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  1. Refereeing Joke Ruins Derby Using the term 'referee' loosely, Nick Walsh ruined any hope that a fair game would be played out as he sent Charlie Trafford off on half time and proceeded to flash yellow cards willy nilly, especially at those in blue and red. The game was ruined by half time and with County 2-1 ahead after a lack lustre first half from Inverness there was little hope that the hosts would get their noses in front, not with Nick useless Walsh trying to dominate the game. Josh Mullin rifled a shot home in eight minutes before Jordan White won and missed a penalty, Scott Fox guessing right and saving. We did draw level when Carl Tremarco headed home but we shot ourselves in the foot by gifting a sloppy second, Boyle taking advantage of joke defending. With Trafford going off that was it for us and County and Walsh held on for all three points as the weather worsened. Results tonight showed no dramatic changes to the table with Ayr -V- Morton and Queens -V- Falkirk both ending in 1-1 draws. Falkirk climb above Partick Thistle on goal difference at the foot of the table but have played one more game. Top of the table clash on Friday night as County play Dundee United. We face a tough trip to Ayr on the Saturday and the Pars visit Partick Thistle. This was a crucial game for both teams and neither side were able to field their full strength squad due to injuries. Robertson was without engine room penalty taking midfielder Sean Welsh who will miss the rest of the season. County had four or five first team squad players out, notable Michael Gardyne and Keith Watson with Iain Vigurs suffering a setback in his recuperation. Such is their depth of squad it made little difference to their playing routines. A decent day gave way to some heavy showers shortly before kick off and the TV cameras restricted the fans in the stadium. The Inverness fans rightly relished this one after some great performances recently and having held the upper hand in most derby's this season although not always getting the right result. Undiminished, the optimism and belief that we could consolidate within the top four was rife, but that would soon crumble after we made a sluggish start to this encounter. From the kick off, it was evident that County were the team that wanted this more and we were on the back foot in the opening minutes as we defended nervously. Josh Mullin had two or three half chances before he opened the scoring in the eighth minute. Joe Chalmers was disposessed in midfield. It looked innocuous enough as Mullin got the ball but he speared a low shot from outside of the box in the inside right position. However, it arrowed it's way across the keeper and nestled in the bottom right of Mark Ridgers' goal despite a despairing dive from the keeper. All looked a bit soft to me, but 1-0 to the visitors it was. We only had ourselves to blame at this stage as our tackling, passing and commitment were all wayward. This stirred us slightly and just over ten minutes later we were awarded a penalty after Jordan White was released on the right side of the box. As he tried to go round Fox he was sent sprawling and he was awarded a penalty. He took it himself but telegraphed it somewhat to Fox who was cunning enough to have guessed the correct direction and saved the less than impressive spot kick to his right. Meh! Fox only got a yellow for his part in the incident. His next play proved to be more profitable as he headed back for Carl Tremarco to score with a header off the underside of the bar to level the match five minutes later after a good spell from the hosts. On the half hour Charlie Trafford would pick up a booking for a minor foul. That would come back to bite him on the bum before the interval. Ten minutes before the break our recovery process was undone after we lost control of the ball and failed to clear our lines effectively. From the corner, Draper hit the ball into the ground and Andrew Boyle was able to nod the ball home from very close range with a number of defenders looking around and waving their arms at the referee in frustration. Shoddy stuff from the Caley Jags. County now looked to be in control as we reverted to loose passing and half hearted challenges as Declan McManus and Mullin fired efforts at goal. Aaron Doran broke the monopoly and Inverness forced three corners in succession which came to nothing. A free kick brought no joy either, Joe Chalmers hitting the wall. The game changer was upon us. Firstly Ross Draper seemed to bundle Liam Polworth to the ground which the 'referee' chose to ignore. Ten yards further away he penalised Charlie Trafford and gave him his second half baked yellow card which saw Trafford sent for an early bath in the first minute of stoppage time at the interval. Half Time 1-2 Draper had done his job and the County management replaced him at the break. Considering that he already had picked up an early booking and was lucky to stay on the park, that was a shrewd move. There was plenty of effort but little guile as we struggled to create clear openings, Brad McKay coming closest with a header. The weather had now turned decidedly nasty and a vicious swirling wind and sleet, hailstones and rain made conditions difficult and almost impossible to play a passing game. Tom Walsh was our most effective player on the break and he curled a low effort just the wrong side of the post from the left edge of the box. Close, but not close enough. White almost made the right contact with a shot from twelve yards but could not get his foot round the ball enough under pressure from the defender and the shot went wide. Looked as though County hit the bar at one point with a close range header by Lindsay amongst some confusion in our ranks. Conditions were still deteriorating and the Nick Walsh I'm in charge booking extravaganza began. it was almost as if bookings were going out of fashion and four Inverness players were booked in the next six minutes. It seemed as though every tackle was not just a foul, but also a yellow card, yet the visitors were not chastised for anything. Polly was booked for dissent, Rooney for throwing the ball softly towards the shins of a visiting player. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Inverness Caley Thistle manger John Robertson on BBC Sport: "The sending off - they both bookable offences. However, our boys are convinced Ross Draper caught Liam Polworth in the build-up and it could easily have been a red the other way. That was a big game-changer." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nick Walsh take a bow son, you are absolutely useless, the worst referee in the history of worst referees. The ten men were now physically and mentally drained but we did well to deny County any more goals, Brian Graham having a couple of late attempts. Still time for a late ironic cheer from the Caley Jags fans when Sean Kelly was booked in time added on. That was as good as it got in a hugely disappointing game ruined by a small person with the big chip on his shoulder syndrome. Coll Donaldson was again our best performer with Tom Walsh and Tommy Tremarco putting in a shift. However, we only have ourselves to blame for our poor start to the game where we strolled around making error after error giving County the belief and impetus to go on and win the game. Gone was the passion, commitment and desire of the previous derby's. It had been replaced by shirking tackles, misplaced passes and blaming someone else. All this helped by a totally incompetent official. Nuff said. Video footage from SPFL OFFICIAL youtube Our next game is away to Ayr United on Saturday. Play like we did at the start of this game and it could be a long day. Here's the Top Ten reaction on CTO forum All the mentions of terrible officiating makes it sound like sour grapes...………………..It certainly was not, that Ref was the worst of the season if not in history !!!! Completely ruined the match. Ref decided the game and that was very disappointing. Could have maybe nicked an equaliser but lacked ideas towards the end. Good effort despite being down to ten. The wrong Walsh was substituted. ? The refereeing - which is not affecting the score - is now bordering on the ridiculous.Disappointing. Not often I join the ref was a w***** brigade, but where do I join up? Apart from that, our defending at set pieces was poor. Ref killed what was shaping up to be a great game he looked hell bent on booking any player in blue and red for any reason. A new low in refereeing, worse than John McKendrick. I don't believe I've ever witnessed such an inept refereeing performance at any level ever before! It really was a farce. The only tiny mitigating factor might be the fact that the standside linesman was absolutely no help to the ref whatsoever. Geezo we have witnessed some shocking refs through the years, but that must be the worst ever. One word for that.... Shambolic, and I don't mean the players I mean the ref. I'm not one to ever just point fingers at every ref but that was the most incompetent biased and downright laughable officiating I have ever witnessed. The final word will come from this geezer............. Really disappointing. I thought we started poor, got worse, got a lifeline, blew it, got level, fecked up and got a shit ref. Nick Walsh, you are the worst referee ever. Disgusted, North Kessock. With that, I'll let you make your own mind up if the referee was any good! Date: 02/04/2019 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 3795 Referee: Nick Walsh ? Inverness CT: 1 Lineup: Ridgers; B Mckay (Rooney 75), Donaldson, McCart, Tremarco (McDonald 85), Chalmers, Trafford, Polworth, Doran, Walsh (Austin 72), White. Subs (not used): C Mackay; McHattie, D Mackay, Machado, Scorers: Tremarco (24) Booked: Trafford (29), McCart (77), Polworth (81), Rooney (82), Chalmers (83) Sent Off: Trafford (45+1 second yellow) Ross County: 2 Lineup: Fox; Fraser, Boyle, van der Weg, Kelly, Mullin, Draper (Spence 45), Lindsay, Armstrong (Graham 71), McManus, Stewart Subs (not used): Munro; Semple, Paton, Cowie, Grivosti Scorers: Mullin (8), Boyle (34) Booked: Draper (9), Fox (21), Kelly (90+2) Sent Off: none a
  2. *** VOTING IN THE POLL ABOVE IS FOR PEOPLE WHO WERE AT THE MATCH ONLY *** If you were at the match, please use the poll above to vote for your top 3 players. As a bit of fun, we have also added an option to rate the referee .... Please make sure you vote for 3 separate players. If you make an error, let us know so we can fix it. PLEASE ONLY VOTE ABOVE IF YOU WERE AT THE GAME Anyone caught trying to cheat the system WILL be banned from voting in ALL site polls...this is your only warning. **NOT at the game ?** As a result of requests received, we have made a slight change to how these threads work for site users who watched the game on TV or listened to the full game live on the radio ....... You too will now be able to cast your votes, but should do it in the thread below, and NOT in the official poll above. Just list the three players of your choosing and award 5,3, or 1 point(s). You can give the ref a mark if you want too ! These votes will NOT be counted in the official total, as we only count votes from those who where actually at the game, but it IS a way for you to participate in the process .... which many people asked for .... a happy medium we hope !!!!!
  3. Staggies staggering to title The staggering Staggies pop over the bridge to play the Caley Jags in this game postponed from a couple of weeks ago after heavy rain had left the pitch somewhat waterlogged. It's the 6th and final Highland derby coming up on Friday night with BBC Scotland getting in on the action from the Caledonian Stadium with Ross County the visitors for a 7:05pm kick off. Every one of these games has been passionate, enthralling, dramatic and left the fans wanting more. Well, it's here, the next installment. Other games being played on the same night are Ayr -V- Morton and Queen of the South -V- Falkirk, so interest at both ends of the table. After last weekend, we are in fourth place but five points ahead of contenders Dunfermline Athletic. Dundee United also suffered a surprise home defeat at the hands of Queen of the South. County remained top, but the gap has narrowed. Our last game was a laboured no score draw against lowly Falkirk on Saturday. A poor first half livened up after the interval but we never got the break of the ball and had Mark Ridgers to thank for making a point blank save in time added on to ensure we got a point. It was an opportunity sidestepped to put more pressure on the teams above who faltered apart from Ayr United. County went down 1-0 at Alloa thanks to a first half goal from Dario Zanatta. A surprise result but as said before, no easy games now with the bottom five fighting to avoid relegation and the top five vying for promotion. They have also made a visit to the Caledonian Stadium recently and went away with our IrnBru cup. There's a space on the shelf now............ The games between the clubs this season have been a fantastic advert for Championship football in the Highlands. They have had everything. The first two were drawn before County won the New Year derby 2-1 in Dingwall. There followed two tremendous 2-2 draws in Scottish Cup action including extra time with Inverness winning a dramatic penalty shoot out 5-4. Mark Ridgers making one save and Nathan Austin converting the winning kick to send Inverness into the next round. Thanks to that we can now look forward to playing Hearts at Hampden on April 13th in the semi-final. Aaron Doran has been in sparkling form recently with four goals in the last five games, and but for some last ditch Falkirk defending he would have made it five from five. The wee Irishman loves a goal against County as well although he only has one this season so far in the 2-2 cup draw at Dingwall. Aaron has come back from a few injury setbacks and has never been in better form, scoring 11 times this season. Here's a familiar image of Doran wheeling away after scoring yet another goal and captured in this sketch by our own ICT fan and wonderful artist Sophie Robb. You can see these and many more fantastic images on her twitter account or on her ETSY account. Sean Welsh is out after it has been confirmed that he has broken a metatarsal again. Robertson speaking about Welsh said: “Sean has been terrific for us this season – one of the unsung heroes. “He’s in the team every week and he’s in the team every week for a reason, with the job he does for us. He has been brilliant, he’s been consistent and he does what it says on the tin in the middle of the park. He wins the ball, passes it, breaks play up and he also gets forward. He has also become a very reliable penalty-taker to boot, but I think it is his influence on the team. He is one of our experienced players, patrolling the middle of the park and mixing play up. Here's the youngsters against Ayr United in the 5-2 win. Matheus Machado scored a couple of the goals in a 5-2 u18 win over Ayr United He had been drafted into the first team squad recently and it's good to know he has goals in him. Check out his second goal. How about that for a chip. Iain Stewart, eat your heart out! Ross Gunn and Cameron Harper also scored against Ayr as did Daniel Mackay, and he was on the bench against Falkirk as well. Anthony McDonald is a doubt but could make the squad. Another man who seems to relish these games is Liam Polworth who will be an integral part of Robertson's plans. Liam played his 200th game for Inverness on Saturday against Falkirk. Liam has only three goals to his name this season and is due another. Polly is also on Sophie's sketch list, and as they say on Blue Peter, here's one she prepared earlier. County's depth of squad will not present them with any major issues as they stagger towards the Championship tape. Billy Mckay is out for the rest of the season after breaking his arm whilst scoring a hat-trick against Ayr United recently. Mckay had scored 20 goals this season for County and was in fine form. He proved he is still a winner though, even when out injured and he has won the Championship player of the month whilst wristing up with his stookie. Good luck with the recovery Billy. County's management duo will be without defenders Callum Morris and Liam Fontaine who will not feature until next season and Iain Vigurs will likely miss the rest of the season as his foot injury continues to give him problems despite a forty-five minute outing against Kilmarnock reserves. Keith Watson took a knock at Alloa and is out and Michael Gardyne is struggling, but that could be a smoke screen and I expect he will turn up, even if it's just to try and wind up the Caley Jags players. Sean Kelly and Ross Draper made the bench for the trip to Alloa Athletic and should be included again. County's English defender Callum Semple’s Scotiish FA hearing for betting on football matches has been pushed back a fortnight to Thursday, April 11th. Semple was earlier this month given a notice of complaint accused of making bets between the period of July 1 and March 1, in which he also played for Queen of the South on loan from Sheffield United. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Scottish Cup Semi-Final, Hampden Park, Glasgow North and William Hill South Stands - Adults: £30 Concessions*: £15 East and West Stands - Adults: £20 Concessions: £10 *Concessions: Under-16s and 65 years and over................ Don't forget to buy your tickets for the SemiFinal against Hearts at Hampden. This may appear to be an alien concept for some, but always remember this, in space, no one can hear you scream. If you are sitting in your living room passing round the werther's originals and watching on TV, the lads won't be able to hear you. They have been brilliant to get this far in the cup and it's a great day out at the National Stadium. Be there or be square! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you like a wee flutter, our partnership with FansBet can offer you something. Just click on FansBet to get started. "Remember to select CaleyThistleOnline when you register and you’ll be helping us support ICT fan causes." FansBet are partners with Supporters Direct Scotland and already have many impressive stories of giving back to and empowering fans, ranging from funding away travel, share purchases, backing safe standing projects and many more. You can read some of FansBet’s Giving Back stories on their blog at https://blog.fansbet.com/fansbet-giving-back/partners/fan/ Always remember to adopt safe gambling and responsible policies.
  4. THE MATCHDAY THREAD Discuss ICT & other games in this thread as they happen Inverness CT -V- Falkirk PREVIEW 30th March 2019 @ 3PM, Caledonian Stadium Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Facebook Go to the Chatroom Media Coverage AUDIO COVERAGE BBC Sportsound BBC Sportsound [UK Only] Club Twitter Feed should have live audio for this game. see below for link when available. LIVE TEXT (ONLINE) Sporting Life BBC VIDEO SPFL YouTube Channel ICT Official YouTube Channel TEAM LINEUPS TO FOLLOW Tweets by @ICTFC Tweets by @ICTFC
  5. *** VOTING IN THE POLL ABOVE IS FOR PEOPLE WHO WERE AT THE MATCH ONLY *** If you were at the match, please use the poll above to vote for your top 3 players. As a bit of fun, we have also added an option to rate the referee .... Please make sure you vote for 3 separate players. If you make an error, let us know so we can fix it. PLEASE ONLY VOTE ABOVE IF YOU WERE AT THE GAME Anyone caught trying to cheat the system WILL be banned from voting in ALL site polls...this is your only warning. **NOT at the game ?** As a result of requests received, we have made a slight change to how these threads work for site users who watched the game on TV or listened to the full game live on the radio ....... You too will now be able to cast your votes, but should do it in the thread below, and NOT in the official poll above. Just list the three players of your choosing and award 5,3, or 1 point(s). You can give the ref a mark if you want too ! These votes will NOT be counted in the official total, as we only count votes from those who where actually at the game, but it IS a way for you to participate in the process .... which many people asked for .... a happy medium we hope !!!!!
  6. Gathering Pace The push for promotion gathers pace after three wins on the bounce and we will be looking for a fourth on Saturday when perennial spoilers Falkirk come North for a 3:00pm kick off at the Caledonian Stadium. I'm sure the players would appreciate a big backing to help get right behind the team and push them on. If you can't make the game, look out for a live audio feed which should appear on the twitter feed as a periscope link. If the gremlins stay away, this should work, fingers crossed................ ps, Please don't be breaking any seats, it's a costly affair and something the club can do without. If you wouldn't do it at home, don't do it here. Read the joint club statement here Yes, three games on the bounce, who knew! Four if you include the cup win at Tannadice, or to put it another way, six out of seven in all competitions. The only defeat in that run was a 1-0 reverse at Tannadice when we were a bit light due to injury. What does it all mean I hear you say? Well it means that we now sit third fourth in the table going into today's game and five points clear of Dunfermline who are the ones most likely to make the push for promotion uncomfortable for us. Ayr have slithered in recent weeks but are not to be discounted yet. The Pars play Ayr on Friday night prior to our game. (Ayr beat Dunfermline 0-1 to go back into third place) There's the updated table above on the left. Other fixtures at the top end are Alloa -V- Ross County and Dundee United -V- Queen of the South. Final fixture is at the other end of the table where Morton play Partick Thistle, a game where Morton could get dragged into the relegation scrap. Our last game was a 3-2 home win over Alloa. Cruising at 3-0, our midfield dynamics changed when Sean Welsh went off injured and Joe Chalmers and Aaron Doran were exchanged. That let Alloa get a foothold and they plugged back a couple of goals through a Trouten penalty and a fortuitous Flannigan deflected shot that wrong footed Ridgers. Doran, Welsh (pen) and dainty feet Jordan White were our scorers. That's eleven for the season for a rejuvenated Aaron Doran who has scored in his last four outings. Great return from the wide midfielder. Dainty feet now has 14 goals in all competitions this season after a slow start to his ICTFC career. Falkirk's last outing was on the 16th of March when they drew with fellow relegation candidates Partick thistle. Ian McShane scored his third of the season to earn the point just before the interval. Previous to that, they went down narrowly at Dingwall (2-1) and beat Ayr United 2-0 at home. Those results show Falkirk sitting third bottom four points above Alloa and it looks as though they are starting to ease away from the dreaded drop. The Bairns are well used to this game of avoiding relegation and are battle hardened to it and will prove to be a tough nut to crack with Zak Rudden in particular a threat. Zak is fresh back from Cyprus where he scored a hat-trick for Scotland u19's. He has also scored three times against Inverness already this season. Another one making an impact is Shayne Lavery. He has two goals in two games after he scored the winner for Northern Ireland U21’s against Mexico last week. As ever, our games against Falkirk have been tough. We started at Falkirk with a 1-0 win back in August thanks to an early George Oakley strike, but he can't help us now. Falkirk came North in December and went away with all three points in a 3-2 win. Walsh and Oakley scored for us but a Zak Rudden double pulled the Bairns level before a late sickener in the third minute of time added on saw Scott Harrison snatch the points. That was the game that ended our unbeaten league run of 25 matches and got the monkey off our back (too many draws). The third encounter was a 2-2 draw at Falkirk as the Bairns twice came from behind (Rudden, McShane) to earn a point after Rooney and Doran had scored for us. John Robertson will have concerns over the fitness of Sean Welsh who was injured against Alloa Athletic. Sean has been a mainstay in midfield recently and his contribution from the spot is reaping rewards after we had tried a series of penalty takers who sadly fell short of the required suitability for the post. Those concerns were justified as it looks like he has cracked a metatarsal. If so he will be out for the rest of the season. Anthony McDonald is not fit enough to return this weekend but could make the squad for the Ross County game. Robbo summed up Sean's contribution perfectly:- “It’s not been confirmed yet but it’s certainly looking that way, we’re just waiting on the scan coming back. That’ll be a blow as Sean has been terrific for us all season and has been one of the unsung heroes, he’s in the team every week and he’s there for a reason because of the job he does for us. Saying that, it’s time for other players to step up now.” Ray McKinnon has no injury worries and had this squad out in the 1-1 draw with Partick. He said this about their current form: "We’ve lost once in our last nine games, our squad is looking good. We are strong and quick, the mentality is good and we’ve just got to go into every game to try and pick something up. We’re in decent form going into the business end of the season, but we’ll be taking absolutely nothing for granted". Don't forget your Scottish Cup semi-final tickets. Don't forget to buy your tickets for the SemiFinal against Hearts at Hampden. This may appear to be an alien concept, but always remember this, in space, no one can hear you scream. If you are sitting in your living room passing round the werther's originals and watching on TV, the lads won't be able to hear you. They have been brilliant to get this far in the cup and it's a great day out at the National Stadium. Be there or be square! Tickets for our William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final will be available for season ticket holders and shareholders on Monday 25th March from 10:00am. General sale will commence on Wednesday 27th March at 9:00am. Tickets will be available from the Club Shop and online from ictfc.tickethour.co.uk. The singing section for this game will be East Stand section G5. South Stand: £30 Adult, Concession £15 East Stand: £20 Adult, Concession £10 Concessions are available for supporters aged over 65 and supporters aged under 16 If you like a wee flutter, our partnership with FansBet can offer you something. Just click on FansBet to get started. "Remember to select CaleyThistleOnline when you register and you’ll be helping us support ICT fan causes." FansBet are partners with Supporters Direct Scotland and already have many impressive stories of giving back to and empowering fans, ranging from funding away travel, share purchases, backing safe standing projects and many more. You can read some of FansBet’s Giving Back stories on their blog at https://blog.fansbet.com/fansbet-giving-back/partners/fan/ FansBet have ICT @ 5/8 - Draw @ 11/4 and Falkirk @ 4/1. Always remember to adopt safe gambling and responsible policies.
  7. THE MATCHDAY THREAD Discuss ICT & other games in this thread as they happen Inverness CT -V- Alloa Athletic PREVIEW 26th March 2019 @ 7:45pm, Caledonian Stadium Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Facebook Go to the Chatroom Media Coverage AUDIO COVERAGE BBC Sportsound BBC Sportsound [UK Only] LIVE TEXT (ONLINE) Sporting Life BBC VIDEO SPFL YouTube Channel ICT Official YouTube Channel TEAM LINEUPS TO FOLLOW Tweets by @ICTFC Tweets by @ICTFC
  8. Nothings Easy It wouldn't be the Inverness way if we simply cruised to victory as we suffered a late fright when Alloa launched a last ten comeback that saw them snatch two goals to take the gloss off an otherwise good performance. Aaron Doran continued his goalscoring run to open the scoring followed by a Sean Welsh penalty before the break. Jordan White added a third on the hour to put the game beyond doubt, or was it? Alloa got a penalty with ten minutes remaining and Alan Trouten scored via the post. Iain Flannigan's deflected shot meant for an uncomfortable five minutes but we held on for all three points to move up to third in the table. Alloa remain three points behind Partick at the foot of the table. A chilly night for football saw Alloa pinned back in the early exchanges as Inverness probed for the opening goal. We had a number of early half chances which were mainly from distance but we must have left our shooting boots in the locker room. Liam Polworth came the closest after he created a yard of space to fire a decent effort from twenty-five yards which went a couple of feet over the bar. However, it was that man again, Aaron Doran who opened the scoring with a glancing header into the bottom corner. Sean Welsh swung a curling cross into the heart of the box where Doran met it at the penalty spot to beat Neil Parry from twelve yards for another superb goal from the wee man, his fourth in four games and his eleventh of the season. Suspicion of foul play when Polly and Welsh combined to set big Jordan White free in the box but nothing was awarded as White was brought down left of the six yard box. Mark Ridgers was eventually called into action around the half hour as he gathered a low shot from outside the box. Soon after, Donaldson swung a deep ball into the box where Doran headed it down to White. As the striker tried to turn he was upended in clumsy fashion by Iain Flannigan and there was no dispute about the award this time. Parry dived to his right, unfortunately for him Sean Welsh smashed the ball high down the centre of the goal to double our advantage. Polworth looked as though he almost skimmed the top of the bar with a rasping shot from thirty yards as we continued to play attractive football with Polly and Welsh pulling the strings in midfield. There followed a succession of attempts from outside the box with Joe Chalmers, Kevin McHattie and Jordan White all looking to get in on the act, but the half ended at 2-0 to Inverness. The second period saw little change in the pattern and an inviting cross was inches away from being turned in by dainty feet White. He would not be denied though and he ran onto a through ball from Polworth to neatly dink it over the onrushing Parry. Alloa were still plugging away though and Ridgers had to make a smart save to deny Alan Trouten putting the ball into the top corner after the striker waltzed into our box. White came close to a fourth after shielding the ball well and playing it wide, he then got on the end of the cross but it bounced narrowly wide. Good effort from the big man who is growing into his role well. A needless rash challenge by Jamie McCart threw Alloa a late lifeline when he brought down Trouten who was facing away from goal, but Jamie went through him to give away a penalty. Trouten picked himself up and buried his spot kick into the net off the post. That perked Alloa up and given that our midfield had altered with Wesh, Chalmers and Doran going off Alloa saw an opportunity. We charged forward looking for another and when the move broke down Alloa were presented with a Flannigan shot from outside the box. It looked harmless enough but a massive deflection took it away from Ridgers and that made for a squeaky bum last five minutes. The bums squeaked even louder as Donaldson conceded a corner in the final minute of overtime but we held on to take a valuable three points as Mark Ridgers rose high to collect the ball and end our torture. A tremendous game for 75 minutes then our wheels fell off somewhat. A bit worrying that in form Sean Welsh had to go off injured, hopefully he will recover quickly as we have some crucial games coming up. Aaron Doran was our pick as MotM with great performances from Sean Welsh and Coll Donaldson with Jordan White endearing himself to the hard to please Caley Jags fans with another display showing some deft touches for a big lad. More reaction to follow............ Video action from Caley Jags TV And here is dainty Jordan.............. Date: 26/03/2019 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 2006 Referee: Steven Reid Inverness CT: 3 Lineup: Ridgers; Rooney, Donaldson, McCart, McHattie, Chalmers (Walsh 67), Polworth, Trafford, Welsh (Austin 77), Doran (McCauley 75), White Subs (not used): C Mackay; Tremarco, Machado, B Mckay Scorers: Doran (29), Welsh (35 pen), White (61) Booked: none Sent Off: none Alloa Athletic: 2 Lineup: Parry, Taggart, Graham, Dick, Hetherington, Shields, Kirkpatrick (Hamilton 61), Flannigan, Cawley (Brown 73), Zanatta, Trouten Subs (not used): Henry, Goodwin, Karadachki, Peggie, Scorers: Trouten (pen 81), Flannigan (90) Booked: Zanatta (59) Sent Off: none a
  9. *** VOTING IN THE POLL ABOVE IS FOR PEOPLE WHO WERE AT THE MATCH ONLY *** If you were at the match, please use the poll above to vote for your top 3 players. As a bit of fun, we have also added an option to rate the referee .... Please make sure you vote for 3 separate players. If you make an error, let us know so we can fix it. PLEASE ONLY VOTE ABOVE IF YOU WERE AT THE GAME Anyone caught trying to cheat the system WILL be banned from voting in ALL site polls...this is your only warning. **NOT at the game ?** As a result of requests received, we have made a slight change to how these threads work for site users who watched the game on TV or listened to the full game live on the radio ....... You too will now be able to cast your votes, but should do it in the thread below, and NOT in the official poll above. Just list the three players of your choosing and award 5,3, or 1 point(s). You can give the ref a mark if you want too ! These votes will NOT be counted in the official total, as we only count votes from those who where actually at the game, but it IS a way for you to participate in the process .... which many people asked for .... a happy medium we hope !!!!!
  10. Opportunity Knocks After back to back wins in the League plus a cup win over Dundee United, we welcome Clackmannanshire's finest, Alloa Athletic to the Caledonian Stadium. We will be looking to consolidate within the play-off places as Alloa try to extricate themselves from the foot of the table. The games are coming thick and fast at this time of the season as clubs play catch up due to the grim weather and fixture congestion. The Alloa game represents a great opportunity to knock on Ayr United's door for third spot, although the games against the Wasps have been tight affairs so far this season. After this one we have Falkirk, Ross County and Ayr United before we head to Hampden for the Scottish Cup semi-final against Hearts. Last game for us was a fine 2-1 win at Firhill where a Tom Walsh stunner saw us take all three points after Stuart Brannigan had equalised for Partick. Aaron Doran had opened the scoring with a well worked goal involving Jordan White and Aaron played a big part in the winner with a superb back flick for Walsh to volley home in spectacular style. Check out these goals......... Alloa battled hard at the weekend but came away with nothing when Nicky Clark scored a late winner for the Arabs to add to the own goal Andy Graham conceded in the first half. Jordan Kirkpatrick scored the opening goal for the Wasps early in the first half. After last weekends results, Inverness are now back in the top four with Dunfermline the nearest contender only two points behind. Alloa are battling it out at the wrong end of the table with four other teams trying to avoid the drop. Dunfermline v Dundee United play Tuesday night as well and it's Dunfermline v Ayr on Friday (TV) Somethings going to give The two games between the sides have ended in draws with our home game in August producing four goals, three penalties, an own goal, woodwork hit and a sending off. Aye it all happened here, and one of the penalties was missed (Coll hit the bar). Brad Mckay and Sean Welsh (pen) scored for Inverness and a George Oakley own goal and a late Iain Flannigan penalty gave Alloa a share of the spoils. And, just when you think it can't get any worse, ICTFC & Ross County fined £2500. Add to that some broken seats after the IrnBru Cup final thanks to Ross County fans then you just wonder where it's all going to end. We welcomed back Kevin McHattie and Tom Walsh to great effect against Partick with Walsh coming off the bench to score the winner. Nathan Austin has been used sparingly of late and could play a part. Alloa lined up like this against Dundee United :- Parry Robertson Taggart Graham Dick Shields Heatherington Flannigan Kirkpatrick Trouten Zanatta If you like a wee flutter, our partnership with FansBet can offer you something. Just click on FansBet to get started. "Remember to select CaleyThistleOnline when you register and you’ll be helping us support ICT fan causes." FansBet are partners with Supporters Direct Scotland and already have many impressive stories of giving back to and empowering fans, ranging from funding away travel, share purchases, backing safe standing projects and many more. You can read some of FansBet’s Giving Back stories on their blog at https://blog.fansbet.com/fansbet-giving-back/partners/fan/ Always remember to adopt safe gambling and responsible policies. Don't forget to buy your tickets for the SemiFinal against Hearts at Hampden. Remember, no one can hear you scream if you are sitting in your living room passing round the werther's originals. The lads have been brilliant to get this far in the cup and it's a great day out at the National Stadium. Tickets for our William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final will be available for season ticket holders and shareholders on Monday 25th March from 10:00am. General sale will commence on Wednesday 27th March at 9:00am. Tickets will be available from the Club Shop and online from ictfc.tickethour.co.uk. The singing section for this game will be East Stand section G5. South Stand: £30 Adult, Concession £15 East Stand: £20 Adult, Concession £10 Concessions are available for supporters aged over 65 and supporters aged under 16
  11. Moving on up Inverness jumped back into the top four momentarily after second half goals from Aaron Doran and Tom Walsh plunged Partick further into the relegation battle. Stuart Bannigan had levelled for Partick before substitute Walsh leathered home a superb volley with ten minutes to go. Only Dundee United v Alloa on this weekend and we play the Wasps on Tuesday night to see if we can take further advantage of the situation. Should Alloa take full points from their two games in hand over Partick, then they will jump to seventh and the Harry Wraggs will slump to the bottom. It's that tight! Inverness had Tom Walsh and Kevin McHattie on the bench after injury alongside Nathan Austin with young prospect Matheus Machado joining the squad after recent impressive performances in training. Partick Thistle had Gary Harkins and Scott McDonald starting with Blair Spittal warming the bench along with Miles Storey, the former Inverness enigma. Keeper Conor Hazard was on international duty with Northern Ireland and Jamie Sneddon replaced him. A wet and miserable night met the players as they came out in front of a sparse crowd and Scott McDonald started the ball rolling in this televised game. It was ten minutes before Carl Tremarco had the first attempt, but his sneaky curler lacked power with better options available. It was a midfield battle at this point with neither side able to get to grips with the conditions. Partick forced a couple of corners and the second one produced a moment of uncertainty in the visitors defence but the ball was hacked to safety eventually from almost on the goal line. Similar followed at the other end after Charlie Trafford won a free kick, but defences prevailed. Another free kick saw the ball fired over the bar by Sean Welsh after Joe Chalmers had been fouled. Aaron Doran drew a booking from Steven Anderson as the Caley Jags player broke over the halfway line. Doran did slide the ball into the net shortly after but was offside. Most of the possession was coming from the visitors midway through the half, but chances were at a premium. Anderson headed over Mark Ridgers' bar after a corner but it was an untidy game so far and Lewis Mansell was booked for fouling Jamie McCart. The first positive action of the half saw Inverness break at speed and Chalmers brought out a good save from Jamie Sneddon at the expense of a corner. Moments later, Doran slid a teasing ball across goal but it was neither a shot or a cross and the chance went abegging. Five minutes before the break another opportunity arose in the Partick box but it was tidied up and chested back to the keeper on the goal line. Inverness almost broke the deadlock but for a superb save by Sneddon from a Brad Mckay header, the rebound being hustled out of play by a sliding Tremarco. Close, but no cigar. Sneddon was the only man keeping the eager Inverness players out and he had already produced two or three excellent stops It had been a brutal first 45 with Inverness looking the most likely to score, but Partick's robust tactics saw them go in level at the break but leading 4-0 in bookings as John Beaton pointed to the dressing rooms. The brutal fare continued at the start of the second half with Partick not shy to stop the game at the expense of free kicks, carefully taking it in turn to foul the visiting players to avoid an inevitable red card. Suddenly, they realised they could play football and it was game on as the play opened out, the tempo of the game increased dramatically and the first half was soon forgotten. Saunders did find the net but it was ruled out for offsides after a Slater volley had been deflected for a corner. Ridgers scooped up a low strike from Slater that went straight at him as Partick decided to have a go and at the other end Doran created a bit of space to fire at goal but Sneddon was untroubled as he gathered. Liam Polworth seriously needs some shooting practice as he fired his nth effort well wide of the target. McDonald must have been studying Liam and he shot twenty yards wide at the other end. Substitute Miles Storey's power and pace was causing some problems and from one burst forward he slid a dangerous ball into the box but thankfully it went behind all the forwards and was cleared. Partick were beginning to look more dangerous since the substitutions but it was Inverness that made the breakthrough. Aaron Doran raced onto a tremendous ball through the middle from Joe Chalmers and a wee dummy from big Jordan White created the space for Doran to fire behind Sneddon. Well worked and well deserved. However, it didn't take long for Partick to level as Stuart Bannigan curled a low effort behind Ridgers from the edge of the box three minutes later. Tom Walsh replaced Charlie Trafford and Coll Donaldson had to look sharp to thwart Storey as he broke forward. Substitute Blair Spittal looked as though he rattled the back edge of the post as Partick broke forward although Ridgers looked to have it covered. Inverness went back in front when Polworth chipped a ball into the box and a cheeky flick from Doran saw substitute Tom Walsh lash a left foot volley home from fifteen yards with ten minutes left. Tremendous goal by Walsh who had scored the winner last time Inverness were here with an equally stunning strike. It could have been three soon after but Sneddon did well to smother an effort from Doran as he closed in on goal. Inverness began to look more composed after getting their noses in front again and took the ball for a walk to the corners to see out the game. Coll Donaldson picked up a booking late on as Partick tried to surge forward but Inverness held firm for all three points in a deserved win at Firhill. Aaron Doran was deserving of his Man of the Match award and he was ably backed up by the fleet footed Jordan White (not a phrase I use often so enjoy it), a wonderful assist for the opening goal by the big striker. Coll Donaldson held the defence together and Tom Walsh's goal was simply stunning. This is not a win to be scoffed at with Partick battling for points to avoid the drop. Our own Stirling Observer saw it like this.......... Was a very intriguing game, conditions were difficult in the first half but we seemed to deal with it much better and were more confident on the ball. Whilst we were the better team we were too slow moving the ball. We made two decent chances in the last 5 mins of the half. Second half the conditions calmed and McDonald starting dropping deep more and more, when they brought on storey his running caused us a bit of danger and opened the game up. All three goals were excellent. The final goal killed Partick and they visibly gave up after it. Think we deserved to win but it was a hard fought one. Thought everyone played their part. Playing Chalmers wide means his natural instinct in the check back or run into the middle and not go beyond the opposition defence like Doran does. Whilst Chalmers did well it harms out forward opportunities. It's harsh to drop Chalmers or Trafford but think it's for the greater good to get Walsh back into the starting 11. Special mentions to Doran, Welsh and White. More reaction and footage to follow........... Inverness boss John Robertson said on BBC SPORT: "It was a great first goal; great ball through by Joe Chalmers and a beautiful step-over from Jordan White, and the finish by Aaron Doran. "But then we fell asleep, Thistle upped the tempo and got their equaliser. We weathered the storm and got another brilliant finish. It was a deserved three points. "The next few weeks are a big ask but we showed tonight we have the players to handle it." If you can access BBC SPORT, here's the winner from Walsh............. If not, try this............. Aye Tom, she's a belter Robbo was pleased.............. And here is the man of the moment, Walsh the Walloper............. Date: 22/03/2019 Venue: Firhill, Glasgow. Attendance: 2149 Referee: John Beaton Partick Thistle: 1 Lineup: Sneddon, Elliott (Cardle 72), Penrice, Anderson, Bannigan, McDonald, Harkins (Spittal 61), Slater, Mansell (Storey 55), McMillian, Saunders. Subs (not used): Lennox, McGinty, Doolan, Fitzpatrick.. Scorers: Bannigan (68) Booked: Anderson (23), Mansell (33), Saunders (43), McMillan (45) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 2 Lineup: Ridgers, B Mckay, Donaldson, McCart, Tremarco, Chalmers, Polworth, Trafford (Walsh 69), Welsh, Doran (Rooney 86), White. Subs (not used): C Mackay, McCauley, Austin, McHattie, Machado. Scorers: Doran (65), Walsh (81) Booked: Trafford (62), Donaldson (90+2) Sent Off: none a
  12. THE MATCHDAY THREAD Discuss ICT & other games in this thread as they happen Partick Thistle -V- Inverness CT PREVIEW 22nd March 2018 @ 7:05PM, Firhill Stadium, Glasgow Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Facebook Go to the Chatroom Media Coverage AUDIO COVERAGE BBC Sportsound BBC Sportsound [UK Only] LIVE TEXT (ONLINE) Sporting Life BBC VIDEO LIVE VIDEO [UK Only] SPFL YouTube Channel ICT Official YouTube Channel TEAM LINEUPS TO FOLLOW Tweets by @ICTFC Tweets by @ICTFC
  13. Firhill for Thrills Final trip to Firhill for the season coming up on Friday night in the Championship, and if you can't get along to the game, fear not for BBC Scotland will be covering the game live with the action kicking off at 19:05. It won't be our last run to Glasgow though as we have a Scottish Cup semi-final to play at Hampden on April13th with a 12:15 kick-off. Who knew! Anyway, this is League business, a totally different beast. ICT Supporters Travel Club The ICT Supporters Travel Club are running a bus to this match and the leaving times are as follows: Leaving the Caley Club: 1.45PM Leaving the Caledonian Stadium: 2PM Book on through their Facebook page or call/text 07462 218717 Unfortunately, our off-field antics are fast becoming known as the 'banter years'. The AGM has just occurred and judging by the sound of silence coming from the board, it's more Disturbed than Simon & Garfunkel. In fact it could even be a Bridge over troubled waters. Chief executive officer Yvonne Crook gone. Academy director Danny MacDonald gone. Youth coach and head of recruitment Ronnie Duncan gone. Club Secretary Jim Falconer going................ With rumours that we are heading towards a one million pound debt, what is going on inside the Boardroom and what is going to be done about it? It's at this stage of the season that there are no such things as an easy game with teams either looking for promotion or trying to avoid relegation. This is when teams in the lower half tighten their defences and battle for everything. A drop into league two would be a disaster for most clubs. At the top end, it seems to be all over bar the shouting, but United made it more interesting with a win over County in midweek. As it stands at the moment, we are just outside the play-off's albeit with a home game in hand over the Pars, (Alloa). In our absence last weekend, Dunfermline were supposed to take on Dundee United at East End Park but the weather decimated the Championship fixtures. Our realistic goal is to make the top four although it's well within the grasp of Dunfermline and ourselves to topple Ayr should they continue to falter. Incidentally, out of our grasp but, Dundee United closed the gap at the top to eight points after beating Ross County at Tannadice thanks to an early headed goal from Calum Butcher. With County playing in the fizzy pop final this weekend, there is the potential for that gap to be further reduced. Getting interesting up there. Partick's last game saw them in a relegation threatened tussle with Falkirk, the only game to beat the weather and it ended in stalemate at 1-1. Scott McDonald put Partick ahead but Ian McShane squared it for the Bairns. Partick have also bowed out of the Scottish Cup, narrowly losing 2-1 in the replay against our next opponents, Hearts. The previous games this season will show that we hold the upper hand, just. A 3-2 home win back in September was followed by a barely deserved 1-0 win at Firhill in November, Tom Walsh nicking the winner in the 71st minute and Mark Ridgers making a penalty save. Partick came North at the beginning of February and first half goals from loan signing Steven Anderson and Aiden Fitzpatrick was just enough for them to edge the game 2-1 despite a late Darren McCauley goal. Here's the Walsh goal last time at Firhill The only good to come out of last weekends downtime is that our injured players had more recovery time. So Tom Walsh, Anthony McDonald, Kevin McHattie and Daniel Mckay let's be havin you, we have a Scottish Cup Semi coming up! Young Brazilian wing back Matheus Machado has shown up well in the Turkish training camp and will be included in the squad. Also returning after injury are Tom Walsh and Kevin McHattie. Partick's recent get out of jail signing 35 year old Scott McDonald has been doing his best to help Partick beat the drop and scored his third goal in six appearances. His experience will present a danger to our stuttering promotion aspirations. Gary Harkins is another experienced player drafted in to take the strain and he has skill in abundance. In our favour, they still have the misfiring Miles Storey. Here's what Partick Manager Gary Caldwell had to say to BBC Sport after the Falkirk game............. "That was frustrating because we played better than Falkirk and should have been more than one goal in front before losing a sloppy goal. "We were the only team trying to win the game in the second half, but we created our own problems. There was a lack of cutting edge from us and a lack of killing a team off when were were on top." Ooft, sounds familiar Gary........... If you like a wee flutter, our partnership with FansBet can offer you something. Just click on FansBet to get started. "Remember to select CaleyThistleOnline when you register and you’ll be helping us support ICT fan causes." FansBet are partners with Supporters Direct Scotland and already have many impressive stories of giving back to and empowering fans, ranging from funding away travel, share purchases, backing safe standing projects and many more. You can read some of FansBet’s Giving Back stories on their blog at https://blog.fansbet.com/fansbet-giving-back/partners/fan/ Draw with goals 3/1.............. fair bet! Always remember to adopt safe gambling and responsible policies.
  14. The Final installment GAME OFF! Another local derby coming up on Friday night with BBC Scotland getting in on the action from the Caledonian Stadium with Ross County the visitors for a 7:05pm kick off. It's the 6th and final Highland derby this season and every one of these games has been passionate, enthralling, dramatic and left the fans wanting more. Well, it's here, the next installment. There has been a pitch inspection asked for ahead of this game at 12:30 today after a week of constant rain has left the pitch the worse for wear. Here you can see a touch of dampness around the goalmouth which has affected the bounce of the ball...... AND IT'S GAME OFF. Our last game was a rewarding away fixture at Dumfries where we held Queen of the South at bay in the second half after we had come out of the blocks flying before the interval. Goals from Aaron Doran and Brad Mckay gave us a platform to build on but that never happened so we consolidated and kept Queens out with Mark Ridgers performing heroics in a challenging second half. That win was only good enough to keep us in fifth place with Dunfermline also winning to hold onto fourth position. Our Championship form has been somewhat patchy and that is why we have dropped out of the top four with Pars on a run akin to County's surge. Ross County have all but won the Championship and the teams below them are all playing for either a play-off place or relegation avoidance. A 2-0 home win over Morton at the weekend put them further ahead of second place Dundee United. Second half goals from Josh Mullin and Brian Graham secured the points. County faced a resurgent Falkirk on Tuesday night and raced into a 2-0 lead after twenty minutes with Brian Graham and Keith Watson both scoring headers. A late Falkirk penalty and Grivosti sending off made for a tense finale but County held on for all three points. That midweek victory over Falkirk gives County six wins on the bounce in the Championship. They have now opened up an eleven point gap to second placed Dundee United. Add to that, a win at Motherwell in the Scottish Cup and a couple of draws with us as well as a Challenge Cup win over East Fife, then it's easy to see why they are heading back to the Premiership. Their last league defeat was a 4-0 thrashing at Palmerston in mid-January. Our squad has been at the thin edge of the wedge recently with injuries to Kevin McHattie, Tom Walsh and Anthony McDonald. That has meant moving players around within our first choice squad. Joe Chalmers is one player who has benefited from his latest role coming in from the right and on to his sweet left foot as displayed by his stunning strike against Dundee United in the cup. County's depth of squad will not present them with any major issues as they sprint for the Championship tape. Billy Mckay is out for the rest of the season after breaking his arm whilst scoring a hat-trick against Ayr United recently. Mckay had scored 20 goals this season for County and was in fine form. He also won the Championship player of the month whilst wristing up with his stookie. Good luck with the recovery Billy. Iain Vigurs has been out for a few weeks and Tom Grivosti will be suspended. Callum Semple is a good bet to be in the squad. His gambling activities have been brought to the attention of the governing bodies and he will face a disciplinary hearing on March 28th. Street fighting, gambling, managers banned, inappropriate dressing room behaviour............It's all going down in Dingwall. There'll be a Netflix documentary out soon! Here's Polly looking ahead to tonight's game Good news is on short supply from the club at the moment, but here's some. Daniel McKay has penned a new three year deal at Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Daniel is one of the hot properties in the Scotland youth set-up and as John Robertson acknowledged on the Official Site he is a tremendous prospect. Robertson said: “Negotiations kicked in after he played his 25th game for the club. We’ve sat down with his agent and his parents to negotiate a new three year deal which will see Daniel continue to play his football in the Highlands.” “It’s another step which shows the youngsters are in our thoughts. It’s been an unlucky season for Dan, he’s picked up a lot of small injuries and he’s struggling a bit with a strain in his knee right now but hopefully this will give him a boost.” “He will be involved between now and the end of the season, and we hope he can kick on because we feel he is a tremendous prospect for the future.”
  15. THE MATCHDAY THREAD Discuss ICT & other games in this thread as they happen Queen of the South -V- Inverness CT PREVIEW Sat March 9th @ 3pm, Palmerston Park, Dumfries Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Facebook Go to the Chatroom Media Coverage AUDIO COVERAGE BBC Sportsound BBC Sportsound [UK Only] LIVE TEXT (ONLINE) Sporting Life BBC VIDEO SPFL YouTube Channel ICT Official YouTube Channel TEAM LINEUPS TO FOLLOW Tweets by @ICTFC Tweets by @ICTFC
  16. Doonhamers Hammered Doon John Robertson was without the injured Tom Walsh, Anthony McDonald and Kevin McHattie. The bench was thin, with youngsters Millar Gamble and Fraser Russell in the squad. A win for Inverness could put us back into the top four. Queen of the South went into this one on the back of six straight Championship defeats, and that was reflected in the poor crowd and you could see why they had been struggling of late. They fell behind after only seven minutes when Aaron Doran intercepted and scored. B Mckay muscled in at a corner to get the second goal after twenty minutes. Queens had a go after the break and Mark Ridgers had to be at his best to deny Dobbie and Dykes as the hosts threatened to get back into the game. The big keeper pulled off a hatful of brilliant saves to keep Queens at bay as we seemed content to hold what we had. Jordan White almost made it three but was denied by Leighfield in goal with five minutes left and the game just ran away from Queens as it finished 0-2 for Inverness. With Dunfermline also winning, we remain fifth in the league. RIG was in the away day crowd and here are his thoughts on the game............ Easy win yesterday. Despite Queens being on a bad run I still expected us to stumble a bit here so it was a nice surprise to see us easily secure the three points save for a pretty shoddy opening to the second half. Very well taken goal by Doran to open the scoring. I see some reports have stated it was a poor backpass but I thought it was an overhit through ball from one of our players (clearly I wasn't paying that much attention). Anyway, Doran did well to get onto it and round the keeper before finishing well from a pretty tight angle. I thought he might have taken it too wide but he did well to squeeze it in (ooooer). Mckay got the second when he met a corner and found the net via a big deflection off his marker. We should have had a third goal when Polworth saw his shot turned wide and then from his corner McCart (I think) headed against the bar and White shot over. Queens seldom threatened but they were much better after the break and we were fortunate not to concede at least one goal with Ridgers denying Dobbie, Dykes and then Dobbie again as we struggled to get going again. Gone was the nice crisp passing play replaced by hurried balls lumped forward to no one in particular. Only Doran seemed to have the intelligence to try and get the ball down on the ground and start knocking it about again. Once we did that we started to gain a foothold and should have extended our lead when Welsh and the Polworth again shot wide from distance. Great performances from the likes of Doran, Polworth, McCart and Tremarco. Ridgers didn't have too much to do in the first half but made three terrific saves to maintain our two goal lead in the second. Had one of those gone in who knows what might have happened. Caley Stan pretty much agreed with RIG.............. That was very comfortable in the end, a strange feeling. We came flying out of the blocks and maintained a really high intensity for the whole of the first half - Queens had chances on the break but we could easily have put the game to bed before half time. They had a period of pressure after half-time, Dobbie got a few shots away and Ridgers made a number of decent saves. Then came the most pleasing aspect of the performance, the thing that's been missing from our season - we kept the head and saw the game out calmly. Some more positives: - Doran, Polworth and Welsh really trust each other with the ball, they're happy to play it to each other in difficult areas and we're so much more creative as a result. - Trafford and White, two of our most maligned players, are looking increasingly comfortable in their roles, they're playing out of their skins and the fans are responding. Trafford actually looks alright next to Welsh's calming influence. - Rooney came on and played where Chalmers was - it's clear that he's an option up there. Here's the long awaited footage from QotS TV............. Here's Robbo..................... And an under pressure Gary Naysmith...................... Date: 09/03/2019 Venue: Palmerston Attendance: 1066 Referee: David Munro Queen of the South: 0 Lineup: Martin (Leighfield 45), Mercer, Fordyce, Brownlie, Doyle, Stirling, Jacobs, Aird (Murray 76), Wilson (McGrath 76), Dobbie, Dykes Subs (not used): Williams, Maguire. Scorers: none Booked: Aird (43), Wilson (76), Doyle (83). Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 2 Lineup: Ridgers; B Mckay, Donaldson, McCart, Tremarco, Trafford (Rooney 84), Polworth, Welsh, Chalmers, Doran (McCauley 82), White. Subs (not used): C Mackay, Austin, Gamble, Russell. Scorers: Doran (7), B Mckay (20) Booked: none Sent Off: none a
  17. *** VOTING IN THE POLL ABOVE IS FOR PEOPLE WHO WERE AT THE MATCH ONLY *** If you were at the match, please use the poll above to vote for your top 3 players. As a bit of fun, we have also added an option to rate the referee .... Please make sure you vote for 3 separate players. If you make an error, let us know so we can fix it. PLEASE ONLY VOTE ABOVE IF YOU WERE AT THE GAME Anyone caught trying to cheat the system WILL be banned from voting in ALL site polls...this is your only warning. **NOT at the game ?** As a result of requests received, we have made a slight change to how these threads work for site users who watched the game on TV or listened to the full game live on the radio ....... You too will now be able to cast your votes, but should do it in the thread below, and NOT in the official poll above. Just list the three players of your choosing and award 5,3, or 1 point(s). You can give the ref a mark if you want too ! These votes will NOT be counted in the official total, as we only count votes from those who where actually at the game, but it IS a way for you to participate in the process .... which many people asked for .... a happy medium we hope !!!!!
  18. Push for Promotion After the euphoria of a tremendous performance and result in the Scottish Cup win over Dundee United, it's back to the weekly chore of the Championship with a visit to Dumfries to take on Queen of the South. Yes folks, the push for promotion starts right here, right now, as we now find ourselves outside the play-off spot as we enter the final round of fixtures in the Championship. Plenty of action off the field at the Caledonian Stadium with CEO Yvonne Crook departing and our financial plight in the public domain. You can debate that and more on Caley Thistle Online. But we'll stick to the onfield activities just now with some crucial games coming up. Turnstile numbers for visiting fans, section of the ground BDS Digital (East) Stand section 6 has been set aside for away supporters. Turnstile 3 will be in use. Shared catering outlet and toilets in the BDS stand will be available for use. Catering is also available in the Arena café where a full menu is available before kick-off. The bar under the Gates Stand will also be open for refreshments. Please note that the BDS Stand ticket office is a CASH ONLY office. Should spectators wish to pay by card then they should purchase their tickets at the Arena ticket office. Adults - £18, Concessions - £10, Under 16 - £5, Adult Accessible - £8, Concession Accessible - £5, U16 Accessible - £3 It's our final game against Queen of the South for this season and there has been two draws and a win for Queens in the last one at Inverness. The most remarkable game was the 3-3 draw at Palmerston back in November. Lyndon Dykes, Stephen Dobbie and Josh Todd had Queens cigaring it. However, in a 10 minute burst, Inverness snatched a point and could have won it at the death. Goals from Jamie McCart, Nathan Austin and a Sean Welsh penalty squared the game and that was enough for a point. Speaking on the Doonhamers website, Gary Naysmith had this to say "We’ve lost six on the bounce now and that cold statistic doesn’t make good reading but it’s only part of the story because we’ve played well in nearly all of the games. I would be very concerned indeed if the performance levels were poor, but they’re not. The effort and the commitment in the games cannot be questioned. The players put in a really good shift again last weekend but the reoccurring problem is that we are not scoring goals when we are on top." Sounds familiar Gary! The table now shows that Dunfermline are in the final play-off spot after they beat Queens last week whilst we were on cup duty, albeit having played a game more, but it's points in the bag for the Pars. That's four wins on the trot for Dunfermline and they are one of the form teams in the League right now. Queens are the poorest side after six championship defeats in a row. The goals for and against for both clubs are similar, but with Stephen Dobbie in your side, those stats can change quickly. Our last game was the epic tie at Tannadice where we overcame United and a spot of diving to get into the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup where we will face the winners of the Hearts v Partick Thistle replay. Joe Chalmers scored our first with a sublime curling strike into the top corner and Aaron Doran won the game in time added on to stun the big home crowd. It was no more than we deserved though. How I wish we could take our cup passion into the Championship games. John Robertson has doubts over Tom Walsh and Anthony McDonald. Both missed the Arabs game through injury. Gary Naysmith will be without Josh Todd and Nicky Low. Both are out through injury. Robbo and Aaron talking ahead of the visit to Palmerston......... If you like a wee flutter, our partnership with FansBet can offer you something. Just click on FansBet to get started. "Remember to select CaleyThistleOnline when you register and you’ll be helping us support ICT fan causes." FansBet are partners with Supporters Direct Scotland and already have many impressive stories of giving back to and empowering fans, ranging from funding away travel, share purchases, backing safe standing projects and many more. You can read some of FansBet’s Giving Back stories on their blog at https://blog.fansbet.com/fansbet-giving-back/partners/fan/ Always remember to adopt safe gambling and responsible policies.
  19. THE MATCHDAY THREAD Discuss ICT & other games in this thread as they happen Dundee Utd -V- Inverness CT PREVIEW Sunday 3rd March @ 3:30pm, Tannadice Stadium, Dundee Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Facebook Go to the Chatroom Media Coverage AUDIO COVERAGE BBC Sportsound BBC Sportsound [UK Only] LIVE TEXT (ONLINE) Sporting Life BBC VIDEO SPFL YouTube Channel ICT Official YouTube Channel TEAM LINEUPS TO FOLLOW Tweets by @ICTFC Tweets by @ICTFC
  20. *** VOTING IN THE POLL ABOVE IS FOR PEOPLE WHO WERE AT THE MATCH ONLY *** If you were at the match, please use the poll above to vote for your top 3 players. As a bit of fun, we have also added an option to rate the referee .... Please make sure you vote for 3 separate players. If you make an error, let us know so we can fix it. PLEASE ONLY VOTE ABOVE IF YOU WERE AT THE GAME Anyone caught trying to cheat the system WILL be banned from voting in ALL site polls...this is your only warning. **NOT at the game ?** As a result of requests received, we have made a slight change to how these threads work for site users who watched the game on TV or listened to the full game live on the radio ....... You too will now be able to cast your votes, but should do it in the thread below, and NOT in the official poll above. Just list the three players of your choosing and award 5,3, or 1 point(s). You can give the ref a mark if you want too ! These votes will NOT be counted in the official total, as we only count votes from those who where actually at the game, but it IS a way for you to participate in the process .... which many people asked for .... a happy medium we hope !!!!!
  21. Tannadice woe. Dundee United would inflict further woe on cash strapped Inverness after a close encounter of the third kind. A Nicky Clark penalty was sufficient to swing the game towards United with Inverness just failing to get back on level terms. John Robertson would rest Carl Tremarco and Aaron Doran, although Jamie McCart made the bench, but Tom Walsh and Anthony McDonald were out injured. United kicked off with over 4700 watching and immediately put Inverness onto the back foot creating three or four openings inside the first ten minutes. Peter Pawlett and Charlie Seaman narrowly missing the target from great positions inside the box and Nicky Clark heading tamely wide. Kevin McHattie was booked in the 17th minute as the Inverness defence came under sustained pressure. It took Inverness half an hour to fashion out a decent opportunity and Shaun Rooney headed over. Nathan Austin then drove into the box but his shot had the sting taken out of it and Ben Siegrist gathered. Coll Donaldson followed that up by heading over from close range as we began to threaten the home defence. Pawlett was the Arabs danger man as he drove forward and at the other end a Connolly error almost led to Austin getting in on goal. It was Pawlett that was causing most problems for the visitors, but at the break it was all square. Half-Time 0-0 There were no changes at the start of the second half as Liam Polworth kicked off. United were first to try after the break but Ridgers easily mopped up an effort from Clark. Inverness responded with Polworth firing over from outside the box and Austin almost flicked on to White, but United got it clear. Harkes had to clear one away from the line after some confusion in the Arabs ranks. Inverness were having a good spell and a Rooney cross was headed over by Austin................ However, It's the kiss of death and United get a penalty awarded after Coll Donaldson tripped Nicky Clark in the box, Clark converting from the spot. Three minutes later, the problematic Pawlett became a problem for United as he was sent off for a second bookable offence. Charlie Trafford shot just wide from outside the box as we looked to get back on level terms and an Austin header and a Chalmers shot had to be saved by Siegrist. Plenty of Caley Jags pressure in the final ten minutes with United down to ten men and the last fling is Daniel Mackay replacing Joe Chalmers as the clock ticked past ninety minutes. Safranko passed on a great chance to seal the points at the end but he blazed the ball over the bar and Donaldson saw a deflected effort tipped over, but it was too little too late as United held on for all three points. After tonights results, Dunfermline closed the gap to two points behind Inverness after a 3-0 win over Partick Thistle, Morton a further point behind after they beat Queen of the South and Ross County stretched their lead at the top by beating Ayr United thanks to a Billy Mckay hat-trick. Stirling Observer observed thus on CTO:- Entertaining game for one we didn't manage to score. Took a while to settle to the diamond midfield and Utd could have been out of sight. Gradually worked our way into the game and were arguably on top despite not creating much. Second half was really open and end to end. They were on top for a spell when they won the pen. I would have said it was a fair award. Coll lunged in to block the shot but took the players legs before the ball. Mchattie took an awful touch to draw Pawlett into a rash challenge for his second booking. This killed the game as our lack of creativity against there solid unit meant the classic sit deep and let us punt it. Coll's last second deflected shot was the closest I think we got, but Safranko did miss a great chance late on. Speaking to BBC Sport the managers had this to say:- Dundee United head coach Robbie Neilson: "I thought the first half we played well but couldn't get the ball over the line. "It's massive for us. It takes us a step further and now second in the league." Inverness Caledonian Thistle manager John Robertson: "I'm disappointed. I thought United started very well. Coming down the slope, they got at us with good chances, but then we settled. "We changed our system a bit tonight by playing a diamond in there just to upset them." Action from Tannadice.............. Date: 26/02/2019 Venue: Tannadice Attendance: 4737 Referee: Barry Cook Dundee United: 1 Lineup: Siegrist; McMullan (Nesbitt 59), Clark (Gomis 78), Reynolds, Robson, Butcher, Seaman (Watson 84), Connolly, Harkes, Safranko, Pawlett. Subs (not used): Laidlaw, Fyvie, Sow, Smith. Scorers: Clark (pen 68) Booked: Connolly (32), Pawlett (48, 72), Safranko (82) Sent Off: Pawlett (72) Inverness CT: 0 Lineup: Ridgers; Rooney, B Mckay, Donaldson, McHattie (Doran 76), Austin, Trafford (McCauley 82), Polworth, Welsh, Chalmers (D Mackay), White. Subs (not used): C Mackay, Tremarco, McCart, MacGregor. Scorers: none Booked: McHattie (17), Rooney (47) Sent Off: none a
  22. *** VOTING IN THE POLL ABOVE IS FOR PEOPLE WHO WERE AT THE MATCH ONLY *** If you were at the match, please use the poll above to vote for your top 3 players. As a bit of fun, we have also added an option to rate the referee .... Please make sure you vote for 3 separate players. If you make an error, let us know so we can fix it. PLEASE ONLY VOTE ABOVE IF YOU WERE AT THE GAME Anyone caught trying to cheat the system WILL be banned from voting in ALL site polls...this is your only warning. **NOT at the game ?** As a result of requests received, we have made a slight change to how these threads work for site users who watched the game on TV or listened to the full game live on the radio ....... You too will now be able to cast your votes, but should do it in the thread below, and NOT in the official poll above. Just list the three players of your choosing and award 5,3, or 1 point(s). You can give the ref a mark if you want too ! These votes will NOT be counted in the official total, as we only count votes from those who where actually at the game, but it IS a way for you to participate in the process .... which many people asked for .... a happy medium we hope !!!!!
  23. Arabfest First game of the Dundee United double header tonight as we head to Tannadice on League business. The recent hectic schedule has been taking it's toll and our wafer thin squad is being stretched to the limit after some physically draining games since the turn of the year. Nonetheless we will need to protect our position within the play-off zone as we near the final rounds of Championship games. Off the field of play the financial side of things has taken a battering. On the park we are faring slightly better. Fourth in the table and a cup quarter final to look forward to. It's the 25th anniversary of Inverness Caledonian Thistle, but unfortunately, the off field financial situation is grabbing all the headlines at the moment with a massive loss of £810,000 being reported for season 2017/2018. It looks more like a Go Fund Me page will be incoming soon, and that's not really a joke. If you ask me, Robbo has worked wonders on a shoe-string budget and it looks as though that will get worse before it gets better. Chairmans Message The sides have met twice this season, both games ending in 1-1 draws. Safranko opened the scoring in the first game but Jordan White levelled with twenty minutes to go. Coll Donaldson was sent packing ten minutes from the end as we held on for a point. In the next fixture at Inverness in mid December Tom Walsh scored early for Inverness but former Caley Jags player Billy King equalised with quarter of an hour to go. Meh! Our last game was a 1-0 win over Morton. The result was better than the performance with Carl Tremarco notching the goal. United faltered against Dundee United at the weekend with the Bairns coming from behind to grab a draw. Cammie Smith had put United in front just after the break but Falkirk got their point when Ciaran McKenna's header powered home with five minutes remaining. Ross County face Ayr United tonight in a top of the table clash. Inverness will wait to see who is fit enough to start in this game. The Cup game follows on Sunday and that could be seen as more lucrative for Inverness, given the financial benefits of a Cup run to Hampden situation. With a five point cushion in fourth spot, that could pave the way for one or two to be rested tonight. Tom Walsh missed out against Morton and Jamie McCart went off injured. Coll Donaldson was supposed to be resting but was called into action and he too took a couple of heavy knocks. Maybe a chance for some of the youngsters that Mr Rae is talking about to stake a claim for a start. Dundee United have sufficient resources to not have to worry about who will be fit enough to start. Recent acquisition Peter Pawlett will feature tonight. Here's Robbo talking ahead of the Arabs Championship clash.
  24. THE MATCHDAY THREAD Discuss ICT & other games in this thread as they happen Inverness CT -V- Greenock Morton PREVIEW 23rd February 2019 @ 3pm, Caledonian Stadium Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Facebook Go to the Chatroom Media Coverage AUDIO COVERAGE BBC Sportsound BBC Sportsound [UK Only] LIVE TEXT (ONLINE) Sporting Life BBC VIDEO SPFL YouTube Channel ICT Official YouTube Channel TEAM LINEUPS TO FOLLOW Tweets by @ICTFC Tweets by @ICTFC
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