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Yogi returns to Inverness Inverness will host Dunfermline on Saturday, complete with new manager John Hughes, after Yogi was appointed as the man tasked with saving the Pars from relegation after a dismal first quarter of the season has them toiling at the foot of the table with no wins from thirteen games. The cinch Championship game kicks-off at 3:00pm with Inverness looking to get back to winning ways and the Pars hoping for the 'new manager bounce'. The first encounter this season ended goalless, but Dunfermline were looking the most likely to take the points as Mark Ridgers stood firm. OFFICIAL PREVIEW MATCH & TICKET INFO STREAMING FROM ICTV Venue Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 21 9 8 4 27 19 +8 Away 23 9 9 5 28 25 +3 Neutral 2 0 1 1 3 4 -1 Total 46 18 18 10 58 48 +10 First Competitive Meeting Aug 7th, 1999 League (A) 0 - 4 Most Recent Competitive Meeting Sep 18th, 2021 League (Championship) (A) 0 - 0 Last 10 Competitive Meetings 0 - 0 (A) 1 - 0 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 1 - 3 (A) 2 - 1 (A) 2 - 0 (H) 1 - 0 (A) 1 - 0 (H) 0 - 1 (A) 2 - 2 (H) After the disappointing draw at Somerset Park where we let the lead slip twice, we failed to fully capitalise on Partick beating Kilmarnock although the lead is only one point now. Sean Welsh and Michael Gardyne scored our goals but Joe Chalmers and Patrick Reading replied for the Honest Men to give them a share of the points. It's a tough old league this one with every team capable of beating the others on their day. The Pars went down 1-3 to Morton last week to rubber stamp their position at the foot of the table and Yogi has some task to get them away from the bottom half of the table with the top five looking like they will contest the promotion slots. However, in his favour, there's plenty of time to change that. Championship Fixtures this weekend Arbroath v Queens Ayr Utd v Partick Accies v Raith ICTFC v Pars Morton v Killie Pld W D L F A +/- Pts 1. Kilmarnock 13 8 2 3 18 8 10 26 2. Inverness CT 13 7 4 2 15 8 7 25 3. Arbroath 13 6 5 2 24 12 12 23 4. Raith Rovers 13 6 5 2 21 15 6 23 5. Partick Thistle 13 6 3 4 24 14 10 21 6. Ayr United 13 3 4 6 13 19 -6 13 7. Hamilton Academical 13 3 4 6 13 25 -12 13 8. Morton 13 2 6 5 11 16 -5 12 9. Queen of the South 13 3 2 8 11 20 -9 11 10. Dunfermline 13 0 7 6 10 23 -13 7 We may be next to the top of the table, but we are on a poor run at the moment with no wins from our last four games, three of those were draws. Over the same period, Dunfermline have two draws and two defeats. Touch wood, but we still have the meanest defence conceding only eight times whilst Dunfermline's defence is pretty much in line with their league position. Breaking News from EEP Latest Team News Inverness could have David Carson back in the squad for this game after return from injury and family bereavement. Shane Sutherland has missed the last couple of games and we are waiting on news of him. Cammy Harper returned to the squad last week. Well, what a boost for the Pars with the announcement of big Yogi as their new manager. He kept County afloat last year and of course will always be remembered as the man that led the Caley Jags to their greatest triumph in winning the Scottish Cup. I imagine this will be an excellent bit of business by the Pars and he won't take too long to get the team playing his way. Let's hope it takes more than a couple of days. The start of his tenure will be hampered by the loss of Kai Kennedy and Vytas Gaspuitis. Back to the days of 'guid honest laddies'....

Crackers or Damp Squibs Another away day for the Caley Jags as we head to Somerset Park Ayr to take on mid table Ayr United in a cinch Championship match. Kick off is at 3:00pm on Saturday with live streaming available from Ayr TV if you can't attend the game. First encounter this season saw Tom Walsh win the game in unorthodox fashion as he bundled the ball into the net from six yards. Inverness will be looking to get back to winning ways and Ayr will be hoping to steer clear of the relegation zone. Can we expect fireworks for Guy Fawkes? Or will we be left smouldering... PPV STREAM OFFICIAL PREVIEW MATCH INFO & TICKETS SUPPORTERS BUS 07462 218717 Venue Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 21 10 10 1 35 20 +15 Away 21 10 4 7 40 26 +14 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 42 20 14 8 75 46 +29 The recent trend shows us only one defeat over the last ten meetings and the last visit to Ayr resulted in a 2-0 win for Inverness. Daniel Mackay and Shane Sutherland scored the goals that day in February 2021. The first meeting this season ended in a narrow 1-0 win for the Caley Jags in the Highlands when Tom Walsh chested the ball into the net as Sean McGinty tried to clear his lines. Shame! First Competitive Meeting Aug 28th, 1999 League (A) 0 - 1 Most Recent Competitive Meeting Aug 21st, 2021 League (Championship) (H) 1 - 0 Last 10 Competitive Meetings 1 - 0 (H) 2 - 2 (H) 2 - 0 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 0 - 1 (A) 2 - 0 (H) 2 - 0 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 3 - 1 (A) 1 - 0 (A) Biggest Victories Apr 24th, 2010 League (A) 7 - 0 Heaviest Defeats Nov 28th, 2001 League Cup (Quarter Final) (A) 1 - 5 Highest Attendance Aug 15th, 2009 League (H) 3,297 Highest Home Attendance Aug 15th, 2009 League (H) 3,297 It was a great week for Killie as they overhauled a five point deficit to Inverness and now head the table by two as we garnered only two points from the last three games. Arbroath provided the performance of the week by coming from two goals down to beat Dunfermline 4-2. Makes our defeat to Arbroath look like a great result. Mon the Smokies! Subsequently, Peter Grant was removed from his post at East End Park. Pld W D L F A +/- Pts 1. Kilmarnock 12 8 2 2 18 7 11 26 2. Inverness CT 12 7 3 2 13 6 7 24 3. Arbroath 12 6 4 2 23 11 12 22 4. Raith Rovers 12 6 4 2 20 14 6 22 5. Partick Thistle 12 5 3 4 23 14 9 18 6. Ayr United 12 3 3 6 11 17 -6 12 7. Hamilton Academical 12 3 3 6 12 24 -12 12 8. Queen of the South 12 3 1 8 10 19 -9 10 9. Morton 12 1 6 5 8 15 -7 9 10. Dunfermline 12 0 7 5 9 20 -11 7 Saturday's Championship fixture list Ayr Utd v Caley Jags Pars v Morton Accies v Arbroath Killie v Partick Queens v Rovers Last time out We dropped more points at Partick in a no scoring draw although the performance was much improved from the abyss of the Arbroath game. A penalty miss and two off the woodwork was more unfortunate than poor play, but we still need to get back to scoring goals. However, the wins have dried up considerably although two points off the top after a dozen games is not too shabby. Ayr have played three tough games in a row and lost the last two by a single goal. A 2-1 defeat at Raith on the last outing where they fell just short in a close encounter, Jack Baird pulling Ayr back into the game to set up the grandstand finish. So, despite only picking up one point in their last three, they are far from being whipping boys. Latest Team News No word on David Carson but Cammy Harper is back training and could be added to the squad. Shane Sutherland was missing last week at Partick. Apart from that, it should be as you were. Jim Duffy could be without defender Aaron Muirhead and midfielder Steven Bradley who has a shoulder injury. Ayr starting XI v Raith: McAdams; Houston, Baird, Fjørtoft, Reading, McAllister, Murdoch, Chalmers, Maxwell, Adeloye, Salkeld.

Onerous task at Firhill Not always a happy hunting ground for the Caley Jags, we travel to Glasgow to take on the often high scoring Partick Thistle at Firhill. We did get the better of them last time we met, but only after a tortuous first half when we could have been three down. We turned that game around after the interval and ran out 3-1 winners in a dominant second half. Saturday's game is a 3:00pm kick off. MATCH INFO & TICKETS PPV STREAM FROM PARTICK OFFICIAL PREVIEW SUPPORTERS BUS 07462218717 Venue - Head2Head Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 21 9 5 7 33 30 +3 Away 19 5 5 9 21 28 -7 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 40 14 10 16 54 58 -4 First Competitive Meeting Aug 4th, 1998 League (H) 1 - 0 Most Recent Competitive Meeting Sep 11th, 2021 League (Championship) (H) 3 - 1 Last 10 Competitive Meetings 3 - 1 (H) 1 - 3 (A) 1 - 3 (H) 2 - 1 (A) 1 - 2 (H) 1 - 0 (A) 3 - 2 (H) 1 - 1 (A) 0 - 0 (H) 0 - 2 (A) Biggest Victories Apr 30th, 2016 League (A) 4 - 1 Jan 10th, 2009 Scottish Cup (Rd 4) (H) 3 - 0 Apr 27th, 2002 League (H) 3 - 0 Heaviest Defeats Dec 13th, 2014 League (H) 0 - 4 Highest Attendance Feb 23rd, 2002 Scottish Cup (Quarter Final) (A) 8,700 Highest Home Attendance Mar 5th, 2002 Scottish Cup (Quarter Final Replay) (H) 5,037 Our last win at Firhill was on 22nd March 2019 when Tom Walsh scored a stunning volley to win all three points in this 2 - 1 game: Inverness went back in front when Polworth chipped a ball into the box and a cheeky flick from Doran saw substitute Tom Walsh lash a left foot volley home from fifteen yards with ten minutes left. Tremendous goal by Walsh who had scored the winner last time Inverness were here with an equally stunning strike. Over to you Mr Walsh, time to get the finger out and get back to doing what you do best. We lost our top spot in midweek as Killie overhauled us having been five points behind us last Saturday morning. Pld W D L F A +/- Pts 1. Kilmarnock 11 7 2 2 14 7 7 23 2. Inverness CT 11 7 2 2 13 6 7 23 3. Arbroath 11 5 4 2 19 9 10 19 4. Raith Rovers 11 5 4 2 18 13 5 19 5. Partick Thistle 11 5 2 4 23 14 9 17 6. Ayr United 11 3 3 5 10 15 -5 12 7. Hamilton Academical 11 3 2 6 11 23 -12 11 8. Queen of the South 11 3 1 7 10 15 -5 10 9. Morton 11 1 5 5 7 14 -7 8 10. Dunfermline 11 0 7 4 7 16 -9 7 Other fixtures this Saturday Arbroath v Dunfermline Killie v Queens Morton v Hamilton Raith Rovers v Ayr United Last time out we failed miserably against Arbroath on a totally miserable night for football. We lacked any real penetration and when your most reliable player errs, then you know it's not going to be a good night. Credit to Arbroath though, they did what they had to do to get the three points and top scorer Michael McKenna's wind aided free kick found the net to give the Smokies all three points. The defeat was hard to take, but the manner of defeat has been a cause for concern in recent weeks. Lack of guile and quality up front and lack of pace at the back has seen us struggle, even against ten men, twice. Partick fared little better as they drew 0-0 with Morton following a 0-0 draw with the Pars. However, go back a further week and they ransacked a hapless Hamilton Accies 1-6 at NDP. Latest Team News David Carson is still absent but Cammy Harper has resumed training although he is unlikely to be fit for this game. Ian McCall had this starting XI out on Tuesday night in a 0-0 draw at Morton: Sneddon; Foster, Akinola, Mayo, Holt, Bannigan, Docherty, Turner, Tiffoney, Rudden, Graham

Matchday 11 A busy night of Championship Football has Arbroath heading North to the Caledonian Stadium for a 7:45 kick-off on Tuesday night. The Smokies sit seven points behind the league leaders in fifth place despite being the second highest scorers in the Championship, but four draws and two defeats have held them back slightly. The first game this season at Gayfield ended in a scarcely deserved away win thanks to a neat dinked finish from Shane Sutherland as he bore down on Gaston in the Arbroath goal. Dinky Shane Matchday Info - Tickets - Streaming Venue - Head 2 Head Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 19 15 2 2 53 17 +36 Away 18 9 3 6 26 22 +4 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 37 24 5 8 79 39 +40 First Competitive Meeting Aug 13th, 1994 League ((Div 3)) (H) 5 - 2 Most Recent Competitive Meeting Jul 31st, 2021 League (Championship) (A) 1 - 0 Last 10 Competitive Meetings 1 - 0 (A) 1 - 0 (H) 1 - 1 (A) 3 - 1 (H) 0 - 1 (H) 0 - 3 (A) 2 - 1 (H) 0 - 3 (H) 7 - 0 (H) 2 - 0 (A) Biggest Victories Jul 30th, 2016 League Cup (Group C) (H) 7 - 0 Heaviest Defeats Nov 9th, 2019 League (A) 0 - 3 Aug 2nd, 2016 Challenge Cup (Under 20s) (H) 0 - 3 Highest Attendance Aug 10th, 2019 League (H) 2,298 Highest Home Attendance Aug 10th, 2019 League (H) 2,298 The stats for this home fixture lie heavily in our favour with 15 wins from 19 fixtures and only 2 defeats. However, those defeats have come recently and we lost this one 0 - 1 in December 2019 when Luke Donnelly scored the only goal in December 2019. Fortunately, we won both home fixtures last season, but we seem to have difficulty breaking Arbroath down and end up clinging on somewhat. Changed days from the 7-0 results of yore. Pld W D L F A +/- Pts 1. Inverness CT 10 7 2 1 13 5 8 23 2. Kilmarnock 10 6 2 2 13 7 6 20 3. Raith Rovers 10 5 3 2 17 12 5 18 4. Partick Thistle 10 5 1 4 23 14 9 16 5. Arbroath 10 4 4 2 18 9 9 16 6. Ayr United 10 3 3 4 10 14 -4 12 7. Queen of the South 10 3 1 6 10 14 -4 10 8. Hamilton Academical 10 2 2 6 10 23 -13 8 9. Morton 10 1 4 5 7 14 -7 7 10. Dunfermline 10 0 6 4 6 15 -9 6 Despite those defeats for Arbroath, it's still been a successful season so far and Dick Campbell can be pleased with his part time sides progress. The two losses were against Inverness & Raith Rovers which tells you all you need to know about their resilience. Fixtures on Tuesday night Morton 19:30 Partick Th Ayr United 19:45 Kilmarnock Dunfermline 19:45 Raith Rovers Hamilton Accies 19:45 Queen of the Sth Inverness CT 19:45 Arbroath FC On Saturday we face a tough trip to Partick Last time out We laboured for a point against ten man Raith Rovers. Aidan Connolly had given Raith the lead but Sean Welsh drove through a ruck of players from just outside the box to earn the point. Disappointing given Raith played the whole of the second half with ten men and also had to replace to important players through injury. However, a point would have been acceptable before the game and no major damage to our title aspirations with Killie the only ones to close the gap. Here's the goals from Starks Park Arbroath had to settle for a draw at the weekend as Ayr United came from behind to get their point in a close encounter. Form player Michael McKenna opened the scoring ten minutes into the second half only for Jonathan Afolabi to level ten minutes before the end. No wins in the last four for Arbroath. Latest Team News Billy Dodds has been without David Carson for a few weeks through injury now and he has been on compassionate leave for a couple of weeks now. Cammy Harper missed out against Raith Rovers with a groin injury. As usual, little info filtering through regards injuries and availability. Dick Campbell has been without Nicky Low and it's unlikely he will make this game. Joel Nouble was a big nuisance in the first game with his robust style and will be a danger. At over 6ft 3in he will be a problem for most defences. He was named as Cinch Championship player of the Month for September and has scored four goals in ten games. Here's Bazza The Caley Jags will face Morton at home in the Third Round of the Scottish Cup Third Round Ties to take place weekend of November 27th Unfortunately it's a bit of a damp squib for those looking to visit new grounds. I suspect the Morton fans will be even less enthusiastic given the tie will be played in the Highlands. However, it's a great opportunity to progress into the hat for the 4th round draw, alas, Morton will feel the same.

Another top two battle   It's a biggy this weekend as we travel to Kirkaldy to take on second place Raith Rovers at Starks Park on Saturday. Standard 3:00pm kick-off in this one which could be a massive indicator as to the outcome of this campaign. John McGlynn has slowly assembled a squad very capable of challenging for the Championship title and I expect Raith to be in the mix come the end of the season. Raith are in fine form at the moment after a sluggish start to their season. Recent wins over Arbroath, Kilmarnock, Partick, Morton and Queen of the South have catapulted them into second place, five points behind Inverness. They are the form team over the last five games with four wins and a draw. OFFICIAL PREVIEW MATCH INFO RAITH MATCH INFO ARBROATH PPV RAITH TV £14 SUPPORTERS BUS LEAVES STADIUM 10:00   Venue - Head 2 Head Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 17 13 2 2 36 13 +23 Away 13 7 3 3 26 16 +10 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 30 20 5 5 62 29 +33 First Competitive Meeting Sep 25th, 1999 League (H) 0 - 2 Most Recent Competitive Meeting Aug 7th, 2021 League (Championship) (H) 1 - 0 Last 10 Competitive Meetings 1 - 0 (H) 1 - 0 (A) 0 - 0 (H) 2 - 0 (H) 3 - 3 (A) 4 - 1 (H) 2 - 1 (H) 1 - 0 (H) 4 - 3 (H) 4 - 0 (A) Biggest Victories Jan 12th, 2002 League (H) 5 - 0 Heaviest Defeats Aug 26th, 2000 League (A) 1 - 4 Highest Attendance Apr 3rd, 2010 League (H) 3,562 Highest Home Attendance Apr 3rd, 2010 League (H) 3,562     Pld W D L F A +/- Pts 1. Inverness CT 9 7 1 1 12 4 8 22 2. Raith Rovers 9 5 2 2 16 11 5 17 3. Kilmarnock 9 5 2 2 11 6 5 17 4. Partick Thistle 9 5 0 4 23 14 9 15 5. Arbroath 9 4 3 2 17 8 9 15 6. Ayr United 9 3 2 4 9 13 -4 11 7. Queen of the South 9 3 0 6 10 14 -4 9 8. Hamilton Academical 9 2 2 5 9 21 -12 8 9. Morton 9 1 3 5 7 14 -7 6 10. Dunfermline 9 0 5 4 6 15 -9 5 We have a great record overall against Rovers with only five defeats from thirty games. Three of those have come at Starks Park, the most recent was...... erm, as Don McLean said, "A long long time ago, I can still remember how Raith beat us". It was back in the days when buffalo roamed the plains, Delerium were top of the Pops with Silence and flares were still in fashion. Raith won this encounter in Kirkaldy 1 - 4 when we were still finding our feet in the big boys leagues. Surprisingly that was their second last ever victory over the Caley Jags in all competitions over ninety minutes. The last defeat was in the same season almost 21 years ago to this October day. Mind you, they had some great players in their team back then. Other Fixtures all Saturday at 3:00pm  Arbroath v Ayr United Kilmarnock v Hamilton Academical Partick Thistle v Dunfermline Queen of the South v Greenock Morton Reminder, we play Arbroath at home on Tuesday 26th October in a full night of fixtures. Kick-Off 7:45pm Last time out Raith beat Arbroath 2-1 in a Championship game at Starks Park. Dylan Tait scored an early goal and they went two up just on the interval when Ross Mathews headed in. Arbroath notched a goal deep into stoppage time but that result was enough to put Rovers into second place in the table. Inverness edged out Morton 2-0 in the Highlands. Billy Mckay and Michael Gardyne scored either side of the break as we extended our lead at the top. It was a not overly convincing performance, but it was another three points in the bag. In the first meeting between the clubs this season, Inverness won thanks to a solitary goal from Roddy MacGregor in a tight affair in the Highlands. And what a goal it was. Boom! Latest Team News David Carson is possibly still absent after a family bereavement. Michael Gardyne was patched up to finish the game against Morton after getting a gash on his head. Manny Duku has still to get off the mark and might find it difficult to dislodge Billy Mckay from the strikers berth, but he will be keen to show his former club he has what it takes to make the grade. It's an artificial surface at Starks Park which might limit some of our options. We are thin at the back and Cammy Harper has a groin injury. James Keatings will not be in the Raith squad as he is on loan at Montrose. Dario Zanatta will be a threat and keeper Jamie MacDonald, Christophe Berra and Kyle Benedictus add plenty of experience to their defence.

Championship Resumes After the international break it's back to the Championship on Saturday as Morton come to the Caledonian Stadium looking to lift themselves up the table and clear of the bottom places. The game kicks-off at 3:00pm with Inverness hoping to put the defeat to Hamilton behind them. Head 2 Head v Morton Venue Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 16 11 3 2 43 15 +28 Away 14 8 2 4 27 17 +10 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 30 19 5 6 70 32 +38 First Competitive Meeting Sep 4th, 1999 League (H) 1 - 1 Most Recent Competitive Meeting Apr 6th, 2021 League (Championship) (A) 4 - 1 Last 10 Competitive Meetings 4 - 1 (A) 0 - 1 (H) 2 - 2 (A) 3 - 2 (H) 1 - 2 (A) 3 - 1 (H) 5 - 0 (H) 2 - 2 (A) 1 - 0 (H) 2 - 1 (A) Biggest Victories Aug 30th, 2019 League (H) 5 - 0 Heaviest Defeats Nov 12th, 1999 League (A) 1 - 5 Highest Attendance Oct 31st, 2009 League (H) 3,021 Highest Home Attendance Oct 31st, 2009 League (H) 3,021 Here's the table ahead of tonight's TV game between Hamilton and Partick Thistle where the Jags routed Accies 1-6. Other fixtures tomorrow Ayr United v Queen of the South Dunfermline v Kilmarnock Raith Rovers v Arbroath Pld W D L F A +/- Pts 1. Inverness CT 8 6 1 1 10 4 6 19 2. Kilmarnock 8 5 1 2 9 4 5 16 3. Arbroath 8 4 3 1 16 6 10 15 4. Raith Rovers 8 4 2 2 14 10 4 14 5. Partick Thistle 8 4 0 4 17 13 4 12 6. Queen of the South 8 3 0 5 9 12 -3 9 7. Ayr United 8 2 2 4 7 12 -5 8 8. Hamilton Academical 8 2 2 4 8 15 -7 8 9. Morton 8 1 3 4 7 12 -5 6 10. Dunfermline 8 0 4 4 4 13 -9 4 There's a big swing towards Inverness in these fixtures. Only two defeats at home versus Morton out of sixteen encounters. One of those was as recent as last season though, when we went down to the only goal of the game at the Caledonian Stadium. Aiden Nesbitt was the scorer of the goal and that result put Inverness second bottom of the table in March. Our last game was a rousing 4-2 Challenge Cup win at Borough Briggs where a Billy Mckay hat-trick saw us overcome a two goal deficit to go into the next round where we will play Raith Rovers at the Caledonian Stadium at the end of November. Lewis Jamieson scored the fourth goal to round off the comeback. Arbroath scored a late goal to deny Morton all three points a couple of weeks ago in a Championship encounter. That would have been a decent result against team of the month Arbroath. Gary Oliver and Cameron Blues scored the goals for the Ton. However Michael McKenna's 87th minute penalty earned the Smokies a point. Last time out Morton edged past Montrose in the Challenge Cup on penalties (4-2) after a goalless draw. Latest Team News According to the Official Preview we still have a number of players carrying knocks. Probably David Carson and with Danny Devine and Cammy Harper being subbed early at Elgin last week then they might require resting for a bit longer, but Billy Dodds likes to keep his injury situation close to his chest so we will have to wait until just after 2:00pm tomorrow to find out Here's Roddy

Olde rivalry renewed Its not often we get the opportunity to renew acquaintances with one of our, (especially Caley), main adversaries in ye olde Highland League, but this Saturday we will travel to Borough Briggs for a Challenge Cup tie against Elgin City. This season it's called the SPFL Trust Trophy. Don't forget this game is an early kick off at 2:00pm. In the previous round, we disposed of Buckie Thistle with an ultimately comfortable 4-0 scoreline. It was not as clear cut as the score suggests, but we eased to the win with two late goals from Billy Mckay. Lewis Jamieson had us in front before the break but not before Buckie had rattled the woodwork and Cammy Mackay had made a great save to keep the high scoring Highland League side at bay. Cammy Harper put us two ahead before the late cameo from Billy. Elgin got here having beaten Hibs young team 1-2 and were the given a bye when Dunfermline were below par as covid put paid to their Challenge and they conceded the tie. OFFICIAL PREVIEW PPV STREAMING MATCH TICKETS MATCH INFO Match Info from Elgin City We have only played Elgin twice in big boy matches 2017 Jan 21st Scottish Cup (Rd 4) 2 - 1 (A) 3,624 2011 Jan 8th Scottish Cup (Rd 4) 2 - 0 (H) 2,808 Although we have played them in pre-season games and NoS Cup games. 2020 Oct 3rd Friendly (Pre-season) 1 - 1 (H) - Sep 24th Friendly (Pre-season) 7 - 3 (A) - 2017 Jul 8th Friendly 0 - 2 (A) - 2016 Jul 12th Friendly 3 - 0 (A) - 2014 Jul 12th Friendly 2 - 1 (A) - 2013 Jul 13th Friendly 2 - 0 (A) 559 2012 Jul 14th Friendly 1 - 0 (A) - 2011 Jul 2nd Friendly 3 - 0 (A) - 2010 Jul 21st Friendly 6 - 0 (A) - 2009 Jul 14th Friendly 3 - 1 (A) - 2007 Jul 17th Friendly 3 - 0 (A) - 2006 Jul 12th Friendly 2 - 0 (A) 530 2004 Jul 27th Friendly 5 - 0 (A) - Apr 25th North Cup (Final) 0 - 1 (N) 400 2002 Jul 27th Friendly 1 - 0 (H) 332 2001 Jul 31st Friendly 4 - 0 (A) 300 1998 Apr 25th North Cup (Final) 1 - 3 (H) - Bazza ahead of the game against Elgin City Latest Team News Elgin went down 0-2 to Stirling Albion in League 2, and that was after an excellent away win at Stenhousemuir the previous week, McHardy and Dingwall scoring in each half.Last time out we suffered our first defeat in the Championship as a rather tepid display against ten man Accies saw us lose 2-1 @ NDP. Great strikes by Smith and Ryan had Accies in control and a backs to the wall determined effort saw them hold out until the 92nd minute when Michael Gardyne scored a superb curling effort from just inside the left edge of the box. Too little too late though and our shot shy performance got what it deserved. Billy Dodds kept his injuries quiet prior to the defeat at Hamilton where David Carson, Danny Devine and Aaron Doran all missed out. Shane Sutherland was back in action last week after injury and will no doubt be looking for a start against his former team. Expect Reece McAlear to start in this one and it's a good opportunity for Billy Mckay and Lewis Jamieson to impress with Cammy Mackay getting a chance to shine between the sticks. Barry Wilson was the main man for the previous round and he will be in charge of this one against the club he previously managed. Elgin's Gavin Price has former Inverness youth and exciting young prospect Matheus Machado in his squad. Tom Grivosti on loan from County as well. Kane Hester has been out recently having pulled his hamstring in training last week and missed City’s 1-1 draw at League Two leaders Kelty Hearts. It is a medial hamstring strain requiring a minimum of three weeks rest, with a worst case scenario of six weeks out. He will be a big miss for City having netted seven goals this season with 48 goals for the Black and Whites in just 82 starts. Elgin last time out: McHale, Spark, Grivosti, McHardy, McPhee, MacEwan (Allan 90′), Mailer (Wilson 46′), Cameron, T.Dingwall, R.Dingwall (Sopel 85′), O’Keefe (Machado 73′)

Olde rivalry renewed   Its not often we get the opportunity to renew acquaintances with one of our, (especially Caley), main adversaries in ye olde Highland League, but this Saturday we will travel to Borough Briggs for a Challenge Cup tie against Elgin City. This season it's called the SPFL Trust Trophy. Don't forget this game is an early kick off at 2:00pm. In the previous round, we disposed of Buckie Thistle with an ultimately comfortable 4-0 scoreline. It was not as clear cut as the score suggests, but we eased to the win with two late goals from Billy Mckay. Lewis Jamieson had us in front before the break but not before Buckie had rattled the woodwork and Cammy Mackay had made a great save to keep the high scoring Highland League side at bay. Cammy Harper put us two ahead before the late cameo from Billy. Elgin got here having beaten Hibs young team 1-2 and were the given a bye when Dunfermline were below par as covid put paid to their Challenge and they conceded the tie.     OFFICIAL PREVIEW PPV STREAMING MATCH TICKETS MATCH INFO Match Info from Elgin City   We have only played Elgin twice in big boy matches  2017  Jan 21st Scottish Cup (Rd 4) 2 - 1  (A)    3,624      2011  Jan 8th Scottish Cup (Rd 4) 2 - 0  (H)    2,808       Although we have played them in pre-season games and NoS Cup games.  2020  Oct 3rd Friendly (Pre-season) 1 - 1  (H)    -      Sep 24th Friendly (Pre-season) 7 - 3  (A)    -      2017  Jul 8th Friendly 0 - 2  (A)    -      2016  Jul 12th Friendly 3 - 0  (A)    -      2014  Jul 12th Friendly 2 - 1  (A)    -      2013  Jul 13th Friendly 2 - 0  (A)    559      2012  Jul 14th Friendly 1 - 0  (A)    -      2011  Jul 2nd Friendly 3 - 0  (A)    -      2010  Jul 21st Friendly 6 - 0  (A)    -      2009  Jul 14th Friendly 3 - 1  (A)    -      2007  Jul 17th Friendly 3 - 0  (A)    -      2006  Jul 12th Friendly 2 - 0  (A)    530      2004  Jul 27th Friendly 5 - 0  (A)    -      Apr 25th North Cup (Final) 0 - 1  (N)    400      2002  Jul 27th Friendly 1 - 0  (H)    332      2001  Jul 31st Friendly 4 - 0  (A)    300      1998  Apr 25th North Cup (Final) 1 - 3  (H)    -       Bazza ahead of the game against Elgin City Latest Team News Elgin went down 0-2 to Stirling Albion in League 2, and that was after an excellent away win at Stenhousemuir the previous week, McHardy and Dingwall scoring in each half.Last time out we suffered our first defeat in the Championship as a rather tepid display against ten man Accies saw us lose 2-1 @ NDP. Great strikes by Smith and Ryan had Accies in control and a backs to the wall determined effort saw them hold out until the 92nd minute when Michael Gardyne scored a superb curling effort from just inside the left edge of the box. Too little too late though and our shot shy performance got what it deserved.  Billy Dodds kept his injuries quiet prior to the defeat at Hamilton where David Carson, Danny Devine and Aaron Doran all missed out. Shane Sutherland was back in action last week after injury and will no doubt be looking for a start against his former team. Expect Reece McAlear to start in this one and it's a good opportunity for Billy Mckay and Lewis Jamieson to impress with Cammy Mackay getting a chance to shine between the sticks. Barry Wilson was the main man for the previous round and he will be in charge of this one against the club he previously managed. Elgin's Gavin Price has former Inverness youth and exciting young prospect Matheus Machado in his squad. Tom Grivosti on loan from County as well. Kane Hester has been out recently having pulled his hamstring in training last week and missed City’s 1-1 draw at League Two leaders Kelty Hearts. It is a medial hamstring strain requiring a minimum of three weeks rest, with a worst case scenario of six weeks out. He will be a big miss for City having netted seven goals this season with 48 goals for the Black and Whites in just 82 starts. Elgin last time out: McHale, Spark, Grivosti, McHardy, McPhee, MacEwan (Allan 90′), Mailer (Wilson 46′), Cameron, T.Dingwall, R.Dingwall (Sopel 85′), O’Keefe (Machado 73′)    

No Rice We would have locked horns with one of our olde gaffers sidekicks this weekend as Inverness travel to the Fountain of Youth Stadium (NDP) in South Lanarkshire. Brian Rice was the man who took Accies down, and not before time if you ask me as they have been flirting with relegation for years, but he resigned in August. Former player and assistant manager Stuart Taylor is the man tasked with reshaping the Accies. Good luck with that. This one kicks off at 3:00pm on Saturday with Inverness looking to continue their tremendous start to the season and Accies looking to kick start theirs as they sit second bottom with only one win and two draws to their name so far. PPV Streaming £10 Ticket & Match info Elgin City Ticket & Match Info Supporters Bus TV GAMES Venue Head 2 Head Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 13 4 4 5 20 17 +3 Away 9 6 1 2 15 10 +5 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 22 10 5 7 35 27 +8 First Competitive Meeting Jan 25th, 1997 Scottish Cup (Rd 3) (H) 1 - 3 Most Recent Competitive Meeting May 6th, 2017 League (H) 2 - 1 Last 10 Competitive Meetings 2 - 1 (H) 0 - 3 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 1 - 1 (A) 1 - 0 (A) 0 - 1 (H) 4 - 3 (A) 0 - 2 (H) 2 - 0 (A) 4 - 2 (H) Biggest Victories Feb 22nd, 2003 Scottish Cup (4th Round) (H) 6 - 2 Heaviest Defeats Jan 31st, 2017 League (A) 0 - 3 Highest Attendance Jan 24th, 2015 League (A) 5,089 Highest Home Attendance Aug 28th, 2010 League (H) 3,851 Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts 1. Inverness CT 7 6 1 0 9 2 19 2. Kilmarnock 7 5 1 1 8 1 16 3. Arbroath 7 4 2 1 14 4 14 4. Raith Rovers 7 3 2 2 11 9 11 5. Partick Thistle 7 3 0 4 13 13 9 6. Ayr United 7 2 2 3 7 8 8 7. Q.O.S. 7 2 0 5 8 12 6 8. Morton 7 1 2 4 5 10 5 9. Hamilton Ac. 7 1 2 4 6 14 5 10. Dunfermline 7 0 4 3 4 12 4 Other fixtures this weekend, all 3:00pm on Saturday. Kilmarnock v Raith - Chance for Raith to get in the mix. Morton v Arbroath - Can the Smokies keep the run going. Partick Thistle v Ayr Utd - Can Ayr leapfrog Partick into 5th. Queens v Pars - Also rans, time for Pars to get the finger out. Surprisingly, Accies have a better record than us at the Caledonian Stadium overall, but we have been more productive in the away fixture with six wins and a draw out of the nine fixtures. It's four years since our last meeting when we won 2 - 1 at the Caledonian Stadium in what was a difficult season for Inverness culminating in relegation. Brad Mckay and Greg Tansey scored for Inverness whilst Danny Redmond notched a late consolation for the visitors. However, three weeks later we were relegated From the Archives: Rare win for Inverness gives hope: Inverness threw themselves a slender lifeline with a deserved 2-1 win over Hamilton Accies in the relegation scrap at the foot of the table. It was only our second win in twenty-four games and our fourth of the season. This win closes the gap to Accies and Well to four points with only three games left. We should have been out of site by half time and Accies could have had no complaints had we been four or five up at the break. As it was, an early goal from defender Brad Mckay and a penalty by Greg Tansey was all we had to show from numerous attempts. Accies left a bitter sweet taste in the mouth as they notched a goal through Redmond with the last kick of the game as we got ourselves in a fankle. Pity about that but it was a welcome three points that gives us a glimmer of hope and keeps our premiership status alive for another week at least. Inverness dug deep last weekend to overcome a stubborn but mainly toothless Queen of the South 2-1 with goals from Sean Welsh and Michael Gardyne. Lee Connelly scored a stunner for Queens out of nothing. That victory put Inverness back on top of the table after Killie and Arbroath played out a scoreless draw on the Friday night. Raith Rovers and Dunfermline played out a 1-1 draw in the rescheduled Fife derby on Wednesday night to bring the table up to matchday eight for everyone. Raith are up to fourth in the table with the Pars still bottom. Here's the three goals; all superb strikes... Accies only success this campaign was a 1-2 win over Queen of the South on matchday four. Their opening fixture against Raith Rovers offered much promise as they came from four nil down to snatch a dramatic 4-4 draw after scoring four goals in the final twenty-two minutes. Their last game was a 0-0 draw with Dunfermline at EEP, similar to us. Arbroath put four past them without reply three weeks ago. They have failed to score in their last three Championship matches. All this means that at the moment, like Dunfermline, they find themselves at the wrong end of the table. Latest Team News Billy Dodds will have more choice this Saturday as Aaron Doran and Shane Sutherland remained on the bench last week after recovering from injuries picked up at Dunfermline. Stuart Taylor has had a few knocks to contend with over the last couple of weeks. Lewis Spence is out with a knee injury that Taylor hopes is not requiring surgery. Shaun Want, Luke Matheson, Kieran MacDonald and Andy Ryan were all noticeably struggling and could be doubts for this weekend. Accies have secured Hearts defender Mihai Popescu on loan for the entire season. Striker David Moyo could return this weekend. Miko Virtanen is optimistic insisting "Accies are ready to inflict a first defeat on Inverness". He has based this on the number of opportunities Accies have created against Ayr United and Dunfermline and claims of being unlucky. Dodds looking forward to the Accies challenge Aaron Doran: 300 not out

Queens visit. After dropping our first points of the season last weekend to bottom club Dunfermline, seventh place Queen of the South come calling on Saturday to the Caledonian Stadium, the game kicking off at 3:00pm. We had Mark Ridgers to thank for earning us a point at East End Park as he pulled off two tremendous saves late in the game to deny the Pars their first win of the season. The draw was sufficient to keep Inverness top of the table but Kilmarnock and Arbroath gained some ground at the top end whilst the Pars stay rooted to the foot of the Championship. Queens went down 2-0 at home to Arbroath as their indifferent start to the season continues, beating Raith away one week, losing at home to Arbroath the next. It would appear that their away form suits them better than playing at Palmerston at the moment. Stat Attack First Competitive Meeting Dec 17th, 1994 Scottish Cup (Rd 1) (H) 1 - 2 Most Recent Competitive Meeting Apr 10th, 2021 League (Championship) (A) 1 - 1 Last 10 Competitive Meetings 1 - 1 (A) 0 - 1 (H) 3 - 0 (A) 3 - 1 (H) 2 - 0 (A) 2 - 0 (H) 2 - 0 (A) 1 - 2 (H) 3 - 3 (A) 0 - 0 (H) Venue - Head 2 Head Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 19 11 2 6 34 23 +11 Away 18 7 7 4 31 19 +12 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 37 18 9 10 65 42 +23 Biggest Victories Dec 4th, 2020 League (Championship) (A) 3 - 0 Apr 17th, 2004 League (H) 4 - 1 Dec 6th, 2003 League (H) 4 - 1 Aug 1st, 1998 League Cup (Round 1) (A) 4 - 1 Heaviest Defeats Oct 10th, 2009 League (H) 1 - 3 Mar 21st, 1998 League (H) 0 - 2 Aug 13th, 1997 Challenge Cup (Rd 1) (H) 0 - 2 Highest Attendance Oct 18th, 2003 League (A) 3,547 Highest Home Attendance Oct 10th, 2009 League (H) 3,011 Pld W D L F A +/- Pts 1. Inverness CT 6 5 1 0 7 1 6 16 2. Kilmarnock 6 5 0 1 8 1 7 15 3. Arbroath 6 4 1 1 14 4 10 13 4. Partick Thistle 6 3 0 3 11 10 1 9 5. Raith Rovers 5 2 1 2 7 6 1 7 6. Ayr United 6 2 1 3 7 8 -1 7 7. Queen of the South 6 2 0 4 7 10 -3 6 8. Morton 6 1 1 4 5 10 -5 4 9. Hamilton Academical 6 1 1 4 6 14 -8 4 10. Dunfermline 5 0 2 3 3 11 -8 2 As the stats show, Inverness have the upper hand in this fixture but Queens won 0 - 1 in the last one at the Caledonian Stadium in February 2021 when Nortei Nortay scored the only goal of the game as the visitors burst forward around the hour to win in Inverness for the sixth time out of nineteen visits. Other games this weekend Arbroath 0-0 Kilmarnock (Friday 19:45) Will this one sort the men from the boys? Nope. Ayr United v Morton (Saturday 15:00) Mid table supremacy? Dunfermline v Hamilton (Sat 15:00) Relegation battle? Raith Rovers v Partick (Sunday 15:00) - Raith Rovers v Dunfermline ***catch up game Wed 29th Sept 19:05 Streaming from ICTV * Ticket Info Official Preview Match Info AGM 2021 - Statement Hospitality v Morton Lewis Hyde to Rothes Aly Riddle to Forres * Users in England: The English FA was granted ‘blocked hours’ protection pursuant to UEFA Article 48 which prohibits the transmission of matches within its territory during the period of ‘blocked hours’. (refer to Help). Users who are later found to have purchased from within England, will have their purchase refunded and be unable to watch the stream. I see that petty out of date rules by closed shop jobs for boys organisations are still alive and kicking. I fail to see that watching a stream of a Scottish game in England will make much difference to the size of the crowd south of the border. They will be banning kilts next Latest Team News Michael Gardyne has missed the last couple of games but trained hard on Thursday. Aaron Doran and Shane Sutherland were injured at East End Park and Dodds will wait until Friday before finalising his team selection. This could open the door for Cameron Harper and Billy Mckay for a start and maybe Lewis Jamieson will be pushing for some game time. Allan Johnston was disappointed with the result last week and despite plenty of possession and opportunities he felt they failed to make the most of their opportunities. Defensive lapses costing the Doonhamers and not clinical enough in front of goal. Queens are of course Dobbieless, and that has to be a bonus for the opposition. He doesn't score many, but when he does... Billy looking ahead

Surprise Surprise East End Park is the venue on Saturday as surprise Championship leaders Inverness visit the Kingdom of Fife to take on surprise packet Dunfermline Athletic. I say surprise packet, as that is exactly what The Pars have become under the guidance of former Alloa Athletic manager Peter Grant. I fully expected the Pars to be challenging at the opposite end of the table given their financial backing and the assumed quality of their squad. Unfortunately for them they find themselves languishing at the foot of the table and winless after four games with only a draw against Morton to show for their troubles. They do have a Fife derby to come against Raith Rovers, but that won't be easy either. They have shipped three goals against Partick, Arbroath and Ayr United and their fans are now talking boycotts in an attempt to use fan power to force the board to act now before their season is completely ruined. Look out for the mass exodus on the hour. However, beware the scalded cat! In stark contrast, Inverness are on a winning run of five games on the bounce in the Championship, have the manager of the month in Billy Dodds, and sit top of the table having already beaten three of the favourites in Raith, Kilmarnock and Partick Thistle. What could possibly go wrong? PPV Stream @ ParsTV £12 OFFICIAL PREVIEW ROBBO BOOK VIDEO WATCH SUPPORTERS BUS Stat Attack First Competitive Meeting Aug 7th, 1999 League (A) 0 - 4 Most Recent Competitive Meeting Mar 20th, 2021 League (Championship) (A) 1 - 0 Last 10 Competitive Meetings 1 - 0 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 1 - 3 (A) 2 - 1 (A) 2 - 0 (H) 1 - 0 (A) 1 - 0 (H) 0 - 1 (A) 2 - 2 (H) 3 - 0 (A) Biggest Victories Jul 26th, 2016 League Cup (Group C) (A) 5 - 1 Heaviest Defeats <ouch> Aug 12th, 2017 League (A) 1 - 5 Aug 7th, 1999 League (A) 0 - 4 Highest Attendance Apr 10th, 2004 Scottish Cup (Semi-Final) (N) 13,255 Head 2 Head Venue Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 21 9 8 4 27 19 +8 Away 22 9 8 5 28 25 +3 Neutral 2 0 1 1 3 4 -1 Total 45 18 17 10 58 48 +10 Overall stats sway in our favour with the last ten meetings showing that Inverness have been more dominant in recent years. A far cry from the 4-0 thrashing dished out on our first venture into the Championship back in August 1999 when the Pars brushed aside the upstarts from the Highlands who dared to move up through the leagues to challenge the central belt dominance. In our defence we were reduced to ten men and conceded two late goals. Pld W D L F A +/- Pts 1. Inverness CT 5 5 0 0 7 1 6 15 2. Kilmarnock 5 4 0 1 6 1 5 12 3. Arbroath 5 3 1 1 12 4 8 10 4. Partick Thistle 5 3 0 2 11 8 3 9 5. Queen of the South 5 2 0 3 7 8 -1 6 6. Raith Rovers 4 1 1 2 6 6 0 4 7. Ayr United 5 1 1 3 5 8 -3 4 8. Morton 5 1 1 3 5 9 -4 4 9. Hamilton Academical 5 1 1 3 6 12 -6 4 10. Dunfermline 4 0 1 3 3 11 -8 1 Other fixtures this weekend, all 3:00pm Saturday Hamilton v Ayr United Morton v Raith Rovers Partick v Kilmarnock Queens v Arbroath LATEST TEAM NEWS Michael Gardyne missed out last week having picked up a knock in training prior to the Buckie Thistle cup game. Looks like we are mostly free from injury with Billy Mckay and Lewis Jamieson champing at the bit as they remained on the bench last week. Look for a relatively unchanged squad this weekend. If it's not broke, don't fix it! We have also recruited someone to watch videos. Good work if you can get it. Dunfermline will have Owain Fon Williams, Nikolay Todorov and Kai Kennedy in their squad as they look to get off the bottom of the table. Aaron Doran will make his 300th appearance this weekend. Let's see if he can add to his 50 goals he has scored for the Caley Jags

Double dose of Jags Another top of the table clash this weekend as promoted Partick Thistle head North on Saturday to take on the Caley Jags. It's a 3:00pm kick off at the Caledonian Stadium and with free scoring Partick going well, expect a big crowd and a tough game. We put four past Buckie Thistle last weekend with a side that had 10 changes from the one that beat Killie 1-0 in our last Championship encounter. Robbie Deas was the only survivor from Rugby Park and there were some excellent performances and firsts for Lewis Jamieson, Cameron Harper and a brace for Billy Mckay. Partick had a tougher task but they advanced after beating Stranraer 2-0 with a fierce Tunji Akinola strike and a late Kevin Holt header seeing off their hosts. OFFICIAL PREVIEW Stat Attack First Competitive Meeting Aug 4th, 1998 League (H) 1 - 0 Most Recent Competitive Meeting Dec 14th, 2019 League (A) 1 - 3 Last 10 Competitive Meetings 1 - 3 (A) 1 - 3 (H) 2 - 1 (A) 1 - 2 (H) 1 - 0 (A) 3 - 2 (H) 1 - 1 (A) 0 - 0 (H) 0 - 2 (A) 4 - 1 (A) Biggest Victories Apr 30th, 2016 League (A) 4 - 1 Jan 10th, 2009 Scottish Cup (Rd 4) (H) 3 - 0 Apr 27th, 2002 League (H) 3 - 0 Heaviest Defeats Dec 13th, 2014 League (H) 0 - 4 Highest Attendance Feb 23rd, 2002 Scottish Cup (Quarter Final) (A) 8,700 Highest Home Attendance Mar 5th, 2002 Scottish Cup (Quarter Final Replay) (H) 5,037 Venue Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 20 8 5 7 30 29 +1 Away 19 5 5 9 21 28 -7 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 39 13 10 16 51 57 -6 As the stats show, the sides are fairly evenly matched overall although Partick have won the last two encounters, both by 3-1. Good news week with both Cameron Harper and Roddy MacGregor extending their contracts by a further two seasons. Impressive business by the club as they invest in the future of these young stars. Latest Team News Michael Gardyne was injured in training ahead of last week's Trust Cup match with Buckie. With many players rested after our stunning start to the campaign, Billy Dodds will have the managerial headache of sorting out his best XI after a few caught the eye against Buckie. Notably scorers Billy Mckay and Lewis Jamieson and it was good to see Anthony McDonald performing so well after recovering from injury. Plenty of food for thought. Partick had some players on duty at the Scotland u21 game in Turkey where a late goal saw the Turks salvage a draw. Lewis Mayo played from the start and Zac Rudden came off the bench with keeper Harry Stone an unused sub.

The Killie Pie is back Top of the table clash this weekend as second placed Inverness travel to Rugby Park to take on Kilmarnock. The game kicks off at 3:00pm and away fans will be in attendance with the game also being streamed live by Kilmarnock TV for those unable to attend. Both sides have won their opening three fixtures with Killie having the better goal difference. Both sides have yet to concede a goal; somethings going to give... STREAMING £9.99 TICKETS MATCHDAY INFO FROM KILLIE Mark Ridgers contract extension Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Killie 1 - 2 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 1 - 1 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 3 - 1 (H) 1 - 2 (A) 2 - 1 (H) 0 - 2 (A) 3 - 3 (H) 2 - 1 (A) Biggest Victories Nov 5th, 2011 League (A) 6 - 3 Apr 19th, 2008 League (H) 3 - 0 Heaviest Defeats Feb 6th, 2010 Scottish Cup (Rd 5) (A) 0 - 3 Mar 22nd, 2008 League (A) 1 - 4 Highest Attendance Mar 10th, 2007 League (A) 7,630 Highest Home Attendance Feb 17th, 2001 Scottish Cup (Round 4) (H) 5,294 Venue - Head to Head Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 23 10 9 4 43 32 +11 Away 24 7 6 11 35 44 -9 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 47 17 15 15 78 76 +2 Pld W D L F A +/- Pts 1. Kilmarnock 3 3 0 0 5 0 5 9 2. Inverness CT 3 3 0 0 3 0 3 9 3. Partick Thistle 3 2 0 1 7 5 2 6 4. Arbroath 3 1 1 1 5 4 1 4 5. Morton 3 1 1 1 5 5 0 4 6. Queen of the South 3 1 0 2 5 6 -1 3 7. Raith Rovers 2 0 1 1 4 5 -1 1 8. Hamilton Academical 3 0 1 2 4 7 -3 1 9. Dunfermline 2 0 1 1 2 5 -3 1 10. Ayr United 3 0 1 2 2 5 -3 1 Championship Fixtures this weekend Ayr United -P- Raith Rovers Dunfermline -V- Arbroath FC Kilmarnock -V- Inverness CT Partick Thistle -V- Greenock Morton Queen of the South -V- Hamilton Academical Keepers gloves in safe hands. Mark Ridgers has penned a contract extension that will keep him at the club until May 2024. Mr consistency has been a top performer for Inverness since joining in 2017. His first appearance was in a League Cup group A game against Brechin City and he started with a clean sheet in a 3-0 win. 58 clean sheets later, he will make his 163rd appearance at Rugby Park on Saturday. Safe Hands Mark Billy Mckay is our top scorer of all time against Kilmarnock with nine goals. He does like a goal against Killie. Two goals last season for County in March against them went a long way to help keep County up and send Kilmarnock to the relegation zone. His thanks for helping to keep County up was a message telling him he was no longer required. Their loss is our gain. Latest Team News Captain Sean Welsh returned to action last week as a substitute and along with Billy Mckay got some much needed game time. Wallace Duffy and Anthony McDonald were longer term injuries and missed out last week. Roddy MacGregor kept his place in the team after a couple of great performances with Reece McAlear having to settle for a place on the bench. Kirk Broadfoot will be in line to face his old club. Killie offloaded around fourteen players after relegation, Kyle Lafferty possibly the biggest name to fall. However, many Killie fans believe this season's squad is better than the one that took the club down. Step forward Liam Polworth. He swapped the amber and claret for the blue and white stripes at Rugby Park and is bedding in nicely according to various reports. This will be the most stringent test so far in the Billy Dodds era. Killie have wins over Ayr United, Queen of the South and Hamilton Accies under their belt whilst we have taken out Arbroath, Raith Rovers and Ayr United all by the same score of 1-0.

Almost there with Ayr... It's Matchday 3 and Ayr United are the visitors to an almost back to normality Caledonian Stadium with up to 5,000 fans allowed entry to the ground. Where will we find all these extra fans? The game kicks off at 3:00pm on Saturday with masks almost a thing of the past as covid restrictions ease somewhat. Hospitality suite is open for this one, time to put on a show. Inverness are one of three unbeaten sides in the Championship after opening wins over Arbroath and Raith Rovers. The point against Rovers was hard earned and deserved, but it took a wonderful strike from Roddy MacGregor to win the match. We sit third in the table behind promoted Partick Thistle and relegated Kilmarnock. Here's a quick guide on what the guidelines allow as the stadium opens out for the Ayr United game. Welcome back! Roddy's goal is well worth another look Ayr United come North on the back of a decent performance against Dundee United in the League Cup, taking the Tannadice side to extra time and penalties before losing the shoot-out 4-3. Their Championship form shows they have one point from their opening two fixtures. They opened up with a derby defeat to Killie and followed that up with a home draw against Arbroath, coming from two down to earn a point thanks to a strike by Tomi Adeloye and a late goal from Mark McKenzie. So some positives for David Hopkin to take from that despite only showing one point for their efforts to date. Ticket/Match Info ICTV streaming Official Preview Stat Attack Championship Table Pld W D L F A +/- Pts 1. Partick Thistle 2 2 0 0 6 2 4 6 2. Kilmarnock 2 2 0 0 3 0 3 6 3. Inverness CT 2 2 0 0 2 0 2 6 4. Morton 2 1 1 0 3 2 1 4 5. Hamilton Academical 2 0 1 1 4 5 -1 1 6. Raith Rovers 2 0 1 1 4 5 -1 1 7. Arbroath 2 0 1 1 2 3 -1 1 8. Ayr United 2 0 1 1 2 4 -2 1 9. Dunfermline 2 0 1 1 2 5 -3 1 10. Queen of the South 2 0 0 2 2 4 -2 0 First Competitive Meeting v Ayr Aug 28th, 1999 League (A) 0 - 1 Most Recent Competitive Meeting v Ayr Apr 30th, 2021 League (Championship) (H) 2 - 2 Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Ayr 2 - 2 (H) 2 - 0 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 0 - 1 (A) 2 - 0 (H) 2 - 0 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 3 - 1 (A) 1 - 0 (A) 3 - 2 (A) Biggest Victories Apr 24th, 2010 League (A) 7 - 0 Heaviest Defeats Nov 28th, 2001 League Cup (Quarter Final) (A) 1 - 5 Highest Attendance Aug 15th, 2009 League (H) 3,297 Venue (Head to Head) Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 20 9 10 1 34 20 +14 Away 21 10 4 7 40 26 +14 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 41 19 14 8 74 46 +28 So, a decent record against Ayr United, just one home defeat in twenty games. Stewart Kean scored the only goal at the Caledonian Stadium to give Ayr United a 0 - 1 win. John Robertson made his home debut as Inverness manager and It was Dennis Wyness' 100th game in a row with Barry Robson making his 150th appearance. Some memorable games against Ayr, the 7 - 0 at Somerset Park a particular highlight as the promotion party got into full swing. Some team we had then though. Ahhh, nostalgia, it's not what it used to be. Other fixtures this weekend Raith Rovers V Dunfermline (Friday - abandoned lighting issues) Arbroath v Partick Thistle Hamilton v Kilmarnock Morton v Queen of the South Shane Sutherland is our first monthly winner of the PotY awards. He has put in some workmanlike performances and rounded off July with the vital opening goal of our League campaign against Arbroath. Not just any old goal, but a touch of class with a dinked finish from the edge of the box in an otherwise dour struggle. Manny Duku is second with Tom Walsh in third place. Latest Team News Inverness have had an extra week to shake off the niggles and Billy Mckay, Lewis Jamieson Sean Welsh and Aaron Doran will benefit from that. However, Wallace Duffy is still sidelined and Anthony McDonald will be a doubt. All of our graduates that signed on this season are out on loan, so that could leave us a little thin on the ground with little defensive cover. On the face of it, Ayr look to be weaker than they were last season. Out went the likes of Dario Zanatta, Luke McCowan, Sam Roscoe, Josh Todd and of course Tom Walsh who returned to Inverness. In comes Tomi Adeloye from Barnet and a raft of Morton players, no doubt connected to David Hopkin now being the Ayr manager. They have also acquired a couple of decent loans in defender John Maxwell from Rangers and forward Jonathon Afolabi from Celtic. They still look to be short of where they want to be but put up a determined performance against Dundee United in the League Cup, so write them off at your own peril. These guys are great. Have a listen to The Wyness Shuffle

Matchday Two After an opening day win for the Caley Jags, we entertain Raith Rovers at the Caledonian Stadium with fans in attendance as covid restrictions begin to ease, 2000 allowed entry for this one with more to come on Monday. The game kicks-off at 3:00pm on Saturday as the joint holders of the Challenge Cup face off. Rovers began their title challenge with an incredible 4-4 draw against Hamilton Accies at the weekend with Inverness edging out Arbroath. SEASON TICKET HOLDERS STREAM ACCESS PPV ACCESS MATCHDAY INFO OFFICIAL PREVIEW With Kilmarnock beating Ayr United 2-0 on Sunday, they top the table after Matchday One. Partick were the other winners beating Queens 3-2. Morton drew with Dunfermline 2-2. Ayr United v Arbroath Dunfermline v Partick Thistle Hamilton Accies v Morton Inverness CT v Raith Rovers Queen o.t South v Kilmarnock Pars v Partick and Queens v Killie the pick of the games this weekend with Accies hosting Morton and Ayr hosting Arbroath. Stat Attack First Competitive Meeting v Raith Rovers Sep 25th, 1999 League (H) 0 - 2 Most Recent Competitive Meeting Mar 16th, 2021 League (Championship) (A) 1 - 0 Last 10 Competitive Meetings 1 - 0 (A) 0 - 0 (H) 2 - 0 (H) 3 - 3 (A) 4 - 1 (H) 2 - 1 (H) 1 - 0 (H) 4 - 3 (H) 4 - 0 (A) 1 - 0 (H) Biggest Victories Jan 12th, 2002 League (H) 5 - 0 Heaviest Defeats Aug 26th, 2000 League (A) 1 - 4 Venue Head to Head Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 16 12 2 2 35 13 +22 Away 13 7 3 3 26 16 +10 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 29 19 5 5 61 29 +32 As the stats show, we have a great record against Raith Rovers both home and away. Only two defeats at home back in 1999 and 2000. Not surprising really when you consider the quality of the Raith team back then. Here's Iain Broadfoot's match report from 25th September 1999 Caley Thistle lost this game because of a dismal first half performance. They came out fighting in the second half and matched Raith well but produced no goals. Raith took the lead in the ninth minute after a Jay Stein corner from the right - Marvin Andrews rose above Mann to head downwards and into the net. In 24 minutes the second goal came courtesy of an error. Mann was too slow passing back to Fridge and Didier Agathe stepped in and he ran on and volleyed past Fridge from 20 yards. Caley Thistle hit on the occasional breakaway but to little effect. A disappointing afternoon for the home support despite a spirited fight back. Caley Thistle now slip to second bottom of Division 1. ICTFC: Les Fridge; Richard Hastings, Ross Tokely, Mark McCulloch, Bobby Mann, Charlie Christie, Mike Teasdale, Barry Wilson, Barry Robson, Paul Sheerin, Martin Bavidge Raith: Van DeCamp; McEwan, Ellis, Andrews, Browne, Black, Agathe, Tosh, Dargo, Burns, Stein We opened our League campaign with an untidy but welcome victory at Gayfield. Shane Sutherland sealed the points with a tidy finish after bursting forward to chip the keeper from the edge of the box, the one piece of class and composure in a game more suited to welfare football at the Bught park. Raith will be disappointed to only take one point from their opener after throwing away a four goal lead with only twenty-two minutes left. Vaughn (2), Zanatta and Connolly had put Rovers four up against relegated Accies, but they stunned the home support by equalising deep into time added on to snatch a point they really should not have had an earthly of getting. Dario Zanatta with the pick of the goals. Boom! John McGlynn summed it up nicely on BBC Sport: "I've spoken about the rollercoaster of ups and downs during a season - I didn't expect to go through all those emotions in one game. "We could have been even further ahead as we had two one-on-ones at 4-0 up. To lose four goals in 22 minutes is extremely disappointing. It's two points chucked away. There's disbelief over how easily we lost the goals." Latest Team News Sean Welsh missed the opener after picking up an injury in the League Cup group A match against Stirling Albion. David Carson and Billy Mckay returned to action last week and Anthony McDonald played a few minutes against Hearts but was an unused sub last weekend. Aaron Doran has missed the last couple of weeks. Manny Duku will hopefully want to show Rovers fans what they are missing. Here's the two Billy's John McGlynn has assembled a squad capable of challenging for the top spot again. James Keatings is now a Rover and if he stays fit will be an asset. With the likes of Chrisophe Berra, Dario Zanatta, Aidan Connelly and Liam Dick signing on, McGlynn reckons his squad is stronger this season. They also have some loan signings, notably forward Matej Poplatnik from Livingston.

The end is nigh For us, it's the final game of the season as we have missed out on the promotion play-offs despite a tremendous last six weeks which saw us go on a six game winning run including a derby Scottish Cup win over Ross County. Unfortunately we left ourselves an uphill task after the first two thirds of our season was decimated by injuries, covid and inclement weather. Ayr United head North with Championship survival high on their agenda as they look to avoid the relegation play-offs with Arbroath and Morton the other contenders. The game is a 19:45 kick-off on Friday night. Our season ended last Saturday at Tynecastle in an error strewn first half where Hearts scored three times without reply. MotM Gary Mackay-Steven scored twice and McEneff netted the other via a slight deflection. Our misery was exacerbated at the third goal as Robbie Deas ushered the ball back to the advancing Mark Ridgers. Unfortunately, as Ridgers dived down to gather, Deas dropped his guard too early and the ever alert GMS stuck his leg between them to prod the ball into the now unguarded net. Comedy goal, but we were not laughing. It ended at 3-0 and season over with Dunfermline and Dundee consolidating their places in the play-offs. So near, yet so far! LIVE UPDATES PPV LIVE STREAMING £10 OFFICIAL PREVIEW ICTFC MEDIA SILENCE CEO Scot Gardiner said: “We very much stand shoulder to shoulder with the other clubs and sports to convey the message that online abuse and discrimination of any kind is completely unacceptable.” CTO MEDIA SILENCE Enough is enough! CTO will join with Scottish football to support a boycott of social media in response to continuing racist and discriminatory abuse online aimed at players, staff, supporters and others associated with the game. It should and will not be tolerated and we will have no social media posts from 3:00pm on Friday through to midnight on 3rd of May. Ayr United now find themselves in a three way battle for survival after a goalless draw at Queen of the South. Arbroath are sucked into the mire along with Morton, and they meet at the Smokie Dome on Friday night. Ayr are the best placed of the three threatened clubs and a draw will ensure their Championship status. An Arbroath win will also see Ayr safe and relegate Morton. All games kick-off at the same time of 7:45pm. Table with one game to go before play-offs Pld W D L F A +/- Pts 1. Hearts 26 16 6 4 59 24 35 54 2. Raith Rovers 26 12 7 7 45 32 13 43 3. Dundee 26 11 9 6 47 40 7 42 4. Dunfermline 26 10 9 7 38 33 5 39 5. Inverness CT 26 8 11 7 34 29 5 35 6. Queen of the South 26 9 5 12 38 49 -11 32 7. Arbroath 26 7 8 11 28 34 -6 29 8. Ayr United 26 6 10 10 29 35 -6 28 9. Morton 26 6 10 10 22 33 -11 28 10. Alloa Athletic 26 4 7 15 29 60 -31 19 Last 10 Competitive Meetings with Ayr United --- Ayr last five games DLDLD --- ICT last five games WWDDL 2 - 0 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 0 - 1 (A) 2 - 0 (H) 2 - 0 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 3 - 1 (A) 1 - 0 (A) 3 - 2 (A) 1 - 0 (H) Venue (H to H) Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 19 9 9 1 32 18 +14 Away 21 10 4 7 40 26 +14 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 40 19 13 8 72 44 +28 Neither side have won in their last three games with points becoming difficult to claim as the season comes to a climax. We have had some memorable games against Ayr United over the years, this one might have too much tension to go down as a classic and with a point suiting Ayr, that's maybe where the smart money will go. ***Latest Team News*** Neil McCann has indicated this will be his last game in charge according to this article in the Inverness Courier. I'm sure we are all grateful for his and Billy Dodd's input since coming in to cover for John Robertson. After an iffy start, we almost made it to the play-offs. So cheers guys. Last outing of the season and it's a fair bet many will not be back next year with something like 18 players out of contract in the summer. Those that are already contracted to be here next season: 2022: M Ridgers, Duffy, Devine, Harper, MacGregor, D Mackay, Welsh. 2023: Allardice, Deas, 2024 Carson. The rest have not committed themselves yet or may not have been offered a new contract, so some tough talking ahead and none more important than who will be in charge. Brad Mckay is suspended after his red card against Dundee. Latest Ayr boss David Hopkin has brought in young Motherwell keeper Peter Morrison since the 3-0 defeat to Dundee as young Finnish keeper Viljami Sinisalo returned to his parent club, Aston Villa, after picking up an injury. Corrie Ndaba missed out against Queen of the South with a knock picked up at Arbroath. Tom Walsh and Joe Chalmers are still on the books and Michael Moffat returned to the starting XI last week. So, get your old Ayr guitar out one last time... Caramel Wafer Cup Final scrapped Raith & Inverness CT joint winners of Chocolate Cup. The Scottish Professional Football League (the “SPFL”) today announced that the final of the Tunnock’s Caramel Wafer Cup will not take place and that Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Raith Rovers have been declared joint winners of the competition for Season 2019/20. Official Player of the Year voting