not just us that are in some turmoil then!
  9. Big Boys Turn Pitch Inspection GAME OFF After the Challenging Cup last week where the young Inverness team gave Accies a good game, it's the turn of the big boys this weekend, weather permitting, to see if they can end our poor run and take some much needed points back North before we slip too far off the pace. This game is scheduled for Saturday 17th December at 3:00pm at New Douglas Park or if you prefer the sponsors name of 'The Fountain of Youth'. It was certainly very apt last week as our u18 players performed very well and Accies played their part ending the game with ten of their Academy players on the park. So well done all round, the future is bright, the future is Youth. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/ticket/supporters bus info Half Season Tickets on Sale ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 16 5 4 7 25 20 +5 Away 12 6 2 4 17 15 +2 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 28 11 6 11 42 35 +7 Accies are starting to get the hang of beating us with results over the last six encounters well in their favour apart from the 4-0 pumping we dished out as we prepared for the play-offs last season as Accies wound down. This is just the second Championship fixture against Accies this season with them winning the first game at the Caledonian Stadium back in October. CTO Report: 0 - 1. Winter comes early: Inverness failed to stretch their unbeaten run to six League games and in the process failed to top the league on their own whilst Accies lifted themselves off the bottom with this win. With a raft of injuries, it was always going to be a difficult task to maintain our recent run of wins. Andrew Winter opened the scoring from close range in a dour first half. No further scoring left the home fans disappointed with events on the park where injuries were the only winner. The youngsters were there last week in the Challenge cup and acquitted themselves very well in a 2-0 defeat. Last 6 Competitive Meetings v Accies 0 - 2 (A) 0 - 1 (H) 4 - 0 (H) 1 - 1 (A) 1 - 2 (H) 1 - 2 (A) Only Accies have been worse than us over the last six games. Recent results table Overall Home Away Pos Team Pld W D L F A W D L F A W D L F A +/- Pts 1. Ayr United 6 4 2 0 14 7 2 1 0 7 3 2 1 0 7 4 +7 14 2. Dundee 6 4 2 0 9 4 2 1 0 3 0 2 1 0 6 4 +5 14 3. Queens Park 6 4 1 1 17 7 2 1 0 8 3 2 0 1 9 4 +10 13 4. Morton 6 3 3 0 10 4 2 0 0 6 1 1 3 0 4 3 +6 12 5. Cove Rangers 6 1 4 1 11 10 1 1 1 4 3 0 3 0 7 7 +1 7 6. Raith Rovers 6 2 1 3 9 11 2 0 1 8 6 0 1 2 1 5 -2 7 7. Arbroath 6 1 3 2 4 8 1 2 1 3 4 0 1 1 1 4 -4 6 8. Partick Thistle 6 1 1 4 9 13 1 0 1 5 3 0 1 3 4 10 -4 4 9. Inverness CT 6 0 3 3 5 11 0 3 1 4 5 0 0 2 1 6 -6 3 10. Hamilton Ac. 6 0 1 5 7 16 0 1 1 6 7 0 0 4 1 9 -9 1 SATURDAY 17th DECEMBER 3:00pm Dundee v Cove Rangers Hamilton v Inverness CT Morton v Queen's Pk Partick v Ayr Utd Rovers v Arbroath Latest Team News Billy Dodds still has plenty of issues to deal with. Danny Devine, Dan Mackay and Sean Welsh all returned recently but Welsh's return was fleeting as he missed the next coupe of games. Our brittle captain has been sorely missed but Billy hints at a possible return for maybe a couple of absentees. Eck's Accies update: Manager (at the moment) John Rankin has some injury worries in the midfield area with Lewis Spence and Marley Redfern both out with knee injuries.
  10. Dundee Challenge Dundee are the visitors this week as we get back to League duty after the third round of the Scottish Cup was played out last weekend. Dundee are one of the form teams in the Championship at the moment as they pick up a bit of form after a sticky patch. The game should be kicking off at 3:00pm on Saturday. Both teams advanced into the fourth round of the Scottish Cup last weekend. Inverness edging past Stirling Albion by the odd goal in five and Dundee dumping Airdrie with four goals in extra-time for a 6-2 win. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/tickets info ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 16 7 8 1 27 15 +12 Away 20 7 8 5 28 25 +3 Neutral 2 0 0 2 2 4 -2 Total 38 14 16 8 57 44 +13 We have only lost once at home to Dundee in sixteen games. The overall results also favour Inverness with fourteen wins from thirty-eight encounters with Dundee winning just eight times. The single home defeat came in a Scottish Cup 4th round replay in January 2008. None other than Scott Allan that scored the only goal of the game. Over and Out: This seasons Scottish Cup run was short lived when an efficient Dundee came North and stifled our creative players after the break to score an early second half goal through Scott Allan to win this replay. The second period was just two minutes old when Dundee surged forward after an Inverness attack broke down. A-Jay Leitch-Smith did the spadework and Scott Allan supported him and placed the ball beyond Mark Ridgers low into the corner of the net. Poor play from Inverness in attack and the defence backed off as Dundee went forward giving Allan the opportunity to pick his spot. Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Dundee 3 - 2 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 1 - 2 (A) 2 - 2 (H) 2 - 0 (A) 1 - 0 (H) 0 - 0 (A) 0 - 1 (A) 0 - 1 (H) 2 - 2 (A) We came away from Dens Park with an unexpected but much needed three points back in September. Harper Stuns Dundee: The first meeting of the sides this season ended in victory for the visitors. Dundee took an early lead through Sweeney but Cammy Harper levelled almost immediately with a curling shot from outside the box. Austin Samuels day was over five minutes before the interval. Just on the break Billy Mckay scored from the spot to put the visitors ahead after Harper had been fouled. Paul McMullan made it all square ten minutes after the interval although that goal has now been attributed to Joe Grayson. However, man of the match Harper restored the visitors advantage from twenty-five yards with seven minutes left. That ended the scoring and sealed the points before Sweeney was sent off for a second bookable offence as the game slipped away from Dundee. Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts 1. Ayr United 16 8 5 3 34 22 29 2. Morton 16 8 4 4 24 16 28 3. Dundee 16 8 4 4 27 20 28 4. Queens Park 16 8 3 5 28 26 27 5. Partick Thistle 16 7 2 7 31 29 23 6. Inverness CT 16 6 5 5 19 20 23 7. Raith Rovers 16 7 1 8 21 21 22 8. Cove Rangers 16 4 5 7 24 27 17 9. Arbroath 16 2 6 8 10 22 12 10. Hamilton Ac. 16 2 5 9 16 31 11 Saturday 3rd December 3:00pm Arbroath v Morton Ayr United v Raith Rovers Cove v Partick Inverness v Dundee FC Queen's v Hamilton Current League Form Dundee are one of the form teams with four wins in November which includes their Scottish Cup win over Airdrie. October brought them two wins three draws and a Championship defeat to Cove Rangers at Balmoor. Highlight of that league run was a 3-2 win over Partick Thistle at Firhill with the Cove result putting a damper on the Dundee hopes. Over the same period we have failed to win a league game in November, drawing two and losing to Queens Park. October was a mixed bag where we started off with three narrow wins before being found out at home to Accies. We followed that with a draw at home to Raith Rovers before being pumped 4-0 at Cappielow. Highlight were the three wins in early October over Ayr, Partick and Cove. The lowlight speaks for itself as Morton thrashed us. We are by far one of the worst performing teams in front of goal with only 19 goals from 16 games. Only Arbroath and Hamilton have scored less. Dundee are eight goals better off but with a similar defensive record. Nathan Shaw has been one of the more prominent players recently and scored both goals to earn a point in the 2-2 draw against Ayr United Latest Team News The cup game allowed us to rest the legs of Sean Welsh who will hopefully be available for this one. Danny Devine got more minutes in his legs after coming back two weeks ago. Dan Mackay got half an hour against Stirling Albion but might be off the pace. Full Back Ryan Barrett made his debut late on in the cup game and he himself has come through a knee injury before leaving Newcastle. Unless anyone else has been seen by Jesus, then that might be our lot for now as far as recoveries are concerned. News about Austin Samuels has been sparse, let's hope he is nearing a return. We will still have seven or eight first picks unavailable with news that top scorer Billy Mckay might be joining them with a calf injury. Deas, Delaney, Allardice, McGregor, Walsh, Sutherland and Samuels. Add Mark Ridgers to that ensemble as the rift goes on although Cammy Mackay has done well under the circumstances. Eric has unearthed this new name at Dens Park. Since our last meeting with Dundee they have signed Derick Osei, a centre forward who was without a club since leaving AFC Wimbledon in the summer. French born Osei spent 10 years in the youth system at Toulouse. He has made 7 appearances in Championship and Cup games with 3 goals to his credit. Sounds like he might be a handful at Championship level. Zach Robinson is the clubs leading scorer this season with eight goals from eighteen games with nippy winger Paul McMullen on four alongside Zak Rudden. Alex Jakubiak is on four but his strike rate is the most impressive having only played eight games. Hello Hello Hello, what's all this here then Mr McGowan
  11. Shaw shank redemption Nathan Shaw earned Inverness an unlikely point as he scored his second of the game with three minutes left. That levelled the score after Dipo Akinyemi had put leaders Ayr United ahead with his 14th goal of the season less than ten minutes from the end. Shaw had given the hosts an early lead which they held until the 66th minute when Mark McKenzie bundled into the net from close range. This was a better point for Inverness who still had nine players missing although Danny Devine came into the back four before going off after being injured with fifteen minutes remaining. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ayr came out of the blocks quickly and had a couple of early half chances through Daire O'Connor and Dipo Akinyemi, Cammy Mackay saving the first well and Dipo heading over from the resulting corner. However, it was Inverness that got off to the perfect start when Nathan Shaw put them ahead in the sixth minute firing home from the heart of the box into the bottom corner after stepping round the keeper. It started with a long ball forward from Danny Devine which possibly got a flick on before Shaw controlled and beat the keeper brilliantly. David Carson shot over and Sam Ashford brought Cammy Mackay into action once more saving his effort from distance. After half an hour Akinyemi saw Mackay save his header as Ayr looked to get back on level terms. Before the break Nick McAllister also had a header saved by Mackay who was looking assured in the hosts goal. Just before the interval a game changer for Ayr as Logan Chalmers was met with the obligatory boos as he replaced the injured O'Connor. HALF TIME: 1-0 The introduction of Chalmers was the boost Ayr had been looking for as he relished the chance to have a go at his former team mates. He continued from where he left us with his shoot on site policy and his intentions were there for all to see as Mackay stopped his first shot five minutes after the interval. Akinyemi dragged a shot wide but at the other end Aaron Doran went closer when his shot from around twenty-five yards hit the top of the crossbar with the keeper beaten and went behind. Chalmers again went close when he tried to find the top corner and just when Inverness looked to be getting up to speed in the second half Ayr United equalised when Mark McKenzie knocked in from close range after good work by Chalmers. Danny Devine seemed to take a knock and was replaced by Lewis Hyde with fifteen minutes remaining which disrupted our defence again. Steven Boyd and Akinyemi exchanged misses, but Akinyemi would get another chance immediately which he buried into the back of the net. Good strike from the powerful front man to give United the lead with around ten minutes left. George Oakley came on for one final push as we looked to salvage a point and was instrumental in the assist for Nathan Shaw to shoot early across the keeper into the corner with three minutes plus remaining. Still time for Chalmers to be denied once more by Cammy Mackay and that was the last effort in a decent game where we deserved our point. FULL TIME: 2-2 Well done to Nathan Shaw who had said ahead of the game he was looking forward to it. He has been one of the more positive players in recent weeks. Cammy Mackay did well and denied Ayr a winner at the end and Danny Devine was a welcome returnee after weeks out until he was replaced towards the end after taking cramp. Given our circumstances many would have bitten your hand off for a point before the game started. Ayr's goals were possibly avoidable, but in Akinyemi they have the top scorer in the league and he doesn't need a second invitation. There's him, complete with croakey voice... From BBC Sport Inverness Caledonian Thistle head coach Billy Dodds: "It was a collective but there were some good individual performances. "I was delighted with the spirit and the quality. We had to ride our luck at times in the second-half. I thought we deserved more out of the game but we'll take a point." Ayr United manager Lee Bullen: "I think there were spells where both teams felt they weren't going to get anything out of it. "When you go 2-1 up with six, seven, eight minutes to go you hope to see it out. But it didn't happen that way. To be honest with you, it would have been harsh on Inverness." Date: 19/11/2022 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 2066 Referee: Grant Irvine Inverness CT: 2 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: C Mackay; Duffy, Ram, Devine (Hyde 76), Harper, Shaw, Carson, Welsh, Doran, Boyd (Oakley 84), Mckay Subs (not used): Ridgers; Strachan, Nicolson, Calum Mackay Scorers: Shaw (6, 87) Booked: none Sent Off: none Ayr United: 2 Manager: Lee Bullen Lineup: Albinson; McAllister, Kirk (Ecrepont 90+3), McGinty, Reading, Dempsey, Murdoch, Ashford (McKenzie 61), Mullin (Young 61), Akinyemi, O'Connor (Chalmers 44)) Subs (not used): McAdams; Bilham, Bangala, Bryden, Smith Scorers: McKenzie (66), Akinyemi (82) Booked: McAllister (78) Sent Off: none a
  12. More punishment... Drat, there's no International Break for us as we just have to get on with the humiliation. A once proud club where energy and passion were part of the furniture has been reduced to playing second fiddle to Queens Park, Arbroath, Morton and Hamilton in recent weeks. What's next? Raith Rovers might beat us one day. That's maybe stretching the imagination a bit too far, but that's the direction we are heading. Injuries injuries blah de blah. Lack of quality and tactical nous might be closer to the truth. Anyway, it's getting to be a chore now almost making Xmas shopping seem more palatable. Almost I said. League leaders Ayr United visit the Caledonian Stadium looking to take advantage of our demise. It shouldn't be too difficult, everyone else has done so. However, we cling to eternal hope and unfounded optimism that one day something will change. That seems a long way off at the moment given our predicament. Saturday at 3:00pm is the scheduled kick off time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MATCH/TICKET/SPORTS BAR INFO STIRLING ALBION CUP GAME ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue H2H v Ayr United Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 22 10 10 2 36 22 +14 Away 24 11 6 7 45 30 +15 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 46 21 16 9 81 52 +29 Head 2 Head shows we have a big advantage, especially at home. However these stats are from better times and we lost out 1-2 last February. Prior to that January 2003 was our last home defeat to Ayr United. Plenty of draws in there and the odd seven goal thrashing with a Dennis Wyness hat-trick thrown in for good measure, but that's nostalgia for you. 2000 Dec 2nd League (Wyness hat-trick) 7 - 3 H 1,513 A day on which it rained goals and the score could have gone either way. Two attacking teams provided a great spectacle despite the windy conditions. Play raged from end to end then in 42 minutes Wyness made it 3-2. David Bagan set Martin Bavidge off down the right and his cross was touched home by the sliding foot of Wyness. Wyness scored number 6 with a close range overhead kick in 79 minutes after Davide Xausa had hit the ball across goal and the Ayr defence failed to clear. With 4 minutes left a Sheerin pass split the defence and found Wyness in space. The striker completed his hat trick when he rounded Nelson and stroked the ball into the empty net. It could have been eight just before the end when a Barry Robson shot came off Nelson but he managed to catch Xausa's follow up effort. The home supporters cheered their team off the pitch as the Ayr fans called for the head of manager Gordon Dalziel; an unfair reaction when they had played so well for so long. A match to remember for a long time. Report by Ian Broadfoot Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Ayr United 1 - 0 (A) 2 - 2 (A) 1 - 2 (H) 2 - 2 (A) 1 - 0 (H) 2 - 2 (H) 2 - 0 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 0 - 1 (A) 2 - 0 (H) Last Time Out We were overrun by Queens Park last week after taking a half time advantage through Billy Mckay. Queens upped the pace after the break and tore us a new one. Goals by Charlie Fox and a wily olde fox in Simon Murray settled the issue but it was flattering for us. 6-1 might have been nearer the mark. To be honest, it was an awful view at Ochilvew for the few. Ayr united beat Hamilton 2-3 in their last outing. Accies were looking impressive and should have taken something from the game but Ayr dug deep to find a late winner through Dempsey's spot kick. Tough on Accies who had twice levelled the game. Akinyemi had scored in each half to give Ayr the lead twice. In the middle of our wee purple patch of scraping wins earlier in the season we did somehow get the better of Ayr at Somerset Park with the only goal of the game coming from Cammy Harper's head. Ayr Pressure not enough: Ayr started the day three points ahead of Inverness. They would end the day level. Plenty of pressure from the hosts in a dominant first half but the nearest they came to a goal was a Mark Mckenzie header that came off the bar and the same player missed from six yards after being set up by Dipo Akinyemi. Inverness would be relieved to get to the interval on level terms. Cammy Harper glanced in a header just after the break to open the scoring. That's how it ended after a difficult ninety minutes but it's three wins on the bounce on the road. Ahhhh, distant memories, and that's just this season. Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts 1. Ayr United 15 8 4 3 32 20 28 2. Morton 15 7 4 4 22 15 25 3. Dundee 15 7 4 4 26 20 25 4. Queens Park 15 7 3 5 23 24 24 5. Raith Rovers 15 7 1 7 19 16 22 6. Inverness CT 15 6 4 5 17 18 22 7. Partick Thistle 15 6 2 7 28 29 20 8. Cove Rangers 15 4 5 6 23 25 17 9. Arbroath 15 2 6 7 10 19 12 10. Hamilton Ac. 15 2 5 8 16 30 11 SATURDAY 19TH NOVEMBER (all 3:00pm) Cove R v Morton Dundee v Accies Rovers v Queens Partick Th v Arbroath Inverness CT v Ayr United 15 games in and Ayr United top the table with eight wins and are one of the form teams right now along with Morton and Dundee, so no surprise to see them occupy the top three places. Ayr's last defeat was at Dens Park six games back. Inverness are winless in their last five games since beating Cove at Balmoral a month ago and very few fans can see anything other than a resounding win for Ayr unless a miracle happens on the treatment table. Ayr are top scorers in the league and should be adding to that this weekend. +++++++++++++++++ Latest Team News With Billy Dodds lying low and dodging the bullets, there was only a Q&A session after the Queens Park game. "When I get my full team back, or most of my team back, I think we’ll be a force to be reckoned with." I think when we get the full quota back, hopefully we’ll get a few back soon, even if we get three quarters of the quota back then I think we’ll be a team to be reckoned with." Erm, you've already said that Billy. Let's see what he comes out with ahead of this one as the long knives come out. Still a long queue at the treatment room as far as we know with Zak Delaney being injured near the end of last weeks game at Ochilview another doubt... With Billy still dodging the bullets, here's Bazza... So, if you can't be arsed listening to it, we could have ten, yes TEN, T E N (10) outfield players unavailable. Plus an out of favour keeper. Not good to be honest. We have asked for permission to recall some loanees to fill the bench... Eric's Ayr Doo As expected, with Ayr United already having the largest squad size in the Championship, there have been no new additions since the last meeting at Somerset Park at the beginning of October. Lee Bullen has forged his team into a solid unit with goals at the sharp end. Dipo Akinyemi is responsible for most of them with 13 goals to his name from 19 games. We know enough about Logan Chalmers to know what he can do and Dario Zanatta can be a threat to any defence in this league.
  13. Dumped in Ochilview We ended up with the short straw, a 5:30pm kick-off at Ochilview Park to face Queens Park. Ayr United, Dundee and Morton had already won prior to kick off and we needed the three points to stay in touch, so did Queens Park. The visitors opened the scoring after twenty minutes when Billy Mckay scored into the bottom corner. Charlie Fox headed the Spiders level five minutes after the interval from a corner. Patrick Jarrett hit the post and Aaron Doran volleyed just over from a Nathan Shaw cross as Inverness ventured forward. Queens took the lead through Simon Murray at the back post with around twenty minutes left. and that was the end of the scoring, but not the pressure on the weary Inverness defence. Queens Park thoroughly deserved the points in another poor performance from the Caley Jags. The stats have apparently revealed that we had less than 20% of the possession. That's incredible given we were playing Queens Park, not Real Madrid. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Billy Dodds was only able to call on a similar squad to the one which threw points away against Arbroath last week with no new players returning from injury. Queens Park had a full bench, something we can only dream about just now and a pair of Boateng's. Simon Murray was denied an early chance when one on one with Cammy Mackay, the keeper doing just enough to divert the ball for a corner. Sean Wesh headed wide before Billy Mckay put Inverness ahead when Welsh's ball into the box was driven home by Mckay. Talk about a false dawn.... There then followed a procession towards the visitors end of the pitch with Murray and Davidson working the keeper. However, for all their possession, Inverness were coping, just. Ferries saved from Mckay ten minutes before the break and we managed to get to the interval with our lead intact. HALF TIME: 0-1 A headed 'goal' by Kilday was chalked off for an infringement but the warning was not heeded. Mackay saved well from Simon Murray five minutes after the break. More pressure applied to our defence and from a corner Charlie Fox rose high to head in with little defensive objection. It was only a matter of time before the Spiders would make their superiority count. Patrick Jarrett turned in the box and hit the post as we survived a bit longer. Grant Savoury crossed to the far post and that wily poacher Simon Murray turned the ball into the net to give Queens Park a deserved lead with around twenty minutes left. Aaron Doran went close with a couple of efforts but it was mainly backs to the wall stuff and Savoury should have added another but he dragged his shot wide. Jack Thomson hit the post as the game drew to a close with Queens well on top and Inverness looking somewhat battered and bedraggled. FULL TIME: 2-1 We can count ourselves fortunate to get off so lightly. On another day we could easily have shipped six. Somethings wrong that's not right with many fans wondering if it's time for change. We are certainly in a depression and few can see a way out of it with very few prepared to roll up their sleeves. Meh! Highlights from Queens Park Match reaction from Billy Dodds: It's a Q&A session...WTF Scathing Match reaction from CTO, lots of unhappy bunnies: Enough is enough! We were absolutely garbage yet again and this situation simply cannot be allowed to continue. I get the fact that we have a depleted squad but the manner of the performances are completely uncceptable and we are categorically never getting out of this league with Dodds in charge. I would love our esteemed CEO and Manager to illuminate us as to why we chose not to bring in loanees at the end of September when we were already facing a lengthy injury list. The fact that we're also naming 16 and 17 year olds on the bench when we have a number of slightly more experienced players out on loan is a similar mystery to me. Time to go! Dodds out..... Kellacher out...... Robertson out..... Wilson out! Time for fresh ideas or I say all fans should boycott the club don't go yo any more games stop spending money. Gonna be part time next year at best anyway Just thinking, with Queens having been unable to fulfil the fixture at it’s scheduled time, maybe the team should have turned up at 3pm and played Syngenta instead - might have got a point! Absolute garbage! Total lack of cohesion. Unable to string passes together. Unable to keep possession. Unable to score more than one goal per match, and usually less. No tactics. No fight. And frankly, I don't buy this "huge injury list" thing - that's been the excuse for the last 3 seasons now. Anybody playing for ICT must have achieved a certain standard before getting in the door. The players on the pitch all have the required individual skills - they just don't seem to be working in the same direction. I've been reluctant to criticise so far, but tonight's shambles just tipped me over the edge. We never looked like winning, even when we were one-up. When I pay to see a game I expect some kind of entertainment for my money. This season I just feel I'm being ripped off! Date: 12/11/2022 Venue: Ochilview Park, Stenhousemuir Attendance: 593 Referee: Scott Lambie Queens Park: 2 Manager: Owen Coyle Lineup: Ferrie; Davidson, Kilday, Fox, Robson, Thomson, M Boateng, Jarrett, McPake (Savoury 70), Thomas, Murray (Williamson 83) Subs (not used): Heraghty; Naismith, Longridge, Kenny, Bruce, Connolly, D Boateng, Scorers: Fox (50), Murray (73) Booked: none Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 1 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: C Mackay; Carson, Duffy, Ram, Delaney (Hyde 81), Shaw, Welsh, Harper, Doran (Nicolson 81), Oakley (Boyd 65), B Mckay Subs (not used): Ridgers; Strachan, Cal Mackay Scorers: B Mckay (18) Booked: none Sent Off: none a
  14. The Queen's no at home Its the reverse fixture against Queens Park this weekend. Great I hear you say, a wee trip to Hampden at last. Not so unfortunately. We will have to make do with Ochilview Park. Yes, that's right, Ochilview Park, the home of League Two Stenhousemuir FC. Not only demotion, but we have been kicked into touch and play second fiddle to Syngenta v Edinburgh United in the East of Scotland League Two, which kicks off at 1:00pm on the same day on the same pitch. Syngenta??? Who the hell are Syngenta FC you ask. I know I know, it's a lot to take in, but here's the Official Statement on how that decision was made. Unless you want to turn up early for a double header, then our game with Queens Park will kick off at 5:30pm barring any issues with the artificial turf. The supporters bus leaves Inverness at 12:00 and priced at £20 it's a bargain. If you can't make the game, it's allegedly being live streamed by Queens Park from Ochilview Park. LIVE STREAM £15 MATCH TICKETS/INFO SUPPORTERS BUS £20 07462218717 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue H2H v Queens Park Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 10 4 4 2 15 12 +3 Away 6 5 0 1 13 8 +5 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 16 9 4 3 28 20 +8 First Competitive Meeting & Heaviest Defeat - Report below Aug 20th, 1994 League ((Div 3)) (H) 0 - 4 Caledonian Thistle 0-4 Queens Park: Caley Thistle's mid week efforts against Dundee had taken their toll and they went a goal down in 14 minutes - a McAllister header to McRitchie was short and Garry Orr took advantage with a goal from 15 yards. Four minutes later Maxwell made it two when he bundled in Edgar's corner. In 53 minutes McKenzie had rare chances for the home side but he hit the 'keeper twice. The match was over a few minutes later when a Garry Orr pass set up Graham who beat McRitchie with an angled drive. Two minutes later Maxwell headed a fourth. Match report written by Ian Broadfoot Starting XI Mark McRitchie Dave Brennan Mark McAllister Mike Andrew Mike Noble John Scott Danny MacDonald Graeme Bennett Alan Hercher Paul McKenzie Wilson Robertson Biggest Victories Jul 31st, 2010 League Cup (Rd 1) (H) 3 - 0 Nov 11th, 1995 League (A) 3 - 0 Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts 1. Ayr United 14 7 4 3 29 18 25 2. Morton 14 6 4 4 20 14 22 3. Raith Rovers 14 7 1 6 19 14 22 4. Dundee 14 6 4 4 24 20 22 5. Inverness CT 14 6 4 4 16 16 22 6. Queens Park 14 6 3 5 21 23 21 7. Partick Thistle 14 6 2 6 27 27 20 8. Cove Rangers 14 4 4 6 22 24 16 9. Arbroath 14 2 5 7 9 18 11 10. Hamilton Ac. 14 2 5 7 14 27 11 FRIDAY 11TH NOVEMBER Hamilton v Ayr United SATURDAY 12TH NOVEMBER Arbroath FC v Cove Rangers Dundee v Rovers Morton v Partick Queen's Park FC v Inverness (5:30) Last Time Out Inverness dropped more points at home, this time to bottom club Arbroath after taking a second half lead through MotM Nathan Shaw. A defensive lapse allowed Keiron Shanks a free hit on goal to equalise and that's how it ended. Enough chances squandered to win a couple of games and ended up hanging on somewhat. The Spiders last outing was a 2-0 defeat to Cove Rangers at Balmoral. Not a happy place for Queens of late. A mixed bag for the Spiders of late, Being thumped 5-0 by Ayr United but thrashing Partick Thistle 4-0 at Firhill. It's a funny old game. The first fixture between the clubs this season ended in a 1-1 draw: Queens make their point: Queens 39 year hiatus from this tier of football ended as they ventured into the Championship, and it all started well when Jake Davidson opened the scoring in the thirteenth minute. In a half of many chances, Bily Mckay levelled the score a minute before the interval. That's how it stood until the final whistle with neither side able to make the breakthrough despite numerous opportunities at both ends thanks to Callum Ferrie and Mark Ridgers and some wayward finishing. Queens Park showing they are not here just to make up the numbers and were good value for their point. Latest Team News Billy Dodds will be without the usual suspects. Long term casualties and shorter term recurring injured players adds up to around nine players unavailable. Add on Mark Ridgers who will no doubt be on the bench due to an internal dispute then it's difficult to see us pick anything up from Ochilview other than more injuries. Eric's Queen's catch up Queens Park manager Owen Coyle has sent a few players out on loan prior to bringing in some loan signings. Since our last encounter, out on loan are Max Gillies defender, Liam Brown from the midfield and front-line player Gregor Nicol. New faces in the defence are Stephen Eze, centre back, a former Nigerian International player with 13 caps for his country, has signed a 2-year contract on a free from Croatian side NK Solin FC. 16-year-old Cameron Bruce at left back has been elevated from the U18 set up to the first team. From Crystal Palace FC Youth to under 21 squads right back David Boateng has signed up on loan at Queens until the end of the season. Fellow Ghanaian and Palace youth of same surname but no relation is Malachi Boateng who can play at centre back but prefers a defensive midfield role has also joined on loan. Centre forward Irishman Johnny Kenny once a Sligo Rovers youth and U19 International is on loan from Celtic FC. Johnny has made 5 appearances for ROI at U19 level and is credited with 4 goals from those games. Queens have plenty journeymen who can cause us problems with ginger striker Simon Murray always likely to pop up around the box. Josh McPake will also be keen to impress along with a couple of Boateng's recently taken on. Coming up soon...
  15. Defensive Lapse Inverness dropped to fifth in the table after a defensive lapse cost them all three points. Bottom club Arbroath had their task made easier with Dodds dropping Mark Ridgers to the bench. In a first half of few chances McKenna hit the post with a curling effort for the visitors with the keeper stranded. Doran curled a similar effort just over with Gaston stranded as Inverness grew into the game before the interval. Despite some home pressure, the final pass was always a touch too many and it was goalless at the break. Nathan Shaw opened the scoring after he met a flick on at the back post. Having worked hard to get ahead we gifted Arbroath a leveller after a wayward defensive header left Kieran Shanks through on goal to drill past a helpless Mackay. Gaston pulled off some tremendous saves from Harper, Duffy and Mckay and Arbroath finished with a wee flourish, but we held on for a point. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Billy Dodds was still without a raft of injured players and he added Mark Ridgers to the list by dropping him to the bench after the Morton mayhem. What a slap in the face for Ridgers, and a bigger slap in the bollocks for the paying public. Scapegoat springs to mind. Arbroath were without Tam O'Brien, Scott Binsindou and Scott Stewart. Kieran Shanks started up front with Dale Hilson on the bench. Inverness set the ball rolling shooting towards the North Stand on a sodden pitch, which became evident as the number of players losing their footing increased as the game went on. It was a slow opening to the game before Cammy Harper had a low shot turned behind for a corner, the keeper taking no chances as the ball neared his right hand post. Billy Mckay was next to have a pop but it was too easy to stop his shot from the edge of the box. A neat bit of interplay from the visitors allowed Michael McKenna to bend a shot from eighteen yards onto Cammy Mackay's right hand post, but with the keeper beaten the ball cannoned off the outside of the post to safety. Aaron Doran had a similar effort at the other end as he shaped to curl his shot goalwards with the keeper in no mans land. Unfortunately it drifted just over the bar, but that was our best moment so far with twenty-five minutes gone. Mckay then shot wide and had a header comfortably saved by Gaston in the visitors goal. Inverness were ending the half on top with George Oakley close to connecting with a Harper delivery. HALF TIME: 0-0 We opened the second half on the front foot and Mckay found the keeper with another header from a Nathan Shaw cross. Shaw was warming to the task and was one of our main threats going forward. Seven minutes after the break it was Shaw that opened the scoring when he came in late at the back post to knock home a head flick from Mckay after a great cross in from the left side. Good reward for the young wide player. We almost grabbed a second as Oakley bustled down the right and stabbed the ball across the face of the goal from a tight angle. It was kept alive by Mckay on the left who found Harper but his shot from just inside the box was well saved by Gaston. Out of nothing Arbroath equalised. We looked to have broken down a foray forward on the left for Arbroath. However, it appears to have been Carson who headed the ball into the path of Kieron Shanks who needed no prompting as he stepped onto the ball and slotted it behind the exposed Cammy Mackay. Poor goal to lose and it came when we were well on top. With twenty minutes remaining, Wallace Duffy was unlucky not to score as Gaston spread himself well to block his drive with his feet before picking himself up to spectacularly deny Billy Mckay in the top corner, tipping the ball behind. There followed a spate of substitutions from the visitors which seemed to tighten things up for them and regain some control in the middle of the park. Daniel Fosu had a header picked out of the air by Cammy Mackay as Arbroath looked for a winner in the final ten minutes. Dylan Tait saw his shot saved under the bar as we regressed with the Smokies adding to their corner count with every ball into the box making it an uncomfortable ending to the game. FULL TIME: 1-1 A game we should have won slipped out of our grasp. Missed chances, good goalkeeping, wrong decisions, passing the buck, after you Claude, one glaring error and it all adds up to points dropped and down to fifth in the table, albeit only three points away from leaders Ayr United. Disappointing result after starting the second half brightly. Shaw did well to tuck the ball in at the back post but the equaliser was avoidable as we failed to clear the ball away from the edge of the box. Shaw worked hard and took his goal well. Billy Mckay was tireless once more against towering defenders. We probably should have won after going ahead but Gaston saved the Smokies on a few occasions. Cammy Mackay was rarely tested and could do little about the goal. Date: 05/11/2022 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 1847 Referee: Calum Scott Inverness CT: 1 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: C Mackay; Carson, Duffy, Ram, Delaney, Shaw, Welsh, Harper (Hyde 87), Doran, Oakley (Boyd 79), B Mckay Subs (not used): Ridgers; Strachan, C Mackay, Nicolson Scorers: Shaw (52) Booked: Ram (41), Harper (85) Sent Off: none Arbroath: 1 Manager: Dick Campbell Lineup: Gaston; Oakley, Little, Hamilton, Tait, Allan (Fosu 76), Gold (Hancock 78), Jacobs, Linn, McKenna, Shanks (Hilson 69) Subs (not used): Gill; Isiaka, Corfe Scorers: Shanks (60) Booked: none Sent Off: none a
  16. Bottoms Up After the Morton madness, it's bottom club Arbroath's turn to benefit from our problems. As if injuries were not bad enough, we appear to have a conflict at the club known as Ridgers Rift and the possibility that could add another name to the missing list. It is however mildly reassuring to note that the Smokies have injury problems of their own plus the manager player conflict known in this case as the Nick Low Law. This game is on Saturday afternoon with a scheduled kick-off time of 3:00pm at the Caledonian Stadium where we will find out if the power of management trumps fan power. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MATCH/TICKET INFO NEW DIRECTOR STATEMENT QUEENS PARK LATER KICK OFF Venue Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 22 16 3 3 56 18 +38 Away 21 9 6 6 26 22 +4 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 43 25 9 9 82 40 +42 Only three defeats at home from twenty two matches, although the tide seems to be levelling out over recent fixtures. The legendary Alan Hercher will be resting uneasy at our recent run given how he led the way with a twenty minute hat-trick in August 1994. CTO report by Ian Broadfoot: 5-2. Caledonian Thistle's Scottish League debut resulted in a tremendous performance and a fine victory. Alan Hercher was the hat-trick hero as Caley Thistle got their League campaign off to a flying start. Three first half goals by Hercher set the scene for a dramatic opening League 3 encounter. In the opening minutes Caley Thistle 'keeper Mark McRitchie had to look sharp to save a 15 yard drive from John Reilly. In 13 minutes Mark McAllister won a corner and Alan Hercher headed in Graeme Bennett's kick to score Caley Thistle's first ever Scottish League goal. It was not long before he also scored the second and third! Before that Arbroath came close on two occasions -the first when a John Brock header went inches past the post and the second when a 25 yard free kick almost found the net. John Scott and Mike Andrew had chances for the home side before Alan Hercher again wrote his name into the record books. In 31 minutes he shot home his second goal through a ruck of players then headed home another corner in 33 minutes. Half Time: 3-0 In the second half Arbroath came back into it and scored through Brock and Reilly - Caley Thistle bounced back and scored twice more. In 71 minutes Paul McKenzie latched onto a long McRitchie clearance and lobbed over the keeper then Wilson Robertson completed the scoring six minutes later with a high ball from 22 yards. Full Time: 5-2 This rounded off an exciting match and an historic occasion for both the club and Inverness. Last 10 Competitive Meetings 0 - 0 (A) 0 - 0 (A) 0 - 0 (H) 3 - 0 (H) 0 - 0 (A) 0 - 1 (H) 1 - 0 (A) 1 - 0 (H) 1 - 1 (A) 3 - 1 (H) Honours are even over the last six meetings with four draws and a win apiece. The last three fixtures failed to produce a goal over ninety minutes. Given our problems, it's a fair bet that goals will be hard to come by again this weekend. Gone are the days of 7-0 thrashings over the Smokies with Dick Campbell proving to be an astute leader in the face of adversity. Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts 1. Ayr United 13 7 3 3 28 17 24 2. Morton 13 6 3 4 19 13 21 3. Queens Park 13 6 3 4 21 21 21 4. Inverness CT 13 6 3 4 15 15 21 5. Partick Thistle 13 6 2 5 25 24 20 6. Dundee 13 5 4 4 21 18 19 7. Raith Rovers 13 6 1 6 16 13 19 8. Cove Rangers 13 3 4 6 20 24 13 9. Hamilton Ac. 13 2 5 6 13 24 11 10. Arbroath 13 2 4 7 8 17 10 FRIDAY 4TH NOVEMBER (7:45) Cove Rangers v Queen's Park SATURDAY 5TH NOVEMBER (3:00) Ayr Utd v Morton Inverness v Arbroath Partick v Dundee Rovers v Accies Last Time Out Our problems were there for all to see on telly last Friday as our makeshift XI shot themselves in the foot by gifting Morton a three goal start at Cappielow. To compound that the Ridgers Rift came into play as Billy hooked Mark at the interval in a sort of public hanging that appears to have been brewing over the last few weeks. Certainly there looks to be a difference of opinions on display at the very least. Mark has been our saviour on numerous occasions, but a couple of errors early on saw Morton go two ahead before David Carson headed into his own net before half time. It was a bizarre game as we dominated possession but looked fragile at the back with numerous big players missing. Up front we were as believable as Boris Johnston and Liz Truss rolled into one. The fourth goal just reinforced this. However, how necessary was the Ridgers Rift? Arbroath find themselves at the foot of the table after a poor start to the season with only two wins in their opening thirteen games. Last week they went down 2-0 to Ayr United who now top the table. They played with last years player of the championship Michael McKenna chasing shadows as a lone striker with Bobby Linn supporting when he could. The Nick Low Law saw him not on the team sheet. The previous week they beat Accies 1-0. It's been a crazy league so far with any team capable of taking the points off anyone else. They have perked up recently with draws against Queens Park and Dundee, but this was always going to be a difficult season for them after the high of the last one. Unfortunately, we like to bend over backwards to accommodate struggling teams and in fact are one ourselves just now. Latest Team News Despite our embarrassing performance last Friday, it was good to have Sean Welsh and Wallace Duffy back on the park. Max Ram is also getting up to speed and maybe Austin Samuels will be next to come off the list athough he is still a doubt for this game. Choice of goalkeeper will come down to the Ridgers Rift which is not ideal for Dodds, Ridgers, Cammy Mackay, the team, the sponsors or the supporters. Let's see what Billy makes of it now. Eric's Smokies surprises Arbroath have their own injury list to contend with. Missing recently have been defender Tam o'Brien, wide player Scott Stewart and striker Dale Hilson who was kept on the bench last week. Scott Bitsindou on loan from Livingston looked to have done his hamstring as he pulled up after an hour against Ayr United and will likely miss this game. Bin man Linn is the one constant for Arbroath, still performing well even at 76 years of age. Scot Allan will make them tick over in midfield and will need close attention. At Gayfield Park in the back line its out with the old and in with the new with defender Jason Thomson at 35 years leaving for Kelty Hearts, and Marcel Oakley coming in on loan from Birmingham U21 aged 19 years. In the middle of the park James Craigen has left for FC Edinburgh and Nicky Low out on loan to Kelty Hearts. Incomers are Scott Bitsindou defensive midfielder on loan from Livingston who went through Belgian club Anderlecht's Youth system. Central midfield player Dylan Tait is on loan from Hibernian. Scott Allan who had a successful loan spell at the Caledonian Stadium is now an ex-Hibernian player who has signed on at Arbroath on a contract until May 2024. Centre forward Luke Donnelly has vacated Gayfield to further his career at Alloa FC. Kareem Isiaka whose agent describes him as an "attacking" centre forward (is there any other kind?), it transpires he was once with Charlton Athletic FC U21 has signed a short-term contract until January. At 21 years old since being at Charlton his career has been sporadic, last at Vikingur in Iceland.
  17. Morton Madness An injury hit Inverness side went to Cappielow with expectations low and they didn't disappoint. Muirhead opened the scoring against the run of play in the fifth minute after Ridgers allowed a shot to go through him. A second soon followed after a soft penalty award when Ambrose went to ground in the box. Gillespie scored from the rebounded penalty. Worse was to follow when David Carson inexplicably headed a corner behind Ridgers under no pressure. Blues added a fourth with twenty minutes left despite Inverness dominating the ball. Defeat by a wekened team against the form team on a run is bearable, what is more difficult to grasp is the substitution of your keeper at half-time and the silence that followed it. More to come over the next week or two methinks. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Much had been made of the injured Caley Jags players as Inverness went down to Greenock to face one of the form teams over the last five games. However had Doddsy pulled a fast one as Wallace Duffy came back into the defence with Austin Samuels managing a seat on the bench after weeks out? Morton had new signing Efe Ambrose in defence and the dangerous Quitongo and Muirhead up front. Wet and blustery was the outlook as Inverness got the game underway with fresh optimism. That would soon disappear in Morton's first attack. Disaster for Inverness after a bright opening as Robbie Muirhead looked to have opened the scoring after a blunder from Mark Ridgers allowed the ball to squirm under him. He clawed it back but it appeared to be over the line before Cameron Blues followed up to stab the ball into the net. Efe Ambrose went down in the box under a challenge from Max Ram. Colin Steven pointed straight to the spot much to the surprise of everyone including Ambrose. Ridgers blocked the spot kick from Gillespie but he scrambled in from close range when it looked like we were about to clear it. Almost a third after some miscommunication and tentative defending from the makeshift defence but we managed to swipe it clear before Muirhead got his shot away although he will maybe wonder why he never headed it in the first instance. Boyd was looking lively but his shooting was wayward as he fired over from a good position. Muirhead found himself running into the box on the inside right area and got his shot away across Ridgers, however the keeper managed to stop this one at full stretch at the second attempt. Billy Mckay won a corner when his close range shot was charged down by Ambrose as Inverness looked to reply before the interval. It's another shambles at the back as David Carson stooped to head a corner into his own net five minutes before the break. Not sure we deserved to be three down, but every mistake has been punished. HALF TIME: 3-0 Dodds hooked Ridgers at half time. Lets just say he didnt look injured. Another bright start to the second half for the visitors and a Billy Mckay snapshot from the edge of the box just cleared the bar. Around the hour a great turn and run by Boyd ended with his shooting letting him down again as the ball cleared the bar once more. Billy Mckay found the side netting after being slid through by Nathan Shaw as Inverness dominated the second half. However it was the hosts that extended their lead. Cameron Blues ran onto a ball forward and slotted it behind the keeper for number four. Boyd was at least trying and he managed to get one on target but Schwake saved low down. Shaw had done well when he came on and whistled a powerful shot just wide in the dying moments. FULL TIME: 4-0 A not unexpected defeat although the margin of it was disappointing. Our lack of a cutting edge was obvious. We could have played for a fortnight and not scored, that's a worry. Morton got the early breaks with the goals and were solid defensively and thoroughly deserved the points. We need to lick our wounds and regroup. Lowlights from Ton TV Dodds when asked about the Mark Ridgers substitution on BBC Sport snapped back "that will remain private" That's no a happy face Billy... From BBC Sport Morton manager Dougie Imrie: "I'm delighted. We want to make Cappielow a fortress. I'm so proud of my boys and everything they've given, so hopefully we keep that going." Inverness manager Billy Dodds: "We were well beaten. If you defend the way we did and you don't take chances when you put the ball in the box you're not going to win any games." Good overview from Doofers Dad on CTO: The combination of defensive errors was a bit freakish, but missing Deas and Devine we can expect to be vulnerable at the back, especially with Allardice missing as well. If we are vulnerable at the back, we have to be more incisive and clinical up top, and that is where we struggle at the moment. We have only scored 4 goals in our last 6 games. We huffed and puffed tonight with good possession but very rarely threatened. Often when it looked like we might threaten, we turned back and played a safe ball which only served to allow Morton's defence to get back in position. And when we did shoot, our shooting was woeful with only 2 shots on target and their keeper never seriously tested. You don't win games by keeping possession, you win them by scoring goals. Yngwie waited a day before making this observation: The morning after the night before. I had fully expected us to lose, with such a depleted squad and makeshift team, against a form side. The scale of the defeat was really down to uncharacteristic individual errors, mainly at the back, but not helped by some poor finishing too. However, the thing that troubles me is the now very public rift between Dodds and Ridgers. We know from recent experience that an unhappy dressing room doesn’t win matches, and it can take a long time to heal. Concerning. Date: 28/10/2022 Venue: Cappielow Park, Greenock Attendance: 1516 Referee: Colin Steven Morton: 4 Manager: Dougie Imrie Lineup: Schwake; Grimshaw, Ambrose, Baird, Strapp, Blues, Crawford, Gillespie (Pignatiello 85), McGrattan (King 82), Quitongo (Kabia 56), Muirhead Subs (not used): Hynes, McGregor Scorers: Muirhead (6), Gillespie (12 pen), Carson (og 41), Blues (72) Booked: Blues (37), McGrattan (65) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 0 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers (C Mackay 45); Carson, Duffy, Ram, Delaney, Boyd, Welsh (Hyde 80), Harper, Doran (Shaw 66), Oakley, B Mckay Subs (not used): Callum Mackay, Strachan, Samuels Scorers: none Booked: Delaney (58) Sent Off: none a
  18. We're on the Telly again One of the last traditional grounds this Friday night as we visit Greenock to take on Morton in the cinch Championship. This game kicks off at 7:45pm. If you are unable to attend the match, don't worry, BBC Scotland have got your back and have chosen it as your preferred Friday night viewing. Maybe the Beeb have a sort of sadistic tendency and look forward to more pain being inflicted upon us as we struggle to get eleven fit players on the park. The olde magic sponge has lost it's magic and Robbie Deas is beyond that having suffered a broken shin bone against Raith Rovers to become the latest victim of the Caley Jags Crippling Curse. We wish him well in his recovery. MATCH/TICKET/BUS/INFO SUPPORTERS BUS 07462218717 2:30PM Venue Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 20 12 4 4 46 18 +28 Away 17 10 3 4 35 19 +16 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 37 22 7 8 81 37 +44 We have the edge over Morton, but honours are even over the last six meetings. The worrying trend recently has been losing home games. That 6-1 thrashing we dished out at Cappielow feels like a long time ago now. However, with injuries dominating our headlines just now, we will do well to get out of this with anything. It could be a long night on Friday. Last 10 Competitive Meetings 0 - 1 (H) 1 - 0 (A) 0 - 1 (H) 6 - 1 (A) 1 - 1 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 2 - 0 (H) 4 - 1 (A) 0 - 1 (H) 2 - 2 (A) Earlier this season we went down 0 - 1 to Morton at the Caledonian Stadium, a Grant Gillespie penalty in the 85th minute doing the damage. Bar a brief appearance against Dundee, that was Austin Samuels' last game for us after going off injured in the 24th minute. More rubbish than the streets of Edinburgh: The fans turned up looking for a reaction after the feeble attempt at Firhill last Friday. They would leave disappointed after 95 minutes with lots of questions unanswered as they slumped to a second defeat in a row to a bang average Morton side who had previously only ever won three games at the Caledonian Stadium in nineteen encounters. Goalless at the break, Grant Gillespie slotted home a penalty with five minutes remaining after Duffy handled in the box. Woeful stuff from Billy Dodds and his hapless team. Simply another inept performance from the Caley Jags who are now six points behind early leaders Ayr United. Ayr United beat Partick Thistle 4-2 on Tuesday night and that leaves the table looking like this, It's all very tight at the top end of the table. Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts 1. Ayr United 12 6 3 3 26 17 21 2. Inverness CT 12 6 3 3 15 11 21 3. Partick Thistle 12 6 2 4 25 21 20 4. Queens Park 12 6 2 4 19 19 20 5. Dundee 12 5 3 4 19 16 18 6. Morton 12 5 3 4 15 13 18 7. Raith Rovers 12 5 1 6 13 13 16 8. Cove Rangers 12 3 3 6 16 20 12 9. Arbroath 12 2 4 6 8 15 10 10. Hamilton Ac. 12 2 4 6 9 20 10 FRIDAY 28TH OCTOBER Morton v Inverness Queen's v Dundee SATURDAY 29TH OCTOBER Arbroath v Ayr Utd Hamilton v Cove R Rovers v Partick Last Time Out Injury ravaged Inverness were held to a draw by Raith Rovers who must have thought they would break their hoodoo. Over twenty years since they have beaten us over ninety minutes. Robbie Deas was magnificent leading the back four by example and scored a wonderful headed goal off Zak Delaney's inviting dipping cross. Unfortunateley he was injured late in the game and we have now been told the extent of that. He has broken his right leg. That took the shine off a great defensive effort with Mark Ridgers also denying Raith with four vital saves. Morton earned a good away point at Dens Park as the Dark Blues ended the game with ten men. Dundee's Josh Mulligan was red carded with ten minutes remaining after two late bookings in a four minute spell. Morton are unbeaten in their last four games since being hammered 5-1 by Partick Thistle with three wins prior to the draw at Dundee. They also dished out a five goal thrashing of their own over Accies who beat us recently. Latest Team News Well, what can we say that's not already been said. Multiple injuries that will see us struggle to be competitive for the forseeable future. Most serious are Deas (broken right leg), Sutherland (ACL), Walsh (ACL), Roddy MacGregor (ankle), Devine (knee), Dan Mackay (knee, extent not known). Add Allardice, Duffy and Samuels who are hopefully getting close. Max Ram and Sean Welsh are just back after injury and game time is all part of their rehab. Let's see what Billy Dodds has to say about any players likely to be ready for Friday night. Eck's Morton menu: Morton have announced the signing of former Celtic, Hibs, Livingstone and St Johnston defender Efe Ambrose today (Wednesday) ahead of the clash with Inverness. 34 year old Ambrose has been capped 51 times for Nigeria in a glittering career. Imrie is building a solid squad at Cappielow and they have one of the best left backs in the Championship in Lewis Strapp. Up front Robbie Muirhead and Jai Quitongo will cause probems and on loan Irishman Jaze Kabia will be out to prove he's ready for a start. Scant reading this time round. Manager Dougie Imrie has punted a couple of players out on short term loan until the end of December, Reece Lyon midfielder and Michael Garrity 20-year-old left winger. Incoming to the squad since our last encounter was Liam Grimshaw a right back, whose pedigree includes Manchester United Youth through to U21 Squads. In Scotland he spent the last 5 seasons on Motherwell FCs books but left in the summer and came in as a free agent. Here's Dougie talking after the Dundee game. One for the diary. We have been drawn to face Stirling Albion at home in the 3rd Round of the 2022/23 ScottishCup. 3rd round ties to take place on weekend of Saturday 26th November. We have played Stirling Albion twice previously in the Scottish Cup. The first encounter was a 6-1 win at Forthbank in 2007. The second game required a replay in 2016 when we won 2-0 in Inverness after a no scoring draw in Stirling.
  19. Majestic Deas Earns the Point Injury ravaged Caley Jags were without at least nine players and down to the bare bones. Once the mist cleared we could see that Rovers had pulled a fast one before a ball was kicked and stunned everyone by appearing in pink. WTF. Sam Stanton opened the scoring after Raith hit the post from distance. Ridgers made a superb save from a flick towards his top corner soon after. Robbie Deas scored a tremendous header into the top corner off a pacey cross from Zak Delaney, and that's how it was at the interval. Ridgers pulled off a worldy save at the start of the second half from Ngwenya. Man of the Match Robbie Deas was helped off the pitch near the end suffering from a leg injury, but Inverness held on for their point. Given the circumstances, a decent point, and it was enough to put us top of the table for now with Partick being hammered 4-0 by Queens Park. Happy days if it were not for the news that Deas has broken his leg. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It was a case of who's who as Raith emerged from the tunnel bedecked in pink. Took a minute or two to work out what was going on as we also played towards the North Stand in the first half. Raith were well aware that we were seriously depleted and took the game to their hosts, forcing a couple of corners early on which were defended positively. Aidan Connolly shot wide and then Sam Stanton got a header on goal when it popped up in front of him but couldn't get any purchase on the ball and Mark Ridgers was able to grab the ball comfortably at head height. However a minute later, the 13th, was unlucky for the hosts as Raith deservedly took the lead at this stage of the game. A shot which appeared to take a slight deflection cannoned back off the post and just when it looked as though we might have got away with it, the ball was knocked back in from a tight angle and bundled behind Ridgers for a scrappy opener, Stanton claiming the goal. All a bit untidy and possibly preventable. Kyle Connell and Dylan Easton had shots saved by Ridgers as Raith continued to dominate against the makeshift Inverness XI but we were gradually beginning to get to grips with the pace of the game and Nathan Shaw did well to forage further forward but his shot was too high. Ten minutes before the break Ridgers puled off a tremendous save to deny Easton and two minutes later we were level. Zak Delaney who had been starting to drive forward on the left did just that. He delivered a crip swinging cross into the area and Robbie Deas met it fifteen yards out to divert the ball with his head into the top corner despite a despairing dive from Jamie Macdonald. What a cross, What a dive, what a goal. Stanton almost replied immediately but again Ridgers was up to the effort and tipped the ball out for a corner followed by more activity around the Inverness box just before the break. HALF TIME: 1-1 After the interval Shaw got a shot away after winning the ball midway on the left before driving forward but it never troubled Macdonald. The same could not be said at the other end as Ridgers pulled off a brilliant save to deny Ngwenya who had burst into the box on the left side, the keeper managing to somehow keep the ball out of the net at the expense of a corner. There followed a distinct lull in the proceedings with both sides appearing to have settled for a point. Defences were on top for the next forty minutes right up until Deas went down injured after a clash for the ball in midfield. It's not like Robbie to stay down and it was clear something was amiss. After five minutes he tried to walk unaided off the park but he could not put weight on his leg and crumpled to the turf a couple of times. We would find out the next day why. He has broken his leg. Mathew Strachan replaced Robbie for the remainder plus five minutes of time added on and he did well. Getting an early defensive touch, breaking forward and looking assured as he swung a dangerous ball in from the left side. Alas there were no takers. Right at the end he denied Raith a winner as he diverted Stanton's close range volley wide of the goal when it looked like Sam had got the winner. FULL TIME: 1-1 Disappointing to have to add Robbie Deas to the extensive injury list, but what a performance from the centre back today. Absolutely immense. Mark Ridgers made three or four crucial saves and in general there were good performances throughout. Mathew Strachan came on in the 88th minute. In the remaining time, he swung a tantalising cross into the box and prevented a goal at the death with a timely block to deflect a goalbound shot wide for a corner.Top of the league just now is an unexpected bonus. Raith had plenty of half chances, but with Deas imperious, we did just enough for our share of the spoils. Good to see Sean Welsh get off the bench for a few minutes as well. Let's hope he stays clear of injury. Date: 22/10/2022 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 2225 Referee: Mathew MacDermid Inverness CT: 1 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers; Carson, Ram, Deas (Strachan 88), Delaney, Boyd (Doran 67), Hyde (Welsh 75), Harper, Shaw, Oakley, B Mckay Subs (not used): C Mackay; Calum Mackay, Bray Scorers: Deas (38) Booked: Carson (78) Sent Off: none Raith Rovers: 1 Manager: Ian Murray Lineup: Macdonald; Dick, Millen, Spencer, O'Riordan, Easton, Stanton, Brown, Connell (Coulson 90+1), Connolly (Mathews 77), Crocodile Subs (not used): Thomson; McBride, Mahady, Masson Scorers: Stanton (13) Booked: none Sent Off: none a
  20. Injuries R us. After the disappointing result in midweek, we face Raith Rovers at the Caledonian Stadium on Saturday in a game that kicks-off at 3:00pm. We have held the Indian sign over Raith Rovers for practically all of the last 22 years, however, they will never have a better chance to get the monkey off the back as we could well be without ten players due to injury. Mixed fortunes for both clubs over the last couple of weeks but an early opportunity to get points back on the board, and for Inverness keep in touch at the top whilst Raith strive to bridge the gap to those above them. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MATCH/TICKET INFO OFFICIAL PREVIEW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 19 13 4 2 37 14 +23 Away 16 9 4 3 32 19 +13 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 35 22 8 5 69 33 +36 It's twenty years since Raith beat us 1 - 2 at the Caledonian Stadium. Here's Ian Broadfoot's report, and apparently injuries played a big part back then as well. Injury-hit Caley Thistle lost this game because of a poor first half display. Despite this they nearly took the lead in 13 minutes when a David Bagan shot was blocked by Greig McCulloch and spun over the bar. Raith scored first in 16 minutes when Jim Calder failed to hold a Shaun Dennis cross and Jay Stein hit home the loose ball from six yards. In 21 minutes a poor headed clearance by Stuart McCaffrey was picked up by Andrew Clark and he set up Ivan Mballa and the Frenchman slammed the ball into the net from 12 yards. ICT had a penalty claim turned down in 38 minutes when Charlie Christie was brought down by Paul Browne. After the break the home side improved but Guido Van de Kamp denied them on several occasions. Paul Sheerin pulled one back in 79 minutes when he netted from close range after a good cut back by Roy McBain. Four minutes later Sheerin watched in frustration as Van de Kamp saved his low shot. As time ran out he came close twice more but Raith held on to win. Ahhhhhhhh, nostalgia, it aint what it used to be. Last 10 Competitive Meetings 2 - 0 (A) 3 - 2 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 0 - 0 (H) 1 - 1 (A) 1 - 0 (H) 1 - 0 (A) 0 - 0 (H) 2 - 0 (H) 3 - 3 (A) We missed the chance to top the table on Tuesday night but Accies did themselves a huge favour by getting temselves off the bottom rung combined with Arbroath going down to Raith Rovers. It's all getting very congested with only five points separating teams from seventh (Raith) to Partick at the top. Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts 1. Partick Thistle 10 6 2 2 23 13 20 2. Inverness CT 11 6 2 3 14 10 20 3. Ayr United 10 5 2 3 20 13 17 4. Dundee 11 5 2 4 19 16 17 5. Morton 11 5 2 4 15 13 17 6. Queens Park 11 5 2 4 15 19 17 7. Raith Rovers 11 5 0 6 12 12 15 8. Cove Rangers 11 3 2 6 14 18 11 9. Hamilton Ac. 11 2 4 5 9 19 10 10. Arbroath 11 1 4 6 7 15 7 Full Fixture List on Saturday, all 3:00pm Kick-Offs Arbroath v Accies Ayr Utd v Cove Dundee v Morton Inverness v Raith Rovers Partick v Queens Last Time Out Inverness' injuries eventually caught up with them against Hamilton. Maybe we had been pushing our luck over the previous five games where we managed to take all the points. Last Saturday we struggled to impose ourseves at Cove but still came away with three points thanks to Steven Boyd's first goal for the club. However, Accies seem to have our number and turned the tables on us when Winter scored the only goal of the game despite a late flurry from the hosts. Too little too late was the order of the day. Raith also had mixed fortunes. A 1-0 defeat at Morton was followed by a hard earned win at Arbroath. Sam Stanton struck five minutes before the break at Gayfield to tuck Raith in behind Queens Park in the table, only five points off the top. Latest Team News Well, what can we say. Six or seven missing before the Accies game, we found ourselves another man down before a ball was kicked in earnest when the semi-fit Wallace Duffy had to pull out to be replaced by Max Ram who in turn came off injured before the end. Daniel Mackay also came off injured in the second half. Sean Welsh had made the bench but was obviously not fit enough to kick a ball. So, I make it: Shane Sutherland, Tom Walsh, Roddy MacGregor, Danny Devine, Austin Samuels, Scott Allardice, Wallace Duffy, Daniel Mackay, Max Ram, Sean Welsh. That adds up to ten players likely to be out or not fully fit. It might have been quicker to name those that are available. Head Coach Billy Dodds said: “There’s a couple of improvements but I don’t know if they are going to be ready for the game or if it’s coming too quick. I wish the game wasn’t as quick as it was but after the game midweek it is onto Saturday now.” Eck's Raith catch-up It is always sad to hear that a youngster has had to give up his career and such is the case with Kyle Bow. A goalkeeper who was previously a Raith apprentice who signed a full-time contract in August 2021, he has had to retire from football aged 18 due to a persistent knee injury. Latest addition to the Squad is Danish centre forward John Frederiksen who arrived at the start of October having been without a club, previously with Austrian second tier side SKU Amstetten for a season. Apparently he is about nine feet tall. Yikes! Still on the long-term injury list for the Rovers, both with Cruciate Ligament problems are centre back Tom Lang and centre forward Lewis Vaughan. This weekend>>>
  21. Winter comes early Inverness failed to stretch their unbeaten run to six League games and in the process failed to top the league on their own whilst Accies lifted themselves off the bottom with this win. With a raft of injuries, it was always going to be a difficult task to maintain our recent run of wins. Andrew Winter opened the scoring from close range in a dour first half. No further scoring left the home fans disappointed with events on the park where injuries were the only winner. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Caley Jags were without seven players athough Sean Welsh was on the bench. Oakley replaced Billy Mckay who was also on the bench after the bruising encounter at Cove along with three youth players. It went from bad to worse before kick-off as Duffy was injured in the warm up and was replaced by Max Ram. Hamilton were unchanged from their defeat to Partick Thistle at the weekend. The first attempt of note came from Aaron Doran in the tenth minute but he fired it wide. Lawson won a corner for Accies after Andrew Winter went forward with menace a couple of minutes later. That warning was not heeded and Winter opened the scoring from close range in the 22nd minute, his fifth goal of the season after a great assist from Andy Ryan. That had been coming from the start with Hamilton looking the better side against an injury ravaged Caley Jags. Zak Delaney drove into the box on the left but his shot was saved by Fulton as Inverness tried to get back on level terms. In a half of few chances, Robbie Deas headed over ten minutes before the break and Winter shot wide at the other end. Another run forward, this time by Boyd, won a corner which Max Ram headed for goal with Fulton making the save. However, Accies survived the mini fightback and they went in one ahead at the interval. HALF TIME 0-1 Dario Zanatta shot wide after the break as Inverness struggled to break down Accies and Oakley shot wide following a corner. Billy Mckay entered the field, replacing Aaron Doran after the hour, but it was Accies that threatened again with Mark Ridgers denying Scott Martin. Soon after Dan Mackay pulled up injured to be replaced by Nathan Shaw. Ridgers conceded a corner after Winter forced his way into the box to keep us within touching distance and Doyle headed over. A late surge from the hosts saw a Harper shot blocked and Lawson cleared twice before Boyd shot over the bar. FULL TIME 0-1 A disappointing result which had more to do with missing players and time wasting than Hamiltons skill and dexterity. Dan Mackay, Wallace Duffy and Max Ram might well be added to the casualty list as well which is a massive worry. Table after tonights dismal showing Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts 1. Partick Thistle 10 6 2 2 23 13 20 2. Inverness CT 11 6 2 3 14 10 20 3. Ayr United 10 5 2 3 20 13 17 4. Dundee 11 5 2 4 19 16 17 5. Morton 11 5 2 4 15 13 17 6. Queens Park 11 5 2 4 15 19 17 7. Raith Rovers 10 4 0 6 11 12 12 8. Cove Rangers 11 3 2 6 14 18 11 9. Hamilton Ac. 11 2 4 5 9 19 10 10. Arbroath 10 1 4 5 7 14 7 Date: 18/10/2022 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 2052 Referee: Alan Newlands Inverness CT: 0 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers; Carson, Ram (Strachan 90), Deas, Delaney, D Mackay (Shaw 67), Hyde, Harper, Boyd, Doran (B Mckay 63), Oakley Subs (not used): C Mackay; Calum Mackay, Bray, Welsh, Scorers: none Booked: D Mackay (60) Sent Off: none Hamilton: 1 Manager: John Rankin Lineup: Fulton; Doyle, O'Reilly, Easton, Shiels, Ngandu (One 78), Lawson, Martin, Zanatta (Tiehi 63), Winter, Ryan Subs (not used): J Smith; L Smith, Virtanen, Mimnaugh, Brown, Owens, Newbury Scorers: Winter (22), Lawson (89), Martin (92) Booked: none Sent Off: none a
  22. Cove kept at Bay Our first visit to Balmoral Park on League business ended with a hard fought win, our fifth on the bounce. Inverness opened the scoring after twenty minutes through Steven Boyd, his first of the season. However Roddy MacGregor was helped off the pitch after being injured in the build up to that goal. Allardice stayed in the dressing room at the interval to be replaced by Lewis Hyde. Ridgers did well to deny Cove after the break and right at the end Cove were reduced to ten men as McIntosh was sent off. Still joint top as Partick also win with Dundee and Morton leading the chasing pack. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Billy Dodds named an unchanged side from the one that beat Partick Thistle last Friday. Roddy MacGregor would make his 99th appearance fot the Caley Jags, but that would be cut short, and Billy Mckay would be looking for his 86th goal since he first played for Inverness back in 2011. Jim McIntyre had Iain Vigurs on the bench. In a previous life Vigurs had scored 24 goals in 147 appearances for the Caley Jags. Inverness got the game underway in their Kingsmills strip on a bright afternoon in Cove. Within five minutes the two Mckays had efforts wide of the Cove goal, Billy going closer than Daniel. A warning for the visitors in the tenth minute when Megginson headed into the net but was adjudged to be offside. Cove were monopolising the early pressure though and Cieran Dunne went close with a shot from outside the box. However, it was the visitors that drew first blood from a less familiar name when Steven Boyd slotted home after great work by Billy Mckay. Unfortunately during the build up to the goal Roddy MacGregor was injured and had to be helped from the field with what looks like a nasty injury to be replaced by Aaron Doran. Five minutes before the interval Doran combined with Harper but his shot was too high and went over the bar. HALF TIME 0-1 Lewis Hyde replaced Scott Allardice at the interval and Cove replaced Dunne with Leighton McIntosh. Early corners for Cove at the start of the second half came to nothing and Boyd forced Kyle Gourlay into making a save to deny him from outside the box. Cove responded through dangerman Megginson but Mark Ridgers was equal to it to deny the striker from inside the box with a crucial save. Cove had their tails up and Ridgers then had to look lively to keep out a header from Jack Sanders. Play was opening out though and Dan Mackay saw a shot blocked at the other end. image from CaleyJags.com Ridgers saves from Megginson After the hour Connor Scully headed goalwards but Ridgers denied him with another save. Into the final ten minutes and substitute Gerry McDonagh was next to test Ridgers from six yards as Cove upped the pressure in search of an equaliser. Nathan Shaw had an effort saved by Gourlay as the clock ticked down after Doran fed him through on goal. Right at the death Leighton McIntosh was red-carded for violent conduct as Cove finished with ten men. FULL TIME: 0-1 Mark Ridgers was in tremendous form to keep Cove at bay and well done to Steven Boyd for opening his account with the all important goal. Cove fans were not happy about the offside decision. Downside of this game, which was a brutal contest, is more injuries to contend with which will likely see Allardice and MacGregore miss the Hamilton game in midweek. More match reaction to follow Date: 15/10/2022 Venue: Balmoral Park, Cove Attendance: 1071 Referee: Graham Grainger Cove Rangers: 0 Manager: Jim McIntyre Lineup: Gourlay; Logan, Reynolds, Sanders, Johnston, Longstaff (Leitch 79), Yule, Gilmour (McDonagh 79), Scully, Dunne (McIntosh 45), Megginson Subs (not used): McKenzie; Ross, Towler, Neill, Vigurs Scorers: none Booked: Johnstone (41), Sanders (74) McDonagh (90) Sent Off: McIntosh (90+1) Inverness CT: 1 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers, Carson, Duffy, Deas, Delaney, D Mackay, Allardice, MacGregor (Doran 21), Harper, Boyd (Shaw 79), B Mckay (Oakley 75) Subs (not used): C Mackay; Ram Scorers: Boyd (20) Booked: Boyd (34), Doran (55), Deas (66), Oakley (89) Sent Off: none a
  23. Topish v Bottomish   Hamilton Accies are the visitors to the Caledonian Stadium on Tuesday night at 7:45pm. This game was called off in the aftermath of the passing of Queen Elizabeth on 8th September. We had just come off the back of a dismal three game loss before beating Raith Rovers at Starks Park. That has now turned into a five game winning run of Championship games which has put us top equal on points with Partick Thistle, one of the teams we beat during that run.  MATCH/TICKET INFO   Venue Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 15 5 4 6 25 19 +6 Away 11 6 2 3 17 13 +4 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 26 11 6 9 42 32 +10 It seems that the away side have the edge in fixtures between these sides over the years, but there;s not a lot in it. Recent games show that Accies have the edge although we pumped them 4-0 in the last meeting last season as we warmed up for the play-offs and Accies wound down their season. Last 10 Competitive Meetings 4 - 0 (H) 1 - 1 (A) 1 - 2 (H) 1 - 2 (A) 2 - 1 (H) 0 - 3 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 1 - 1 (A) 1 - 0 (A) 0 - 1 (H)   Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts   1. Partick Thistle 10 6 2 2 23 13 20 2. Inverness CT 10 6 2 2 14 9 20 3. Ayr United 10 5 2 3 20 13 17 4. Dundee 11 5 2 4 19 16 17 5. Morton 11 5 2 4 15 13 17 6. Queens Park 11 5 2 4 15 19 17 7. Raith Rovers 10 4 0 6 11 12 12 8. Cove Rangers 11 3 2 6 14 18 11 9. Arbroath 10 1 4 5 7 14 7 10. Hamilton Ac. 10 1 4 5 8 19 7 Midweek Fixtures (19:45) TUESDAY 18TH OCTOBER Inverness CT v Hamilton     WEDNESDAY 19TH OCTOBER  Arbroath v Rovers Last Time Out After some inept performances, Inverness came away from Stark's Park with all three points. A Scott Allardice penalty and a goal in time added on from Billy Mckay secured the win against a punchless Raith Rovers. Many were doubting if we had the bottle for the battle. Well, we won this fight, but the war will continue and some optimism and confidence will return after this game played without seven injured players. Credit where it's due for this mini turnaround. Here's where we are now. We have since beaten Dundee, Ayr, Partick and Cove for five wins out of five, four of them coming away from home. Hamilton over that same period have only picked up one point, a draw at Cove. Of the four defeats, the abyss was a 5-0 thrashing by Morton. However their last game was a narrow 1-2 defeat by League leaders Partick Thistle. The stats will show that Accies created plenty of opportunities against Partick. Queens Park and Dundee were the other winners over Accies. The second Dundee goal came in the 95th minute, so a tough run for John Rankin's side which puts them in bottom place, level on points with the Smokies. Latest Team News Sutherland, Walsh, Samuels, Welsh and Devine were all missing at Cove. Allardice and MacGregor may well be added to that list now after the bruising affair at Balmoral. We only had six subs last time, story of our season so far.   Eck's Accies catch-up, unchanged since postponed game With ex ICT player John Rankin taking over from outgoing manager Stuart Taylor in the summer break he has taken in some new faces at Hamilton. Rankin spent a season as assistant manager at New Douglas Park and prior managerial experience at Hearts U17 & U18 teams. Out are. Joe Hilton goalkeeper saw his loan from Blackburn U21 ended after 16 Championship starts last season. Backs Mihai Popescu end of loan, Adam McGowan currently on loan to Tranent JFC and Kieran Macdonald away on a free to FC Edinburgh. Of the midfield players departed are Ronan Hughes off to East Kilbride and Josh Mullin recalled to Livingston after loan expired. David Moyo, centre forward has been transferred to Barrow AFC. Winger Kai Kennedy the perpetual loan player from Rangers FC is now out on loan at Falkirk FC so will not appear against us in the Championship this season. Rankins new recruits. Michael Doyle a right back arrives from Queens Park FC, no fee involved. Three players added to the midfield are Lucas De Bolle on loan from Newcastle FC youth to U 21 level. Another Newcastle youngster is Reagan Thomson in on a free transfer and Jonny Ngandu has signed from the Coventry U21 squad. On the left-wing Dario Zanatta previously of the Hearts youth system signed via Raith Rovers FC. On loan from Fulham FC is centre forward Jean-Pierre Tiehi. Promoted from Hamilton U18s is Ryan One as an attacking centre forward. Accies had four missing last week: De Bolle, Redfern, Spence, Thomson   View full article  
  24. Off to Balmoral It's a first League visit to Balmoral Stadium to face Cove Rangers in what will be the sixth ever competitive match between the sides. All games on the Saturday will kick-off at 3:00pm. The only defeat in the five games played came at Cove in a League Cup encounter and that didn't go well. (see report below). The first encounter this season ended with a flattering 4-1 win at the Caledonian Stadium. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MATCH/TICKET/SUPPORTERS BUS & TRAVEL INFO Only five Competitive Meetings - Click on scores to see previous reports/highlights etc 4 - 1 (H) 1 - 1 (H) 1 - 3 (A) 3 - 2 (H) 2 - 0 (H) CTO report July 2021: Cove 3-1 Inverness CT - League Cup Inverness' dismal run of League Cup results continued with defeat at Cove. This was a must win game for Inverness if they were looking to progress in the competition. Sean Welsh was out after rolling his ankle against Stirling Albion and David Carson missed out after taking a knock against Albion. There were some 'friendly' faces in the Cove ranks with Vigurs, Draper and McAllister in opposition. Manny Duku had a shot cleared off the line in the tenth minute after intercepting the ball and driving into the box. Ten minutes later Mark Ridgers was called into action to deny Neill after a corner. Play moved to the other end and Gardyne and Doran combined to play Duku through on goal but he shot wide. Half an hour gone and Sutherland and Duku combine to give Allardice an opportunity but he lashed the ball over. Cove opened the scoring in the 35th minute when Leighton McIntosh scored. A couple of minutes later and Cove doubled their lead through Mitch Megginson. Megginson then shot over the bar before Sutherland shot over at the other end and then keeper Gourlay denied Duku after McAlear found him in the box with an excellent ball. Plenty of action but no goals for Inverness at the interval. Sutherland went close five minutes into the second half after Gourlay fluffed a clearance. Ridgers tipped a Scully shot over the bar as play moved to the other end and Ridgers also saved from Megginson on the hour. Sutherland headed over after Walsh put a tremendous cross into the box with twenty minutes left. With ten minutes left Sutherland headed another Walsh cross onto the post and wide. Walsh himself had an effort scrambled off the line as Inverness pressed for a lifeline. However, Yule completed the embarrassment for Dodds' duffers with a third goal five minutes from the end after shambolic defending. A penalty to Inverness in the 90th minute offered little consolation for the Caley Jags but Duku duly converted from the spot. If you have never been before>>> Last Time Out Cove's last game was a disappointing defeat at the hands of Raith Rovers as they went down 3-0. Two first half goals from Connolly and Gullan set the tone in this game with Stanton adding a third after the interval. It was doubly disappointing coming after a tremendous 3-1 home win over Dundee four days earlier. Scully (2) and Megginson did the damage that night after Anderson had opened the scoring for Dundee in the tenth minute. It's been a bit of a mixed bag for Jim McIntyre's men. Previous to that they had creditable draws with Hamilton and away to Partick before beating Arbroath and Dundee and looked to be settling in nicely to life in the Championship. Bily Dodds side picked up their fourth Championship win on the bounce in a TV game last Friday against then leaders Partick Thistle. Billy Mckay was the only scorer as Inverness deservedly beat 10 man Partick who had Turner sent off just before the interval. This run has seen us pick ourselves off the canvas after a heavy defeat to Partick and a dismal loss at home to Morton back in August. Since then we have taken twelve points from Raith, Dundee and Ayr United (all away) and the home game against Partick. Those results have left Cove in eighth place whilst we are challenging for top place. The only downside so far has been our reluctance to score goals although our defence is the best in the league. Touch wood! Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts 1. Partick Thistle 9 5 2 2 21 12 17 2. Ayr United 9 5 2 2 19 11 17 3. Inverness CT 9 5 2 2 13 9 17 4. Queens Park 10 5 1 4 14 18 16 5. Dundee 10 4 2 4 17 15 14 6. Morton 10 4 2 4 14 13 14 7. Raith Rovers 9 4 0 5 11 11 12 8. Cove Rangers 10 3 2 5 14 17 11 9. Hamilton Ac. 9 1 4 4 7 17 7 10. Arbroath 9 1 3 5 6 13 6 FRIDAY 14TH OCTOBER Queen's v Arbroath SATURDAY 15TH OCTOBER Cove Rangers v Inverness CT Dundee v Ayr Utd Accies v Partick Morton v Rovers Latest Team News Danny Devine missed the Partick game last week and was reportedly seen on crutches, so that's maybe a good indicator that he won't be available along with Sutherland, Walsh, Welsh and Samuels. MacGregor and Ram are getting vital minutes under their belt after playing parts of the last two games. Billy Dodds hinting that the team may be along similar lines to the Partick game with no fresh injuries (he said with his poker face) Eric's Cove catch-up. Squad changes at Balmoral Stadium since last meeting on the 13th August. Away are Rhys Thomas defender on loan to Keith FC for the rest of the season and once upon a time ICT midfielder Ross Draper made a permanent move to Elgin City at the beginning of September. Manager Jim McIntyre has expanded his defensive options with the addition of centre backs Jack Sanders on loan from Kilmarnock and Kyle McClelland also on loan from Hibernian FC B. Max Johnston is a right back on loan from Motherwell for the season. He is the son of Allan Johnston, the former Hearts player, and has been capped for Scotland at u16 & u19 level. One time Arsenal FC, Youth through to U23 level, Charlie Gilmour has joined as a defensive midfield player on loan from St Johnstone. Iain Vigurs is still there but he was on the bench last time out, however, keep the yellow cards handy for the talented but often cynical former Caley Thistle player (he must have learned that at Dingwall). Mitch Megginson does like a goal or two against us and is worth keeping an eye on. Mark Reynolds, Fraser Fyvie and Shay Logan are all on the books at Balmoral, so plenty experience in their ranks.
  25. He scores when he wants A first half where defences were on top offered little opportunity for either side to create the clear cut chance required until the half hour when Robbie Deas pounced on a loose clearance within the box. His header was bundled away from goal a yard from the line by two defenders with Mitchell floundering. A couple of minutes later and Mitchell was called into action to scramble the ball away low down at his post from a Duffy header. Billy Mckay clipped one over the bar after a tremendous turn and run by Daniel Mackay. Kyle Turner was red carded for what appeared to be a slightly high tackle on Roddy MacGregor and Inverness ended the half knocking on the Partick door. Cammy Harper brought out a super save from Mitchell with 65 minutes gone, diving high to his top left corner. Ten minutes later Billy Mckay opened the scoring with his fifth goal of the season, drilling home from twelve yards after good work by MotM Dan Mackay. Kevin Holt came close to an unlikely equaliser with a low shot across the face of the goal ten minutes from the end, but Partick rarely threatened. Oakley had an effort kept out on the line acrobatically by Holt as Inverness looked to close out the game. However, Inverness saw out the game to go joint top of the table after their fourth win in a row. That'll do nicely. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ No surprise really, but Ian McCall is bumping his gums big time about a penalty shout in the first half for Partick, blaming the ref for two big calls. That and the sending off. Should've gone to specsavers! Danny Devine was missing (on crutches) as were Sutherland, Walsh, Welsh and Samuels. Duffy was immense as a replacement for Devine. Billy Mckay covered the whole park and Dan of the Match was in spritely form, skinning as and when required. What the managers said on BBC Sport: Inverness CT manager Billy Dodds: "I was really happy with the first half, but we got sloppy in the second half I thought, despite them being down to 10 men. I asked for patience and we'd get our chance and they showed it. What a finish from Billy Mckay too. "They still went at it with 10 men, but I thought we deserved our victory. I'd have liked more goals, but tactically that's what I wanted and I got it." Partick Thistle manager Ian McCall: "There were two pivotal moments. The penalty kick's the clearest you'll ever see. Docherty has his toe over the ball then he's taken out. "I can understand the sending off, yes, but it's a 50-50. It's very, very soft. Second half, I was delighted with how we defended, but the referee, I don't think I've seen him before, looked way out of his depth for this level of football." Reaction on CTO: Mantis: A really significant win, with Samuels still to come back. No failures last night, a real team effort against the media darlings. Nice to see Allardice coming back to form and Cammy continues to grow in confidence, as does Delaney. Ridgers could have watched the game on the telly for all he had to do. Even as the clock ticked past the 70 minutes I felt the goal would come. Dan still pulling off the tricks he's done several times this season and panicking dumplings like McMillan into rash fouls. I was yelling at him to skin Akinola and skin him he did. It was like the old days of us telling Stewartie to lob Hutchison. Roddy is a real gem and I rated him higher than Dan before he left for Hibs. Just needs to follow Dan's example and bulk up a bit. Duffy was decent considering his lack of experience and who he was marking. Deas may well depart in the next window but what a rock, although running around like an angry Rambo makes him (apparently) the most booked player in the league. But finally a word for the legend that is Billy. His 33 year old legs covered every blade of grass on the pitch and given one sniff he took it as you knew he would. Maybe he'll catch Denzil yet. MoogThurso: Duffy has not been first pick for a centre back spot from our management team and has filled in at right back, maybe to his detriment resulting in much derision. Today he put Brian Graham in a cell, winning all of his aerial duels in the first half, having many successful challenges and also covering Tiffoney very well 3 times Carson was out of position or Tiffoney slipped inside. Today he talked all game correcting the position of everyone around him and leading the back line. Robert: Partick created a few early chances but we then kept them very quiet until after we were ahead, and Ridgers didn’t really have any saves of note to make. Our attitude was spot on and I thought everyone played their part. We kept Tiffoney quiet and they sacrificed him at half time: well done to Carson, with help from Boyd, for that. We kept Graham under control: well done to Deas and Duffy for that. Delaney, other than one or two slack passes late on impressed again, and was always looking for the ball. Our midfield was competitive, with Harper having one great effort on goal and Allardice is getting back to how he performed before his injury. Some of the touches from Mackay and MacGregor were excellent, whilst the work rate of the front four was immense. Special mention to Mckay who ran his socks off and took his goal very well. Ridgers did what he needed to without any fuss. Date: 07/10/2022 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 2354 Referee: Scott Lambie Inverness CT: 1 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers; Carson, Duffy, Deas, Delaney, D Mackay (Hyde 83), Allardice (Ram 89), MacGregor (Doran 63), Harper, Boyd (Shaw 63), B Mckay (Oakley 84) Subs (not used): C Mackay; Scorers: B Mckay (75) Booked: Shaw (80) Sent Off: none Partick Thistle: 0 Manager: Ian McCall Lineup: Mitchell; McMillan (Akinola 73), Holt, Turner, Milne, Tiffoney (McKinnon 45), Bannigan (Fitzpatrick 83), Lawless (Smith 82), Docherty, Muirhead, Graham (Dowds 83) Subs (not used): Brownlie, Hodson, Weston, McCready Scorers: none Booked: McMillan (19), Lawless (41), Muirhead (90+2) Sent Off: Turner (40) a
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