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Cup of Cheer In a pulsating Cup derby Aaron Doran put the visitors ahead with a fantastic goal after thirteen minutes, firing home from range. It remained that way at the interval but substitute Ross Stewart pulled the tie level soon after coming on. Brad McKay lashed Inverness ahead but Josh Mullin squared it in time added on to send this tie to a replay on Tuesday 19th February. The draw took place after this game and here are the fixtures. Aberdeen v Rangers/Kilmarnock Dundee United v Inverness /Ross County Partick Thistle v Hearts Hibs v Celtic ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Inverness boss John Robertson sprang a handful of surprises by giving starts to recent injury victims Mark Ridgers, Tom Walsh, Coll Donaldson, Carl Tremarco and Aaron Doran. Jordan White would spearhead the attack. Shaun Rooney made the bench along with Nathan Austin, and Darren McCauley. County's former Inverness players Billy Mckay and Ross Draper started for County along with Kenny Van Der Weg. The effervescent Michael Gardyne would be the provider with Brian Graham the target man. Josh Mullin and Declan McManus were on the bench. A cagey opening few minutes as both sides jockeyed for position was ended when Billy Mckay dipped an angled volley over the bar after five minutes. Inverness responded by winning a corner but the ball to the back post produced nothing and Michael Gardyne looked to be the danger man for the hosts as he forced a corner at the other end after a good run forward. Jamie Lindsay drilled a deep cross wide of the target from the corner. A bit of a midfield battle ensued as the sides struggled to get to grips with the game and Liam Polworth won a free kick as Van Der Weg handled on the edge of the box. Joe Chalmers forced Fox into an excellent save as he curled low to the near post, however the visitors kept the ball around the County box, and when Aaron Doran latched onto a headed pass forward from Tremarco some 25 yards out. He turned and whipped a vicious half volley low behind the outstretched Fox for a superb opening goal. Gardyne broke into the box after 25 minutes but his shot was blocked at the expense of a corner. Gardyne took it himself but Mark Ridgers came out to gather the cross confidently. Gardyne was at it again and his floated cross caused problems but was turned behind for a corner which Ridgers gathered again. It was Gardyne against Ridgers now and Mark turned a stabbed effort behind for a corner, diving low to his right. Inverness broke forward and Tom Walsh almost emulated Doran's strike but Fox made a brilliant diving save to deny Walsh a second Inverness goal. County were racking up the corners after a Brian Graham shot was deflected wide but again it came to nothing better than a free kick for the visitors. A ball forward saw Fox have to block from Tom Walsh as the Inverness wide player sped into the box and flicked the ball goalwards. A few moments later Walsh saw an effort deflected for a corner as the Caley Jags pressed for a second goal before the break. Yet another great break forward by Doran who fed Brad McKay but the wing back saw his cross cut out for a corner. As Inverness gathered momentum once more, the first half drew to a close with the visitors on top. Half Time 0-1 There were no changes at the interval and County would be playing towards the Jailend after the break, and that usually inspires them to greater things. Scott Fox had to make an unorthodox stop to deny a piledriver from Carl Tremarco, the keeper eventually keeping the ball out with his knees as the ball fizzed goalwards. Great effort from Tommy. Ross Stewart replaced the ineffective Brian Graham and within a couple of minutes he drew County level after some untidy midfield play saw Gardyne drive the ball into the box where Stewart volleyed home. Doran spurned a glorious chance to put Inverness back in front but he mistimed his header and sent it wide when he should have hit the target. It was end to end stuff now in typical derby cup-tie fashion. Liam Polworth flashed a powerful shot towards the County goal that was head deflected for a corner. From the resultant corner Brad McKay found the ball at his feet a few yards out and he smashed it high into the net. Walsh broke down the left but his shot was a bit ambitious and it went well wide. County won a free kick just outside the box after Chalmers upended the dangerous Gardyne, but after the shot was blocked County were penalised and the danger was over. Carl Tremarco was having a magnificent game at the back and was putting his body on the line time and time again as County threw balls into the box, but the wee man stood firm. Substitution for Inverness as Doran was replaced by former Coleraine player Darren McCauley as Ridgers mopped up another ball into the box. Almost a chance to get a third as a ball is flicked into the six yard box but it runs through to Fox. And as the rain started to fall a mistake at the back by County let Walsh speed forward. He lashed a shot to the top corner but Fox pulled off another great save to deny the Inverness man. Shaun Rooney had replaced the injured Coll Donaldson by now and we re-jigged at the back with Brad moving inside. A loose ball some 30 yards out found Chalmers but it was wasted and McManus wasted an effort at the other end. They would not be denied though as our defence parted and Substitute Josh Mullin squeezed the ball through the exposed Ridgers in time added on. A dangerous free kick by County was wasted as they looked to get ahead in added time with Inverness now hanging on a tad, but the late comeback by County was just enough to earn the Dingwall side a replay as time ran out. Inverness were best served by Aaron Doran, Tom Walsh, Coll Donaldson and Jamie McCart, but none better than Carl Tremarco. The biased Bill Dodds gave the TV MotM to Michael Gardyne who was undoubtedly County's most influential player. Another frustrating night for Inverness who have held the upper hand in all four derby's this season with little to show for it. On BBC Sport:- Inverness CT manager John Robertson: "It's just about being street-smart. They stopped. "You just keep defending but they've let Josh Mullin through and he's scored. That sums up our season. We've been in the lead and given away a goal at the end. We now have a replay to play so we'll just get on with it. "We felt we were getting close to that third goal which would have finished the game off. We didn't see where their goal was going to come from. That's the difference. That's why we're fourth in the league and County are top." Ross County co-manager Steven Ferguson: "We always felt there would be one more chance in the game. Josh is well onside and does great to finish it. "The players never know when they're beaten. Sometimes it's not pretty and you have to put your shoulder to the wheel and the players deserve all the credit for that. "I don't think either us would have wanted a replay. We're delighted we're still in the hat." Robbo after the event.............. Date: 11/02/2019 Venue: Global Energy Stadium, Dingwall Attendance: 2800 Referee: John Beaton Ross County: 2 Lineup: Fox; Fraser, Boyle, Watson, Draper, Lindsay (McManus 86), Van Der Weg, Gardyne, Spence (Mullin 67), Graham (Stewart 55), Mckay. Subs (not used): Munro; Grivosti, Murray, Wallace, Scorers: Stewart (55), Mullin (90+1) Booked: Watson (68) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 2 Lineup: Ridgers; B Mckay, Donaldson (Rooney 80), McCart, Tremarco, Chalmers, Walsh (Trafford 85), Polworth, Welsh, Doran (McCauley 77), White Subs (not used): C Mackay; McHattie, Austin, MacGregor, . Scorers: Doran (13), B Mckay (65) Booked: Welsh (25), Chalmers (77) Sent Off: none a

CUP DERBY AGAIN How about that, another chance to relive the 2012 Highland derby cup game at Dingwall where many a pundit had the game all over after 93 minutes when Richard Brittain put the Staggies ahead. Butcher's boys had other ideas and Richie Foran had the last laugh when he knocked in the equaliser two minutes later. Inverness would go on to win the replay at the Caledonian Stadium. That game saw Billy Mckay score a superb volley to open the scoring for Inverness. Rocco Quinn levelled with a dipping 20 yard strike. Inverness went back in front when Mckay's shot deflected off Foran's bottom. He made an arse of a few things did Richie, but he had the cheek to get that one right. Bad boy Iain Vigurs restored parity when his effort took a massive deflection to go up and over the keeper and into the net. Foran's equaliser did not best please Derek Adams, the Inverness support were delighted though. Of course it's just past the 19th anniversary of the Parkhead SuperCaleywentballistic evening when we put Celtic out of the Scottish Cup on their own patch. We would go on to put them out of the cup twice more since then and go on to win the trophy, something County have yet to achieve. County are looking like title favourites in the Championship and have taken five points out of nine in the derby's this season with Inverness managing only two despite dominating for large parts in all three games. Inverness look like they might hang on to the final play-off position in fourth place. That seems to be our best option given our smaller squad. However, this is cup football and anything can happen as Ellie Goulding would say. Home advantage won't count for much as the Inverness travelling support at Dingwall is always very vocal and committed to the cause. Injuries have disrupted our climb up the league of late and our display against Partick Thistle last weekend was nothing short of criminal. An error strewn first half gifted Partick a two goal cushion that we never quite managed to overhaul. Other results below us meant we remained in fourth place. County sit top of the table by three points after a 2-1 win at East End Park, goals by Billy Mckay and Michael Gardyne overcoming a half-time deficit. John Robertson will be hoping that his injury list is shrinking. Mark Ridgers could return to action and Coll Donaldson will be looking to start this week after playing 45 minutes against Partick. Tom Walsh could be a surprise inclusion to the squad. Darren McCauley got off the mark against Partick but is maybe not up to full speed yet. Aaron Doran missed out last week as did Daniel Mackay. I suspect Iain Vigurs won't feature after his misdemeanour at an Inverness nightclub, allegedly. One of his bosses will be joining him in the stands as Stuart Kettlewell has a six game ban for his disgraceful behaviour at Greenock. What on earth are they teaching them in Dingwall? County have a riches of depth to their squad and any missing players will be easily replaced. Here's Mark the goalie talking ahead of the cup clash...... We are ahead already. Crossbar Challenge, we'll take it. Robbo's no speaking to the fans, so here's Scott Kellacher.........

By George, he's off Struggling Partick Thistle come North on Saturday to the sponsorless and Georgeless Caledonian Stadium, looking to get themselves away from the relegation battle at the foot of the table. It's a great opportunity for Inverness as well as they look to consolidate their position within the top four and keep on the heels of Dundee United whilst making sure the teams below stay there. One man who won't be at the stadium is George Oakley. He was a surprise departure on the final night of the transfer window, leaving for the metropolis of the Eastern Block landscapes of Hamilton. @George_Oakley23 had this to say to the Inverness fans on twitter. Just want to say a massive thank you to everyone @ICTFC for everything they have done with me for the past year and half! Great club and the fans were amazing for me from the day I joined! But I am looking forward to this new challenge with @acciesfc can’t wait to get started??? Wow! That's a sign of the times as we can't even compete with Hamilton Accies for the signature of a player. Is this the beginning of the end for Inverness Caledonian Thistle? Have the club really got such a lack of ambition that we can't hold on to one of our three strikers? Has George got the talent to succeed on the plastic pitch at Accies? Or, was it a shrewd bit of business to get rid of an injury prone second rate striker whose contract runs out in the summer and we can get some pennies before it's too late. To be honest, the jury is out on the CTO website. Many blame the board but some are coming round to the fact that it might be for the best. It all depends if your glass is half empty or half full I suppose. Plenty of uncertainty on the forums. Here's a selection of the concerns:- "As we are skint then I'm not surprised we took cash for Oakley, we are however left relying on White and Austin, (if fit), as our senior strikers." "We are skint! Also appears we have no real ambition anymore. Gutted." "Well this is depressing news. Ambition - not..." "Easily the best of our strikers allowed to leave for peanuts no doubt. FFS the squad was small enough already without losing any more players." "Well that’s pretty $hit news. Are we now relying on injury prone Austin. Jordan White and two youngsters in McGregor and Mackay." And some almost positive comments:- "Can’t say I’ve ever found myself thinking that Oakley is too good for this league and should be playing at a higher level." "from what I saw last season I didn't think Oakley was that good a striker. He certainly wasn't the sort of striker who would fire you to the title in this league. He was also out of contract at the end of the season and if we thought he wasn't going to re-sign and isn't a starter then cashing in, even if it'll be pennies in the scheme of things, could be the right thing to do." "Slightly shocked, but he's out of Contract at the end of the season, (and the small fee probably covers the laundry bill) anyway I think McCauley can do a job for us in his place." This one sums it up as far as I am concerned "The fact that players see moving to Accies from us as a step up is hardly a laughing matter and is a sad indictment of where we are these days." Anyway, thanks for the effort George and Good luck at Hamilton, I think you will need it. George Joins Accies The other big talking point this week is that the club are looking for a new sponsor for the Stadium and what it will be named now that ownership has been secured. I don't suppose it will be called the George Oakley Arena now. The Harry Gow Dream Ring is a popular one though. Others already in the bin are The Dump, The Stadium of Shite, The Richie Foran Arena of Excellence, The House of Hughes. Here's the official take on the stadium deal. Read about it HERE Meanwhile, there's a game to be won on Saturday. We played Ayr United on Tuesday night and came away with all three points after we blitzed Ayr in the opening twenty minutes. We found ourselves 3-0 up with goals from Nathan Austin (2) and a Liam Polworth belter. Ian McCall changed his side at the interval and we were immediately on the back foot when the hosts scored early in the second half through Declan McDaid. Lawrence Shankland got the nerves jangling when he banged in a deflected free kick to set up a tense ending but we held on for a valuable three points. That was on the back of a 2-2 draw at Falkirk last Saturday when we were pegged back twice. It could be a great week for us on the park should we take the points tomorrow. Partick won their first League game in six since they beat The Pars 2-0 on the 8th of December. They beat our recent conquerors Queen of the South 2-1 thanks to goals from Joe Cardle and Miles Storey. That moved them off the bottom of the table one point above Falkirk. The games between the sides this season have resulted in six points for Inverness. A 3-2 win in the Highlands was followed by a 1-0 win at Firhill. Both tight games but scorer at Firhill, Tom Walsh is out with a broken foot. We survived a late fightback in the first game after White, Rooney and a Welsh (pen) put us 3-0 ahead. Last ten minute goals from Blair Spittal and Kris Doolan almost snatched a point for Partick but they fell just short. ICT 3-2 Partick from September Inverness will obviously be without Oakley and the injured Coll Donaldson, Tom Walsh and possibly Aaron Doran. Look for new signings Darren McCauley and Anthony McDonlad to be more involved tomorrow. Mark Ridgers has missed the last two games with a back problem with young Cammy Mackay deputising, and he put in a decent performance at Ayr. Here he is talking ahead of the Partick game............. Partick will be without the injured Joe Cardle. Gary Caldwell was speaking on the Partick Thistle website about the ins and outs:- “We set the target before January started of coming out of the window a stronger side than we were when we went into the window and I think we can definitely say that is the case. We have strengthened the core of the side with a goalkeeper, a centre back, a central midfielder and two strikers coming into the Club. On top of that we’ve got some great creativity in Joe Cardle and some additional versatility at the back in the form of Jack McMillan.

Let's go fly a kite.... Somerset Park Ayr is the venue on Tuesday night in this re-arranged fixture after the original date was called off less than an hour before kick-off due to high winds. Unfortunately many Inverness fans had already made the five hour journey only to be met with the news they didn't want to hear. And it could be Deja Vu with a pitch inspection planned for 11:30am after a week of rain in Ayrshire. ?️ The ICT Supporters Travel Club is running a bus to this match. The Bus leaves the Caley Club at 13:45 and the Stadium at 14:00. The Bus can be booked by text on 07462218717 or through their Facebook page. The original game was due to be played on the 7th December, but strong winds forced the postponement with teams and fans already at the stadium. Since the postponement, Ayr have had three draws, three defeats and one win on Saturday against Dundee United, Craig Moore scoring early. Falkirk and Inverness were Championship winners but the surprising defeat was to Auchinleck Talbot in the Scottish Cup. Prior to the game that was called off, Ayr were sitting on top of the League. They were knocked off their perch as County turned the screw, but had managed to get back on top before Saturday when County won to regain the lead although Ayr have a game in hand, this one against the Caley Jags. We have blown hot and cold recently and since the postponement have three wins, two defeats and two draws. The biggest win was a 4-0 defeat of Lowland League leaders East Kilbride in the cup. The two disappointing losses were the Highland derby and a home defeat by Queen of the South. The first meeting of the season saw Inverness fail to get the better of ten man Ayr, Liam Polworth missing the target from the spot. We did keep Shankland fairly quiet in that game, but even with ten men Ayr were still a threat on the break, the game ended 0-0. The last time we met a couple of weeks ago we managed to get the better of Ayr thanks to a header from Jordan White, a rare home win for the Caley Jags this term. Inverness fielded their two new signings at the weekend, both coming off the bench in a 2-2 draw at Falkirk. Mark Ridgers was unable to play due to a back spasm and Cammy Mackay deputised in goal. Unfortunately that probably contributed to Falkirk's second goal resulting in a couple of points dropped. Disappointing result really as we led twice but our attacking intent was evident and Aaron Doran's stunning strike was worth all three points. Three of our most influential players were missing at Falkirk. Coll Donaldson and Tom Walsh are out for over a month unfortunately. Ridgers will hopefully be over his back problem soon. The introduction of Darren McCauley and Anthony McDonald will give the squad a lift though and Jamie McCart has proven to be an able deputy for Coll. Aaron Doran pulled up at Falkirk with a possible hamstring injury and might be out for a couple of games. Ayr have scoring sensation Lawrence Shankland back in action after he missed a few games. Craig Moore and Michael Moffat have shown that Ayr are not a one man team though. Geggan and Forrest are out, but Kerr and Adams are almost there. It's a pity Aaron Doran is out as he has been getting back to his best recently. Here's what he is capable of. Here's new Inverness signing Darren McCauley talking ahead of the Ayr United game........... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you like a wee flutter, our new partnership with FansBet can offer you something. Just click on FansBet to get started. "Remember to select CaleyThistleOnline when you register and you’ll be helping us support ICT fan causes." FansBet are partners with Supporters Direct Scotland and already have many impressive stories of giving back to and empowering fans, ranging from funding away travel, share purchases, backing safe standing projects and many more. You can read some of FansBet’s Giving Back stories on their blog at https://blog.fansbet.com/fansbet-giving-back/partners/fan/ Always remember to adopt safe gambling and responsible policies.

Bairns Bash Inverness travel to second bottom Falkirk on Saturday knowing they will be in for a tough test. The Bairns had come North at the start of December and ended our 25 game unbeaten run by going away with all three points in a five goal tussle. Inverness CT fans will be housed in Section H of the Main Stand for this one at the Bairnabeu. Falkirk Club Shop will be open from 09:00 – Kick Off on Saturday for those wishing to purchase in person. Weather for the Falkirk area is expected to be heavy rain at times with a moderate breeze.?️ Falkirks last two results were a 1-0 win at Ayr United and a 1-1 draw against Partick Thistle at Firhill. Rangers loanee Zak Rudden is the man who earned the points with a second half goal against Ayr and an equaliser at Firhill. Rudden had scored twice when Falkirk won 3-2 at the Caledonian Stadium before Scott Harrison won the game with a 93rd minute goal. Tom Walsh and George Oakley were the Inverness scorers. The first encounter of the season was the opening fixture in the Championship. The Caley Jags took the points then as George Oakley fired home after only ten minutes. Would that be the start of a promotion chasing season? Well, maybe not yet, but we are still in the hunt for a play-off place and I'm sure Falkirk would happily exchange places with us given their faltering campaign. Our last league game was a deserved win over title chasing Ayr United thanks to a strike from Jordan White. Last weekend we comfortably disposed of East Kilbride 4-0 in the Scottish Cup. Goals from White, Aaron Doran, Liam Polworth and an og put us into the last sixteen. Falkirk were idle having already been dumped out of the cup in a surprising 4-2 defeat by neighbours Stenhousemuir. Rudden is certainly one to watch. He has scored eight goals this season, including a brace against Inverness. He has also been capped for Scotland at u16/17/19 level. All this and he he was only born two days before we knocked Celtic out of the Scottish Cup in 2000. John Robertson has moved into the transfer market and snapped up the Coleraine wide midfielder Darren MacCauley. The 27 year old scored 20 goals last season for Coleraine with 10 assists. He has scored 7 league goals this term. Darren was once a trainee at Celtic, but we won't hold that against him. Also signing on loan for the rest of the season is Hearts youngster Anthony McDonald pictured in his Jambo's strip. McDonald is 17 years old and is one of the promising young players at Hearts. He has made a total of 21 appearances for the Jam Tarts and has been capped for Scotland at U16 and U17 level. Good luck at the Caley Jags Darren and Anthony Striker Jordan White has been talking about his medical issues in the press and fair play to the big man he has battled through it to get where he is today. Talking on the BBC Sport website, Kenny Crawford has written this article "One night during pre-season, I woke up and just couldn't move my legs." Have a read and maybe we can all understand what Jordan has gone through. Inverness have been dealt a double injury blow with Coll Donaldson (groin) and Tom Walsh (foot) out for over a month. Both missed the win over Ayr United last weekend. Jamie McCart is a ready made replacement for Donaldson and it looks as though Darren McCauley will be able to fill the gap left by the injured Tom Walsh. Anthony McDonald will be available for selection for tomorrow’s trip to Falkirk. Darren's inclusion will depend on whether his international clearance has been received. Falkirk have been busy in the transfer market as they look to get away from the foot of the table. Goalkeeper Harry Burgoyne has signed on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers for the rest of the season. The 6ft 4″ stopper has made a total of seven first team appearances for the Premier League side. Paul Dixon was also brought in before New Year. Former Partick Thistle captain 31 year old Abdul Osman was the second signing after Dixon. Motherwell pair Ross MacLean and Ian McShane soon followed. In fact there are too many to fit on the preview and not even the Bairns fans know what their team looks like now. Viva la Rayvolution! Here's Nathan Austin speaking ahead of the Falkirk clash Latest News The Friday night Championship game at Somerset Park ended Ayr 1-0 Dundee United. That result has put Ayr back to the top of the table on goal difference thanks to a fourth minute goal from Craig Moore. Dundee United ended the game with ten men when Morgaro Gomis was red carded in the 89th minute. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Scottish Cup V Ross County In their wisdom, the powers that be have determined that 7:15 on Monday night the 11th of February will be the date for the Highland Scottish Cup derby at Dingwall. It's not a great choice for the fixture and it looks like the SFA have bowed to the TV companies to fit this tie in for their schedules. Fans aren't given much consideration and I fear this may diminish some of the atmosphere in what should be a cracking game. Prices have been set at Adult £15 Concession £10 Under 12 £5 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you like a wee flutter, our new partnership with FansBet can offer you something. Just click on FansBet to get started. "Remember to select CaleyThistleOnline when you register and you’ll be helping us support ICT fan causes." FansBet are partners with Supporters Direct Scotland and already have many impressive stories of giving back to and empowering fans, ranging from funding away travel, share purchases, backing safe standing projects and many more. You can read some of FansBet’s Giving Back stories on their blog at https://blog.fansbet.com/fansbet-giving-back/partners/fan/ Always remember to adopt safe gambling and responsible policies.

Honest Men come North It's heading towards Tam O' Shanter time as the Honest Men head North to tackle the Chapman Billies at the Caledonian Stadium in Inverness. Ayr have been a revelation this term and a breath of fresh Ayr has certainly breathed some life into the Championship with Lawrance Shankland being one of the reasons they sit at the business end of the table. They sit second in the League only three points behind County. Ayr thrashed Dundee United 5-0 at Tannadice at the end of November, but since then they have drawn three and lost last week against Falkirk. Top scorer Lawrance Shankland missed that one and looks like missing out again. Our last two games have ended in defeat. We went down 2-1 in the Highland derby and threw away a lead against Queen of the South last week as two goals in a minute turned the game on it's head. It was a similar tale in the derby where we had the better of the game but ended up losing all three points, sums up the season so far. Due to a postponement at Somerset Park, we have only played Ayr once. That game ended goalless despite Ayr being reduced to ten men when Daniel Harvie was sent off in the first half. Ayr have a plethora of possible call offs which could include Lawrance Shankland, Mark Kerr, and Liam Smith . Andrew Geggan is back after suspension but midfielder Andrew Murdoch has reached the yellow card threshold and misses this game. Jamie Adams and Alan Forrest will definitely be out. For Inverness, Shaun Rooney serves the second of his two match ban and Brad Mckay has to serve a one match ban for accumulated bookings. Rumours also abound that possibly as many as three unnamed players might be down with the flu. Kevin McHattie could be involved given that at least two of our first choice defenders are out. George Oakley is still sidelined. Back up keeper Daniel Hoban has been loaned out to Forfar Athletic for the remainder of the season. Keeper Cammy Mackay has returned from Rothes and will cover for Mark Ridgers when required. Here's Kevin McHattie talking ahead of tomorrow's game. The Official Digital Online Programme is available HERE I asked the Bard for a prediction, he came up with this:- “The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, Gang aft agley. An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, For promis'd joy! In other words, it might not go to plan, which might annoy the fans................ Thanks Robbie. Another draw it is then! He also had some advice for Robbo:- “O, wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as others see us! It wad frae monie a blunder free us, An' foolish notion.” Aye, well said Robbie, I'm sure our own Robbo will take that on board bard. Enjoy yer haggis & neeps peeps. If you like a wee flutter, our new partnership with FansBet can offer you something. Just click on FansBet to get started. "Remember to select CaleyThistleOnline when you register and you’ll be helping us support ICT fan causes." FansBet are partners with Supporters Direct Scotland and already have many impressive stories of giving back to and empowering fans, ranging from funding away travel, share purchases, backing safe standing projects and many more. You can read some of FansBet’s Giving Back stories on their blog at https://blog.fansbet.com/fansbet-giving-back/partners/fan/ Always remember to adopt safe gambling and responsible policies.

New Year, Old Habits These two sides have had twenty draws between them this season and it was heading that way until Tom Walsh opened the scoring with twenty minutes left. However, Queens snatched victory from the jaws of defeat when they scored twice inside a minute through Scott Mercer and Stephen Dobbie to take all three points back to Dumfries. I'm afraid we have carried last years bad habits into the New Year and look like a side lacking the confidence to go all the way. Carl Tremarco returned to left back after injury with Brad Mckay moving to right back and Jamie McCart in central defence. George Oakley was still injured and along with Daniel Mackay was not risked. Queens had new signings Nicky Low on from the start with Barry McGuire on the bench and Stephen Dobbie the main striker looking for his 30th goal of the season. The Dumfries men were playing in their Claret and Amber away strip for this game. RIG has seen it all before and here is his match report................... So predictable. The sick twist was obviously conceding a winner but as hard as it was to take it's hard to argue with the result. The usual ICT traits from this season were evident - have a fair amount of the ball, don't create a lot of chances, miss the few chances we do create, score, start to stand off the opposition, defend deeper, defend deeper still, even more deeper, concede, try and get a winner. Queens best chance of the first half came when Todd found himself in a bit of space in the box but his low drive was repelled by Ridgers who got down well to divert the ball round the post. ICT struggled to create much of note as we seldom were able to attack with any real pace and incision and the Queens defence easily stood firm for most of the first half. Polworth did get some space in the box and should have done better than trundle the ball straight at Martin. Shortly after, White found himself 1on1 with Martin but a lack of composure saw the keeper block his shot. The closest ICT came to scoring was when Welsh stood up a cross to the back post and Walsh arrived to header it back towards goal but the ball came off the bar and neither White or Doran were able to force it in from close range before it was cleared. A free kick from Polworth looked like it had gone in but sadly it skimmed the roof of the net. Sit down shut-up! Into the second half and ICT started on the front foot. Chalmers found some space on the left flank and he sent in a lovely cross which just evaded White. An even better chance was passed up by McKay when he somehow failed to connect with a cross at the back post appearing to lose sight of the ball after Donaldson's glanced header had come back off the base of the post and landed at Brad's feet half a yard out. There was then a quite bizarre and hilarious moment when Dykes refused to give the ball back to Donaldson who wrestled with him for a second which left Dykes rolling around on the floor in a heap holding on to the ball. Dykes continued to roll away from Donaldson still clutching the ball delaying the free kick. With twenty minutes remaining, Tom Walsh volleyed home after Carl Tremarco got a second bite at crossing into the box. Jordan White's head managed to guide it back into the mix and Walsh finished with aplomb. Walsh had perhaps our best chance to extend our lead, and possibly kill the game, when he drilled a fierce shot that swerved and dipped before the Queens keeper fisted it (oo er) clear. Thereafter it was classic ICT as we decided to sit back as Queens pressured us. Out balls to White and Austin weren't sticking and any clearance from our defence was quickly retrieved and a new attacking phase started. Eventually the Queens pressure told when Marshall skipped down the ICT right and burst into the box and his low cross was met by Mercer who had ghosted in from the right to equalise from close range. Before you knew it Queens had scored a second. McKay contrived to give the ball away in the right back area and Dobbie was on to it like a flash. Cutting inside he then shot back across goal past a despairing Ridgers who flung himself to the right but couldn't stop the ball and suddenly the Doonhamers were 2-1 up. There was a late chance for ICT when White set up Walsh at the edge of the box but his tame effort was easily handled. Right at the death White challenged for a ball on the edge of the box, it fell kindly for Walsh with his back to goal and he whipped a fierce volley just wide and shortly after the whistle went and ICT had, as too often this season, blown a lead and have only themselves to blame. RednBlackComeback said:- Am I trapped in some kind of parallel universe where I've to sit through the same pi$$ poor, action replay, performance every other week? Go 1-0 ahead then proceed to switch off and throw the game away. Does nobody in this team/management learn from their mistakes? Too many of this team look completely disinterested in winning games. The performance again today was ponderous and lethargic and lacked imagination, just as almost every other game I've witnessed this season. No point in raising your game for the local derbies but not bothering your ar$e for the bread-n-butter games! More match reaction and video to follow............... Barry Wilson was left to explain why we lacked conviction and belief..... It goes without saying really, but Gary Naysmith was delighted........... Nicky Low made his debut and was also chuffed................ Date: 05/01/2019 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 2225 Referee: Barry Cook Inverness CT: 1 Lineup: Ridgers; B Mckay, Donaldson, McCart, Tremarco (McHattie 88), Walsh, Polworth (MacGregor 88), Chalmers, Doran (Austin 64), Welsh, White Subs (not used): Hoban; Trafford, Nicolson. Scorers: Walsh (69) Booked: McCart (56), Polworth (64) Sent Off: none Queen of the South: 2 Lineup: Martin; Mercer, Fordyce, Semple, Marshall, Low (Frizzell 84), Jacobs,Todd, Doyle (Stirling 74), Dykes, Dobbie (Maguire 88) Subs (not used): Leighfield, Bell, Murray. Scorers: Mercer (83), Dobbie (84) Booked: Marshall (66) Sent Off: none a

Play-Off rivals clash Queen of the South are the first footers on Saturday as the year 2019 comes into view, 2018 proving to be a tentative one for the Caley Jags as they seek to keep themselves in a play-off spot. Along with Morton and Dunfermline, Queens pose an immediate threat to our stuttering chances of achieving our goal and remaining in the top four, although should any of the other clubs go on a run they would also come into contention. Stephen Dobbie has missed a few games recently but returned last Saturday in the 0-0 draw with Ayr United when the Championships top two strikers drew a blank. Gary Naysmith said on the QotS website " I was really happy with the lads last weekend, they showed the great character and spirit that they have and gave their all to grind out a result. Ayr maybe had more of the ball but we had the better chances to score on the day. That's three times we've played Ayr now and still have the upper hand with a win and two draws so the boys deserve a lot of credit. That result coupled with County stealing the Highland derby means that the Dingwall side now head the table by three points from Ayr United with Dundee United third and Inverness clinging on to fourth, just. (We drop down to 5th with Morton beating County 1-0 last night). We wuz robbed! Yes, that's how it felt after the bell went and the dust settled in Dingwall. A late goal from Ross Stewart snatched an unlikely three points for County after Inverness had dominated for long spells. Despite having the better opportunities, our lack of a clinical striker was evident once more and we only managed a first half goal through Jordan White, his 100th senior goal. Billy Mckay must have wanted to score and he did just that, the wee scamp that he is. However, due to Scott Fox having a good day and our forwards having a normal day then we failed to take advantage and it cost us dear. There was also a double sending off for a spot of fisticuffs. Perennial cheat Brian Graham was sent packing for assaulting a couple of Caley Jags players and it appears that Shaun Rooney was caught returning the favour. With that in mind, Rooney will be unavailable to face his old Doonhamer pals. Both of the previous games this season have ended in draws. There were no hints that this fixture could produce some excitement back in September when a Gary Harkins inspired Queens drew with an uninspired Inverness. The return fixture at Palmerston was full of action though as Queens raced into a 3-0 lead on the 17th November. Goals from Lyndon Dykes, Stephen Dobbie and Josh Todd saw them cruising on the hour. Twenty minutes later it was all square as Jamie McCart, Tom Walsh and a Sean Welsh penalty pulled us level and we almost won it at the end. Spectacular stuff and a repeat of that entertainment will please most. Queens and Gary Harkins have parted company. The talented and experienced midfield general has decided that Partick Thistle is where he will see out his time. Former Dundee and Aberdeen midfielder Nicky Low has joined the Doonhamers and he will be seen as a straight replacement for Harkins. Look out, we could be 'on the eve of destruction' as Barry Maguire has also signed on at Palmerston. What! Sorry wrong Barry; this one is a central defender joining from Motherwell and highly thought of at that. If he won't 'destruct' us, then this man is well capable of doing so on his own. Stephen Dobbie has just returned after injury and will be a massive threat. As mentioned earlier, Shaun Rooney will be suspended for his part in the Global Energy UFC bout. Carl Tremarco made the bench that day but was not risked at Dingwall. Unsurprisingly, we now have to move the back four around to cover for Rooney, so I would expect Tremarco to feature at left back with Jamie McCart returning to central defence which will release Brad Mckay to right back. However, we now have a new name to throw into the hat for a starting berth. Kevin McHattie has joined from Derry City. The 25 year old is primarily a left back and has previously played for Hearts, Kilmarnock and Raith Rovers and has had a loan spell at Alloa Athletic. Therefore should Carl Tremarco not be 100% fit then McHattie could make his Caley Jags debut. George Oakley missed the derby after twisting his knee in training but could return to the offense if he has shaken off the injury. Daniel Mackay and Roddy MacGregor could also get more game time as youth begins to surface with the purse strings tightening. tm4tj prediction:- I'd almost given up on doing predictions as a draw was the most likely outcome. We seem to be slightly more suited to playing away from home, therefore if we can keep Stephen Dobbie quiet then I'll go for another draw. The Official Preview & Digital Match Programme can be found HERE If you like a wee flutter, our new partnership with FansBet can offer you something. Just click on FansBet to get started. "Remember to select CaleyThistleOnline when you register and you’ll be helping us support ICT fan causes." FansBet are partners with Supporters Direct Scotland and already have many impressive stories of giving back to and empowering fans, ranging from funding away travel, share purchases, backing safe standing projects and many more. You can read some of FansBet’s Giving Back stories on their blog at https://blog.fansbet.com/fansbet-giving-back/partners/fan/ Always remember to adopt safe gambling and responsible policies.

Derby Day No3 It's the Highland Derby up next where Inverness take on table topping Ross County at Dingwall on Saturday. Ross County climbed to the top of the table last week after beating PartickThistle 2-0 at the Global Energy Stadium. A penalty from Billy Mckay and a late Ross Stewart strike were enough to see off the struggling Glasgow side. Inverness went back into the top four after a narrow 1-2 win at Cappielow, only our fifth League win of the season. An early Tom Walsh goal and a second from Aaron Doran with a header should have opened the floodgates against ten man Morton. However, in typical Caley Jags style we were left hanging on a bit towards the end in a game we dominated earlier and had missed a penalty when Sean Welsh beat the keeper but smacked the post in the first half. So, all to play for in the Highland Derby. There has been two already this season and despite Inverness dominating most of the 180 minutes, both games ended in draws. The first one at Dingwall saw Inverness hold the upper hand for seventy minutes but County finished the game stronger although it ended goalless. The return at the Caledonian Stadium was a pulsating game where a rifled Jamie Lindsay shot opened the scoring. George Oakley drew Inverness level a couple of minutes later with a spectacular volley and Shaun Rooney stroked the Caley Jags back in front. However, fortune favours the brave and Billy Mckay chased a ball down the left before cutting across the bye-line. Unfortunately Brad Mckay thought he could clear it but only succeeded in knocking it behind Mark Ridgers. That all happened in the first half and there was no further scoring after the interval, although Liam Polworth should have done better than hit the post after being teed up by Aaron Doran. The game ended 2-2 and it was a great advert for football in the North. Inverness will be pretty much as they have been for the last few weeks with Jamie McCart successfully covering for the absent Carl Tremarco, although Carl will be included in the squad but is not match fit yet. It's a toss up between George Oakley and Jordan White as to who will lead the line, form seems to be favouring Oakley at the moment Liam Polworth has blossomed in these derby's and was instrumental in the win at Greenock last week. Mark Ridgers has been in tremendous form as well and could be a busy man on Saturday. County have Billy Mckay scoring again, even from the penalty spot, and he is always a handful around the box. Should he be fit, the enigma that is Iain Vigurs could hold the key to which side dominates the midfield. It all depends which one turns up, the silky skillful footballer, or the cynical hatchet man with the petulant attitude. We saw both sides of Vigurs when he played for Inverness. He has a foot injury and may not be available. The other one to cause concern is Michael Gardyne who is also recovering from injury and can cause havoc when running at a defence. Like Tremarco, he might not be fully fit either. It would be a brave man to call this one. County would have to be seen as favourites given the home ground and the wealth of talent at their disposal. Inverness by comparison are being run on a shoe string with barely enough players to fill the bench. However, a draw might be the most likely outcome after witnessing the first two games where Inverness held their own and more. Ross County v ICTFC Saturday 29th December 3PM Kick-off Adults- £20, Concession £10 and Under 18s £5 Our initial allocation for Saturday's Highland Derby against Ross County has now SOLD OUT. Away Tickets will be available on Saturday from 9am at The Global Energy Stadium on a first come first serve basis. If you like a wee flutter, our new partnership with FansBet can offer you something. Just click on FansBet to get started. "Remember to select CaleyThistleOnline when you register and you’ll be helping us support ICT fan causes." FansBet are partners with Supporters Direct Scotland and already have many impressive stories of giving back to and empowering fans, ranging from funding away travel, share purchases, backing safe standing projects and many more. You can read some of FansBet’s Giving Back stories on their blog at https://blog.fansbet.com/fansbet-giving-back/partners/fan/  Always remember to adopt safe gambling and responsible policies.

Tis the season to be jolly Off to Cappielow this weekend where Inverness visit Greenock Morton as the sides battle it out for mid table supremacy with only one point separating the sides. Yes, it's Xmas time and everyone's letting their hair down a bit, but bah humbug, there's always someone who spoils it for the rest. Yep, even the Caley Jags players have been chastised for some offensive carol singing and don't be looking for your Xmas card this year, Scrooge has tied the purse strings........... The ICT Supporters Travel Club are running a bus to this game. It leaves the Caley Club 9.45 Stadium 10.00, book on their Facebook page HERE or text your name to 07462218717. For Inverness fans travelling to Cappielow from Greenock Morton Wheelchair users pay concession but carer is free. One carer per wheelchair user unless there are special requirements for another carer. This is due to limited space. Wheelchair users and carers enter via main stand entrance in Sinclair Street. The wheelchair area is shared with home fans and is under cover although rain can enter depending on wind direction. Supporters will be accommodated in Sections F&G of the Main Stand. Tickets can be purchased at the ticket booth beside the Main Stand turnstiles in Sinclair Street. Supporters buses drop-off and pick-up is East Hamilton Street (A8 dual carriageway) outside Arnold Clark showroom. Supporters buses can park free within the main car park accessed from the A8/Sinclair Street junction. Bus drivers must ensure they leave the main car park at least 15 minutes prior to the end of match to uplift supporters on East Hamilton Street outside Arnold Clark’s showroom. Car parking is charged at £3 and accessed from the above entrance. Please note that all vehicles (except coaches) will require to turn left on exiting the car park and travel south on Sinclair Street under the railway bridge. Drivers can then take second left (Weir Street) and follow road to the end. At T –junction, turn left (Gibshill Road) and re-join the A8 East Hamilton Street. Weather forecast for Greenock is showery. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It's also time for my Xmas night out so I'll be brief with this preview........... Merry Christmas X However, there's a game to play and both teams are flirting on the edges of the play-off places, the fourth position currently occupied by Queen of the South. Morton played out a goalless draw with Falkirk at the weekend in a turgid affair and it was much the same at the Caledonian Stadium where Inverness and Dundee United drew 1-1. Tom Walsh scored his now trademark goal running into the box on the inside right position and slotting the ball low across the keeper before Billy King replied in the second half for United. The home fans were less than impressed with Inverness' second half performance as the Tangerines took the game to their hosts. Mark Ridgers was in fine form though and made three or four excellent stops to keep Inverness in the game and earn them a point. The previous encounter this season ended in stalemate, Jordan White levelling after Telfer had scored early for Morton. Even back then in October the cracks were showing and Inverness manager John Robertson said to BBC Sport after the game: "The unbeaten thing is annoying me now - I think that's affecting us. We had a spell last year when we had seven clean sheets on the bounce and it looked like that's all we wanted to do - just protect the clean-sheet record. "I just wonder at times do we get into a position where, instead of going on to win the match, we are happy not to lose it - that's just a theory." Sounds about right Robbo. Well, Falkirk broke the unbeaten sequence a couple of weeks ago but the belief does not appear to be running through the squad with any conviction as we struggled to build on our early lead against the Bairns and once more against Dundee United. This lack of belief is now firmly entrenched in the stands and that's going to be a difficult job to raise morale amongst a dwindling fanbase. John Robertson has Carl Tremarco back training but he is not ready for a game yet. No other team news available at time of publishing. This was our starting XI against Dundee United Lineup: Ridgers; Rooney, B Mckay, Donaldson, McCart, Walsh, Polworth, Chalmers, Welsh, Doran, Oakley For Morton, Gregor Buchanan‘s knee injury does not appear to be as serious as first thought, however he will be unavailable for this clash. This is how Morton lined up against Falkirk:- Gaston Tumilty Kilday Buchanan McKeown Millar McAlister Tidser Telfer McHugh Thomson Morton gaffer Jonatan Johansson was speaking ahead of this clash and is aware of his own clubs limitations........ Official Preview can be found Here If you like a wee flutter, our new partnership with FansBet can offer you something. Just click on FansBet to get started. "Remember to select CaleyThistleOnline when you register and you’ll be helping us support ICT fan causes." FansBet are partners with Supporters Direct Scotland and already have many impressive stories of giving back to and empowering fans, ranging from funding away travel, share purchases, backing safe standing projects and many more. You can read some of FansBet’s Giving Back stories on their blog at https://blog.fansbet.com/fansbet-giving-back/partners/fan/  Always remember to adopt safe gambling and responsible policies.

Amber Alert One of the form teams come calling this Saturday as Dundee United head to the Caledonian Stadium boasting thirteen points from their last six Championship games, despite that crushing 0-5 defeat to table toppers Ayr United. Since we last played each other, a 1-1 daw at Tannadice in October, United have won 4 times with that defeat to Ayr United and last weeks draw with Morton. Our stats are less impressive with last weeks first defeat of the season against Falkirk. That was preceded by four draws and a solitary League win over Partick Thistle. Add in the Cup draw at Edinburgh City before we thrashed them in the replay and it's a bit patchy to be honest. Last Friday's game at Somerset Park was called off as high winds were deemed too strong for the game to go ahead. Unfortunately that was only decided about 45 minutes prior to kick off, after Inverness fans had already made the long five hour trek. Just a shambles if you ask me, the weather forecast was not a secret and if they had thought about the fans instead of TV revenue, the game could have been called off on Friday morning. That game will now be played on Tuesday 29th January 2019 at Somerset Park, 19:45 Kick-Off. In their last game United were pegged back by Morton with just over ten minutes left. Gregor Buchanan earned a point for Morton after Frederick Frans had headed United ahead half an hour into the first half. Robbie Neilson was sent to the stand during the game for using foul and abusive language. tsk tsk. We played a Scottish Cup tie last midweek, a replay against Edinburgh City and ran out 6-1 winners after a pretty dour first half. A hat-trick from Jordan White and a brace from Tom Walsh with Aaron Doran scoring the sixth in time added on. United are third in the Championship on 28 points and we moved down one place with Queen of the South drawing at Dingwall. Arabs defender Jamie Robson left himself defenceless after an ill informed fancy dress guise was leaked on instagram. Robbie Neilson has spoken briefly to the player and the club have conducted their own enquiry over the incident where Robson was dressed as a beach vendor with a blackened face. He will be disciplined by the club and will likely not be included in the squad for this weekend. It's not the first time the club has has to question his antics. Have a word with yourself son. John Robertson has a wafer thin squad to juggle around with compared to Robbie Neilson at Tannadice. A couple of injuries for the Caley Jags and we are down to the bare bones. Carl Tremarco has been out for some time now and although he has resumed running he will not be considered for this game. Daniel Mackay has also been out for a few weeks. Jamie McCart has been a decent deputy for Tremarco and another of our young stars, Roddy MacGregor has been given some game time and looks a great prospect. Talking of Roddy MacGregor, he played for the u18 side against Aberdeen on Friday evening. Unfortunately the young Inverness side lost out by 2-1, Donald Morrison scoring for the Caley Jags and they were unlucky not to at least draw this game played at the Highland Rugby Club artificial surface. I expect Inverness to be along similar lines to their last few games with hat-trick scorer Jordan White spearheading the attack and George Oakley and Nathan Austin waiting for their opportunity. Our defence speaks for itself although a couple of slack goals recently need to be addressed. United's last game against Morton the squad looked like this:- Starting XI: Rakovan, Murdoch, Booth, Frans, McMullan, Fyvie, Curran, Stanton, Safranko, Bouhenna, Aird. SUBS: Donaldson, Smith, King, Rabitsch, Edjenguele, Thomas, Watson. Here's the Matchday Programme from the Official Site ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Highland Derby is coming soon Ross County v ICTFC Saturday 29th December 3PM Kick-off Ladbrokes Championship Tickets: Adults- £20, Concession £10 and Under 18's £5 ICTFC fans can secure their tickets for the next Highland Derby online from the following link: TICKETS Supporters should select tickets in section N1-3 or N4-6. These are the North Stand tickets (Away end) Please note ticket for this fixture are available online only right now. The tickets will go on sale from the Stadium for personal callers on 17th December at 2pm.

Something in the Ayr tonight GAME OFF due to high wind. Anyone got a kite............. It's our third game within a week as we head to Ayrshire to take on the table topping Honest Men in a Friday night game under the floodlights of Somerset Park, or as Thunderclap Newman used to say, there's something in the Ayr......... Because the revolution's here, and you know it's right. The last few days have seen contrasting fortunes for Inverness. A first defeat of the season to bottom club Falkirk on Saturday was followed up by a crushing Scottish Cup win over Edinburgh City. The Falkirk game was hard to take and it ended our long unbeaten Championship run, an injury time goal sealing the points for the Bairns. The cup replay saw Jordan White claim a hat-trick and Tom Walsh a brace. It was a dour first half, but much better application after the break saw Inverness run out comfortable winners over League Two leaders Edinburgh City. Ayr have been without a game since last Friday when they juiced the Tangerines 5-0 at Tannadice. Lawrence Shankland was the man making the difference with a four goal salvo to keep Ayr at the top of the league ahead of Ross County. In fact it's all going on in Ayrshire with Kilmarnock heading the Premership after the midweek games. In fact there's definitely something in the Ayr. Hotbed of Scottish football just now! The first meeting of the season saw Inverness fail to get the better of ten man Ayr, Liam Polworth missing the target from the spot. We did keep Shankland fairly quiet in that game, but even with ten men Ayr were still a threat on the break, the game ended 0-0. Talking of Shankland, Swansea City are reported to be about to offer £400k for his services in the English Championship. The 26 goal striker is reputed to have around twenty clubs looking for his signature, unfortunately Inverness are not one of them. Ian McCall has nipped all rumours in the bud but accepts that there will be massive interest in his star striker come the January window. Ayr have won ten of their fifteen league games with only two defeats, Ross County (2-1) and Queen of the South (surprisingly 5-0). They have 33 points (to our 22) and are the top scorers in the division with 30 goals ( ICT 21) having conceded only 12 (ICT 16). Despite the doom and gloom of our extended unbeaten run, it's almost a relief to lose that tag as we embark on the next part of the journey. Turning draws into wins was proving to be a stumbling block, but Falkirk have hopefully given us the wake up call to get us back on track. Good to see Roddy MacGregor getting more game time as he looks to have a bright future with his energy and quick feet giving him the ability to drive at defences. Nice wee cameo against Edinburgh City where he set up Aaron Doran for our sixth goal. Sixth goal: Not often we can say that. The Ayr team that faced Dundee United last week can be seen in the image to the right, Striker Craig Moore returns to the Ayr squad after a two game ban. Ian MacCall has fitness doubts over defender Jamie Adams and midfielders Alan Forrest and Mark Kerr. Rumour has it that they will all miss this one. For Inverness, Carl Tremarco is back training but not fit for action yet. Jamie McCart will continue to deputise at left back, he's doing reasonably well there. Sean Welsh missed the midweek cup game, presumably rested. Jordan White will surely be given the nod up front after his striking performance against Edinburgh City. Daniel Mackay has been missing recently for the u18's and first team squad. Ayr Utd v ICTFC Somerset Park, Ayr Friday 19:45pm kick-off. Live on BT Sport Tickets: Adults £17, Concessions £11, Child £6. The ICT Supporters Travel Club is running a bus to the match, book on their Facebook page HERE or on 07462218717 The Car Park closes at 2.50pm, we have allocated spaces for Blue Badge holders, staff and officials only. Public parking is available at Craigie Park. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Young Caley Jags take on @CelticFC tomorrow in their SFA Youth Cup match. Entry is FREE for all Supporters at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium. 2pm kick-off. There will be donation buckets outside the ground with all proceeds going towards the Youth Development Department. The club shop will be open tomorrow from 10am-2pm for a chance to get your gifts in time for Christmas! The u18 game has also fallen foul of the weather, anyone got a boat???

Scottish Cup Replay Hard on the heels of our first defeat since the battle of Hastings, (well it felt like it), we face Edinburgh City in a Scottish Cup replay having drawn 1-1 with the capital club at Ainslie Park last week. This could be a make or break week for the club. Losing to bottom club Falkirk was grave, losing to Edinburgh City could be the straw that breaks the donkeys back. We follow that with a game at Ayr on Friday night and that fills me with fear after their 5-0 pumping of Dundee United at Tannadice last Friday. We were pedantic, profligate and sloppy against Falkirk in equal measures resulting in a brutal 3-2 defeat three minutes into time added on. Tom Walsh gave us hope early on but Zac Rudden benefited from casual defending to score twice before the interval. George Oakley pulled us level on the hour but more schoolboy defending gifted all three points to the Bairns. Meh! City remain top of League Two after a home win over Queens Park, goals from Blair Henderson and Scott Shepherd keeps them two points above Peterhead. Their starting XI for the Spiders game was:- Antell, Thomson, McIntyre, Black, Balatoni, Laird, Smith, B. Henderson, Taylor, Shepherd, L. Henderson. SUBS: Morton, Rodger, Hall, Kennedy, Watson, Lumsden. Here's an excellent Vlog of their win over Queens Park, well done Aaron, great stuff. Our squad is down to the bare bones at the moment and it could be the time has now come to give the youngsters a chance. Roddy MacGregor came on for the last few minutes against Falkirk and his energy was obvious from the moment he came on. Our experienced strikers are lacking in confidence just now and little is going right for them. Oakley did score on Saturday, but a genuine striker might have had a hat-trick. Jordan White came on and did what Jordan White does, he gets under the ball and heads over from close range all too often, his lack of anticipation is criminal. However, it's not all doom and gloom as we were unfortunate at times and a rub of the green might have seen us win comfortably, but Falkirk were up for a battle and I'm sure the Citizens will be fired up for the Cup tie as well. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain and nothing but a convincing win will convince the Inverness fans that their team are heading in the right direction. At the risk of sounding blasé, I expect Inverness to get through this tie. Let's hope we get a performance to go along with a win or the fans will begin to doubt their allegiance, and to be honest, the side are not making it easy to be enthusiastic about going to the games at the moment. I fully expect Edinburgh to prove to be difficult opponents, but come on, they are in League Two, part-time, playing away from home in a midweek Scottish Cup tie against a team that has only lost once since 1066. That's got to be sufficient grounds for the old banana skin cliché to be rolled out. Anyway Citizens, enjoy your day in the Highlands whatever the outcome. Put the fun back into football. Here's how City fan Gordon Sheach managed it.............. Gordon Sheach‏ @GSheach Dec 1 More Today one of my greatest football dreams came true. At the @EdinburghCityFC game the ball bounced into the crowd and despite juggling a 6 year old on my lap I rose and HEADERED IT BACK!!! Football? Completed it mate ICTFC v Edinburgh City Tulloch Caledonian Stadium Tuesday 4th December KO 7.45pm Adults: £12 Concessions (Senior and 16-25): £6 Juniors (under 16s): FREE Season ticket holders will, for the first time, be able to use their season card by adding the cup game onto it. Season ticket holders can activate the cup ticket online (up to kick off), or by phoning the ticket office on 01463 222880 or in person up to an hour before kick-off. Please note that even free under 12 seats need to be added to the season card. Get your tickets HERE

Bairns Challenge Bottom club Falkirk head to Inverness on Saturday with their latest manager Ray McKinnon so far unable to motivate the club sufficiently to direct them away from the foot of the table. If we thought our performance in the Scottish Cup was abysmal, and it was, spare a thought for the Bairns suffering fans as they were dumped out of the Scottish Cup by four goals to two. That's bad enough, but it was their lesser fancied League One neighbours Stenhousemuir who inflicted the damage leading to some unsavoury scenes from the stands as angry fans berated their own players. How the mighty have fallen. It's barely three and a half years since these two clubs contested the 2015 Scottish Cup final in front of 37,149 fans with Inverness just coming out on top. Falkirk losing to the Warriors was a poor result for them, but was it any worse than our tepid performance at Ainslie Park in front of 867 hardy souls where we drew with Edinburgh City? I'm not sure there's much between the results. Lack lustre, embarrassing, devoid of creativity, sluggish, lack of penetration were all used on this forum to describe our performance. One sentence really summed it up, "we are the most boring outfit in Scottish Football right now." What's gone wrong? We are finding it increasingly difficult to turn draws into wins. Yes we are unbeaten for half a million games, but the support have seen it all before and long before the draws become reality, the sense of a draw running through the stands is overbearing. Lack of ambition coupled with no budget is restricting what we can do, but it's becoming more obvious that we won't get out of this division with the squad we have just now, they are simply not good enough to sustain a challenge. Our defence is solid enough, but there is little creativity from midfield and our front men are challenging. Challenging the fans enthusiasm to return and watch more of the same. Still, we are unbeaten some say. Oh my, remaining unbeaten has become an obsession and is detrimental to our progress. Last Saturday in the cup was a prime example, an opportunity for the front men to make a few headlines. I know, I know, cup shocks are what makes the competition, we should know we have been involved in some memorable ones over the years. However, those days are long gone and those that witnessed our sorry attempt at Ainslie Park will testify to that. Can you be more upbeat I hear you say. Well, we won't get a better chance to make amends than the visit of a struggling club that has only scored 8 goals in the Championship and conceded 21, not the worst, but 8 more than we have conceded. The Bairns have only two wins this season in the Championship, recently against Dunfermline Athletic and away to Alloa at the end of September. That sees them at the bottom of the table with just 8 points whilst we have 22 in fourth place. We did win the opening game of the season 1-0 at Falkirk thanks to a George Oakley strike, however that was a long time ago now. Ayr United staked their claim to be taken seriously last night with a 5-0 demolition of Dundee United at Tannadice, Lawrence Shankland the main demolition man with four of the five goals. Stunning performance from the Honest men that puts them 5 points clear at the top with today's games to come. Ray McKinnon talking to the Official Falkirk FC website said:- “There’s nothing we can do about last week now other than to learn from it. It’s all about Inverness from as soon as last Saturday’s match was finished and ensuring we prepare properly for the match. “We know where we are, I know where we are. We are going to get inconsistencies, every team has them, we just had a really poor day on Saturday and got punished for it. “I would rather that it didn’t happen, but we now have an opportunity to get back to the form we have shown in the last four games in the league. It’s our bread and butter this season.” Zak Rudden will return and he could have Scott Harrison back for this one, and Mustapha Dumbuya could get on the park. Prince Bauben is also just about ready for action so it could be a very different Bairns from the one that were dumped out of the cup. John Robertson will just have to go with the tried and tested for this one as our wafer thin and fragile squad struggle for fitness. Defensively we can cope, with Jamie McCart doing well since his insertion to the starting XI. Scoring goals is the big issue with lightweight Nathan Austin possibly out. Big opportunity for youth to get a fling, and we might see Daniel Mackay or Roddy MacGregor get some game time. tm4tj prediction:- Draw anyone! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ICTFC v Edinburgh City Tulloch Caledonian Stadium Tuesday 4th December KO 7.45pm Adults: £12 Concessions (Senior and 16-25): £6 Juniors (under 16s): FREE Season ticket holders will, for the first time, be able to use their season card by adding the cup game onto it. Season ticket holders can activate the cup ticket online (up to kick off), or by phoning the ticket office on 01463 222880 or in person up to an hour before kick-off. Please note that even free under 12 seats need to be added to the season card. Get your tickets HERE

Scottish Cup time Inverness add a new name and venue to their list of opponents as they take on Edinburgh City in the third round of the Scottish Cup at Ainslie Park, Edinburgh, the game kicking off at 3:00pm on Sunday 25th November. A heads up from Graeme the City man who mentioned he was looking forward to welcoming us all to Ainslie Park on Sunday. "I'd suggest getting there early, there's not many (4) turnstyles, so a fair old queue tends to form for larger crowds". Cheers, However, it's just us that's coming so maybe we don't qualify as a big crowd.............. Ainslie Park is actually the home of Spartans FC, but with Meadowbank undergoing some major refurbishment, City will be ground sharing until Meadowbank has been modified. Incidentally, Hibernian Ladies also play out of Ainslie Park. "The nearest place to the ground to get a pint, (exluding a carry out from Morrisons) is Here " Other than that there's not a lot about, a couple in the other direction towards Granton. Although the grounds not far from Leith/Stockbridge/west end- all probably about 10 minutes in a taxi. Graeme concluded, "Going to enjoy the day whatever happens, splashed out on hospitality. it's a pity the games been moved to the Sunday. Have the utmost respect for fans travelling out with the central belt".... Thanks Graeme, have a great day whatever. Caley Stan is yer man for the millennium man Preview, (yuppies for you Scarlet) and he has not disappointed with this one................... Who the feck are Edinburgh City? It’s a legitimate question without a straightforward answer. An amateur team called Edinburgh City existed between 1928 and 1955, including a period in the Scottish League and a 3-2 victory away to Hibs in the 1937/38 Scottish Cup First Round. The Edinburgh City Social Club continued to trade thereafter, and in 1986 gave permission for Postal United (an East of Scotland League side formed in 1966) to revive the name. The new club hopped around various Edinburgh locations before settling at Meadowbank Stadium in 1996 following the demise of Meadowbank Thistle (formerly Ferranti Thistle, without whom Inverness Caledonian Thistle would not exist!). Postal United/Edinburgh City had an undistinguished existence in the EOL, winning it only once, in 2006, but the team kicked into gear at the perfect moment with the formation of the Lowland League and its accompanying pyramid play-off in 2014. City had harboured a longing for Scottish League membership since the turn of the century, failing with bids for vacant spots in 2002 and 2008, and seized upon the opportunity to win that place on the park. They won the title in its second season by a 19-point margin but lost the pyramid semi on penalties to Brora Rangers, a certain Stuart Kettlewell with the decisive strike. The following season they horsed the league again - a 15-point margin this time and followed it up by defeating Cove Rangers and East Stirlingshire to claim a place in the SPFL. They finished 7th and 9th in their first two seasons in League Two, largely retaining the squad that had taken them up. They sound like a bunch of non-league haddies, we’ll pump them stupid, right? A year ago, maybe. But something has happened since then. Edinburgh City are on an outrageous run of form, winning 10 out of their 12 league games this season (with no draws!) and sitting top of League Two. Last week, they progressed to the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup with a penalties win over Alloa. What changed? They brought in a fair few players with full-time experience. At the back, Craig Thomson has played over 100 games at that level between Hearts and exile in Lithuania, and Conrad Balatoni played around 200 before joining City in the summer - both are just 27. Midfielders Marc Laird and Josh Walker have spent most of their careers in the English League Two, while up front, Danny Handling and Scott Shephard have significant top-level experience with Hibs and Falkirk respectively. But its Blair Henderson who’s been the star of the show this season - the 24 year-old striker was scoring a goal in every other game for Annan and Berwick but has upped that this season scoring 18 goals in 21 appearances in all competitions. Manager James McDonaugh has not been shy about taking credit for Henderson’s run, and indeed, the progress that City have made since he took over a year ago – see this interview at about 41mins on the Totally Scottish Football Show. McDonaugh, without any playing career of note, came through the ranks of the Hibs youth coaching system which means he must be a protégé of our own Donald Park. Jim Jeffries is also working for City as Technical Director. There must be money involved here but I haven’t found it. OK, but we have a glorious history in this competition, we pretty much are this competition, why the hell are we playing these no-marks in November? I thought the Scottish Cup started in January anyway. Our star has fallen, my friend. And they keep messing about with the early rounds of the Cup. This game, falling on November the 25th, will be the earliest we have ever started a Scottish Cup season and it’s the first time we’ve entered before the rest of the elite since 1999. The bookie that sponsors the competition was tweeting earlier in the week that we haven’t lost a 3rd round tie since 1999, and while that is technically true, we have fallen at the first hurdle on two occasions since then, albeit in what is now called the 4th Round (Hibs in 06/07 and Dundee last season). Someone will write a book about our exploits in the Scottish Cup someday (hopefully not that guy who wrote ‘Against All Odds’, that was pish), but the message here is clear: We don’t lose these games. Don’t say that, I’m getting worried now. What will Robbo do? Every time I write a preview I drop a heavy hint that I think Robbo will start with a 4-4-2 and he never does but this time I’m happy to predict that Robbo WILL start with a 4-4-2. It’s how he chose to start the season, all our strikers are fit now, and it’s how we mounted our wonderful comeback last week. I’ll be genuinely shocked if two out of Oakley/White/Austin don’t start. He’s stated that we will play our strongest available team, and with Shaun Rooney back in the squad, there will be decisions to make at the back. I’m going to need a drink before this, good thing Meadowbank has loads of good pubs nearby. Hard lines. Meadowbank is closed for refurbishment and City are groundsharing with Spartans at Ainslie Park for the next three seasons. This is fitting in a way given that City/Postal, Ferranti and the old Edinburgh City spent much of their time at the nearby but now defunct ‘City Ground’, often sharing with Spartans. Ainslie Park is a bit weird for lower league travellers - it’s a thoroughly modern facility with two 3G pitches and a five-a-side cage. With no pubs within staggering distance, and a limited number of turnstiles, some of the more boisterous elements among our away support may struggle to make the first half. Edinburgh City are stressing the importance of arriving early, the game is well-priced at £12/6 with under 12’s Free, and I hear the macaroni pies are delicious. As Noddy Holder used to say, My friend Stan got a funny old man............... ?

Palmerston pilgrimage It's the long trek to Palmerston this week, all 234 miles of it, to take on hot-shot Stephen Dobbie and his Queen of the South team mates, where our mission will be to return with our unbeaten run intact. That's no easy task at the moment with Queens sitting mid-table, four points behind Inverness, having taken a point of table topping Ayr United last weekend in the battle of the strikers. Tickets must be purchased from the away ticket office at Palmerston, not at the gate. The ICT Supporters Travel Club are running a bus to this game, book through their Facebook page HERE or by texting your name to 07462218717. The Bus leaves from the Caley Social Club at 8:30am and from the Caledonian Stadium at 8:45am. We broke our sequence of draws last time out, thankfully, with a win over Partick at Firhill. Two main contributors in that result were Tom Walsh who scored a spectacular goal after cutting in from the left to curl a beauty across the keeper into the top corner, a goal fit to win any game. That feat was matched by a superb double penalty save by Mark Ridgers minutes later to ensure he kept a clean sheet and importantly take all three points back up the A9. Fantastic ability from Mark, carrying on from the brilliant 'viral' save against County in the Highland derby. Queens came from behind in the strikers dual to grab a point at Ayr. But neither Shankland or Dobbie were on target in this one, Dobbie going closest with a strike off the post. It was Michael Rose who headed Ayr in front but Connor Murray scored with his first touch ten minutes from the end to ensure Queens were the first side to deny Ayr all three points at home this season. We showed how thin our squad is last week after removing Riccardo Calder from the payroll. With Shaun Rooney and Carl Tremarco injured we were down to five on the bench with three of them being youths, none of which was Daniel Mackay who was missing presumed injured as he never featured in the u18's 9-2 routing of East Fife either. However, it's encouraging to note that the youngsters are having a tremendous season and goals are being scored freely, Roddy Kennedy bagging four and Roddy MacGregor a brace in that u18's game. Whilst Stephen Dobbie is the man that get's all the headlines for Queens, there are other players who can perform well, but their secret ingredient is they all work hard for each other and in Alan Martin they have an experienced keeper. Only Ayr and Ross County have scored more goals than the Doonhamers. Dobbie has scored an amazing 25 goals in 21 appearances with 13 of those coming in the Championship including two hat-tricks and a quadruple against Ayr United. Touch wood, but he has only scored once in his last six games since he hit a treble against Alloa at the beginning of October. The first meeting between the clubs this season ended in stalemate with Dobbie failing to score but he did batter one off the crossbar. It was his veteran team mate Gary Harkins who was the star of the show that day though. Harkins strolled through the game and showed our fragile midfield how to control the pace of a game and stamp your authority all over the match. Tremendous display from Harkins and he was my Man of the Match back at the end of September. Hopefully we have learned from that. Here's a great quote from Robbo off the official preview that puts everything into perspective:- “The unbeaten run is very special, you look at the previous managers here, Terry Butcher achieved 21 matches in this league, Steve Paterson achieved 22 in the third Division, and to break that is very special. The players deserve enormous credit, it’s been tremendous and they’ve all played their part." Maybe it's time to give the wee man the credit he is due. Queens fans will be disappointed to note that Shaun Rooney will not be playing after being injured against Ross County a couple of weeks ago. Carl Tremarco also missed out last week and we deployed a makeshift back line with Riccardo Calder having been given his marching orders. That meant moving Brad Mckay to right back, drafting Jamie McCart in beside Coll Donaldson and pulling back Joe Chalmers to the left wing back role. It worked well enough at Partick, and I would imagine it will be along similar lines should Tremarco fail to be fit enough to start. Queens last line up can be seen on the Official Preview

Thistle be the day Draw specialists Inverness head to Firhill on Saturday to take on Partick Thistle in the Championship. Last weeks draw against Ross County was the seventh in a row and that extended the unbeaten run to a record twenty-three games. It wasn't for the want of trying in the derby but few watching could be disappointed in the manner with which we applied ourselves and we were unfortunate not to take all three points. Caley Stan has checked out the opposition and he has this informative preview for us........... On my way home from Waitrose the other day, I stopped for a coffee in Artisan Roast Stockbridge and quietly pondered some way to construct an opening to this preview that included a disparaging reference to Partick Thistle fans’ middle-class, hipster, bohemian, pseudo-intellectual pretensions, when who should appear out of the Mellis Cheesemonger sporting the famous red and yellow hoops, but The Hoff himself. Beyond parody. Hassellhoff has previously sought to justify his support for Thistle on the grounds that they represent something beyond geographical or tribal identity, and they must have picked up a few fans over the years by simple virtue of not being Rangers or Celtic. But with attendances at Firhill starting to sink below the 3,000 mark, I suspect we won’t see many of those folk tomorrow. I might be wrong, but I assume most Partick Thistle fans, like the rest of us, identify with the club because they grew up near the ground, or their dad came from round there. One thing’s for sure, they’re not glory hunters. With just two major honours to show in a 142-year history (the 1921 Scottish Cup, and the 1971 League Cup), they haven’t been in a major final for sixty years. This is particularly surprising when you consider that they played in the top league for most of the 20th Century, never experiencing a sustained period in the second tier until the late 1980’s. History of the Fixture Won 11 Drawn 10 Lost 13 The teams first met in the opening game of the 1998/99 Second Division season. The Maryhill club were playing in the third tier for the first time in their history, and we came into it off the back of a mid-table debut season at that level. It was a tense affair with one moment of true quality on the hour mark when a delightful through ball from Charlie Christie was buried from an acute angle by Barry Wilson. We rode our luck for the reminder of the game, Jim Calder making a number of decent saves, and departed to a stream of Highlandphobic abuse from a home support whose club had just reached a new low. Their true nadir was to come later in that season when they avoided another relegation by a single point. Meanwhile, we were promoted comfortably, winning 3 of the 4 games against them in the process. It was another 2 years before we saw Partick again, and by the end of that 2001/02 season we were glad to see the back of them as they ruthlessly re-established themselves as Scotland’s premier Thistle, winning 3 out of the 4 league games with our solitary victory coming after they had already won the First Division. We also played them in both cups, coming out on top in the League Cup 2nd Round in Inverness on penalties after a 3-3 draw – Barry Robson notching a double and scoring the winning penalty. But it was the was Scottish Cup Quarter-Final of that season that will be remembered most of all. These were the biggest games the fixture has seen, with a crowd of 8,700 taking in the 2-2 draw at Firhill and over 5,000 attending the replay despite the SFA’s controversial decision to stage the game underwater. Maryhill Mod Scott Paterson scored the only goal, a decent free-kick in fairness, though I’d like to see Nicky Walker’s starting position. After a brief skirmish in the Court of Session in the summer of 2004, the clubs reconvened on the pitch for the 4th Round of the 2005/06 Scottish Cup. The tables had turned once again, we were enjoying a second season in the SPL while they were back in the third tier after successive relegations. They came up to Inverness and kicked us off the park before Mark Roberts scored an underserved equaliser with a 93rd minute penalty that he had dived to win. The replay was turgid, on TV, and we went out on penalties. The next meeting, another 4th Round Scottish Cup tie in 2009, saw a very different Caley team run out 3-0 home winners – Felipe Morais scoring a double. That stands out as a very strange result in retrospect – Partick were having a decent season in the First Division, and we were coming into it off the back of six straight league defeats – it was the week before ‘shoes off’, a seventh defeat at Hamilton, and the final departure of Craig Brewster. The following season we shared a league for the first time in eight years, losing the first two and winning the second two in line with our form that year, and Partick joined us in the top flight for four years in 2013. Over that spell we won just two of the thirteen league ties between the sides, despite finishing above them in three of the four seasons, and, of course, knocking them out in the 5th Round of the 2014/15 Scottish Cup……. Teams and Tactics Partick Thistle fans seem to have given up trying to analyse performances recently and spend their time online howling for players to be removed/imprisoned/murdered etc. so it’s been tricky to work out how they line up. From what I can gather, Caldwell’s been playing some kind of 4-5-1. The persistence with a misfiring Miles Storey has been a particular source of frustration, while a recent injury to Kris Doolan has given opportunities to Jai Quitongo and our old friend Andrea Mutumbo, with neither making much of an impact. Robbo has persisted with the 4-2-3-1, although he’s always keen to bring on a second striker and go more direct when we’re not creating. With Oakley and Austin now fit, he may find it increasingly tempting to return to the shape that he started the season with. The termination of Riccardo Calder’s contract and the ongoing absence of Carl Tremarco with a thigh injury leaves us without an experienced left back for tomorrow’s game. Joe Chalmers has played there before, but it wasn’t pretty, and Cameron Harper’s first team experience is limited to a farcical four-minute appearance at East End Park following a team-sheet error. Robbo has stated in the past that he feels Harper is ready to step in if needed, but in the aftermath of Calder’s dismissal this week, he suggested that the club may look to recruit a free agent to cover the position. Shaun Rooney has not recovered from the knock that forced him off in the derby. The Riccardo Calder situation has been dealt with by the club and they released This Statement. In effect Riccardo has left the building. The Official Site has a Preview with more detail and Robbo chat..... League Form Thistle: LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL Thistle: DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD Prediction: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The Highland Derby It's the second meeting of the clubs this season as Ross County come over the bridge from Over the Bridge to face Inverness Caledonian Thistle at the Caledonian Stadium, the game kicking off at 3:00pm. The first encounter ended in stalemate at the Global Energy Stadium back on the 22nd of September. We had the better of the game for over an hour but failed to score, a now familiar theme, before County staged a late rally to end the game on the ascendancy, but defences came out on top. After that game, Inverness sat second in the league with 12 points, County one point behind in fourth. Since then, County have flexed their money and their muscles and moved to second on 24 points with Inverness in fourth on 17 points. Both sides failed to win last time out. We drew our sixth game on the trot against Dunfermline Athletic, coming from behind twice to draw 2-2 thanks to strikes from Riccardo Calder and the much maligned Jordan White, the target for much advice from the North Stand. County drew with bottom club Falkirk, an Iain Vigurs peach earning them a Point at the Bairnabeau. Jordan White has come in for plenty of criticism recently, yet the big man is still managing to get some goals. I reckon it's about time the angry souls take stock of where we are and what they can expect to see on the park. Granted he's not the most mobile, has limited skill and lacks the searing pace of Allan Wells, but the he's an honest professional plying his trade as a footballer for our club and it's time to cut the him and the others a bit of slack. It's not the players fault he is not Ronaldo or Messi or even Lawrence Shankland, but with the club unable to buy these type of players given our restricted budget then we will have to accept that this is what we will see on the park. You can't blame the players for that, so let's get behind them as we try to battle our way into contention for a play off slot. Carl Tremarco missed out last week and Riccardo Calder deputised well, scoring a goal into the bargain. Daniel Mackay was handed a start but that's a tough gig for the young lad who might be a better impact player off the bench in the last fifteen or so minutes. George Oakley was on the bench against the Pars but was not risked after coming back from injury. Charlie Trafford could be involved, especially if there's a physical midfield battle to be had. Sean Welsh is not shy either. I expect we will see a familiar starting XI with White leading the line. Let's get behind the guys and give them something to feed off. Billy Mckay has been on fine form recently, bagging a hat-trick against Morton. He scores when he wants you know. Liam Fontaine could return and with County's lavish squad they are not short of quality players. Other former Caley Jags players likely to feature will be Ross Draper, Iain Vigurs, and Don Cowie. I can see our run of consecutive draws coming to an end, however, with County on form just now and us more content to preserve our inadequacies, then we could be in for a difficult day. In saying that, we have Coll Donaldson and Mark Ridgers. Draw it is then! To whet your appetite, here's the first ever Highland derby in the big boys leagues from 1994 at Victoria Park Dingwall. For more detail, The Official Match Programme can be found here Match Programme Mon the Caley Jags

Trick or Treat Dunfermline Athletic are the visitors on Tuesday night for a Championship game that kicks-off at 7:45pm, the day before Halloween. Halloween attire is the order of the day to add some much needed levity to our predicament, but many fans are seeing it more like a trick than a treat. However, if you are in fancy dress, send the pics to the club and tickets for the derby could be yours. Send us your photos in fancy dress tomorrow from your seat as we face @officialdafc The winner will get a Family ticket for Saturday's Highland Derby against @RossCounty! There is also a prize for the best costume in the away end! Last time we played the Pars all was rosy. Well maybe not quite, but at least we won the game and scored three second half goals into the bargain. Shaun Rooney, Liam Polworth and George Oakley scored back on the 1st of September and we were all rubbing our hands in anticipation. Since then we have beaten Partick Thistle 3-2 (just), and then drawn the last five games, scoring only twice. This slump has not gone unnoticed by the fans who are beginning to vent their frustration at the lack of ambition shown on the park, and with some justification I have to add. It could be worse I suppose, we could be Dunfermline. They have had two wins, two draws and two defeats and have been dumped out of the Challenge Cup by Alloa. However, it still equates to the same number of points picked up since the last meeting but the Pars poor start to the season has them five points worse off than Inverness. We have slumped to fifth in the League after our failure to turn draws into wins with Dunfermline struggling in seventh. Our season certainly looked brighter after beating Dunfermline and Partick to sit top of the table. It's gone stale now and an injection of new blood and or tactics is becoming apparent. Dunfermline's demise was the massive clearance at the end of last season and that is still hurting them now. Jordan White is coming in for plenty of stick and the return of George Oakley is seen as a must, sooner rather than later. In White's defence, he has not been getting the best of service and that is down to a pedantic midfield who are less creative than we need. We also need a fair injection of pace, but with money tight I don't see where the improvement is going to come from. Coll Donaldson will return to the heart of the defence after serving his suspension. Carl Tremarco is a doubt and I wonder if Robbo will leave Jamie McCart in central defence and move Brad Mckay to left back. Just a thought, if not then look for Riccardo Calder getting more game time at wing back. George Oakley has been training but my guess is he is nowhere near being ready for a full blown match. I suppose it will be White up top with nobody able to give him any support. Dunfermline will be without Mark Durnan who has just had a hernia operation. This was their starting XI against Dundee United:- Lee Robinson; Ryan Williamson, Lee Ashcroft (c), Danny Devine, Jackson Longridge, James Craigen, Tom Beadling, James Vincent, Louis Longridge, Myles Hippolyte, Faissal El Bakhtaoui Alan Johnston is starting to be a target for the boo boys at East End Park and his counterpart John Robertson is attracting some flak in the Highlands after a series of mind numbing results. Both managers will be desperate for a win but the smart money will be on a no scoring draw with 1-1 being the next best option. Mr Pumkinhead has made his choice and is looking for a home win as another draw will give him a splitting headache..... Happy Halloween everyone.

Draws R us Inverness Caley Thistle remained unbeaten after a 0-0 draw with the Wasps who will feel aggrieved that they never took all three points after a backs to the wall performance from the draw specialists. Only Sophie has drawn more times than the Caley Jags Little to report from an Inverness point of view, but we will try and come up with some positives when the report is ready. Jamie McCart replaced the suspended Coll Donaldson and Aaron Doran started ahead of Riccardo Calder while the Wasps unsurprisingly went unchanged from the side that beat Partick Thistle. Grim stuff from Inverness as Alloa took the game to us from the start. Dario Zanatta and Kevin Cawley were prominent early on for the Wasps as they buzzed around the visitors box, both bringing saves out of Mark Ridgers. Alloa were well on top in the first half and it was half an hour before Tom Walsh made Neil Parry work. Shortly after this Carl Tremarco went off with a thigh injury to be replaced by Riccardo Calder. There followed a succession of Alloa attacks that we were able to thwart, but the one way traffic continued until half time when Brad Mckay narrowly missed the target right on the interval. Words must have been exchanged at the oranges and we came out a bit more positive on the resumption although the hosts looked the more likely to break the deadlock. Zanatta almost did with fifteen minutes to go when he hit the crossbar with an effort from inside the box but that was the closest anyone would get to scoring. The introduction of Nathan Austin brought about a few attempts from Inverness and as we pressed for a goal in the final few minutes Alloa seemed content to settle for the point after giving us a hard time for eighty minutes. The final few minutes of time added on saw a flurry of cards as Alloa blocked everything and deservedly kept out our weak attacking intent. I'll let the fans that were there have the final words. Prepare yourself for some direct talking from the disgruntled Caley Jags support. Mantis has turned into the Grim Reaper for Halloween and paints a gloomy future for us................. A truly arctic experience at the Indesit, sorry Indodrill gazebo this afternoon. Apart from a couple of years in the noughties, the Recs has never been an easy place to visit and so it proved. Alloa have been stuffy and hard to break down this season but they have what we lack (sorry, ONE of the things we lack) - a bit of pace on the break. They actually got down both flanks and got crosses in. They were the better team by a distance in the first half. Second half we dominated the possession as Alloa appeared to just want to hold what they had, but it was the usual overplaying, square balls from big Joe, and a lacklustre Polly trying to make a telling pass. Welsh was almost decent, but Doran was invisible again and Walsh just appears too lightweight most of the time. Calder slotted in reasonably well when Tremarco went off, but Brad continues to be a bit of a bombscare. We could have lost it late on when the Jambo rattled the bar with Ridgers a spectator. Apart from one season with Livi, Jordan White has never scored goals. The white Doumbaya. I’ve never felt that Daniel Mackay was quite ready for this level any time I’ve seen him, and I can understand Robbo giving him some game time, but what about winning the match? With Coll our talisman back, I think we’ll do a bit better next week than some are predicting, but scoring goals looks beyond us at the moment. Even if big George makes an appearance he’s never going to be match fit. Truly dire, dire times for us. Ymip was not impressed either ............... Utterly dire again this week. All well and good keeping clean sheets but we are absolutely woeful in the final third and Robbo's substitutions are frankly mystifying in the face of irrefutable evidence that his first choice striker is not up to scratch. A carbon copy of last season when he stuck with Baird for way too long when it was patently obvious that he wasn't the answer. Praying that Oakley is fit soon and back amongst the goals. RIG was a bit more protective, but also struggling for positives........... Not much point having a goal scorer on the pitch if we, erm, don't create goal scoring chances. That was dire today. Narrow pitch or not players like Doran and Walsh failed to provide any meaningful chances for White who is unfairly getting pelters on here. He really doesn't have much to work with most of the time. He's the kind of striker that plays with his back to goal so coming up against a team like Alloa that sits very deep he isn't going to get a lot of opportunities to score. We never stretched the play, we never managed to attack with any kind of pace or incision that allowed us to get in behind the home defence. We were just meh all over the park. MacKay probably had the best chance for us when, in the second half, he gambled on a ball being played in and Parry rushed out smartly to smother the shot. Aside from that we were desperately poor. Sadly, John Robertson appears to agree with the fans as he spoke to BBC Sport "Today was a great point because we didn't deserve to take anything from the match. Alloa were bright and bubbly. "Stout defending kept us in the game. The sharpness in our forward play is gone at the moment. We might need to change formation or look at different personnel to get a spark." Here's Robbo talking frankly and apologising to the fans for that performance on the facebook page..... And here is the footage of the game, courtesy of Alloa FC on YouTube Date: 27/10/2018 Venue: Recreation Park, Alloa Attendance: 644 Referee: Mike Roncone Alloa Athletic:0 Lineup: Parry, Taggart, Dick, Roscoe, Graham, Cawley (Hastie 64), Robertson, Trouten (Hetherington 78), Flannigan, Zanatta, Shields (Brown 78). Subs (not used): Burt, Peggie, Spence, Henry. Scorers: none Booked: Taggart (68), Roscoe (82), Robertson (90+2), Hastie (90+3) Sent Off: none Inverness CT:0 Lineup: Ridgers; Rooney, B Mckay, McCart, Tremarco (Calder 32), Walsh (Austin 79), Polworth, Chalmers, Welsh, Doran (D Mackay 63), White Subs (not used): Hoban; Trafford, Harper, Fyffe. Scorers: none Booked: D Mackay (90+4) Sent Off: none a

Recreation time Or to put it more accurately, we are off to Alloa on Saturday for matchday ten against the Wasps followed closely by matchday eleven against Dunfermline Athletic on Tuesday night. But firstly, we have to concentrate on getting the better of Alloa, something we failed to do earlier in the season when they came North and went away with a credible draw even though they finished the game with ten men. Brad Mckay opened the scoring early on but Alloa were gifted an own goal off the back of the unfortunate George Oakley's head. We went ahead just after the break when Welsh slotted a penalty after Zdravko Karadachki was penalised and dismissed. Despite playing almost the entire second half with ten men, Alloa still managed to snatch a point when Ian Flannigan scored a late penalty. Day to forget for Inverness was summed up when Coll Donaldson passed up a great opportunity to score before the equaliser when he smashed a spot-kick off the bar. Our last visit to Alloa ended in a dismal 1-0 defeat in the league cup during the Richie Foran era. Some described it as an all time low at the time with Jason Marr scoring the winner in the first half. Last time out Alloa got their first League win of the season as they dumped Partick Thistle thanks to a goal from Dario Zanatta. Inverness remain unbeaten, but that statistic is turning into a bit of a millstone around our necks as we appear determined not to lose rather than to go on and try to win games. That's now six draws and three wins this season which gives us fifteen points, eight better off than Alloa. We sit third in the table with Alloa in second bottom. Team News Robbo will be without superhero Coll Donaldson for this one. Big Coll was sent off at last week for a second yellow offence and Jamie McCart who replaced him at Tannadice will fill the gap. George Oakley is back training but it's too early for him to get on the park. Jordan White bagged the goal last week and will be most likely to continue up front with Nathan Austin and Daniel Mackay on the bench. Wasps manager Jim Goodwin sent this XI out against Partick Thistle:- Parry, Taggart, Roscoe, Graham, Dick, Robertson, Flanniagan, Cawley, Trouten , Zanatta, Shields. Info for away fans:- Turnstiles are located in Hilton Road, behind KFC. The ICT Supporters Travel Club are running a bus to this game, book through their Facebook page or by texting your name to 07462218717.The Buses leaves from the Caley Social Club at 9:45am and from the Caledonian Stadium at 10:00am Prices for the Bus: Adults £20, Concession £15 and Under 16s £10

Tannadice test Inverness head to Tannadice this weekend and Caley Stan is yer man with a Preview to set up this clash for you. Dundee United are now spending a third consecutive season in the second tier of Scottish football. It feels weird to write that. Even though I don’t remember much about the eighties (youth not drugs), their incredible achievements throughout that decade (League Champions, UEFA Cup finalists, European Cup semi-finalists, perennial conquerors of FC Barcelona) formed a veneer of great stature around the club that barely seemed to diminish through the many years of mediocrity that followed. But relegation, boardroom wrangling, falling crowds and home defeats to the likes of Dumbarton and Ross County have taken their toll. Csaba Laszlo was sacked with the club on its knees, staring down the barrel of a fourth year out of the top flight, their grand history looking more and more like a curiosity, the answer to an obscure quiz question. Dundee were once European Cup semi-finalists too, you know. Isn’t that funny. History of the Fixture Won 16 Drawn 17 Lost 18 We first played Dundee United in the Scottish Cup Fourth Round of 1998 when a Paul Sheerin goal saw us lead at for the best part of an hour at Tannadice before a late Kjell Oloffson strike forced a replay. The replay was unforgettable – Gary McSwegan appeared to have finished the tie when he put United 2-0 up in the 85th minute. Then, in a turn of events that was typical of the Pele era, a quickfire Brian Thomson goal was followed, in the dying seconds, by the best goal of all time from Mark McCulloch. Lars Zetterlund won it for United in extra time, but the crowd of almost 6000 (yes, 6000 for a midweek replay) left elated – we had just gone toe-to-toe with an established top tier side for the first time in our history. The two sides didn’t meet again until 2004, and we failed to get the better of them in our first six attempts following promotion, though goals from Liam Fox and Barry Wilson saw us come out on top in a 2005 League Cup tie in Inverness. Our maiden league victory over United took place at Tannadice in February of the following year, and in some style. Craig Brewster had left Caley to take over there just a month before, threatening to take some of our best players (and David Proctor) with him. But Charlie Christie had us purring at the time, and while United led twice through two stunning free-kicks from Charlie Mulgrew, Darren Dodds headed home in between to keep us in the game before Wyness and Dargo ran riot - each getting on the scoresheet before Alan Morgan sealed the 4-2 victory. There have been some cracking encounters since, like this 4-0 stroll in the Caley Park, the time we went 3-0 down after 8 minutes but still felt gutted to leave with a point, and another time we did them 4-0 at Tannadice that I can’t find on youtube. League Form Dundee United Last 6: DDWLLW ICT Last 6: DWWDDD The two sides are tied on 14 points, though we have a game in hand and a superior goal difference. Our 19-game unbeaten run started 7 months ago with a 1-1 draw at Tannadice, but it’s starting to look tired. United won at Firhill last week in Robbie Nielson’s first game in charge after consecutive defeats put Laszlo out of his misery. With over a thousand Arabs making the trip to Maryhill, and a big crowd expected to welcome the new manager, it feels like circumstances might matter more than form on this occasion. Basically, it’s a crap time for us to be going there. Teams and Tactics Robbos’s faith in the White-headed 4-2-3-1 that was so effective at Dunfermline seemed to finally waver in the second half last week, with the half-time introduction of Daniel MacKay and subsequent sightings of Calder and Austin. However, I still fully expect to see the same starting eleven and shape – it’s at its best away from home against proactive opponents and is therefore ideal for this game. George Oakley is back in training but won’t feature tomorrow, while the existence of Angus Beith remains unconfirmed . Neilson played a 4-4-1-1 last week with Fraser Aird and Billy King in the wide positions and Paul McMullan playing off Slovakian internationalist, Pavlov Safranko. On paper, they look a cut above the rest of the league, with Fraser Fyvie anchoring the midfield and an enormous centre-half pairing of francophones Rachid Bouhenna and Frederic Frans, combined height – 12 feet and 7 inches. The Shed We’ll be back in ‘The Shed’ tomorrow, a wonderful throwback to a different era of stadia, with a sixty year-old corrugated iron roof that acts as effective amplifier and visible reminders of the terracing that once stood beneath it. Prediction Ach, it’s only a game. Win, lose or draw you’ll get home to your bed just the same.

Morton test for unbeaten Jags Morton are the visitors this Saturday on matchday eight with Inverness hoping to stretch their unbeaten run to nineteen League games and looking to add a bit of sparkle to the performance. Despite our relatively solid start to the campaign, there's only four points between the sides after seven games. Morton are not to be taken lightly as we found out last season when they came North and won 2-0 in February having drawn the other game at the Caledonian Stadium back in August. After an encouraging draw and performance in the derby, it was back to square one for the Caley Jags with an inept home display against Queen of the South at the Caledonian Stadium. We never managed to make Martin in the Queens goal work too hard to earn his crust and that was the most disappointing factor of an insipid performance in a 0-0 draw. On the plus side, Coll Donaldson was immense and we kept Stephen Dobbie relatively quiet. Morton suffered a late blow against Dundee United a couple of weekends ago when Fraser Fyvie scored deep into time added on. Michael Tidser had scored from the spot early in the first half to give the visitors the lead at Tannadice. They got lucky against Dunfermline when keeper Lee Robinson blundered to allow a Scott Tiffoney shot to slip through his grasp with ten minutes to go to earn a point. However they got telt by Ayr United last Saturday when they were cuffed 1-5. Swings and roundabouts I suppose. Morton had a bit of a clear out after last season, including managers Jim Duffy and Ray Mackinnon. Prominent players like Gary Harkins, Jai Quitongo, Ricky Lamie and Thomas O'Ware all departed. Morton picked up Reghan Tumilty from County and Connor Bell from the Caley Jags. Keeper Ryan Scully comes in from Partick Thistle with defenders Gregor Buchanan and Rory McKeown. Forward Denny Johnstone arrives from Colchester. Jonatan Johansson is the man in charge of the Greenock men after Ray Mackinnon went to Falkirk. Ayr United lead the pack on sixteen points after that thrashing of Morton and a Billy Mckay hat-trick saw Ross County thump Dundee United by the same score. That was the last action for Csaba Laszlo as he was then sacked by Dundee United after a string of mediocre results considering the money they have wasted. Inverness are third, three points behind the leaders with Dundee United a further two points behind in fourth. Ayr take on United on Saturday whilst County are away to Partick. Team News Striker George Oakley is out for a couple of months with a hamstring injury. Nathan Austin made a start last week after missing the derby. It could be time for a change up front with Jordan White failing to inspire the fans after two blank games for Inverness. Morton will be without Connor Bell and Robert Thomson while Michael Tidser, Chris Millar and Denny Johnstone are all doubts. Here's Tidser talking to Morton TV and sounding hopeful of making the game............ There's another game on Sunday at Grant Street Park, the home of Inverness Clachnacuddin. Grant Street hosts the North of Scotland Cup Final which will be contested between Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Ross County. The final should feature many of the young stars from both sides with a smattering of fringe players involved as well. Tickets can be bought at the ground on the day. Inverness CT v Ross County Sunday October 7th 2018 Grant Street, Inverness. ICTFC take on Ross County in the North of Scotland Cup semi-final on Sunday October 7th, with the game kicking off at 3pm and taking place at Grant Street. Caley Thistle advanced to the final after beating Forres Mechanics 4-0 in the semi-final, thanks to a brace from Daniel Mackay and goals from Roddy MacGregor and Jack Brown. Ticket Prices for this game: Adults: £10 Concession: £5 Also, on Sunday, there's a programme & memorabilia fair at the Caledonian Stadium. This Sunday we are excited to host the first annual Inverness Programme and Memorabilia Fair, organised by, local man, Easton Thain. The event will run between 10.30AM and 1.30PM, head down before our North of Scotland Cup Final against Ross County!

Dire Inverness and Queen of the South played out a boring 0-0 draw at a blustery Caledonian Stadium where the sides cancelled each other out with some mind numbingly boring football with neither keeper being over exerted. A Stephen Dobbie shot hit the bar after a free kick but that was about it. Sean Welsh went close with a shot from distance but the least said about this game the better. Inverness and Queens were unchanged from the previous week. The Doonhamers were in a sort of claret and amber strip with top striker Stephen Dobbie spearheading their attack. We were going with Jordan White as our target man but that approach is wearing thin. Carl Tremarco made his 150th appearance for the Caley Jags today and was given a wee presentation prior to kick-off. Unfortunately that would be the highlight of an uncomfortable first half for the hosts as the visitors took the game to them. Blustery conditions around the park but Queen of the South coped better than us in the early exchanges, the game kicking off with just over 2000 in the stadium. Lyndon Dykes tested Mark Ridgers after five minutes and Coll Donaldson had to look sharp to deny goal machine Stephen Dobbie an early opportunity to strike for goal. It was ten minutes in before Inverness ventured forward but like most, Rooney's cross was well off target. Aaron Doran beavered away and fired one shot from distance which forced Martin to beat it away, but not enough was direct enough as the visiting defence ushered him across the park and most attacks simply petered out. The wind was causing much grief but Queens effort to work hard and play the ball on the deck was giving them much more success and possession than our wayward tactics and loose play. In truth, there was little to enthuse over in a drab first 45, Polworth coming closest with a long range effort, but even that was a couple of yards high and wide. Half-Time 0-0 The second period was only a couple of minutes old when Queens should have done better than to head over from a corner. Semple was left alone in the box and his header was just over the bar when he really should have hit the target. Dobbie was being marshalled well for the most part, but his shoulder drops and turns were always giving him a yard of space to get a shot away and he drilled one well wide from the angle of the box. Best attempt for Inverness came on the hour when Sean Welsh latched onto the ball around thirty yards out but his dipping shot whistled just outside the junction of bar and post. Close call but no cigar this time. Gary Harkins was the man responsible for orchestrating the visitors attacks and he simply strolled through the game completely bossing our whole midfield and nullifying Liam Polworth who looked intimidated by Harkins' presence. It looked like a combination of Mark Ridgers and his crossbar kept out a fierce 35 yard strike from Dobbie after a free kick, the ball crashing back off the crossbar, the rebound being gathered by Ridgers after the ball was knocked towards him by Lyndon Dykes in the six yard box. The game changed slightly after a couple of managerial decisions. Riccardo Calder came on for the disappearing Doran and soon after Man of the Match Gary Harkins was subbed. Calder immediately gave us another option wide left and he was able to get some joy down the flank. However the final ball was still not good enough to create anything of note. We had a whisky moment late on. A short White & Mackay moment. Young Daniel replaced the totally inept Jordan White with ten minutes remaining. However, as we increased our intensity in a final flurry, Queens resorted to breaking up play with some cynical fouling that Iain Vigurs would have been proud of. Alas we were still unable to make Martin in the Queens goal work for his crust and the game ended in a dismal stalemate. Full-Time 0-0 Oh dear. Much was expected after a good performance last week in the Dinwall derby but I'm afraid this was simply rubbish of the highest order. It's as plain as the nose on your face that White is not the striker we are looking for. Tom Walsh flattered to deceive, Shaun Rooney passed to more of his ex-team mates than he did to his new ones. Liam Polworth was completely overshadowed by Gary Harkins. There were one or two exceptions. Coll Donaldson was outstanding for us, shored up the defence and still found time to maraud forward on occasion. Sean Welsh was the pick of our midfield, battled hard but took a nasty knock in his googles late on. Our defence was the brightest aspect of our day but going forward we were too slow and ponderous. Anyway, our best was Donaldson, but the real MotM was Gary Harkins who was a class above everyone else on display. His skill and vision was impeccable and able to get down and dirty when required. Footage now online........... Dougie Anderson of Queen of the South was encouraged by his teams performance. Date: 29/09/2018 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 2029 Referee: Alan Muir Inverness CT: 0 Lineup: Ridgers; Rooney, B Mckay, Donaldson, Tremarco, Chalmers, Polworth, Welsh, White (Mackay 81), Doran (Calder 76), Walsh (Austin 63) Subs (not used): Hoban; McCart, Trafford, Brown Scorers: none Booked: B Mckay (66), Doran (74) Sent Off: none Queen of the South: 0 Lineup: Martin; Mercer, Doyle, Semple, Marshall, Stirling (Frizzell 77), Jacobs, Todd, Harkins (Norman 83), Dobbie, Dykes. Subs (not used): Murray, Bell, Leighfield, Harvey. Scorers: none Booked: Dykes (52), Jacobs (90+4), Semple (90 +1) Sent Off: none a

Queen Dobbie is the Goal King The Stephen Dobbie goal show comes to town on Saturday as Inverness take on high scoring Queen of the South. Who is going to stop him? Coll Donaldson and Mark Ridgers of course as Inverness face Queens at the Caledonian Stadium, the game kicking off at 15:00. Our last outing was the derby draw at Dingwall. Despite our superiority in the first half we failed to get past Scott Fox and County finished the game strongly. A point apiece was a fair enough score but Robbo would be the better pleased manager after witnessing our domination for over an hour. Liam Polworth was the victim of some cynical fouls by former team mate Iain Vigurs, ending the game holding his shoulder. We slipped off the top of the League after that game, but we are still unbeaten after 17 games in the Championship. Ayr United find themselves at the top with Lawrence Shankland hitting the two goals that put them there after they beat Alloa Athletic 2-0. Despite being the top scorers in the League (13 goals), Queens sit seventh after six games with two wins, two draws and two defeats. Their last outing saw Partick Thistle come from behind twice to win 3-2. Stephen Dobbie and Josh Todd had Queens ahead twice in the first half but Kris Doolan and a brace from Blair Spittal before the interval won the game for the Jags. Queens have beaten Ayr United and Falkirk, drawn with Ross County and Morton and lost to Dundee United and Partick. So, what is this Dobbie phenomenon? He scores one goal for every hour he plays. He has nine League goals so far including a hat-trick against Falkirk and four against Ayr United. He also scored a couple in the Challenge cup game against Crusaders in the first half. This guy knows how to score and needs watching. He's in the twilight of his career at 35 years old and is a man of many clubs. His most prolific periods have come in two spells at Palmerston. He scored 47 times between 2007-2009 in 84 appearances and this time around has 46 goals since 2016 from 76 games. He also scored 13 goals in four separate loan spells at Blackpool and 9 whilst at Swansea. That's a terrific return by any standards. Who are his new team mates entrusted with supplying him with the scoring opportunities? Well, they managed to acquire arguably the most gifted midfielder in the division, Glorious Gary Harkins from Morton. Another quality capture is Adam Frizzell, a midfielder from Kilmarnock who has arrived on loan. Michael Doyle, defender (Morton); Josh Todd, midfielder (St Mirren, loan to permanent). David Norman Junior, midfielder (Vancouver Whitecaps); Callum Semple, defender (Sheffield United) are their other new recruits. The Doonhamers made room for these new guys by shipping amongst others, Shaun Rooney to Inverness. Captain John Rankin went to Clyde, experienced striker Derek Lyle (Peterhead). Loans ended for Myles Beerman, defender (Rangers); Nikolay Todorov, forward (Heart of Midlothian); Kyle Cameron, defender (Newcastle United); Joe Thomson, midfielder (Celtic); Curtis Lyle, goalkeeper (Kilmarnock). Team News John Robertson will be without George Oakley who is ruled out for two months with a hamstring injury. Liam Polworth took a few knocks courtesy of Iain Vigurs and could be a doubt. Nathan Austin missed the derby with mild concussion but should be ready for action. Gary Naysmith said:- "we will have the same squad as last weekend as Darren Brownlie is still in rehab and although Callum Fordyce is back training, it is still touch and go if he will be ready for this weekend". He went with this starting XI last time out with Adam Frizzell on the bench:- Martin; Mercer, Doyle, Semple, Marshall, Stirling, Jacobs, Todd, Harkins, Dobbie, Dykes. Here's Robbo talking to the press ahead of this encounter with the Queens. In last night Championship game at East End Park, Dunfermline beat Partick Thistle 1-0 thanks to a goal from Aidan Connolly.