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If you know your History Friday night Footie returns to the Highlands with a bang as new club The Rangers visit the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium for the first time in their short history, the game kicking off at 19:45. They have made a meteoric rise to fame since their inception, climbing through the leagues in four years and getting to the final of the Scottish Cup. It's a touch of Gretna revisited. Unfortunately for them, like Gretna they also failed to win the cup at the hands of an Edinburgh club. They do look pretty slick though, having tailored their needs for each division as they made their way into the Premiership and they now have a squad capable of challenging most with Mark Warburton leading the way. Richie Foran has been named Manager of the Month for September after turning the fortunes of his slow starters around. However, we all know the repercussions of the curse of the Manager of the Month. Sounds like an adventure from Scooby Doo. Yikes! Come to think of it, have you ever seen Richie Foran and Shaggy in the same room? Me neither. Immortal Howden Ender has given us this fabulous whirlwind history lesson to rival Charlie Bannerman's Against All Odds This could be entitled the Inaugural meeting of the “Young Firm” of Scottish football. Both teams having painful and traumatic experiences in the not too distant past. Both teams are lamenting and many still grieving for the teams that they did support, whose existence was sadly terminated. Caley were even called “The Rangers of the North”. Caledonian Thistle F.C. was formed in August 1994 by the merger of Caledonian and Inverness Thistle who had been members of the Highland Football League since 1885.The league restructured in 1994 to four divisions of ten teams each. The merged clubs were elected in to the Scottish Third Division. The club's name was amended to Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. in 1996 at the request of Inverness District Council. Many still refer to the team as Caley or Thistle. They rose through the divisions at some speed, given their finances and many teams trying to halt their rise, especially when initially promoted to the SPL. The original Rangers came into existence in 1872, 13 years before the Inverness giants. The Rangers Football Club PLC entered liquidation on 31 October 2012. Sevco Scotland Ltd later changed its name to The Rangers Football Club Ltd. The new team, The Rangers FC started off life, akin to ICT, in the Scottish Third Division in the 2012-2013 season, a mere 18 years after Inverness. Due to their superior finances they climbed the leagues far quicker than ICT and made it this season. So Inverness Caledonian Thistle and The Rangers FC take to the park to on Friday 14th October 2016 in the first ever league meeting between the two clubs. Sadly I suspect that there may be as many old Caley and Thistle diehards (and their families) in the Rangers End as there are in the Main Stand and The North Stand. The two previous outcomes of meetings between the new clubs have been Scottish League Cup affairs. Inverness hammering Rangers 3-0 at Ibrox in October 2012 and Rangers scraping a fortunate 1-0 win in September 2014. In their history Inverness have only met the old Rangers team in League encounters and, at home, it does not make good reading with Rangers winning 8 and Inverness 1 and two drawn. The only ICT win was in December 2006 (Live on Setanta Sports !!) and the match was an all ticket SELL OUT. Nacho Novo scored for Rangers from the penalty spot (Craig Thompson was at it even then) before Darren Dods equalised. And many will recall the winner screamed in by John Rankin in the last minute. And we all had a fleeting look at the wondrous SEBO. We have a better record at Ibrox, winning three and drawing four of the thirteen encounters. My own personal lasting memory has to be the injury time penalty winner by Iain Black in March 2009. And Zjebi-Zadi was MotM and David Proctor won the penalty, drawing a foul from Davie Weir who was sent off. And Rangers were frightened by the pace of Dougie Imrie and Eric Odhiambo. It was fair rocking in “Brechins” that night. Going back to the Howden End days memories fade back to 18 February 1984 when the mighty old club known as Rangers visited Telford Street Park on Scottish Cup duty. A crowd of 5,500 packed in to watch Rangers win 6-0. Somebody called McCoist scored a brace that day and somebody called Billy Urquhart played against his old team. He should have stayed in Wigan !! I fail to recall any great Inverness Thistle v Rangers encounters although that was probably reserved for Brora Rangers. And finally on the trip down memory lane – we simply can’t leave out the initial Scottish Cup meeting with the old Rangers. A quarter final moved to the “neutral” ground of Tannadice Park in Dundee, on the 9th of March 1996. A crowd of 11,296 was in attendance (an estimated 5,000 from Sneck) when Rangers were the “visitors”. Rangers won 3-0, with Brian Thomson scoring an own goal and a certain Paul Gascoigne hitting a double. I can only suggest that you read the account made by Pele Paterson in his book “Confessions of a Highland Hero” - “We were Third Division and they were Champions”. That was one feckin hoore of a weekend. Hopefully the thought of the forthcoming Betfred Cup tie with Celtic will be a distraction and the Joey Barton debacle lingers on and on. Rumours are rife that Joey has put a pony on Inverness winning 2-1. That is certainly worth a wee gamble although it is unclear whether he is purely doing this out of churlish malice. Rangers have had what only can be described as an inconsistent start to the season and are clearly struggling to identify a starting eleven. The Central Belt Bluenoses however appear confident that Rangers have a clearer starting XI and expect to line up in a 4-3-3 formation. Wes Foderingham should keep his place in goals ahead of veteran Matt Gilks. James Tavernier and Lee Wallace will start in the two full-back positions. Rob Kiernan missed the last few games with an injury but looks likely to start. Kiernan and Wilson appear to have claimed the first-choice centre-back pairing (unfortunately) despite the arrival of experienced but aging duo of Clint Hill and Philippe Senderos. Andy Halliday should start in defensive midfield with Joey Barton missing (or running scared of Ross Draper). Jason Holt provides a lot of energy in the middle of the park and should keep his place whilst Niko Kranjcar impressed against the Plastic Whistle. Kenny Miller is likely to start up front as the target man with Martyn Waghorn operating as the wide forward from the right. Barrie McKay, to me the big danger, will keep his place on the left. If that is the Rangers line up then we need to go wide and offensive. Both Wallace and Tavernier are prone to leave their defensive duties and will leave space up front. Personally I would go with Fisher up front, if he has shaken off his knock, rather than Doumbuoya. Keep Draper “in the hole” behind him Tansey and Polworth to hold central midfield. I have not been impressed by Tansey this season but this is a “shop window” and I expect him to put in a MotM performance. Two wide players are a must and it looks like it will be Mulraney and King to start with. The back five pick themselves. McKay and Tremarco will be tested by McKay (need to check with CaleyD about the spelling). We certainly went backwards at Hamilton but escaped with a point, leaving us on a 5 game unbeaten run. That has led to Richie Foran being awarded the coveted Manager of the Month Award. Let’s hope that his lucky shamrock can ward off the curse that the award has placed on previous ICT Managers. And a 2-0 win would take us into the Top Six and ahead of Rangers on goal difference. But three points and a scabby one goal win will suffice. Shaggy Richie looks ahead to the game........

Welcome to the Jungle. Unbeaten in four now and Richie Foran takes his squad off to Cadzow, a war torn Eastern Block concrete jungle parallel town in South Lanarkshire, now known as Hamilton, to face The Accies on the plastic pitch where fleet footedness might be the order of the day. It's been a decent September for Foran as he has turned the fortunes of his team around with a win and two draws, following on from a victory over St Johnstone at the end of August. That was in stark contrast to four consecutive defeats that saw Inverness stuck at the foot of the Premiership, a 5-1 thrashing at Tynecastle, and out of the League Cup at the hands of Alloa. September must surely give Richie a chance at winning the Manager of the Month award, albeit an award that historically signals the start of a run of poor results. Maybe we should leave that out and just concentrate on moving up. Stat Attack:- Inverness have won their last six games at New Douglas Park. Last season it was two wins apiece, all wins coming at away games including a stunning 3-4 win at Hamilton where long range efforts were the order of the day in somewhat blustery conditions. Biggest ever win was a 6-1 thrashing in the Scottish cup when Inverness ran riot after falling behind to an early goal. That was fourteen years ago. Five years earlier, Hamilton had come North and knocked Inverness out of the Scottish Cup 3-1. It was a brace from Paul Ritchie that made the difference. I'll hand you over to Immortal Howden Ender for his pre-match banter where he has been checking out Saturday's opponents and casting his eye over the architectural beauty of Cadzow. There's a preview in there somewhere if you work your way through the old gits memoirs. He could be preparing to write his autobiography, Life after HMS Sneck. Yes indeed the trip to New Douglas Park (it will never be the feckin SuperSeal Stadium) has usually been a fruitful experience for ICT and hopefully we will be leaving with another three points and moving in to the Top Six, hardly expected after our horrific start to the season. We appear to thrive on synthetic surfaces (apart from Ross Draper that is) and it may well suit the current squad of pacy players even better than previous. We have not lost a point there since January 2009. During that time we have won the last six fixtures since, scoring 15 goals and conceding only 5. At the TCS it is practically a reversal of fortune and I never realised that Hamilton were such a bogey team in Sneck. I have also realised that Hamilton must be the one team who I have never seen us get beaten by. Three of those goals conceded away happened in the game on December 30th 2015. But in a real end to end affair we sneaked a 4-3 victory. Two free kicks by Greg Tansey and a late Polworth winner sent our hardy support home prematurely celebrating the New Year. The other game that lives in the memory was the “Farewell to Brewster” defeat in January 2009 when we serenaded (and sacked) him with the famed shoe song !! As the Sun reported: “The shoes one day. The boot the next. Craig Brewster fell victim to fan power as he was kicked out of Inverness Caley Thistle. Fed up supporters had chanted ‘Shoes Off If You Hate Brewster’ as they lost at Hamilton. The club’s seventh straight league defeat left then stranded at the foot of the SPL. It also left them walking a relegation tightrope five years after a spectacular sprint into the top flight. Brewster has paid the price as Caley faced the biggest on-field crisis in their 15-year history.” I can remember that we pegged Hamilton back in the last 20 minutes and came close to equalising three times. My heart was in my mouth and I kept on saying to maself, "Fer fecks sake Caley, give us a break mun, DON'T feckin score and spoil our day, right eenuff " The 4-3 was not the only high scoring match in the history of ICT and Hamilton. I was fortunate to be on holiday on 22/02/2003 when we met Hamilton in the Scottish Cup in Inverness and ended with a resounding 6-1 victory. Braces from Wyness and Robson were added to by Ritchie and McCaffrey. Bobby Mann went off injured early doors and was replaced by a young Grant Munro. And then we went ballistic again against Celtic but fell to the Argentine influenced Dundee in the semi-final at Hampden Park. And I would never have guessed at that time, how many times we would be heading to Mount Vernon. Eight points out of the last 12, including draws against the current top two has been a breath of fresh air. Add to that an apparent attacking philosophy of the “under fire” novice manager, a growing sign of togetherness and squad options that ensures everybody is fighting for their places can only be healthy. Hamilton are only three points behind us but we are only three points off third place. This may not be your classic six-pointer but there is a lot at stake. At first glance Hamilton’s draw with St Jones Town, after taking the lead, looks worrying. However the Perth Pack may have suffered from a gruelling cup tie less than 72 hours previous and they rang the changes at Hamilton. This included the non-appearance of Steven McLean who apparently will not play on synthetic purposes. Always preferred a bit of pure, mature grass maself. Hamilton suffer as badly as us in transfer windows. They tend to look to youth rather than spending and that appears to have kept them afloat in the Premiership. They still have a number of decent players like Grant Gillespie, Darian MacKinnon and Ali Crawford (being touted for a Scotland cap) and then there is the Peter Pan of Neds - Dougie Imrie - who always appears to go up a gear against us. Add to that the youth of Eamonn Brophy and new Under 21 player Greg Docherty, who has already got 50 games under his belt. The problem appears to be that they simply do not know their first XI. Canning is a novice and tactically is suspect. Midfielder Darren Lyon could be out for five or six weeks. Gary Woods, Jesus Garcia Tena and Craig Watson are all out, but captain Michael Devlin could return. As far as our starting XI goes I suspect that it will simply be same again. I feel that Foran has made it clear that everyone is playing for their place and a 4-4-1-1 will suit as away from home. At the moment we have a goalie on top form, a solid back four playing together, two fine holding players with Tansey as the creator, two wide players with pace, possibly the player of the month in the hole and Doumbouya's goal will probably keep him ahead of Fisher. Doran must be close to starting but I don't feel that Richie could justify dropping either Mulraney or King. I wonder what Scott Boden is thinking about all of this? David Raven and Kev McNaughton are our only absentees. Ryan Esson has been struggling with an elbow injury, but Lewis Horner could be fit enough to cover any defensive mishaps. But should we even start Draper after what happened at Killie last season? Some people are simply not matched to playing on synthetic surfaces. Draper's playing style, running from deep and the loping stride are wide open to injury. Perhaps like McLean from St Jones Town we should take the risk of resting him and playing either Fisher or Boden ; Boden being a better match for Doumbouya. And if ya think our Young Team are mischievous, then their counterparts – The Hamilton Young Fannies – appear to be getting a ten times worse reputation. Last time we were there they were “challenging” some Canadian school sports team - mixed genders, probably about 12 or 13, and their teachers – who were probably having a day out !! By the way the Canadians were the Winnipeg ICT Supporters Club on tour. Good job the neds did not cross over cos they would have been ice hockey sticked to puck. And last but clearly not least. What watering hole will be allowed into. On my previous trips to Hamilton we have faced Home Supporters Only greetings. So basically Hamilton is a shithole where you need to spend the least amount of time possible. So it is a case of grabbing a few beers and double voddies in Glesga, grabbing a train which thankfully stops beside the Stadium, grab a few goals, three points and back on the train as soon as possible. Kinda spoils the idea of the Away Day experience though. At least Superseal, the sponsors, are a Home Improvement Company. I might ask if my uncle can get a job as he would be an asset in that type of environment. He is a bulldozer driver. Disclaimer:- This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental............. But these videos from Caley Jags TV are the real thing.

16 undefeated and counting... After the euphoria of a last minute equaliser against Celtic, it's back to the more mundane, but nonetheless important task of a home game against Dundee on Saturday with a 15:00 kick off. Prior to kick off, there will be a minutes applause in memory of club Director Donnie Fraser who passed away last Sunday night at the age of 59. Our condolences to his family, friends and extended Caley Thistle family from all here at Caley Thistle Online. Club chairman Kenny Cameron said: "Donnie's passing comes as a severe shock to us all and although no words can ease his families pain our deepest sympathy and condolences go to his wife Theresa and the family." Mr Fraser was born in Helensburgh but had lived in Inverness for over thirty years. He was the successful managing director of Korrie Mechanical and Plumbing in Inverness and became a director at the club in 2015. Full story at Official ICTFC RIP Donald Fraser 1957-2016. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ More sad news for football fans and especially Dundee FC as former player Alan Cousin has died at the age of 78. He was signed by the then Dundee manager Willie Thornton in 1955. He made 288 appearances scoring 103 goals in more than ten years at Dens Park, and he was the clubs top scorer three years in a row playing alongside the likes of Alan Gilzean. He later moved to Hibernian and then Falkirk. Another great gone from the game. RIP Alan Cousin - 1938-2016 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Old Caley Girl is your previewer this week and she has been checking out our opponents ahead of the game once she got over the shock of the photos in the ticketing promotion. Sponsors McEwan Fraser Legal held a Competition to design the cover of the match programme and this has been won by Sienna Hastings, none other than the daughter of former Caley Jags defender Richard Hastings. Well done Sienna. More here Things are looking up. It’s not been too bad the last few weeks. 5 points from 9 against arguably the three top teams in the league is not too shabby. However, being so close to the bottom of the league even this early feels a tad uncomfortable. The table remains very close though and even one win can take you far up the table. Dundee up next, first of two fixtures before the next International break and two very winnable fixtures on paper. In fact these are the type of games that we must be picking up full points from if we have aspirations of top-six this season. ICT look in good shape. No known injury worries apart from Lewis Horner (ankle) and Ryan Esson (elbow) and the players are having to fight to gain/retain a first eleven spot. Owain Fon Williams was on fire against Celtic and surely his next aim will be to secure the first clean sheet of the season. Brad Mckay is looking like a promising addition by Richie Foran and Carl Tremarco will be looking to continue the form he displayed against Celtic. Meekings and Warren continue to show they are our best central pairing and thankfully under Foran have been able to resume this partnership. I would expect the midfield for this one to line up as on Sunday. Up front, Foran finally has a bit of choice, but the jury is out on which one of the three strikers will turn out to be our number one. My money is on Alex Fisher, a hard worker who wears his heart on his sleeve, and now that he is off the mark I have high hopes he can push on and make the lone striker spot his own. A startling statistic is that Dundee have only ever beaten us once in 18 league matches from the 1st division into the SPL with their one win coming in our first ever season in the top flight, 17 games ago. They did of course win the Challenge Cup in 2009, but that doesn't count, does it?. Dundee have only picked up 3 points once this season so far, beating our neighbours in the first game of the season over the bridge. Since then they have managed 2 draws whilst losing to the Rangers and last week against Aberdeen. They are sitting in 8th but only one point ahead of us. So,Dundee come into this one without a win in their last five games. We are unbeaten in our last three after a slow start, should make for an interesting afternoon. They appear to have recruited a fair few players pre-season including James Vincent and Danny Williams from ICT. Neither are apparently setting the heather on fire with Vincent carrying on his reputation of being made of fragile stuff. It is always nice to see Nick Ross and his move to secure a regular first team place seems to have worked out for him. There was one less than encouraging comment on Danny Williams from the excellent Pie & Bovril website. When asked by an Inverness fan how he was getting on, the reply was that "he should be melted down for glue." And that was one of the more polite replies. Sounds like a sticky end for our Danny. The main ins after Vincent and Williams are defenders Kevin Gomis (Nice), Tom Hately, the former Motherwell player, (Slask Wroclaw), and Mark O'Hara (Killie). In charge of getting the goals will be Faissal el Bakhtaoui and Yordi Teijsse. They have lost some top quality however in the shape of Greg Stewart (Birmingham), striker Kane Hemmings (Oxford), Paul McGinn (Chesterfield) and Glorious Gary Harkins who could light up any stadium with his silky skills. Richie Foran looks forward to this game with a touch of poignancy. His last outing as a player was in the final game of last season in a 4-0 win over Dundee where he scored a late penalty. But he sees this as the biggest game so far despite three excellent results against top sides. He said "Those were three tough games. Those will count for nothing if we don’t win on Saturday – this is our biggest game of the season so far. It’s huge." Latest news from the City of Discovery is that Dundee will be without the suspended Kevin Gomis and Mark O'Hara. Gomis is on his second of two games out while O'Hara pays the price for a late sending off against Aberdeen last week. Meh! Old Caley Girl Prediction:- I am hopeful we can finally start to climb the league and carry on with the improvement of the last few games. The passion and togetherness seems to be back and confidence appears to be growing game by game. With that in mind, I'm going for a narrow home win with hopefully a clean sheet. Let’s hope so anyway……. High praise for Owain Fon Williams in Richie's pre-match interview................ And here is Brad. No, it's not our new Brazilian signing Brangelina, but our very own Brad Mackay.............

From Messi to Nessy It's a big ask this weekend early in his managerial career, but Brendan Rodgers takes his domestically all conquering Bhoys North to face Richie's rookies at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium in a 3:00pm kick off on Sunday. Celtic are going from Messi to Nessy in the space of five days. They will find it easier in Nessy. It took Lionel just three minutes to breach the Celtic defence in Barcelona. He did it again before the half hour was up and had a hat-trick before the hour. Could it be that Celtic struggle against teams in red and blue stripes? We're no Barcelona but stranger things happen at sea. Celtic have been in great form in the domestic League and topped it off by trouncing the Rangers 5-1 last week before heading to Barcelona in the Champions league. Fifteen goals in four games is testament to their attacking intent and new striker Moussa Dembele looks like a class act. So, who are the people that have transformed Celtic? For a start, they have replaced the much maligned Ronnie Deila and John Collins with the well respected Brendan Rodgers and Chris Davies. Their player signings are a who's who in the wish lists of most football clubs outside the English Premiership. Scott Sinclair is an attacking wide midfielder and already has five goals. Moussa Dembele has just scored a hat-trick coming in from Fulham and seven goals in total. When you add these to Scotlands star striker Leigh Griffiths (7 goals) and wide player Patrick Roberts, it's not difficult to see why Celtic are banging in the goals. Defensively, Kolo Toure joins from Liverpool, Christian Gamboa from West Brom, keeper Dorus de Vries to challenge Scotland International Craig Gordon and midfielder Kristoffer Ajer to the engine room. The Brendan Rodgers clear out was ruthless and swift. The main departures were Scotland full back Charlie Mulgrew, Athony Stokes, Mr clumsy-Colin Kazim-Richards, Stefan Scepovic, Scott Allan and Carlton Cole There is a raft of others who are littered across the Scottish lower leagues, enough to make a couple of teams to be honest, but Rodgers looks to have built a squad based on quality rather that quantity which was enough to see Celtic lift the title last season, but not with the panache their fans wanted to see. Richie has had a steep learning curve in the Premiership games hitting rock bottom after three before clambering off the foot of the table with a hard earned draw at Pittodrie, following on from a gritty home win over St Johnstone. The signs are encouraging after a poor start to the campaign and it's good to see we are moving in the right direction. We will need to be at our best on Sunday and it's a tremendous boost how the team have bounced back since the 5-1 thrashing at Tynecastle. That was Josh Meekings' first game back from injury and he and Gary Warren are beginning to return to the solid partnership they forged previously. Owain Fon Williams has got rid of his Euro holiday hangover and looks more focussed and young Brad Mckay had a decent debut in a baptism of fire at Pittodrie and with Carl Tremarco claiming the left back slot our back line is taking shape nicely. The midfield should be a match for most teams and Ross Draper has never looked sharper. Luxury player Iain Vigurs showed just why he is in the team with a superb goal at Aberdeen, but can we afford his laid back style with a bit of cynicism thrown in? We were wasteful in the final third and I'm sure Richie Foran will be working on that this week. We have wide players with pace now with Aaron Doran gaining more match time and in Lonsana Doumbouya we have a powerful front man when Alex Fisher runs himself to a standstill. Aye, it's a difficult job being the Invermess target man. Despite Celtic going down in Spain, the gulf in class between Celtic and Barcelona is as big as the gap between Celtic and the rest of the clubs in Scotland. That's how difficult this task is for Inverness. The pace of Moussa Dembele and Scott Sinclair is a worry for our back line, although Dembele's penalty kick routine is suspect. Our best hope is that one or two players are rested and Leigh Griffiths is still injured. However, their depth of squad is such that it won't make too much difference who plays. We lost all three games against Celtic last season conceding twelve goals in those games while scoring only two. Apart from the Cup semi-final win, our last win over Celtic in the Highlands came in August 2014 when we won 1-0 thanks to an Eoghan O'Connell own goal. Celtic had made 10 changes from the side that played NK Maribor in midweek and paid the price. I wonder if they will be so lenient this time after the thrashing at Barcelona. Richie Foran has no fresh injury worries and will have an almost full squad to pick from apart from Ryan Esson who is out with an elbow injury. I would expect a similar side to the one that performed well at Pittodrie. Brendan Rodgers is not expected to make any drastic changes despite the sides thrashing in Barcelona. However, Leigh Griffiths is still out injured. tm4tj Prediction:- I can't see us taking much from this game and damage limitation could be the way forward. Celtic's pace going forward is frightening but they are suspect at the back. In saying that, you have to get into those areas to be able to hurt them and that's not our strong point at the moment. Difficult to see anything other than a convincing win for Celtic but there's always the chance of a Champions League hangover. A draw would be seen as a success and that will be enough to drive us forward. I feel we might fall just short on this occasion, but the experience will stand us in good stead for games against teams of a similar calibre.

A96 Derby It's the battle for supremacy of the A96 as the teams from either end of that road face off at 3:00pm. Yes, we visit Pittodrie on Saturday, having gained our first points of the season last time out against St Johnstone just before the international break. During that international break, Jake Mulraney and Billy King had some game time for their U21 International sides and Owain Fon Williams was on the bench for Wales in their impressive opening game of the World Cup campaign where they thrashed Moldova 4-0. News this week that Josh Meekings has been offered a two year contract extension has been welcomed by the fans. 24 year old Josh had forged a great partnership with the reliable Gary Warren over the last few years and he was sorely missed last season through injury. Foran is keen to keep Josh in the squad and the ball is now in his court. What have the Dons been up to over the holidays? Let's see who Derek McInnes has brought in over the summer. No surprise to us, but Miles Storey was taken on with Simon Church and David Goodwillie moving on. Another striker Jayden Stockley was also added from Bournmouth. At the back, Joe Lewis (Cardiff City) and Neil Alexander (Hearts) replace Danny Ward in goal, (not at the same time). Callum Morris joins from relegated Dundee United and Anthony O'Connor comes in from Burton Albion. That looks to have added strength in depth to an already solid squad for the Dons. Other notable outs are Willo Flood returning to the Arabs, keeper Scott Brown offski and Barry Robson given up, presumably too olde. Lawrence Shankland has moved to St Mirren and lot's of other minor players have also moved along. The latest addition is midfielder James Maddison from Norwich City, on loan until January. The Dons failed to beat us last season as we recorded two wins and a draw against them. A tremendous turnaround from the previous season when Aberdeen won all four encounters. The best Aberdeen could do was a 2-2 draw at Pittodrie on Boxing Day when a dubious stoppage time penalty from Adam Rooney earned them a point. Liam Polworth and a Greg Tansey spot kick had given Inverness a comfortable lead but we invited the Dons onto us and a McGinn goal threw the Reds a lifeline from a rare Gary Warren error.They took full advantage late into time added on to level matters. We went our separate ways after the split as Aberdeen finished runners up whilst we were the best of the rest. As the transfer window came to a close last week, Richie Foran has secured a loan deal until Xmas for Fulham youngster Larnell Cole, a 23 year old forward minded midfielder. We have also added former St Johnstone defender Brad McKay (23) to our squad on a two year deal as we look to get more cover for the loss of Kevin McNaughton who will likely miss the whole season. And, with Ryan Esson out for a possible six weeks due to an elbow injury, Cammy Mackay has been recalled from his loan at Elgin City. We look to have assembled a reasonable squad at our disposal now and I am convinced our season will get better once everyone gets to know each other and they all reach match sharpness. We may not quite be there yet, but there were encouraging signs against St Johnstone. Lonsana Doumbouya looks like he will be a handful for defences and with wide players available in Jake Mulraney, Aaron Doran and Billy King, then the future is bright as we build on top of our previously resilient defence and robust midfield. Inverness will be without Kevin McNaughton for the season and Ryan Esson for over a month. Cover has been drafted in and with Meekings returned to the heart of the defence, things are looking up. Horner played at right back against St Johnstone and should continue, although he could face a torrid time if Jonny Hayes is involved. David Raven would be a tried and tested replacement should Foran prefer that option. Brad Mckay is up to speed and ready to go according to Richie, so there's another option should Foran hand the former St Johnstone defender his debut. Here him talk about his arrival. Larnell Cole is another new arrival and he is talking to Caley Jags TV ahead of the Aberdeen game. Aberdeen have had the added bonus of early competitive games in Euro competition to hone their skills. On the flip side, they have only one win in their four league games so far beating Partick Thistle 2-1. Draws against Hearts and St Johnstone gave them four points before they were thumped 4-1 at Parkhead last time out. Hayes could return after missing out at Celtic and Peter Pawlett is in full training, but Mark Reynolds will be suspended after being sent off in that game and skipper Ryan Jack is out for at least six weeks after knee surgery. And last, but not least, here's Richie looking forward to the action. All video from Caley Jags TV, the official channel of ICT FC https://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialICT tm4tj Prediction:- I won't get too excited after beating St Johnstone, but what was historically a cagey affair turned out to be a highly entertaining game with plenty of incident. A cavalry charge near the end gave us a deserved victory and broke our duck and gave us some hope for the season ahead. With a game against Celtic coming up next week, we need to dig deep here, and I will go with the optimistic approach and say we will take something back from Pittodrie. Let's hope it's not a thrashing!

Time to stand up and be counted Inverness face St Johnstone this Saturday as they look to avoid a fifth straight defeat, but this could prove difficult as it comes hot on the heels of a 5-1 thrashing at Tynecastle, not to mention a derby disaster, a dumping out of the League cup by League One Alloa and an opening day loss at Partick. Aye Richie, nobody said it was going to be easy, but the fans are finding it difficult to understand how this season has become a struggle already as we are in danger of being cut adrift at the foot of the table only three games in. With St Johnstone, Aberdeen and Celtic to come, it could get worse before it gets better. We have already lost the services of Kevin McNaughton, probably out for the season with an Achilles injury as we find it difficult to keep the ball out of our net. Josh Meekings returned at Tynecastle, but he will need game time to get back to full match sharpness and he must have wondered what has happened as we shipped goals like nobody's business. David Raven was retained at the end of last season, despite Yogi trying his best to move him on. Has fan-power overruled shrewd judgement here as Rave has not coped well since his reinstatement. Mind you, he is not alone as the normally reliable Gary Warren has looked vulnerable, posted missing, presumably trying to cover for missing defenders easily pulled out of position. Carl Tremarco showed what he could do towards the end of last season, but we have yet to see the best of him in this campaign. Was it wrong to let Danny Devine leave without trying too hard to tempt him to stay? Our midfield has not changed that much, but our one paced engine room are simply going through the motions. Tansey, Polworth, Vigurs and the exempt from criticism Ross Draper. These guys should be a match for any team outside the top two or three, but already look jaded. The addition of exciting prospect Jake Mulraney should be providing the width we have been screaming for over the last couple of seasons and Billy King and the returning Aaron Doran should compliment that. Striking looks to be our weakest area with the jury still out on Scott Boden and Alex Fisher, but that does not explain the fact that we have conceded eight goals in our last two games. To the untrained eye it would appear that not much has changed apart from the results, and the manager! Foran has taken on this job much to the delight and backing of most of the Caley Thistle support, however, has our hearts ruled our heads here. A Premiership club taking on an untried manager with no previous experience anywhere and apart from a four year deal, little monetary backing from the board as of now. It does smack of the cheap option. Maybe we are still paying for Yogi? When has a new manager not taken in his own second in command, yet Richie has to make do with a used product in Brian Rice; seconds anyone? Can we not afford to pay him off either? It all smacks of a sorry mess with Richie trying to paper over the cracks. Maybe the writing was on the wall when Laura was released from the ticket office in what looks like a penny pinching exercise. Why else would you remove your highest achiever? Anyway, our immediate concern is on the park, and points are proving more difficult to find than those pokemon gadgies. St Johnstone are surely confident of coming North and taking the points given our recent demise. We have found it difficult enough to beat them in recent times and seven points went to Perth Last season with only one solitary point going to the Highland Capital. I always feel we should be able to match the Perth outfit on and off the park, but we are finding that difficult on both counts at the moment. Tommy Wright is as decent a manager as there is in the Premiership, guiding St Johnstone to fourth over the last two seasons whilst we finished in with the also rans last term. They have added full back Richard Foster from Ross County and defender Keith Watson from St Mirren. Midfielders Paul Paton from Dundee United and Blair Alston from Falkirk look to be their key signings and will add plenty of class and a bit of dig. Amongst their departures are the experienced striker John Sutton and midfielders Simon Lappin and Scott Brown. Like Foran, Wright is still searching for Mr Right up front before the transfer window closes. The Perth team won two of the three games last season in what are usually pretty dour encounters, notoriously bereft of goalmouth incidents. I'm painting a pretty bleak picture here, unfortunately that's how it is and the fans are getting frustrated over our dismal start to the league after a reasonable League Cup run that ended with an at that time unexpected defeat to Alloa Athletic. We were absolutely thrashed at Tynecastle last week with Hearts scoring five going on fifteen. That was preceded by a dismal derby defeat at home. Eight gifts goals in two games smacks of heads going down. St Johnstone were capitulating against Celtic, but did score a couple of late goals in the second half, so they still have some fight in them, something we need to display. Can we expect to see an upturn in our fortunes? Well, I was excited at the prospect of our campaign given the goals we racked up prior to matchday one. However, the wind has been taken right out of our sails and we are well and truly in the doldrums now. Strangely though, if we can make the breakthrough and cut out the comedy defending, we might see our first point on the board. Billy King will be available again after having to sit out the Hearts game (parent club ruling) and Aaron Doran is working his way back into contention. Jake Mulraney has declared himself injury free after being taken off at Tynecasle with cramp, but Kev McNaughton is out long term. Owain Fon Williams could do worse than sit on the bench with maybe the experienced Ryan Esson due a recall to cut out some of these free headers we have been subject to. I also wonder if it's time for Lewis Horner to step up to the plate. That might horrify some, but it could be the lesser of two evils. Hopefully Gary Warren will get his mojo back with Josh Meekings likely to be alongside him. Now then, it's time for our midfield to stand up and be counted before we get any worse or they might find themselves on the dole bench as well. We had Farid El Alagui on trial over the last couple of weeks but although he showed up well in friendlies he has not been signed. Another pair of trialists turned out for our development squad in midweek and they are reported to be Gavin Gunning (yes, he of the picking up the ball and walking off the park fame), and Spanish third tier striker Jamar Loza who has been declined a contract. With Kevin McNaughton out for the season, we do need another centre back, but come on, Gavin Gunning! On a positive note, forward, Lonsana Doumbouya (26) joins Inverness from Belgian second division club Cercle Brugge on a 2 year deal (subject to clearance). Lonsana is a big lad at over 6 foot 3 inches and sounds like he could be an ideal target man. Richie Foran reckons he will add pace and power to our front line, something that has been lacking of late. Good luck to him and I hope he is the answer to our striking problems. Foran is hopeful he can be included in the squad for the game tomorrow. Here he is talking about signing for the Caley Jags. Managers advice: It will be worth keeping an eye on Steve MacLean and Danny Swanson. MacLean has hit the target five times and in form Swanson has seven goals to his name. You have been warned. St Johnstone's Tam Scobbie, Dave Mackay and Keith Watson all miss out through injury, however, Chris Millar and Michael Coulson could return after both failed to feature at Parkhead last week. Interesting times ahead. Defeat against St Johnstone is not really an option and it's now time for Foran the friend to be be binned and Foran the manager to enter the scene. I'm going for a home win. Yes, I may be going off my head, but we have to start sooner rather than later, so let's do this on Saturday, for everyone's sake. I'm just not sure where the goals are going to come from though.

POINTS NEEDED URGENTLY It's off to the Capital on Saturday to visit Tynecastle for a 15:00 kick off as Inverness face the Jam Tarts, where we will be looking to get our season off and running. Old Caley Girl has been running the rule over the teams ahead of this one and had penned this Preview. If you ask most Caleyjags fans to name their favourite away day Tynecastle is normally top of the list. The mood is despondent at the moment, unfortunately, but hopefully Caleyaway will turn out in large numbers as is normally the case in Edinburgh. The league campaign hasn’t really gone the way we had all hoped it would this far and the fixtures for Foran’s men are not getting any easier. Last week’s derby loss was a hard one to take especially given the lack of passion seemingly on display. Our small squad seems to be straining at the seams already and the news that Kevin McNaughton has a serious Achilles injury was a further blow. Due to the lack of options at present, predicting our team is not really a challenging task. Losing 3 goals to our neighbours will hopefully add to the determination to tighten up at the back with OFW in particular needing a morale boosting performance. I’ve heard a few comments lately suggesting the club should have retained Dean Brill as number one keeper so it is up to Owain to prove that the decision made was indeed the correct one. Josh Meekings turned out in a friendly on Tuesday v Nairn but whether he is fit enough to be risked a start here is doubtful. Therefore a back four of Horner, Raven, Warren and Tremarco looks likely. The midfield should line up the same as against County and I think most fans feel that Ross Draper should be the first name on the team sheet, being one of the few who gained any pass marks last Saturday. Up front the jury is out re our strikers but Boden appears to be hard working and hopefully will come good. No Billy King this week due to SPFL rules so up to Richie who comes in with choices of Polworth, Doran or Mulraney. Hearts appear in good shape this season however, rumours persist of Neilson being a puppet on a string for Craig Levein and their fans have high expectations. Up front they look very healthy with new signings Tony Watt and Conor Sammon. They apparently, have the opposite problem to us with trying to accommodate their large squad. They will try and stretch us at the back from the off and not losing an early goal is vital. The crowd will be quick to get on their backs if we can strike the first blow. It is early days for us but getting points on board is getting urgent. It’s hard to see where a win will come from and even a point from Tynecastle could be seen as a good result. The one thing I’m hoping for is a bit of fight and passion which surely a Foran team should be able to show. OCG Prediction – Hoping for a win but would settle for draw. We do not want to get marooned at the foot of the table this early in the season. NB – Tickets now available on the day at Tynecastle. Pity it took so long for common sense to prevail.

Highland Derby Day Second League game of the season and it's derby day already with Ross County making the short trip over the Kessock Bridge to face Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Close Both sides have made a poor start to the League on matchday one taking zero points and both sides exited the Betfred League Cup. I'm not sure who made the biggest hash of that, County failing to get out of their group stage or Inverness failing to beat Alloa, the side that also topped County's group. It's early days yet in the Foran revolution, but the last two results have taken the shine off the free scoring results of the previous fortnight. Instead, we reverted to type and have created little in our last two games for the fans to enthuse over. Our normally reliable defence has shown some frailties and we have conceded a couple of avoidable goals. Josh Meekings has still to make an appearance and should help to toughen up the back four, with maybe the reprieved David Raven the one who will make way when Meekings proves his fitness. Midfield has been discussed in depth with Ross Draper only making the bench in our last couple of games, presumably carrying a slight knock. Jake Mulraney has been closely watched as word got out about his pace and trickery, so much so that he has been ineffective in the last two. Our common concern is still regarding our lack of striking quality, with both Scott Boden and Alex Fisher having a go, but neither setting the heather on fire. However, it was good to see Aaron Doran emerging from his injury nightmare and getting back on the park against Alloa as a late substitution. County have lost the services of the hard driving midfielder Jackson Irvine who is off to Burton Albion. Another midfielder Rocco Quinn has gone to Paisley and Stewart Murdoch has joined Dundee United. In come defenders Jay McEveley from Sheffield United, Kenny van der Weg from Breda and Erik Cikos of Slovan Bratislava, Goalkeeper Aaron McCarey replaces the departed Gary Woods. So, Jim McIntyre has prioritised in defence, but has not yet replaced the huge midfield gap left by the loss of Irvine and Co. We have held the upper hand in the derby, winning all three last season although County did take advantage of our injury crisis and put us out of the League Cup. It is too early to gauge how either side will perform, but on the basis of their exploits so far, it's not looking too promising for either set of fans. The Staggies look to be setting their stall out to defend in numbers, but do we have the guile to break them down. I hope Mulraney will be given a free role on the wide pitch and Billy King can operate effectively on the other flank. Ross Draper is a must for these games, if nothing else he annoys the County fans. Making a prediction is difficult just one game into the season, so I will sit on the fence and go for a share of the points whilst hoping we can root County to the bottom of the table. ***Note Reminder : Home fans needing to purchase tickets tomorrow should do so from the Ticket Office BEFORE going to the turnstiles. @RCFCStaggies Matchday Tickets : Cash sales at the South Stand Kiosk, Card Sales at the Main Ticket Office. 7 hours ago

League Cup Action at Alloa Inverness visit Recreation Park Alloa on Tuesday night, or to be more correct, the Indodrill Stadium in the knock out stages of the Betfred League Cup for a 19:30 kick off. Close We booked our place in this first knock out round after topping our group despite losing a penalty shoot-out in our second game against relegated Dundee United. A narrow win over Cowdenbeath in our opening game was followed by the United draw and an unexpected 5-1 win at Dunfermline before we routed Arbroath 7-0 in our final group game. The late flurry of goals gave us great expectations for our opening League game last weekend against Partick Thistle, but it proved to be a false dawn for Richie Foran as we slumped badly to a 2-0 defeat at Firhill. Nothing new there then! Alloa have been the surprise qualifiers from group D where the current League Cup holders Ross County were expected to progress. However, the Wasps had other ideas and won all of their fixtures including a tremendous 3-2 win over County and a wonderful away result at Raith Rovers, winning 1-0. They then carried this form into their League One opener against Peterhead and last seasons relegated team from the Championship trounced the Blue Toon 4-0, a result that will not have gone unnoticed by Richie Foran. We have played Alloa in the League Cup before, and that ended with a resounding 6-1 win for Inverness in season 2005/2006, our last meeting with the Wasps. Overall we have a relatively good set of positive results over the Clackmannan side with thirteen wins against four, and nine drawn games. Alloa warmed up for this game by thumping Peterhead 4-0. Jordan Kirkpatrick scored two spectacular goals with Kevin Cawley and Isaac Layne getting one apiece. They have also fired home ten goals in their four League Cup games so far. Jack Ross has recruited well and they have added a bit of toughness in defence with experienced thug Jim Goodwin signing on and he has Culum Waters from Celtic alongside him. Midfielder Jordan Kirkpatrick looks to be an excellent signing with an eye for goal. We expected more from our squad at Partick, but it was the same old as we went down rather tamely by 2-0. Many fans wondering why last seasons top player Ross Draper was benched. We were also guilty of not providing much for striker Scott Boden to feed off and Alan Archibald had obviously done his homework as the much heralded Jake Mulraney was marked out of the game and rendered ineffective. It's early days in Richie Foran's managerial career and he acknowledges that this performance was not good enough. What will he do to change it though? We were comfortable in the group stages against lower league opposition, but as soon as we stepped up a level, our frailties were exposed. Aaron Doran is still to get back on the park although he appeared on the bench against Partick, but Josh Meekings has not featured at all. This will be no walk in the park and Alloa's confidence will be sky high, whereas we got a sharp reality check at Firhill. We will need to be at our best to get the job done and should have the know how to do it, but our lack of attacking threat was evident despite the raft of goals in the group stages. This could go into overtime, and that's maybe where our fitness should help us get the job done, but the wasps are buzzing just now. Close encounter with Inverness edging it.

Matchday One at Firhill Saturday afternoon in Maryhill, under the twisted leer of Kingsley and assorted Buckied freeloaders on the canal towpath, sees the first match of Inverness Caledonian Thistle’s 2016-17 Scottish Premiership campaign, and another new chapter in the club’s already rich history well and truly underway. From the opening paragraph, you might have detected that Altenative Maryhill is the author of this Preview. Opinion among the Inverness support was divided, sometimes fiercely, over John Hughes’ recruitment, tactics and management style last season, but while his eventual departure was mourned by some and celebrated by others, the majority of ICT supporters seemed to welcome the announcement of club captain Richie Foran as his successor. Naturally, however, questions were raised: would Foran still be too close to the players to command the respect of his squad in his new role? Would he have the profile, contacts and scouting network to attract a decent quality of player to the club? Would he be able to develop a playing style that was more attractive and effective than the latterly much-criticised, but overall largely successful, approach adopted by Hughes? Would his lack of experience tell in periods of adversity and increased pressure? Was the board’s awarding of a four-year management contract to an existing employee simply the cheap option? Obviously, these are very early days, and it will be some time before we can say confidently that all these questions have been answered, but the signs so far are very promising indeed. Foran in his early interviews, while acknowledging the benefits Hughes’ playing philosophy had brought the players, promised a return to a more direct, attacking style of football which would yield more chances and goals, and this commitment was reflected in the signings of striker Scott Boden from Newport and winger Jake Mulraney from Queen’s Park Rangers on three- and two-year deals respectively, and the recruitment of Billy King, a winger with significant Scottish top-flight experience, on loan from Hearts. Meanwhile, the signing of Kevin McNaughton, a Scottish international with 201 appearances for Aberdeen and almost 300 for Cardiff City, seemed to suggest that Foran could indeed attract players of quality to the club. The real hope, however, has come from the team’s performances on the field, in the Betfred Cup group stages. In the first two games, against Cowdenbeath and Dundee Utd, the team’s play sometimes lacked fluency, and there was a failure to capitalise on final balls, but Foran’s avowed attacking intent was evident in King’s frequent threatening runs and particularly in the pace and trickery exhibited by Mulraney in his two second half substitute appearances, while Kevin McNaughton, deputising at centre half for the injured Josh Meekings, strolled through the games, showing his class and experience. With the promotion of Mulraney to the starting line-up against Dunfermline, Foran’s team clicked as an attacking force. While a positive and combative Pars side caused Caley Thistle problems in the first half, defensively they simply could not cope with Jake Mulraney, and where chances had been squandered in the previous two games, here the Inverness attackers were clinical, with Iain Vigurs claiming the perfect hat-trick from an advanced midfield role, King being rewarded for his willingness to run at players and shoot on spec with a deflection that brought another goal, and even left-back Carl Tremarco getting in on the act after being first to the rebound from a Greg Tansey free kick. The pattern continued in last Saturday’s 7-0 trouncing of Arbroath: Vigurs, King and Tremarco, with an unlikely brace, all found the net again; Scott Boden provided even more cause for optimism, with a well-taken hat-trick; and despite not being on the scoresheet, the man of the match, by common acclaim, was Mulraney, who already looks to be a gem of a signing. In terms of style and recruitment Foran is already beginning to answer the questions posed when he took over, and those who doubt whether he may be able to command and motivate players, and make difficult and unpopular choices, may be encouraged by the apparent increase in the fitness and work rate of Iain Vigurs, and the surprising decision to leave Ross Draper, a mainstay during the club’s most successful period, on the bench for the games against Dunfermline and Arbroath. Foran has stated that the club is still keen to bring in one or two more players, and most supporters would agree that another, more mobile attacker is needed to either complement or provide an alternative to Boden and Alex Fisher, but with any new deals looking increasingly unlikely before Saturday’s game, Foran’s main area of focus, and the supporters’ main source of intrigue and debate, will be deciding who gets the nod to start against Partick. Will Draper be restored to the team against a side that has frequently overpowered and over-run the ICT midfield in recent seasons, and if so, will it be Polworth, or Mulraney, the man for whom Draper made way, who drops to the bench? Will there be any room for Aaron Doran, finally restored to the squad again against Arbroath, after a year out through injury? How close to fitness is Josh Meekings, and when he is ready to return, will it be in central defence? And if so, does the impressive McNaughton drop out, or does he take one of the full-back roles in place of either fans’ favourite David Raven or the vastly-improved Carl Tremarco? These are, to employ a football cliché, pleasant problems for a manager to have, and the result of the club managing to put and keep together what looks, on paper, like one the strongest first-team squads the club has yet had. Of course, the optimism could yet prove premature; some of the new players, notably Mulraney and Boden, are as-yet untested against Premiership opposition, Partick Thistle are a team that has a strong record against ICT, notwithstanding a 4-0 home defeat to John Hughes’ team in the final weeks of last season, and they too are entitled to feel positive about their prospects this season after a 100% record in the Bedfred Cup group stages, and a summer recruitment programme that looks to have strengthened the first team squad. Chris Erskine, a folk-hero at the club, has returned in midfield after a spell at Dundee Utd where his talents seemed to be squandered by poor management, and has already impressed in with two goals in the Betfred Cup games; Ziggy Gordon, one of Hamilton Accies’ standout players over recent seasons, will be the new first choice at right back, while attacker Ade Azeez apparently rejected a new contract offer at Wimbledon to join the Maryhill club. A Partick recruit more familiar to ICT supporters is Danny Devine, signed to replace highly-rated central defender Danny Seaborne, who rejected a new contract. While Devine was a very useful deputy to Josh Meekings and Gary Warren in his first two seasons in Inverness, his period last season as a first choice centre half, during Meekings’ injury lay-off and then mystifying deployment at right back, revealed some shortcomings in positional sense and decision-making, and while he was perhaps scapegoated by supporters to some extent for defensive frailties that stemmed from the team set-up as a whole, Foran may see him as a potential weak link to be exploited in the Partick defence. Predictably, a recent press interview with Devine, in which he claims to have made a step up in his club career on the grounds that Glasgow is, shock, horror, a bigger city than Inverness, has been used to ramp up the non-existent tension ahead of this interview. Expect blood to flow in the streets of Maryhill. An intriguing and potentially very enjoyable game lies ahead then, and hopefully the interest and positivity around the Foran revolution will see a large and noisy travelling support there to back Inverness. [A quick note to travelling supporters; the underground is off, and the best options for getting to Firhill from the city centre are either to share a taxi, which shouldn’t cost much more than a fiver, or to get a number 60 or 61 bus from the corner of Hope St and Sauchiehall St, to around Queens Cross church on Maryhill Road. Don’t try to go to Maryhill train station – it’s almost as far from the ground in the opposite direction as Queen St is.] It’s hard game to call, and one that I suspect will feature more goals than we’re used to seeing between these sides, but in the spirit of optimism, I’m going to predict a final scoreline of Partick Thistle 2, Inverness Caledonian Thistle 3.

"We're top of the league and you're no" After a mere 4 months of residency in Dingwall, the Scottish League Cup became homeless on Tuesday night – minutes after Inverness CT convincingly beat Dunfermline to top Group C. The 5-1 score line at East End Park has put us in pole position to win the group, thanks to a +5 goal difference which we share with Dundee United who arguably have the tougher remaining fixture. Ross P has been looking at the revamped League Cup in more detail ahead of the visit of Arbroath. Before looking in detail at Saturday’s opponents, it is worthwhile refreshing the memory at the structure of this new tournament and address our chances of progression. The new format of the competition has 12 teams progress from the group stages, to join the 4 teams who are participating in or have been already been knocked out of European competition. The top 4 performing group winners become seeds in the last 16 with these European participants. The other 4 group winners are joined by the 4 best performing second placed teams. Up to speed so far? As mentioned, ICT need to win by a greater GD than any Dundee Utd win v Dunfermline to secure top spot in the group. What's also important to consider is GD will likely decide who finishes as one of the top 4 group winners and be seeded in the next round: Group B - St Johnstone 7 points, GD +5 Game to play = St Johnstone v Stirling Albion Group D - Alloa 9 points, GD +7 Game to play = Raith Rovers v Alloa Group D - Raith Rovers 8 points, GD +2 Game to play = Raith Rovers v Alloa Group E - Partick Thistle 9 points, GD +5 Game to play = Partick Thistle v Queen's Park Group H - Morton 8 points, GD +3 Game to play = Morton v Berwick Rangers have secured one of the top 4 already, leaving 3 up for grabs. In order for ICT to qualify as a seed they may have to outscore any St Johnstone win v Stirling AND hope that one of Morton or Partick Thistle mess up (assuming one of Alloa v Raith are also mathematically likely to qualify). All in all, the odds are against us. With this in mind, will Richie change the formation/style further to ensure we win by a large margin? Two (our only two) strikers starting perhaps? Will Jake Mulraney, so impressive against Dunfermline, have recovered from the kicking he has received in each game he’s played so far, in order to start? Will Owain Fon Williams start ahead of Cammy Mackay to give him at least 90 minutes of match action ahead of the first league game of the season? I think it will be a yes to each of these questions, as we have to go for the jugular against our League Two opponents to give us the best opportunity to qualify from the group as a seed. Inverness have enjoyed a very positive record against the Smokies, winning over two thirds of the fixtures played since first meeting in 1995. The most recent match was a 7-1 rout in an away pre-season friendly in 2013/14. Billy Mckay scored 5 that day, with current squad members Josh Meekings and Liam Polworth also netting. Other players of note taking to the field included David Raven, Gary Warren, Richie Foran, Aaron Doran, Carl Tremarco and Cammy Mackay… in addition to former striker Graham Bayne turning out for our opposition. Arbroath are missing quite a few of their more experienced starters due to suspension (Little, McCord and ex County player Jimmy Scott), with rumours online suggesting they may be missing up to 8 first team players in total. The three suspended players are an important part of the spine of the team, which will be significantly weakened through their absence. In an effort to strengthen the team ahead of Saturday Arbroath are attempting to bring in an unnamed defender on loan from Championship team Dundee United. Should no-one be signed in time Arbroath will be going into the match with a team short in height and experience, against an Inverness team who enjoy a myriad of tall, experienced players in comparison. Opposition players to look out for include former Inverness CT player Bryan Prunty who once scored for us in a 1-1 draw v. Rangers at Ibrox and fellow striker Steven Doris, who despite failing to score regularly at all his other clubs, went on trial at English Championship side Birmingham City in 2013. Late news from the Inverness camp is that Aaron Doran is very close to a return to action and could be considered for some game time against the Smokies. It would be fantastic to have Aaron back on the park, another option for Richie Foran to have with King and Mulraney already showing their worth in the wide areas. RossP prediction - The need is great for a win by a considerable margin. That, partnered with Arbroath's lower league status and missing personnel leads to significant confidence in a comfortable Inverness CT win. I predict a 4-0 victory, which should be enough to top the group. And our Welsh International Keeper has returned from the Euros...................

Danube to Dunfermline Inverness face Dunfermline on Tuesday night in the League Cup stages where it's getting to the point where only a win will be sufficient to keep us in the competition. Alternative Maryhill looks ahead to this clash, a far cry from one year ago in the scorching heat on the banks of the Danube. For the second year in a row, Inverness Caledonian Thistle’s players find themselves facing a hazardous trip to a post-Communist wasteland needing an away win to avoid elimination from a major trophy before the league season has even begun. Last July it was Giurgiu, Romania; this July, it is West Fife. Despite an opening win against Cowdenbeath and a draw on Saturday against Dundee Utd, ICT already find themselves trailing the Dundee club by three points and Dunfermline by two in the Scottish League Cup Group C league table, having played the same number of games as Dunfermline and one fewer than Utd. Thanks to Utd’s comprehensive win over Cowdenbeath, however, they also boast a goal difference that is four superior to Caley Thistle’s. With only the group winners and four best runners-up progressing to the knock-out stages of the tournament, then realistically, Richie Foran’s men must assume they will have to win both remaining fixtures in order to progress, beginning on Tuesday at East End Park. While the two fixtures ICT have already played may not have yielded as many goals or points as hoped for, they have provided reasons for optimism. The more direct attacking style promised by Foran is already in evidence, with loan signing Billy King proving a handful for the Dundee Utd defence in Saturday’s game, and Jake Mulraney having looked quick, tricky and eager to take on opponents in each of his second-half substitute appearances. Kevin McNaughton, covering for the injured Josh Meekings, offers great game-awareness and composure and looks as comfortable in the middle of the defence as he does in his preferred full back position. Foran must also be grateful to have retained the core of Tansey, Draper and Warren, players who have long since proven themselves to be among the best in Scotland in their positions, and who were typically committed and industrious in the two games to date. If there is an area in the team that still seems to be lacking, it is up front: Scott Boden did well to set up Ross Draper for his goal against Cowdenbeath and to head the opener in the Dundee Utd game, but ideally, if the chances that the likes of King, Mulraney and Polworth are capable of creating are to be converted, then Foran will hope to bring in a slightly more mobile option up front, either to partner or alternate with Boden. Dunfermline’s supporters and management are also justified in feeling optimistic about the season ahead, however. Promoted as champions from League One to the Championship, they have got off to a flyer in the League Cup with three-goal victories against Arbroath and Cowdenbeath, and although they will feel the loss of their talented forward Faisal El Bakhtaoui, they still have a proven goalscorer up front in Michael Moffat as well as Andy Geggan providing goals from midfield – three in the two League Cup games so far. Over the summer, the Pars have added ex-Kilmarnock and Partick forward Kallum Higginbotham, a rumoured ICT signing target, ex-Kilmarnock defender Lee Ashcroft, also a scorer against Cowdenbeath on Saturday, young Celtic striker Paul McMullan on loan, and of course, our own man-mountainous, if somewhat ponderous, Nat Wedderburn, who should help to shore up the midfield. With the addition of so many players with Premiership experience, it is clear that Dunfermline are looking to mount a serious challenge in what should be a highly competitive Championship this season. Being of a more cautious and perhaps pessimistic cast of mind than our previous previewer, I'm not going to offer a result or scoreline prediction; I will predict, however, that this will be a tough game, and another close one. Richie Foran's ICT side and philosophy may still be taking shape, but already we look like a hard-working and well-organised side that will not lie down to anybody, but also, for the moment, a side that struggles somewhat to convert chances. Hopefully Tuesday will be the day when that starts to change.

Richie's Revolution It’s been a week since Richie’s revolution kicked off against Cowdenbeath, Well now it is time for his managerial home debut. With the league campaign still a few weeks away these games will help get the team physically ready but in a competitive nature as we aim to progress in the newly revamped League Cup. If last week was easing Foran into it, this game will likely be the hardest test in the group stages, Dundee United may now be a championship club but their relegation may make them more dangerous than the team that finished miserably bottom of the premiership. The likelihood is that the squad will be added to before the team take to the pitch against Partick but things are shaping up quite nicely. As expected a number of the deadwood that John Hughes brought in with his ‘larger than normal budget’ have been released and Foran is looking to return the good times by making some exciting signings. Scott Boden has come in to add competition up front but the signings of former QPR trainee Jake Mulraney and on loan Hearts winger Billy King give an idea of what we are likely to see this season. Last season was frustrating with lots of slow passing making it a largely boring spectacle with many draws and low scoring matches. The fact Foran wants a return to quick tricky wingers and getting the ball in the box as much as possible indicates he wants to return to the DNA that made us so successful just over a year ago. The signing of Kevin McNaughton could prove a masterstroke as the new gaffer looks to add some steely experience to a back line that failed to hold out on a number of occasions last season. It was more about job done than winning in style at Central Park last week but the narrow 2-1 win could have been more handsome had the woodwork not intervened on a few occasions. As for our opponents, it has been a summer of reflection and rebuilding after the Terrors went from finishing 4th to being rock bottom and relegated a year later. Jackie McNamara did a decent job during his tenure but a poor start to last season saw him replaced by Mixu Paatelainen. However, the bounce that was expected with the change of manager never came and they plummeted down into the championship with a whimper. Ray Mckinnon has now come in to stabilise the ship and return them back to the big time at the first time of asking. United’s last trip up north saw them pick up a fully deserved 3-2 victory but Richie will not allow such a limp performance this time. They made an unconvincing start by conceding a late goal against Arbroath to only gain a point although they picked up a bonus point by winning the new penalty shoot-out system. But they followed that up by smashing our first opponents 6-1 at Tannadice to put them top of the group as they head north. This game will be a challenge. There is no doubt about that and it will be a good work out for ICT as they step up preparations for the new premiership season. GJ Predictions – Won’t be an easy game and as the top seeds the pressure is on with only the group winners guaranteed to progress to the last 16. Dundee United will see this as a fresh start as they look to get over their nightmare, and that mentality will make them dangerous but I am looking us for Richie to get us off the mark in front of the home faithful at the TCS. There is a good feeling around Caley Thistle at the moment and I fully expect Richie to give us the best possible start and the home fans to give him and the team the best possible backing. Home win. Preview by Ginger Jaggy Fans should note that the club will not be operating cash turnstiles this coming season. For HOME fans, tickets should be purchased from the ticket office before proceeding to the Turnstiles....for both Cash & Card Sales. Additional ticketing windows will operate to improve upon the effectiveness of this system when it has been used previously, but it still requires fans to arrive at the ground in good time to ensure access to the ground before kick-off. No matter the system, if everyone shows up 10 minutes before the game is due to start then we'll never get everyone in on time. Where possible, fans should purchase tickets in advance. This can be done online at https://www.eticketing.co.uk/ictfc/ or by phone on 0844 847 1888 (both available 24 hours per day). Obviously with cup matches there is an increased number of ticket purchases involved....please keep that in mind and allow a little more time than you might for a league match. The Turnstiles on the West side of the ground will not be in operation for this weekend's match via Dundee Utd. For any AWAY fans visiting the forum....Cash sales will take place from the KIOSK located at the end of the South Stand. Card sales need to be done at the Ticket Office located at the front of the Main Stand. United tickets.jpg-large

The Dawn of a New Era Our season kicks off at Central Park, Cowdenbeath in the revamped version of the League Cup. Inverness have been paired with Cowdenbeath, Arbroath, Dunfermline and Dundee United in the group stages. This will be new gaffer Richie Foran's first competitive game in his managerial career. It's all change at Inverness with new players in to replace those that left in the summer. Notable defectors are Miles Storey (Aberdeen), Danny Williams and James Vincent (Dundee), Jordan Roberts (Crawley Town), Andrea Mutombo (somewhere on the internet beside a £180,000 Lamborghini) and the much maligned Danny Devine (Partick Thistle). We have been busy in the transfer market though and in comes defender Kevin McNaughton, striker Scott Boden, speedy winger Jake Mulraney and Billy King (loan). It's anyone's guess how Inverness will line up tomorrow, but one man could well find himself starting after we all thought he was leaving. David Raven outlasted Yogi in an unprecedented turnaround and remains at the club while Yogi is on the dole. Owain Fon Williams has been at the Euro's with the successful Welsh squad and it may be Ryan Esson that gets the nod for this game. Pre-season was limited to highland league opposition and Elgin City. Josh Meekings and Aaron Doran have been posted missing. Other than that, a good blend of youth and first team players have been given a run out and it's now time for Richie Foran to select who he thinks will be good enough to progress in the Betfred League Cup. Former Inverness player Liam Fox is the man in charge of Cowdenbeath after the sacking of Colin Nish. A former Caley Jags Nemesis, he was dismissed after the Blue Brazil were relegated from League one following the play off defeat by Queens Park. Gary Glenn is one familiar name in their squad and he is the former Hearts and Ross County striker. Our last visit to Central Park ended in defeat in season 96/97 in front of 282 fans. Craig Sinclair and Martin Scott had Cowdenbeath 2-0 up at the interval, but despite plenty of pressure, we only managed to score one through Paul Cherry. We went on to win the third division that season whilst Cowdenbeath finished seventh. tm4tj prediction:- First game is always a leap into the unknown. Moreso this time with a new manager as well as some new faces on the park. Nothing to gauge either side against, but one would imagine a club from the top division will be good enough to win; fingers crossed.

Annus horribilis comes to an end. Last game of the season at Home to Dundee with a 12:30 kick off at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, a game which will decide the final pecking order for this campaign. The two sides battle it out to see who will be the best of the rest. A draw will be enough to ensure that Inverness finish in seventh place, whereas a win for Dundee would see them jump ahead of us, and more importantly get the extra cash that goes with every League position gained. It's been a difficult season for Inverness after the euphoria of last term when we finished third and won the Scottish Cup. This season has been blighted by injuries and failure to hold onto our top players whilst not replacing them with the required quality. It's also been a reality check for Yogi and the fans. Maybe winning the cup went to his head, but we have been playing some real mind-numbingly boring football of late. Maybe his hands are tied in terms of what he can and can't do, but one major issue has been gnawing away at the fans for a couple of months now. David Raven is presumably fit, but why oh why does he not get a start as one of our recognised and experienced right backs with Yogi keeping him benched while employing central defender Josh Meekings in that spot. It's a mystery to everyone and it looks like the end of the road for Raven as an Inverness player given the way he has been treated. Tactical genius he is not and the fans were also left wondering why our most creative talent in Jordan Roberts was left out of the starting eleven at Hamilton as well as Andrea Mutombo. Two players that are capable of changing a game, but not if they are left on the bench. It's all getting a little confusing down at the stadium. The fans have been looking for some entertainment recently, well that's not been in abundance of late with dour anti-football on show. Richie Foran is another who is seeking talks over his future at the club. He reckons he could do a turn for another year, but that won't happen sitting on the bench. Are we coming apart at the seams or can we stitch ourselves together and get a quality squad to the Caledonian Stadium in time for a new season. The sides have drawn all three games this season so far. Inverness have won four of their last six games, but Dundee have only two wins over the same period. As you would expect, there's little between the sides and another close encounter is on the cards. Inverness will say farewell to one or two this weekend, but the big talking point is will he or won't he let Dave the Rave take to the pitch. I imagine we will be on recent familiar team lines as most of the squad are back to fitness. Your call Yogi. Dundee might be without top scorer Kane Hemmings who has strained a hamstring. Missing will be Paul McGowan, Gary Harkins, Nicky Low, Thomas Konrad, Cammy Kerr and Jake McPake. tm4tj prediction:- Can we finish with a flourish. I'm no holding my breath on that one either. We might be capable of seeing off Dundee, but our lack of creation ensures that we make life difficult for ourselves and leaves the fans looking for something extra. When was the last time we put another team to the sword and threw in a bit of swashbuckle? Partick recently, but other than that it's been a stop start season and one to forget. I know, I know, injuries etc, but that wore thin a while ago. Anyway, let's get this one out of the way and then look forward to next season. No scoring draw, but it will be as tight as a ducks posterior. However, it will net us another £53K if we can do it.

Accies, Last Trip of the Season It's the penultimate game of a torrid, or should that be horrid, season for Inverness Caledonian Thistle as we visit New Douglas Park, Hamilton, to take on fellow survivors Hamilton Academical on Wednesday night in a 7:45 kick off. This was the scene of one of the more memorable games of the season where Inverness threw away a two goal lead only for Accies to draw level before Liam Polworth scored a spectacular winner in injury time. That game was littered with stunning goals as Inverness took all three points after coming out on top 3-4. However, Hamilton came North and went home with all three points in March after a 1-0 win at the Caledonian Stadium. Both sides have done just enough to stave off the threat of relegation and avoid the play-off place which this season goes to Kilmarnock with Dundee United in the automatic drop slot. Since the break, Accies have beaten both Dundee sides but were soundly thrashed by Killie. We have beaten Killie and Partick but went down rather tamely to United last Friday having been three down before losing 3-2. Revolving doors spring to mind! There are only four points between the sides although Inverness have a vastly superior goal difference and will be looking to overhaul Dundee who are one point better off than us. Plenty of cash still to be won by climbing another place in the league and contracts can still be won or lost. Well, if your face fits at least. With Dundee United clawing back two late goals to draw with Partick tonight, a win for Inverness at Hamilton will see us finish no lower than eighth. Should be enough incentive to have a go, but I'm no holding my breath. David Raven looks to be out of favour with Manager of the Month John Hughes as he is still reluctant to put him on the park despite playing Josh Meekings at right back and Danny Devine at center back, a scenario that is not best pleasing the Inverness fans. On the bright side, Liam Polworth has signed on for another three years and more are expected to follow. Yogi talks about his MotM Award https://audioboom.com/boos/4547978-ictfc-john-hughes-manager-of-the-month-for-april?t=0 Owain Fon Williams has been included in the Welsh squad for the European Championships this summer, a tremendous boost for the Welsh keeper who has been in great form for most of the season. Inverness can call on Iain Vigurs who will return after serving a two match ban. Ahem, David Raven is fit should Yogi decide to play him and Jordan Roberts is also hopefully fit after his excellent performances in the last few games. Accies will be without former Inverness player Dougie Imrie and lively forward Ali Crawford through suspension. One or two others are expected to shake off knocks after the win against Dundee. tm4tj prediction:- We can be a bit hit or miss against teams like Hamilton although we tend to do better away from home, as do Accies at Inverness. If we are as lethargic as we were in the first half against Dundee United then we will struggle to get anything. We need our playmakers to get on the ball and take on the defender. Jordan Roberts is one who can deliver and it's also encouraging that he would like to stay here. Miles Storey is another and he will do his prospects no harm if he puts in a good shift. The David Raven enigma needs resolved. Yogi looks to have dug his heels in and that is against the wishes of the support. If that's the case then it's sheer stubbornness and to the detriment of the team. Why split up our best center back pairing just to give Devine a game and keep our preferred right back out of the side. Baffling decision, and not one which has won him the Manager of the Month award. I'm taking us not to lose, but if we are to harbour any thoughts of climbing above Dundee, then we need to turn a draw into a win and not rely on others to help us out. Three points for Inverness in a towsy game littered with bookings and misplaced passes.

Last visit of United for a while. Championship bound Dundee United come North on Friday evening after their relegation was confirmed last Monday night when Dundee put the final nail in their coffin. The job losses have already started with Mixu Paatelainen being the first head to roll. Notable others to be ditched are John Rankin, Ryan Dow, Edward Ofere, Florent Sinama Pongolle, Guy Demell and Callum Morris. There's no room for gloating though as we know only too well the hardships that can follow relegation, some clubs taking years to recover, and some clubs never come back again. United have been at the forefront of Scottish football since 1995 and remain undefeated in four European ties against none other than Barcelona with a 100% record. They won the Scottish Premier League in 1982/83 and were runners up in the UEFA Cup in 1987. losing out to IFK Gothenburg in the two legged final. Plenty of memories for United fans to cling onto, season 2015/2016 won't be one of them. Inverness have kicked on since the split, beating Kilmarnock and Partick Thistle, scoring seven goals in the process to steer well clear of the play-off place. We have only one defeat in our last six games and four wins. Dundee United have lost their last four league games including a 2-0 defeat by Inverness at Tannadice over three weeks ago. This has signalled the end of their Premiership status and Championship football beckons. Danny Williams could return after injury saw him miss the Partick game. Mind you, his deputy fared rather well and Jason Roberts would be my preferred starter. Iain Vigurs misses another game through suspension and Andrea Mutombo did not disappoint at Partick. Aaron Doran and Alex Fisher are injured. Other than that, we have a reasonable squad to pick from again and could be on similar lines to our last outing at Partick, which means there could be no game for Dave the Rave unless he gets to say goodbye should he not be getting offered a new contract. Dundee United will be guided by assistant Gordon Young after Paatelainen's departure. It appears that only four still to be contracted players are welcome back at Tannadice. Blair Spittal, Simon Murray, Luis Zwick and Scott Fraser. So who knows who will be turning up to wear the tangerine strip that will be missing next year. tm4tj prediction:- United's demise is not our focus, but trying to finish above Dundee in seventh place is a priority as places mean cash for spending. Maybe some of the United players will be out to prove something now that the threat of relegation has become reality. In that respect, they could be difficult to beat, but given our recent form, I would expect us to finish with a flourish against the Arabs and take all three points although we may have to be patient to take the points. Home win by two goals. https://audioboom.com/boos/4527621-ictfc-liam-polworth-ahead-of-dundee-utd-match-05-05-16?t=0

Cards on the table ahead of Partick game 　 We are off to a ground where we have historically struggled to get the better of the home side. It's Firhill for thrills as we visit Partick Thistle in the battle to finish the best of the rest. Inverness have laid there cards on the table in terms of a bit of transparency regarding how we have been and will conduct our business over the coming months. They have issued a long statement giving reasons for the way the club used the monies during the season to reinforce the squad with injuries being a major factor in our larger than normal budget. There's little point in me telling you what was in the Board update for the fans, so here it is in it's entirety if you have not already read it. http://ictfc.com/news/team-news/1745-board-update-for-fans Published: Thursday, 28 April 2016 17:55 Caley Thistle are to finalise pre-contract agreements with at least two incoming players in the next couple of weeks. In addition, new contract offers were extended to goalkeeper Owain Fon Williams, Danny Devine and Liam Polworth. We know that Danny’s decision is imminent and, following positive discussions with Liam and his agent today, we can confirm that we have agreed terms with Liam regarding a 3 year deal meaning he will be at the club until the summer of 2019. Seven other players are already contracted for the new season. The management team has identified the players within the existing squad they want to retain next season and approaches will be made in the coming week, after which contract offers will be agreed. Other members of the squad will be playing in our remaining games for the opportunity to stay at Inverness, so it is important they do all they can to catch the eye. Squad stability has played a massive part in our recent success and we need to build on that and retain existing key players wherever possible. In saying that…the forthcoming departure to Dundee of Danny Williams and James Vincent is freeing up squad spots for new recruits. At the instigation of the management team Danny was offered a new deal in mid December, but this was not taken up. We wish them both well, they have made a big contribution since joining the club in the summer of 2013 and we have great respect for both. Steps have been taken to improve club recruitment after the unavoidable loss of Graeme Shinnie, Marley Watkins and Edward Ofere. Success puts our players on the radar of others and we must replace them within the budgetary constraints of the club. This happens in football and we are no different to many other clubs in that respect. We know the next diamonds are out there - we just need to seek them out, take them in and polish them up as we have done in the past. After winning the Scottish Cup and qualifying for Europe, this season has seen the club’s largest-ever playing budget. The cost of a 25 strong first team pool was far in excess of anything we have experienced at the club, but it was deemed necessary under the circumstances. Eleven of the first team squad were out injured simultaneously earlier in the season and key players Gary Warren, Josh Meekings, Richie Foran and Dave Raven have only recently returned to full fitness. Dean Brill is back training and getting valuable game time with the under 20’s and Aaron Doran is making excellent progress having been unavailable since our European games. Alex Fisher has returned to the club after spending some rehab time at St Georges, down south, and is also progressing well and we are entertaining high hopes that he may return before the end of the season. Consistency of player availability has long been a feature of our success in recent years, but unluckily we were blighted by numerous injuries to key players this time round. Unfortunately, as we all know and appreciate, players will sustain injuries and there’s little point in feeling sorry for ourselves over this. It is the responsibility of the management team to replace them and the Board have provided the finances required this season to enable this. Miles Storey has proved to be a good loan signing. We paid a healthy fee to Swindon Town in January to extend his loan to the end of the season, which was a further financial investment. We would like to keep Miles, and we know he is keen to stay. However, given his age his parent club will have first call on him so this is out of our hands at the moment. The management team were provided with their initial budget for next season some time ago and following last weekend’s excellent result against Kilmarnock we can now be fully focused on our plans for the next campaign and ensure that the signings of both current and new players are made as soon as possible. It was a disappointment to us all to miss out on the Premiership’s Top Six. This provides attendant challenges but on a more positive note, next seasons budget will remain similar to this seasons initial outlay. We will, as ever, be pushing hard to finish as high as possible and endeavour to bring some cheer to our fans. We thank you for your continued support which we value greatly and look forward to next season. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ So, there is some great news in there with contract negotiations and Liam Polworth is onboard until 2019 and Owain Fon Williams signed up and Danny Devine about to put pen to paper. I presume we will just have to wait and see if David Raven will be retained. Anyway on to todays match and the usual daunting task of trying to take something from Firhill. It's season 2009/2010 since we last won a league game at Firhill, although we did knock them out of the Scottish Cup on our way to lifting the trophy last May. That's zero wins in our last four League visits. Incidentally, that win in 2010 was a Championship game where we could call on quality players like Adam Rooney and Jonny Hayes. I wonder what happened to them. It was Adam Rooney that scored the only goal of the game back then. Nostalgia beckons:- Esson, Tokely, Munro, Proctor, Golabek, Hayes, Cox, Duncan, Foran, Odhiambo, Rooney and on the bench, Allison, Sanchez, Ross, Eagle and Nauris Bulvitis. Aye, those were the days. This season we have had two no scoring draws at Inverness and a 2-1 defeat at Firhill. We managed to throw away an early lead when Miles Storey scored in six minutes. Kris Doolan levelled before the break and we lost a familiar late goal when a Ryan Stevenson free kick found it's way into the net in the 90th minute. Meh! We hold a two point advantage over Partick with Dundee one point ahead of us, so it's possible to reach seventh spot today with a win at Partick as it's the Dundee derby tomorrow where United could find themselves officially relegated. Partick keeper Tomas Cerny is still out and Ryan Scully will continue in goal. Callum Booth and Dan Seaborne are back after suspension, but Gary Fraser and Stuart Bannigan are injured and will not feature. Inverness will be along similar lines to last week although Andrea Mutombo could get a start with Iain Vigurs suspended. Dean Brill has had some game time with the development squad and Alex Fisher might play some part before the season ends. If not, he should take up golf. Check him out here, his rehab looking good. https://twitter.com/AlexFisher37?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw tm4tj prediction:- With relegation all but erased for both sides, this could be a more open game and that might free up space for the pacey Miles Storey to capitalise on. Jordan Roberts has been a notable absentee lately along with David Raven and it would be pleasing to see either of these players feature. We have found Partick a particularly tough nut to crack in recent years but with the threat of relegation disappearing, I'm taking Inverness to come home with something. It might just be one point though, but all three are up for grabs and it would be nice to break our Firhill hoodoo. It will be interesting to see how Abdul Osman and Steven Lawless compete as they were alleged targets for Yogi next season along with Stuart Bannigan. I don't think we are losing this one, point at worst, all three on a good day.

Save Dave campaign gathers pace as Killie look to get out of trouble. It's the beginning of the end for two of the bottom six clubs this weekend as Kilmarnock visit Inverness on Sunday in the early kick off at 12:30. Dundee United are almost certainly confirmed as one of the clubs destined for the drop. The best they can do is escape automatic relegation and a play off place would be their only hope of avoiding the drop, but it's a tall order. At the moment all of the bottom six are still mathematically in bother, but the focus is on the bottom three of United, Killie and Accies with Inverness hovering on the fringes. A win today would make it highly unlikely that we would face the play-offs. Defeat would bring Killie to within five points of us with the possibility of Hamilton joining us on the same points total but with a vastly inferior goal difference. Aye it's getting a tad fraught at the bottom as the clubs fight it out to be the best of the rest. In a week where the Queen has been upstaged on her 90th birthday by a Prince, it's time for Inverness to produce their own purple patch and steer clear of the drop. Let's go crazy, we don't want to be playing at a Paisley park next season. Despite all that's going on, the big talking point at the Caledonian Stadium is surrounding a Raven lunatic as the story has been made public that David Raven may not be offered a new contract by John Hughes. His preferred option of spending the cash will be to try and bring in strikers to add some fire power to our punchless squad. The fans are no happy about this situation and feel that Raven is being pushed out while he still has plenty to offer this club and would appear to be content to stay with us. It's a tricky one but this just fuels speculation of a rift within as Raven, although injured of late, looks to be frozen out. On the other hand, at 31 and a season littered with injuries, should Inverness be content to offer Dave a new contract? Either way, lot's of feathers have been ruffled over a Raven and a fans protest could well be surfacing. Back to the game and the clubs have played three times this season with the home sides winning each game. Back in October, Kiltie and Magennis put us to the sword with a 2-0 win at Rugby Park. That was Killie's first clean sheet of the season. We're too kind sometimes. In mid December we returned the favour in the Highlands with a 2-1 win. A Vigurs double put us in the driving seat despite a late consolation by Mark Connolly. Back to Rugby Park in January and Killie triumphed 2-1 when Kiltie opened the scoring only for Draper to level it before the break. However, Craig Slater scored a stunning volley early in the second half to secure the points. At that stage of the season Inverness had opened up a four point gap over Killie, it's now stretched to eight. Killie are not to be underestimated here and we just need to look back to their last game where they trounced St Johnstone 3-0. Worryingly for us, Kris Boyd scored twice and he is a player that knows the route to goal pretty well. Kallum Higginbotham scored the other in a tremendous victory over the side that thrashed Aberdeen on Friday night. Our last outing showed up the very worst of Scottish football as we dug out a 0-0 draw at home to Hearts. A dreadful game where chances were at a premium. Story of our season to be honest. The previous game we eased our relegation fears with a good away win at Tannadice, a result that all but scuppers United but kept us just above the waterline. Yogi has dented his relationship with the fans over the Raven affair and despite Dave being declared fit now, allegedly, he did not appear on the bench against Hearts when he is our recognised right back. Our injury list has all but disappeared, just Aaron Doran and Alex Fisher officially out. Dean Brill has played four or five games with the development squad and it's no coincidence that the young side has been performing better of late. Jordan Roberts has also featured but no sign of Raven anywhere. Kilmarnock should be unchanged although the scorer of said stunning volley Craig Slater could be recalled after illness. However, Steven Smith, David Syme and Mark Connolly are out for the remainder of the season and Chris Johnston is nearing full fitness. tm4tj prediction:- It's getting close to squeaky bum time as points are getting harder to come by. This will be no walk in the park with Kilmarnock's need greater than ours and that will be enough to drive them forward. With Kris Boyd back amongst the goals we need to be at our best defensively whilst also looking to create something at the other end. That's been a season long issue with injuries etc etc etc being cited as the reasons for our demise. It's time to stop feeling sorry for ourselves and get out on the park and put on a display. Yogi needs to put on an impressive performance here and forget about any locker room differences and put our best possible team on the park. Can someone tell him we are not clear of trouble yet and show some desire to get forward. His feathers may have been ruffled by the Raven, but it's not about one player, it's about the team. I'm going for a score draw, with Killie scoring an injury time equaliser, probably emanating from our right back position. Meh! The touchy subject is raised in this interview. Carl Tremarco talks about the visit of Kilmarnock, listen here.

Better Late Than Never. At the third time of asking, Hearts will visit Inverness to fulfil the pre-split fixture list. This game has been postponed because of the weather and called off due to sickness at Tynecastle, but it looks as though it could go ahead this time, fingers crossed. The clubs are separated by twenty points and six places in the Premiership. Hearts have a vastly superior goal difference at +21, the second best in the league whilst we have a negative figure at -3. They are all square this season with home advantage looking like the meaningful factor in these games, both 2-0 wins for the home sides. James Vincent came on as a sub against the Arabs as did Danny Williams but there has been no sign of Jordan Roberts who has looked lively when he has been fit enough to play and that is a concern for the Inverness fans. Iain Vigurs has started to look interested and he scored a thumping goal at the weekend and Andrea Mutombo is a box of tricks. If only he could produce an end product more often. Things are starting to look up and another win will go a long way to banishing all thoughts of relegation in a season where top-six was as likely as facing the drop. Out for Inverness are David Raven who is reported to be almost there and he played 90 minutes for the development squad on Monday afternoon in a 0-0 draw against Hibernian. Aaron Doran, Alex Fisher and Dean Brill are longer term absentees and Yogi will no doubt have the same squad that beat Dundee United ready to go. Hearts could have Callum Paterson back as he nears full fitness following a shoulder injury. Juwon Oshaniwa is available after suspension, but former Inverness player Don Cowie is still suffering from a calf injury. tm4tj prediction:- With Inverness still requiring points to stay clear of the relegation play-offs and Hearts hoping to catch Aberdeen in second place it could make for an interesting encounter. Both clubs had good results last time out with Hearts coming from behind to beat the Dons and Inverness binning Dundee United with ease at Tannadice. We can't now make the top-six but three more points would ease our downward thoughts. Miles Storey is back amongst the goals and our squad is as strong as it has been all season. I'm taking Inverness to take all three points, but it will be close.

Last Chance? It's crunch time at the bottom end of the table as Inverness travel to Dundee to take on basement boys United as we enter the Last Chance saloon. An almost surreal situation where we could still make the top-six or face relegation in a season blighted by injuries, lack of signings, tactical disasters, late goals and worst of all, fan expectation after last season where finishing third in the table and lifting the Scottish Cup were the norm. United may be at the foot of the table, but I doubt they are the worst team on current form and it would take a brave man to write them off as the great escape still awaits Mixu Paatelainen and his squad. I also doubt if Billy Mckay would want to see the word relegation on his CV again, having already been involved in Wigan's demise. To be honest, it's quite a daunting task ahead for Yogi's side given our recent results. Defeat last week against Motherwell was disappointing when a freak goal and stoppage time breakaway confined us to zero points and all but killed off our top-six ambitions. United played Partick in midweek and went down 1-0 to leave them with two wins in their last six league games. That's still better than us with one win in six, equalled by Hamilton and bettered by Kilmarnock with none. To be fair to Hamilton, they beat us for that win so that leaves Inverness as one of the contenders for the drop, make no mistake about it. The saving grace could be that we have accumulated seven more points than Killie, and three more than Accies with a superior goal difference over both. United are adrift a further five points worse off than Killie. What can we expect tomorrow? I doubt very much that caution will be thrown to the wind hoping that an unlikely combination of results would catapult us to top half safety. We have struggled all season for one reason or another, but the bottom line is that we are in a dogfight now against other teams in a similar position. Don't expect any favours from any of them this weekend. Andrea Mutombo was a bright spark last week but even his dazzling display could not ignite the players round about him. It was left to full back Carl Tremarco to try and stoke the embers and he almost managed that with two or three efforts that were close to giving Inverness all three points. However, our lack of penetration once more scuppered us as we let Motherwell off the hook and were caught with that very late sucker punch. Unfortunately, something that has happened too often this season. The teams have met twice this season and both games ended all square. A 1-1 draw at Tannadice when who else but Billy Mckay put United ahead in the first half before a Josh Meekeings bullet header squared the game in the second. In the return fixture at Inverness, we had to rely on a stoppage time counter from Lewis Horner to get a point after coming from behind twice. Former players John Rankin and he scores when he wants Billy Mckay scored for United and Liam Polworth got our first, 2-2 the final score. John Hughes has more players at his disposal than he has had all season so the injury excuses are starting to wear thin now. One mystery is surrounding David Raven who has been missing for large chunks of the season. It was reported a week or two ago that he was nearing fitness but he was not on the bench against Motherwell fuelling speculation that he is out of favour. Odd, considering our lack of natural right backs. James Vincent is another on the fringes, but that is less surprising with his and Danny Williams' pending departure for Dens Park at the season end. The main casualties are Aaron Doran and Dean Brill, although Brill has played for the development squad last week. Alex Fisher is another who has been out, but like most of the others he is reputed to be on the mend. Another mysterious omission is Jordan Roberts who looked to have a promising career ahead of him once he got over his injuries, but he too has fallen foul of the bench syndrome, being left there when he might have appeared to be a better attacking option than others. What I can tell you is that Greg Tansey is back after suspension and he will no doubt start against United. The Arabs will be looking to bounce back after the setback at Firhill and defender Coll Donaldson is back after suspension. Mixu has a few knocks to contend with but he is keeping his squad ailments close to his chest. John Hughes audio:- https://audioboom.com/boos/4406812-ictfc-john-hughes-match-preview-v-dundee-utd-07-04-16 Danny Devine audio:- https://audioboom.com/boos/4406811-ictfc-danny-devine-match-preview-v-dundee-utd-07-04-16 tm4tj prediction:- We will do well to take anything from this game. United's urgency for points is greater than ours at this moment in time and that might just be enough to give them the edge. They will be backed by a large vociferous crowd for this one as they have been the last few games as their fans try to help them out, whilst our fans are busy looking for a successor to John Hughes. In Billy Mckay and Edward Ofere they have proven scorers at this level and that is a worry for our goal shy squad. We displayed some neat touches against Well, but the killer instinct is missing and that has been our downfall all season. We went looking for a winner, something that I doubt will happen on Saturday and I suspect Yogi will be content with a point. Survival at all costs even if that means missing out on top-six. Draw at best, but defeat is staring us in the face. We still have the twice postponed Hearts game to play next Tuesday to conclude all games up to the dreaded split. The result of that one could be immaterial depending on the scores this weekend. I suppose it's fingers crossed for a draw at Dingwall and Hamilton beating Dundee. I'm not holding my breath to be honest. First and foremost we need to do the business at Tannadice then take it from there. It's a long shot, probably just too long for us now.

Steelmen are no fools Rejuvenated Motherwell are the visitors as we enter April, a month where fools are tolerated, but just for one day. Going into this game, Inverness trail Motherwell by five points thanks to the Steelmen winning five of their last six games. In stark contrast, we have won only once in our last six as we struggled for some consistency. But what a win it was, 0-3 in the local derby as we crushed Dingwall at the Global Energy Stadium. Top-six looks just out of our reach, but we will have a better understanding of it after the results this weekend. It's almost out of our own hands. Defeat would probably end our aspirations. However, there are six teams vying for three places with St Johnstone, Motherwell and Ross County in pole position. We started our domestic season with a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Motherwell but we have the edge over them since then with a 3-1 league win and a 2-1 Scottish Cup win, both games at Fir Park. However, it looks as though Mark McGhee is turning their season round as they have surged into the top half of the table, leaving the relegation battle for others to contend. The last games for either side were fantastic occasions. Motherwell came from behind to beat the once famous Aberdeen. Second half goals from Scott McDonald and Louis Moult overcame a Kenny McLean penalty to secure the points and move Motherwell into fifth place in the league. Something that looked a long way off a couple of months ago. We kept our best performance of the season for Ross County to ensure the Highlands are still ours. We appeared to abandon our error strewn mis-passing game and the direct route paid dividends as we scored three tremendous goals. Miles Storey scored the pick of the bunch with a tremendous volley after great control of a long ball on his chest. Not only did he score, he was running at the County defence all afternoon and a worthy MotM. John Hughes has more choice available after the international break with James Vincent and Andrea Mutombo at his disposal. Still out are Aaron Doran, David Raven, Alex Fisher and Dean Brill, with Greg Tansey serving a one match ban. Mark McGhee can call on the returning captain Keith Lasley and defender Ben Hall to bolster his squad. However, James McFadden is out after breaking his ankle in training and Stephen Pearson and Louis Laing join him on the sidelines. tm4tj prediction:- If we continue where we left off at Dingwall, this should be a walk in the park. Unfortunately our season has been littered with disappointments and nothing is guaranteed in this league. With Motherwell on a roll and Inverness upping their strategy, this could make for an entertaining game. Both sides will be looking for maximum points and that should open the game up and make for plenty of opportunities. Miles Storey will have gained in confidence after last weeks performance and Liam Hughes showed us the value of a giant front man. With Josh Meekings back in defence things are looking up. We will need to shackle the Wells' top scorer Louis Moult as he has a habit of scoring against us. I'm going for a home win