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Bring your own curry oot Cove Rangers are the visitors on Saturday for a League 1 encounter at the Caledonian Stadium with a kick-off time of 3:00pm. Unfortunately curry is off the menu due to lack of interest, let's hope that malaise does not transmit onto the field of play. Inverness will be without Flynn Duffy, Lewis Nicolson and Ethan Cairns. Paul Allan and Charlie Gilmour are back in the squad after injury and Ferguson is still looking for a striker on loan. It's just the ninth meeting between the clubs with Inverness in the driving seat with six wins, one defeat and one draw. The last four games all went the way of the Caley Jags when Cove popped up into the Championship in season 2022/2023. The pick of that games was a 6-1 win for Inverness at home with Billy Mckay notching a hat trick. More of this would be dandy: Happy New Year: Inverness began 2023 with a crushing win against Cove. Two from Billy Mckay and one from Danny Devine countered the opening goal from Jack Sanders. Two quickfire own goals within five minutes of the restart put the hosts 5-1 ahead. Mckay notched his hat-trick from close range as we ran away with the game. Big win to start the year, just what we needed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket Info Challenge Cup Fixture Date ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Season so Far INVERNESS CT: D L D D W D Our season got off to a slow start with a draw at home to Dumbarton followed by a penalty defeat at Annan. Another two draws against Montrose (h) and Kelty Hearts (a) before our first win of the season over Queen of the South at the Caledonian Stadium a fortnight ago. Last weekend we beat Stirling Albion 3-0 to send us into a fourth Rnd tie away to Livingston thanks to a brace from Adam Brooks and a strike from Adam MacKinnon. That was followed up by us throwing away a two goal lead at Alloa to end up with a 2-2 draw six minutes later. A Danny Devine volley and Calum MacLeod with his first goal for the club were the scorers last weekend. COVE RANGERS: L L D L W W Cove got off to a poor start in the league with defeats at home by Annan (3-1) and Queen of the South away (2-1). A 1-1 draw at home to Dumbarton was followed by another loss away to Stenhousemuir (3-2). However, they are on the up now after winning their last two games oner Montrose (1-0) and a good win at Kelty by 3-1. Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Table ahead of Saturday's game with Cove 1. Alloa Athletic 6 2 4 0 7 5 10 2. Q.O.S. 6 3 1 2 6 4 10 3. Kelty Hearts 6 2 3 1 9 6 9 4. Montrose 6 2 3 1 6 3 9 5. Stenhousemuir 6 3 0 3 10 10 9 6. Inverness CT 6 1 4 1 5 5 7 7. Cove Rangers 6 2 1 3 9 10 7 8. Annan Athletic 6 2 1 3 6 10 7 9. Dumbarton 6 0 6 0 10 10 6 10. Arbroath 6 0 3 3 4 9 3 Fixtures for Saturday 21st September 2024 Inverness CT v Cove Rangers Alloa v Kelty Arbroath v Annan Ath Dumbarton v Montrose FC Stenhousemuir FC v Queen of the Sth LATEST TEAM NEWS INVERNESS will be without Flynn Duffy, Lewis Nicolson and Ethan Cairns. Paul Allan and Charlie Gilmour coming back will be a boost to the squad after injury and Ferguson is still looking for a striker on loan. Dunc likes the grass, doesn't he... Cove Rangers <<< Cove's starting XI last weekend in that excellent 3-1 win at New Central Park, Kelty. Megginson had given Cove a half time lead but Cunningham squared the game just after an hour. Yule blasted in five minutes before the end and Marshall added the third in stoppage time to complete the job. Mitch Megginson and Blair Yule are always a danger and Captain Fraser Fyvie has been around with Connor Scully part of the fixtures and fittings. Midfielder Findlay Marshall is top scorer with three goals. Megginson and Adam Emslie have scored two apiece. Marshall and winger Emslie joined this season from Aberdeen and are great acquisitions for manager Paul Hartley. Here's the strike from Blair Yule at Kelty. Boom! We failed to score at Kelty and are once again one of the lowest scoring teams in the league with the best defensive record. Nothing changes really. Cove are one of the high scorers but have one of the worst defensive records thus far. However, we need to be aware of the threat from Megginson and Yule.

A bit of Recreation at the Indodrill Matchday 6 has Inverness travelling to Clackmannanshire to face one of the top sides in the table and a team we often struggled against away from home through the years, especially in more recent times. With events off the field of play casting further dark shadows over the future of the club, it's a tough ask for the players to remain focussed when their futures are at stake thanks to the incompetence and now unrivaled power hunger of our former tyrannic leaders. Flynn Duffy, Charlie Gilmour, Paul Allan and Ethan Cairns are still out but Jack Newman, Luis Longstaff and Keith Bray return to the squad. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket Bus (10:00 am) Info Investment Topic on CTO Payer Sponsorship on CTO Hospitality v Cove Rangers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Are you a budding Picasso, Constable or Vincent van Gogh? If so, the ICT Supporters Trust are looking for volunteers this weekend to help brighten up the bar area at the Stadium with a paintbrush or roller to make it more inviting and less Gulag in appearance. Oh, not that kind of painters then...unless you fancy doing a mural... We have accepted the challenge to bring the bar up to date and hopefully make it a destination venue for all fans pre (and hopefully in the future post) games. We have already stripped out the bar and started the prep work but to ensure we get the bar open in time for the Cove game we are seeking help from our members this Sunday to get some fresh paint on the walls. We have all the materials we just need hands to tackle the job and many hands make light work. If anyone is able to help then please be at the sports bar from 11am this Sunday. Can’t stress enough that we need plenty of painters please. We also need joiners who can spare a few hours, doesn’t need to be Sunday. There are some jobs that won’t take long with the right level of expertise. Please contact us on [email protected] and we can sort out a time that suits you and to look over what needs done. Venue H2H v Alloa Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 20 8 10 2 36 22 +14 Away 22 11 5 6 45 22 +23 Neutral 1 0 1 0 4 4 0 Total 43 19 16 8 85 48 +37 We do have the edge over Alloa, but that was in a previous life before Gardiner & Co decimated our club. Our new look squad will find a battle hardened Wasps a difficult byke to cycle, like we often did over the years and they will no doubt have a sting in their tail. Our last meeting was in the Championship in season 20/21, and we have lost twice and drawn three of our last five encounters. Last 10 Competitive Meetings 1 - 1 (A) 2 - 2 (H) 1 - 2 (A) 0 - 2 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 3 - 2 (A) 2 - 0 (A) 2 - 2 (H) 3 - 0 (H) 2 - 1 (A) Who could forget the dramatic ending in the 1999 Challenge Cup Final when 4,043 fans were at the Shyberry Excelsior Stadium in Airdrie to watch a Martin Cameron inspired Alloa lift the Challenge Cup after a 3-3 draw, extra time and penalty shoot-out. All this despite a Paul Sheerin hat-trick and an unikely hero in Alloa Keeper Mark Cairns who scored the fifth penalty then saved the clincher from Teasdale. Starting XI Mark Cairns Jimmy Boyle Derek Clark Paul McAneny David Beaton Craig Valentine Ian Little Gary Clark Martin Cameron Willie Irvine Mark Wilson Les Fridge Richard Hastings Ross Tokely Mark McCulloch Stuart Golabek Charlie Christie Mike Teasdale Barry Wilson Paul Sheerin Davide Xausa Dennis Wyness Gregor McKechnie Max Christie Mark Donaghy Kevin Byers Martin Bavidge Martin Glancy It was bitter disappointment for Caley Thistle as they lost their first ever senior cup final on penalties. They came from behind three times in normal play then again in extra time to take the game to a penalty decider. Alloa took the lead in 20 minutes when Gary Clark hit a low ball past Les Fridge from 15 yards. Barry Wilson equalised in 29 minutes with a neat chip over the keeper. A defensive error let in Mark Wilson to score Alloa's second in 33 minutes but Paul Sheerin equalised from the penalty spot just after half time. This lasted 2 minutes before Martin Cameron made it 3-2 with a 15 yard angled volley. Another penalty goal by Sheerin made it 3-3 in 56 minutes. 14 minutes into extra time Alloa again took the lead when Martin Cameron beat the defence and ran on to score. Paul Sheerin completed his hat trick 8 minutes from time with a 16 yard shot. It was 4-4 on penalties after the regulation 5 attempts each. Alloa keeper Mark Cairns was the hero when he scored to make it 5-4 then saved Mike Teasdale's penalty. The Cup was on its way to Alloa after an exciting match. Alloa Pens (Irvine, Boyle, Cameron, Little, Cairns) Beaton miss. Inverness Pens (McCulloch, Tokely, Byers, Wilson) Sheerin, Teasdale saved. Report by Ian Broadfoot The Season so far ALLOA Athletic: D D W W D Alloa are unbeaten and they began the League campaign with draws at home to Queen of the South and away to Dumbarton followed by a home win over Stenhousemuir and another win away to Annan at the same ground we lost 1-0. Last time out they drew 0-0 at Gayfield. Last week was Challenge Cup action and Alloa pulled off a shock 1-3 win over Partick Thistle who had opened the scoring through our olde 'friend' Brian Graham. However, three second half goals from Kevin Cawley (65', 76') and Scott Taggart (90'+5 pen) gave the Wasps a tremendous result and a home tie against Arbroath in the next round. That was Cawley's 79th & 80th goals for Alloa. INVERNESS CT: D L D D W Our season got off to a slow start with a draw at home to Dumbarton followed by a penalty defeat at Annan. Another two draws against Montrose (h) and Kelty Hearts (a) before our first win of the season over Queen of the South at the Caledonian Stadium a fortnight ago. Last weekend we beat Stirling Albion 3-0 to send us into a fourth Rnd tie away to Livingston thanks to a brace from Adam Brooks and a strike from Adam MacKinnon. Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Table ahead of Matchday Six 1. Kelty Hearts 5 2 3 0 8 3 9 2. Stenhousemuir 5 3 0 2 10 7 9 3. Alloa Athletic 5 2 3 0 5 3 9 4. Q.O.S. 5 2 1 2 4 3 7 5. Inverness CT 5 1 3 1 3 3 6 6. Montrose 5 1 3 1 3 3 6 7. Annan Athletic 5 2 0 3 5 9 6 8. Dumbarton 5 0 5 0 9 9 5 9. Cove Rangers 5 1 1 3 6 9 4 10. Arbroath 5 0 3 2 3 7 3 League 1 Fixtures all @ 3:00pm Alloa Athletic v Inverness CT Annan Athletic v Dumbarton FC Kelty Hearts v Cove Rangers Montrose FC v Stenhousemuir Queen Sth v Arbroath Latest Team News Alloa Manager Andy Graham has a wealth of experience at his disposal. Alloa's line up in their recent league encounter with Annan Athletic shows some well experienced players in there, notably strikers Conor Sammon and Kevin Cawley. Former Morton defenders Calum Waters, Scott Taggart and midfielder Luke Donnelly are now at Recreation Park. Stefan Scougall is also well experienced having been at St Johnston and Carlisle United in more recent years. Inverness have one or two filtering back into the squad. Jack Newton has returned from Dundee United after getting injections in his knee without requiring a major operation. Keith Bray and Luis Longstaff will also join the squad again after injury. I would imagine Big Musa will retain the gloves whilst Newman proves his fitness on the bench with the other two returnees joining Jack on the sidelines.

Bino's Challenge Stirling Albion are the opponents this weekend in the Challenge Cup, known as the SPFL Trust Trophy this season. We enter this competition in the 3rd round and welcome the Bino's to the Caledonian Stadium for a 3:00pm kick-off on Saturday afternoon. Last time we met we scraped through to the next round of the Scottish Cup with a hard fought 3-2 win at home a couple of years ago with Dale Carrick scoring a Bino's brace before Aaron Doran nicked it in the second half. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket Info New Away Strip on Sale Now CTO Player sponsorship ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We have played Stirling Albion a total of eleven times over the years, the last game being a Scottish Cup tie which we narrowly won 3-2 thanks to a strike from Aaron Doran, sadly no longer here. The stats show that we have a total of six wins, four draws and one defeat. That defeat was in 1996, and yes, if you guessed it was in the Challenge Cup then you would be correct. Challenge Cup - Rd 2, Tuesday, August 27th, 1996, 7:30 PM at Forthbank Stadium, Stirling: The Inverness side put on an excellent performance and were unlucky not to take more from this game. They had several good chances in the first half with the best being on the stroke of half time when they were denied first by a McGeown parry and then by an Andy Paterson goal-line clearance. Stirling stepped up a gear in the second half and they took command. Gibson and Bone scored for Stirling before Iain Stewart pulled one back. As the visitors searched for an equaliser Bone stole a third in the last minute. Full Time 3-1 Starting XI: Jim Calder; Mike Noble, Richard Hastings, Iain MacArthur, Paul Cherry, Charlie Christie, Davie Ross (Iain Stewart 72), Mike Teasdale, Barry Wilson, Alan Hercher, Brian Thomson. Subs Not Used: G Bennett, Neal Sinclair Nov 26th 2022 Scottish Cup (Third Round) 3 - 2 H att 738 Banana Skin Avoided: A potential banana skin encounter was made all the more plausible given the 2015 Scottish Cup winners permanent injury crisis. Stirling Albion are on a roll at the top end of League Two whilst we are struggling to get players on the park recently. With that in mind we made a late swoop into the transfer market to snap up right back Ryan Barrett on a short term loan until January. He was thrust into the squad for this Scottish Cup game having been training with the squad this week. Dale Carrick scored a first half brace with Wallace Duffy and Max Ram replying for Inverness who only woke up after the opening goal. After the break Aaron Doran restored the hosts lead and we held on to go into the draw for the fourth round. Not pretty, but we got there. Full Time 3-2. *************************************************************** There's the new 30th Anniversary Away Kit as modelled by Inverness Caley Thistle Ladies players Natalie Bodiam and Julia Scott. The Anniversary badge was designed by Inverness CT fan Stewart Coghill Latest Team News Inverness have a few more injuries to contend with so I would expect to see some newer faces thrown in at the deep end with Newman, Cairns, Longstaff, Bray, Gilmour, a pair of Duffy's and probably Paul Allan all out. Wallce Duffy could be fit enough to play this weekend, We missed out on Alfie Bavidge and have a big striker on trial at the moment. Boss Duncan Ferguson has revealed full-back Flynn Duffy is sidelined after suffering a punctured lung and two broken ribs. Ahead of Saturday’s home SPFL Trust Trophy third round tie against League Two opponents Stirling Albion, Inverness have seven first-team players missing due to illness or injury – with Flynn's case being the most serious. Charlie Gilmour is most likely out for two weeks because of mild concussion, while a health issue continues to rule out striker Ethan Cairns. There ya go, ah told ye we needed mare defenders didn't I... ye cannae huv enough can ye... we're a young team urn't we... we need more goals don't we... Hey, Teacher, Leave those kids alone.... Maybe some home grown talent like Calum Mackay, Calum MacLeod, Robbie Thompson, Shae Keogh, Ben Corner and Mathew Strachan will get some game time and loan players James Nolan and Connall Ewan will benefit from some competitive action to get the sharpness back and should feature. Big Musa has looked decent between the sticks in his two starts and will probably need to retain the gloves with Newman out and Martin MacKinnon possibly back at Clach??? Stirling Albion <<< That was the Stirling Albion squad that beat Spartans 1-0 last weekend, a result that puts the Binos third in the table with nine points after three wins and two defeats in League 2. Ross Davidson was the scorer in that one. Alan Maybury, the former Hearts defender is the man in charge this season having replaced Darren Young after The Bino's were relegated at the end of last season. I notice that Dale Carrick is still there and you might remember that it was he that scored twice in the first half in the Scottish Cup tie in 2022. He generally led us a merry dance in that first forty-five and will be worth watching this time round. Cammy McKinley is top scorer with two goals. Derek Gaston, the former Arbroath keeper is their No1 and he is always a difficult man to get the ball past.

Back to Life after Death It was another quiet week in the life and death of Inverness Caledonian Thistle, as we died a few times before Alan Savage once again applied cardiopulmonary resuscitation to breathe new life back into our lifeless soul. Having mentioned administration earlier in the day, his next statement shortly after was much appreciated by the fans. An "Amicable deal has been struck that saves club from administration all stakeholders should be delighted" quote from Sir Savage, or as we now call him around these parts Sir Alan Salvage, a title bestowed on him by one of our more astute forum members. Meanwhile the revelations keep coming, but at least Mr Savage has caught the attention of the fans with his transparency and speed at which he has conducted his "forensic audit", struck "amicable deals" and removed bad eggs. Nothing short of a miracle to be honest as he has strived to correct five years of wrongdoings in five days of scrutiny and integrity. The freedom of the City awaits Sir Salvage. In the meantime, we still have a team to support and olde adversaries Queen of the South come North on Saturday for a League 1 encounter. Queens are the only other 'full time' squad in the division with genuine aspirations of getting back into the Championship and we last played them at the end of season 21/22. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Shop/Bar Info Connall Ewan loan James Nolan Loan Oh No! Oh Yes! Challenge Cup 7th September ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 21 12 3 6 38 26 +12 Away 20 8 7 5 34 22 +12 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 41 20 10 11 72 48 +24 Home advantage is usually a good indicator as to the outcome of these encounters. However, given our plight this will negate that advantage and we will be looking for our defender heavy squad to keep us interested. Last 10 Competitive Meetings 1 - 2 (A) 2 - 2 (H) 2 - 1 (A) 2 - 1 (H) 1 - 1 (A) 0 - 1 (H) 3 - 0 (A) 3 - 1 (H) 2 - 0 (A) 2 - 0 (H) Our first ever game against Queen of the South was a Scottish Cup tie in December 1994: An indifferent display saw Caley Thistle lose their first Scottish Cup match to a competent Queen of the South side. The second division team were first on the attack and Bell nearly connected with a Jackson cross. In the 10th minute Wilson Robertson was set up by Charlie Christie but he shot over the bar. Both sides had further chances with the home side's best effort being when a Mike Andrew drive was well saved by Purdie. In the second half Purdie again saved well from Noble & Robertson. At the other end McRitchie made a tremendous save from Kennedy and from the kick out found Robertson in space - he ran towards goal but his 25 yard drive thundered off the upright. In 73 and 83 minutes the game was settled when the visitors scored 2 identical goals - direct shots from free kicks on the edge of the area by Bell & Bryce. McAllister scored a consolation goal in the last minute for the home side. Starting XI Mark McRitchie Dave Brennan Mark McAllister Mike Andrew Mike Noble Sergei Baltacha Steven MacDonald Norman MacMillan (McKenzie 56) Charlie Christie Alan Hercher Wilson Robertson Subs: Jim Calder, Paul McKenzie, Colin Mitchell. Queen of the South: Purdie (gk) B. McKeown, D. McKeown, Campbell, Hetherington, McFarlane, Bryce, Bell, McLaren, Kennedy Jackson FULL TIME: 1-2 Scottish Cup - Rd 1: Saturday, December 17th, 1994, 3:00 PM Telford Street Park, Inverness Attendance: 1,100: Referee: S Dougal Report by Ian Broadfoot ************************************************************************ Season so far Inverness: 1-1 v Dumbarton, 0-1 @ Annan Athletic, 1-1 v Montrose, 0-0 @ Kelty Hearts. QotS: 0-0 @ Alloa, 2-1 v Cove, 2-0 v Annan Athletic, 0-1 @ Montrose. Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Those results show the table like this after four games 1. Kelty Hearts 4 2 2 0 6 1 8 2. Alloa Athletic 4 2 2 0 5 3 8 3. Q.O.S. 4 2 1 1 4 2 7 4. Montrose 4 1 3 0 3 2 6 5. Annan Athletic 4 2 0 2 4 4 6 6. Stenhousemuir 4 2 0 2 5 6 6 7. Dumbarton 4 0 4 0 7 7 4 8. Inverness CT 4 0 3 1 2 3 3 9. Arbroath 4 0 2 2 3 7 2 10. Cove Rangers 4 0 1 3 5 9 1 All 3:00pm Fixtures this weekend Arbroath v Alloa Ath Cove Rangers v Montrose Fc Dumbarton v Kelty Hearts Inverness CT v Queen South Stenhousemuir v Annan Athletic Latest Team News Inverness: Four players are out for around the next month. Keeper Jack Newman out for another three to four weeks, as is Luis Longstaff, who is awaiting news on a scan for his thigh injury and Ethan Cairns. The latest set back for the Caley Jags is is that Keith Bray is out for two to three weeks with a hip flexor issue. Hopefully see all these guys around November then. Jack Walker has been loaned out to Nairn County until January 2025. That no doubt came about as a result of the young County prospect, centre back Connall Ewan signing a one year loan from our neighbours. The Caley Jags badly need a proven striker, and with that in mind, they have managed to bring in midfielder Paul Allan who played as a sub at Kelty and defender Connall Ewan from Dingwall. Is this a sign from Johndo as he watches over us. James Nolan, who was born in Chorley, has come to us on a season long loan from Manchester United youth. He's a versatile player from defence to attack. Queens Team v Montrose last weekend Queen of the South: Queens suffered a surprise defeat at Montrose last week and to add insult to injury, defender Harry Cochrane, who was celebrating his 100th appearance, got his marching orders in the 91st minute moments after Brydon had left the field with a possible hamstring injury leaving just nine on the park at the end for Queens. Despite having favourable stats it was Montrose that took the points when Craig Brown shot into the bottom corner from outside the box in the twenty-first minute. Cammy Gill made a couple of great saves for Montrose to keep their noses ahead. Cochrane will miss this one after his red card. Fraser Brydon might miss out and Lewis O'Donnell took a heavy knock. Note that Kai Kennedy is at Palmerston and he looked a dangerous player when at Inverness a few seasons ago. View full article

This is NOT a Training Drill This away day is not a training drill as our binned regime might have once thought about, but this will be a fans celebration of the support, leadership and friendship of one extraordinary fan, Johndo Mackenzie, otherwise known on CaleyThistleOnline as The Immortal Howden Ender. Johndo was a regular at home and away games for many a season, befriending everyone he met, olde or young, it mattered not to Johndo. With his amiable larger than life character, he could be found leading those with the best of intentions astray on occasion. He was partial to a cheeky wee conga, one example at Rugby Park and he was not shy when it came to starting chants, easily recognisable in his kilt and often tastefully coloured beard and mullet: O2-O2B-O2BA-JAGGY... GIVE ME AN I... OH INVERNESS, IS WONDERFUL... WHO PUT THE O AND THE Y IN COUNTY...... rant chant rinse repeat. Johndo gained the respect and legendary status within our support and this weekend we are dedicating this away day to him, as a mark of respect for his unstinting services to supporting our club, his cameraderie, his genial presence and most of all to show our love for his family friends and the man himself. Respect & Rest in Peace Johndo, we will carry on your work here whilst you sip a large voddie & coke. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Johndo Special info & Supporters Bus Heart Foundation Donations for Johndo ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alan Savage has steadied the ship since removing Scot Gardiner and going through the books with a fine toothcomb. He has done in one week what the entire board and CEO failed to do in five years of tyranny. Give this man the freedom of Inverness. Of course, there is the minor matter of a game of football to deal with on Saturday as well when we take on table toppers Kelty Hearts at our training ground away venue of New Central Park, Kelty. So who is playing for Kelty these days? Former Inverness defender Brad Mckay's loan ended at the close of last season and he now plays for Brechin City. Scot Allan is a new recruit joining from struggling Arbroath. Michael Tidser, once of Ross County is also at Kelty as is robust defender Tam O'Ware who has been at Morton and Partick Thistle. The hosts season so far Kelty Hearts top the League table at the moment with two wins and a draw. They opened their campaign with a draw (1-1) at Montrose followed by a 2-0 home win over Stenhousemuir and then a convincing 3-0 win at Arbroath. Ross Cunningham has scored three, with Scott Allan scoring twice and Scott Williamson with one strike. <<< That was their starting XI at Arbroath. Players In: Callum Flatman, defender (Hearts); Murray Thomas, forward (Hearts); Brody Paterson, defender (Hartlepool United); Scott Allan, midfielder (Arbroath); Scott Mercer, defender (Bonnyrigg Rose); Murray Miller, midfielder (Stirling Albion); Liam Brown, midfielder (East Kilbride); Ryan Adamson, goalkeeper (Cumbernauld Colts); Luke McCarvel, forward (Cumbernauld Colts); Robbie Cole, midfielder (Civil Service Strollers). Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Table after Matchday three 1. Kelty Hearts 3 2 1 0 6 1 7 2. Q.O.S. 3 2 1 0 4 1 7 3. Annan Athletic 3 2 0 1 4 3 6 4. Alloa Athletic 3 1 2 0 4 3 5 5. Dumbarton 3 0 3 0 5 5 3 6. Montrose 3 0 3 0 2 2 3 7. Stenhousemuir 3 1 0 2 2 4 3 8. Inverness CT 3 0 2 1 2 3 2 9. Cove Rangers 3 0 1 2 3 6 1 10. Arbroath 3 0 1 2 1 5 1 Latest Team News Inverness are interested in young Aberdeen striker Alfie Bavidge. Alfie, 18, is the son of former Caley Jags striker Martin Bavidge who made 96 appearances for the Caley Jags. That makes him the grandson of Mitch Bavidge, the former Caley player. Incidentally, Alfie was on loan at Kelty Hearts last season scoring nine goals in twenty-five appearances and has been capped at u16, u17 and u19 level for Scotland. Jack Newman will be missing after going back to Dundee United for now with a knee injury which means that Musa Dibaga will get his second start. Luis Longstaff is out for a month with a thigh injury, Ethan Cairns has been out with a health issue recently. and there is no mention of his condition.

Gable Endies Trip North A week is a long time in the changing faces of Caley Thistle. Montrose are the visitors this weekend as news of a Savage intervention overpowered the extra sensory perceptions of fantasy that were wafting around the Caledonian Stadium as if they were going out of fashion. Not since the early days of LSD have we been subjected to such psychedelia and hallucinatory fables that we were experiencing at the moment as philanthropist or fantasist Ketamine McWannabe attempted to pull the wool over the eyes of those we once trusted to lead our club in search of the holy graill. He did manage to bluff his way through a few clowns, but sense and sensibility will now take over as the prodigal son, Alan Savage, returns to stabilise the club. The club motto is 'Pride of the Highlands'. It was about to be altered to 'Laughing Stock of the North'. But wait! There is a God afterall, his name is Savage, Alan Savage. Was it written in the stars... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket Info Savage Intervention Supporters Trust Forensic Audit topic on CTO Safety Message ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On hearing the news, the fans turned a Whiter Shade of Pale: To be honest, it was akin to a scene from the Wizard of Oz with the Munchkins showing much merryment. We skipped the light fandango, turned some cartwheels across the floor, I was feeling kind of seasick, when the crowd called out for more. The room was humming harder, and the ceiling flew away when I called out for another drink the waiter brought a tray... Apologies for the lack of Football information on the preview this week. Unfortunately a lot has happened in a very short space of time and it's difficult to keep abreast of the situation as it changes everytime you log in to the laptop. What we do know is that Alan Savage will conduct a 'forensic review' of all that is concerning the club in these difficult times. Scotty has started a topic on CTO to discuss this. Scot Gardiner has been shown the door and with Alan Savage at the helm we can be assured that all will be upfront and integrity will return. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg and the deeper they dive, the more we will know about our plight. We are not out of the woods by any means, but it is the first positive step forward in what will be a long arduous trek after years of self inflicted decline from within. Last Time Out Inverness lost out again at Annan as they did on League Cup duty when a Tommy Goss penalty was the difference between the two sides. Goss also scored the only goal in the League Cup game. A disappointing result on the back of a 1-1 draw against Dumbarton in the League opener at the Caledonian stadium. Danny Devine opening our account on half time but a resurgent Son's perked up after the break and got a deserved equaliser. Billy Mckay makes his 300th appearance for Inverness tomorrow. What a legend sitting on 112 goals. Note to Dunc. Billy is a striker, so let's see him strike please. Montrose have drawn their opening two fixtures in the League. A 1-1 draw at home to Kelty was followed by a goalless draw at Arbroath. Craig Brown scored the goal on the hour against Kelty who hit back soon after through Cunningham. Surprise surprise, but Michael Gardyne was sent off after an hour against Arbroath and will be suspended for the trip North. We will find Montrose a stubborn team and our last encounters with them saw us scrape through the play-offs at the end of last season. That's sort of irrelevant now with our playing staff decimated and morale at rock bottom. <<<That was their starting XI against Arbroath last week. No massive squad changes from last term but Gardyne suspended. In: Ben MacIver-Redwood, forward (Stirling University); Craig Smith, defender (Heriot-Watt University). Loan in: Blair McKenzie, defender (Aberdeen); Callum Hannah, defender (Raith Rovers). Out: Liam Callaghan, midfielder (Arbroath); Ben Hermiston, forward (Deveronvale, undisclosed); Craig Batchelor, forward.

30 years On... Thirty years on from our entry into the Scottish League system when we were then known as Caledonian Thistle, we head to Galabank Stadium, Annan, for a League 1 game, having already lost there this season in the League Cup group stages. This will be only the fourth meeting between the two clubs having won the first two 8-1 and 4-0 many moons ago before losing 1-0 last month. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Bus Info Thirty Years Ago Today ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Not much has changed since we played Annan a month ago. Ethan Cairns is still out with a health issue. Trialist keeper still not signed up. Spoke to the 'Owner', hopeful of adding another couple of players. Wallace Duffy is also still a possibility. Annan beat Cove Rangers last week in their opening League fixture. Second half goals from Max Kilsby, Josh Todd and Malik Zaid gave Annan a 3-1 win over Cove. That win put Annan at the top of the table on goal difference. The League cup encounter was a close affair against Inverness and Tommy Goss got the winner despite a promising display from Inverness where Ferguson felt we were unfortunate not to take something from the game. Whilst Annan were beating Cove, we were drawing with Dumbarton in a game of two halfs. An opening headed goal from Danny Devine put us ahead just on the interval in a lively opening 45'. Alas we went back ito our shell after the break and the Sons capitalised on that to draw level. The Good Old Days Who remembers this one? Four days before the legend that was Alan Hercher scored that opening day League hat-trick against Arbroath at Telford Street in a 5-2 League fixture, we faced East Stirlingshire in the Coca Cola Cup first round and came away with a 2-0 win thanks to first half goals from Wilson Robertson and Alan Hercher. Report by Ian Broadfoot: A fine performance by Caledonian Thistle in their first competitive match won them a second round tie against Dundee. The home 'keeper Moffat denied both Hercher and McAllister but the deadlock was broken in the 36th minute when Wilson Robertson scored after a 1-2 with Paul MacKenzie. Just on half time they went two ahead - Hercher distracted Ian Lee and a Scott corner ricocheted into the net off the defender. Alan Hercher was credited with the goal. In the second half the result was never in doubt and both MacDonald and Hercher nearly increased the visitors' lead. East Stirling did come close seven minutes from time when John Scott was forced to clear from his line. A few minutes later Robertson and Noble had shots saved by Moffat. In the last minute a Geraghty shot nearly gave East Stirling a consolation goal but it came off the bar. League Cup - Rd 1 Tuesday, August 9th, 1994, 7:30 PM at Firs Park, Falkirk Attendance: 899 Referee: M Clark Starting XI Mark McRitchie Dave Brennan Mark McAllister Mike Andrew Mike Noble John Scott Danny MacDonald Graeme Bennett Alan Hercher Paul McKenzie (Smart 66) Wilson Robertson Subs: Jim Calder (GK), Martin Lisle, Allan Smart

League 1 we're here Our first game in the third tier of Scottish football for twenty six years begins on Saturday with the visit of Dumbarton FC. We seem to have avoided playing Dumbarton often with only eight encounters overall. We did spend a season with them in the Championship in 2017/2018 and we also lifted the Challenge Cup in Perth thanks to a late Carl Tremarco strike in March 2018. However, times have changed and not for the better at the Caledonian Stadium and we will be looking for our youngsters to get us out of trouble against a seasoned Dumbarton FC. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Interim Chairman Match/Ticket Info Investment Topic on CTO Keogh, Rebilas, Corner Immortal Howden Ender 6th minute ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 4 4 0 0 11 2 +9 Away 3 1 0 2 3 4 -1 Neutral 1 1 0 0 1 0 +1 Total 8 6 0 2 15 6 +9 IrnBru cheer for Inverness: 1 - 0 Inverness lifted the IrnBru Cup at McDiarmid Park Perth after a narrow 1-0 win over Dumbarton. It took a stoppage time goal from Carl Tremarco to settle the tie with Dumbarton putting up stiff resistance before substitute Daniel Mackay fired a challenging low cross into the box. Carl added the finishing touch to take the silverware North. This was Dumbarton's first crack at a national trophy for 121 years. Alas for them, it might take a bit longer to get their hands on a Cup, but it was not for the want of trying. Most of the hype in the build up was centered around the Rock with the Dumbarton marketing team winning hands down and that ensured a good following when the circus came to Perth. The Highland reserved approach tempted the regular followers along to watch Inverness in their fourth Challenge cup final, Robbo's second in charge. The merryment prior to kick off was held in hostelries in the Fair City and the Tulloch Institute hosted a pre-match gig which was well patronised by both sets of supporters in jovial mood with plenty of shouting juice passing over the lips. Happy Days All Competitive Meetings 1 - 2 (A) 1 - 0 (A) 5 - 1 (H) 1 - 0 (N) 1 - 0 (H) 1 - 2 (A) 3 - 1 (H) 2 - 0 (H) This summary from Immortal Howden Ender is also on that report. And finally, our resident seer Immortal Howden Ender was in a feelgood mood; he must have seen that coming, surely? Well I enjoyed yet another memorable ICT away day. Those who I expected to see I met and saw. Nowt wrong with the atmosphere. As fer the game it was poor but both teams set up defensively. Loads of positives to me. Ridgers has cemented his place and really is a solid keeper. Donaldson was immense, Tremarco is the Duracell Bunny, Polworth ran his socks off as did Oakley and we appear to have unearthed a wee cracker in MacKay - simply has to be signed up - with sell on clauses - and given some real game time. We never looked troubled, defensively we kept it tight and shaped, thought we played some pretty stuff a times BUT as all season lacked the killer touch in the last third and lack of a proficient striker. We deserved to win. Our heads could have gone down after that deplorable penalty kick but we kept to the age old adage of keeping going to the final whistle. Respect to the team and the loyal away support. Just need to get out of the play off spot and start planning for next season. Cant believe that so many are whingeing. To me it was a last gasp winner, just as stimulating and enjoyable as the Vincent clincher at Hampden - and giving most fans a well deserved, albeit wholly unexpected cup winning experience in the worst season in years. We are still alive and kicking and the only way is up dudes. Have a nice day RIP Johndo Join us to celebrate Johndo's Last Conga. Dumbarton FC Aberdeen beat Dumbarton 6-0 last weekend in the League Cup group stages. All square at the interval, the Dons pulled away in the second half to record a big win over the Sons. <<< Sons squad last Saturday v Aberdeen. In: Joel Mumbongo, forward (Hamilton Academical); Mouhamed Niang, midfielder (Cove Rangers); Matty Shiels, defender (Cove Rangers); Craig McGuffie, midfielder (Queen of the South); Cammy Clark, defender (Stirling Albion); Michael Miller, defender (Broomhill). Out: Blair Malcolm, midfielder (Forfar Athletic); Ross MacLean, forward (Forfar Athletic); Sean Crighton, defender (Queen's Park, coach); Harry Broun, goalkeeper (Stranraer); Callum Wilson, midfielder (Cumbernauld Colts); Marc Kelly, midfielder (St Cadoc's); Luca Vata, midfielder. Loan ended: Gallagher Lennon, defender (St Mirren); Jay Hogarth, goalkeeper (Rangers); James Graham, forward (Rangers); Aaron Healy, midfielder (Queen's Park); Cian Newbury, defender (Hamilton Academical). Inverness have signed on Academy graduates Shae Keogh, Goal Keeper Szymon Rebilas and Ben Corner. We have also signed two recent trialists in Adam Mackinnon and Flynn Duffy. Adam, a 21 year old midfielder has signed a two tear deal whilst left back Flynn (20) has secured a one year deal with further options.

Dundee at The Hedge We travel not to Dundee, but Brechin to face the Dark Blues in our final Group D game with little to no hope of progressing. Dens Park is still recovering from closed season work and the tie will be held at Glebe Park, Brechin. It's been a sombre week amongst our fanbase with the sad passing of Johndo Mackenzie, or as we know him on here, The Immortal Howden Ender. Tributes to Johndo can be read on the forum by clicking on the link below. News of investment came through this afternoon but it's too early to decide if this will be a sustainable solution for the Caley Jags. You can read the official statement from the club and our thoughts on the CTO forum by clicking the links below. We will post more on this subject as the investment story gathers pace. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/ Bus Info Investment Statement Investment discussion on CTO Johndo Tributes on CTO Nikola Ujdur off to QP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our opponents, Dundee, had this squad on duty on Tuesday night against Annan Athletic. Dundee eventually won 3-1 with a couple of late goals to see off Annan. Simon Murray opened the scoring after half an hour but Annan levelled less than ten minutes later. Murray got his second with five minutes remaing and Seb Palmer-Houlden sealed the win in the 90th minute. Dundee top Group D table having thumped Bonnyrigg Rose 1-7 before easing to a 2-0 away win over Arbroath. It would be nothing short of miraculous should we qualify for the knock-out stages, although that might not be enough given our Head 2 Head defeat to Annan. Danny Devine should be fit and Jack Walker has recovered from a head knock sustained against Arbroath. Duncan Ferguson talking ahead of the Dundee game Last time out saw us lose a penaly shoot-out to Arbroath but football took a back seat that night as news of Johndo's departure filtered through on that day. RIP my friend, you will be missed by all who crossed your path and I will miss your colourful match reports when you offered them on away visits to far flung places. Who remembers this one at Killie with the cheerleader making an appearance at 1:40...

Group D Also Rans Fellow Championship drop-outs Arbroath head North on Tuesday night for what looks likely to be a dead rubber with both sides off the pace in Group D of this seasons League Cup. With Annan Athletic sitting top of the group on 7 points, one ahead of Dundee, it will take a brave man to predict that either Inverness or Arbroath can scrape into the knockout stages of the competition. Some promising performances from the young guns on Saturday and a repeat of that would be pleasing, but let's not forget that Arbroath will be a step up in level from Bonnyrigg. It may also lay down a marker for the League campaign but both squads might be reduced in numbers with so little at stake. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket Info RIP Johndo, the one & only Immortal Howden Ender ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It is with great sadness that one of our long term Caley and then Inverness CT supporters has passed away. Johndo Mackenzie, or as most of us on CTO knew him as Immortal Howden Ender, suffered a heart attack this morning after a couple of recent scares. Scotty has put a lovely tribute on the CTO site and you can read it by clicking the above link. Rest in peace my friend, you were one of a kind, and although you may have 'moved on', you will always be Immortal to those that knew you. Fixtures Tonight Inverness CT v Arbroath Dundee v Annan Athletic Fixtures on Saturday Bonnyrigg v Arbroath Dundee v Inverness CT (@ Brechin) Here's the Group D Table ahead of Tuesday nights fixtures. Dundee as you would have expected beat Arbroath 2-0. However the Smokies suffered a shock 3-0 home reverse against Annan last Saturday having being reduced to ten men (Scott Stewart 42') whilst we were beating Bonnyrigg 3-0 after a slick first half display. We lost our opening fixture 1-0 at Annan which, although not impossible, makes it highly unlikely that we will progress given our final fixture is away to Dundee at Brechin. Our goals against Rose were well taken by Adam Brooks, Keith Bray and Luis Longstaff. Arbroath have failed to score in their two fixtures. Arbroath have also made big changes after dropping out of the Chamoionship. Jim McIntyre is still the manager. In: Jack Wilkie, defender (Dundee); Layton Bisland, defender (Dundee United); Calum Gallagher, forward (Airdrieonians); Robbie Hemfrey, goalkeeper (Airdrieonians); Gavin Reilly, forward (Queen of the South); Liam Callaghan, midfielder (Montrose). Out: Scott Allan, midfielder (Kelty Hearts); Michael McKenna, midfielder (Falkirk); Zak Delaney, defender (Greenock Morton); Kyle Robinson, forward (Athlone Town); Leighton McIntosh, forward (Queen of the South); Jay Bird, forward (Exeter City); Derek Gaston, goalkeeper (Stirling Albion); Darren Lyon, midfielder (Clyde); Jess Norey, midfielder (East Fife); Ally Adams, goalkeeper (East Fife); Keaghan Jacobs, midfielder (Gala Fairydean Athletic); Ricky Little, defender (Beith); Kenan Dünnwald-Turan, midfielder. Loan ended: Max Boruc, goalkeeper (Hibernian); Adam Mackinnon, midfielder (Ross County); Charlie Reilly, midfielder (Dundee); Connor Teale, defender (Fleetwood Town). This was Arbroath's starting XI against Annan Athletic on Saturday. Gavin Reilly & Calum Gallagher missed out through injury and Colin Hamilton went off injured after 20' to be replaced by Stowe. Scott Stewart was red carded and will be suspended for the visit to Inverness. Jim McIntyre was no a happy chappy after the defeat to Annan. He felt they were poor in the final third, the final pass was poor and they lacked quality. Sounds familiar. "What positives can you take from this afternoon Jim?" Jim replied: "Not a lot". For Inverness, Danny Devine took a hip knock on Saturday and is a major doubt. Ethan Cairns has been out injured and Lewis Nicolson is still recovering. Ferguson is hinting that our time is probably over in the League Cup and therefore we may be fielding a pretty young side. With that in mind and despite our financial predicament, £18 for a ticket seems a bit steep given the liklihood of a reduced squad full of upcoming youngsters.

Comfortably Numb Pink Floyd wrote this song about the club we have followed since it's inception in August 1994. The first two verses (Hello & Come on Now) are about the fans speaking to the club and getting no replies, then asking through the Trust if everything is OK. Relax is the board questioning the fans about the hurt that has been caused by mis-management and not listening to our views and then replying and stating our insignificance. OK & Stand Up are the solutions to our problems. The final verse in bold is about the board ignoring the warning signs and that is why we are on the verge of disappearing into the abyss. Hello Is there anybody in there? Just nod if you can hear me Is there anyone at home? Come on now I hear you're feeling down Well, I can ease your pain Get you on your feet again Relax I'll need some information first Just the basic facts Can you show me where it hurts? There is no pain, you are receding A distant ship smoke on the horizon You are only coming through in waves Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying When I was a child I had a fever My hands felt just like two balloons Now I've got that feeling once again I can't explain, you would not understand This is not how I am I have become comfortably numb I have become comfortably numb O.K. Just a little pin prick There'll be no more ah! But you may feel a little sick Can you stand up? I do believe it's working, good That'll keep you going through the show Come on, it's time to go There is no pain you are receding A distant ship smoke on the horizon You are only coming through in waves Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying When I was a child I caught a fleeting glimpse Out of the corner of my eye I turned to look but it was gone I cannot put my finger on it now The child is grown The dream is gone...... We have become comfortably numb Listen for yourself, it's all in here>>> The hurt, the pain, the reluctance and pig-headedness to listen to the fans asking what is going on, the lack of communication, the lack of ambition, the stench of mismanagement, the concert company, the battery farm, the demise since winning the Scottish Cup in 2015, the lack of passion, the lack of commitment, the dwindling fanbase, the lack of leadership. It has left the fans comfortably numb: a state of severe alienation and burnout. When the pressures of life and the evils, insanity and corruption of the outside world are too much and you build a mental wall and you shut yourself out from everything and everyone. You just want to retreat by watching TV or listening to music a LOT to take you from your inner pain but your attention span is so minimized you may wind up on the couch looking up at the ceiling and constantly changing TV channels with the remote. Certain scenes or sounds may bring up painful emotions and make you cry. (urban dictionary) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Parking Info Naelifts it's a 17:30 kick off ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A bit about the game: We lost 2-1 at New Douglas Park on Wednesday night. An incredibly inventive goal from Kevin O'Hara or a comedy of errors from an Inverness point of view saw us go one down in the sixth minute. Another dubious goal saw us two down with Ridgers claiming he was being impeded. We could have lost a third in that first half horror show had Graham Grainger spotted Wallace Duffy blocking a shot with his arm. Enter Samson Lawal and suddenly things began to look better, and even more better when Aribim Pepple scored with his first touch after 68 minutes. Game on and all to play for on Saturday as we start the game one goal down. Danny Devine won't take part after rolling his ankle on the halfway line. All are in agreement that Lawal and Pepple should play a bigger part, but will anyone listen to us. I won't hold my breath. It's our final game of this season, win or lose. It could be a defining game in the history of this club. What on earth have we become... Less of this>>> Off the post, off the head of Ridgers and into the back of the net! Hamilton take the lead! pic.twitter.com/WY6JtjdaCh

  Play-Off Final 1st Leg   Having scraped into the play-off final, we find our route to Championship survival blocked by a two leg play-off encounter against a team we often struggled against, Hamilton Accies, one of lifes great relegation dodgers. They did eventually make the drop into League 1 a season ago but will fancy their chances against a struggling Caley Jags. They seemed to hold the Indian sign over us in season 2022/2023 with four wins out of five encounters, albeit one was a Challenge Cup game at NDP when we fielded a team of youths and Mark Ridgers during one of our worst peroids for injuries. We did win at NDP towards the end of that season with Billy Mckay scoring three minutes from the end. Overall, the stats are even, Accies one game to the good out of 31 meetings. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket Info ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Accies Access: Admission: Adults £20, -18 & +65 £10. Accies season ticket holders 1/2 price on production of their cards at the gate. Cash only at turnstiles. Card payments at shop Venue Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 17 5 4 8 25 23 +2 Away 14 7 2 5 20 18 +2 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 31 12 6 13 45 41 +4 He Scores When He Wants:  2 - 1 A long trip on a Tuesday night to face your bogey team is not ideal, especially when it gets to the business end of the season. That's what faced the Caley Jags as we looked to win our sixth game on the bounce against struggling Hamilton Accies who have already beaten us four times this season. Inverness could go third, but Accies would be hoping to put some distance between themselves and bottom side Cove Rangers. As it turned out it remained goalless at the interval with Deas seeing a header saved by Fulton just before the break. Connor Smith scored direct from a free kick after the interval but Nathan Shaw equalised three minutes later. Billy Mckay won all three points with a poachers goal in off the post with three minutes left and that's how it ended. Phew! Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Accies 2 - 1 (A) 1 - 2 (A) 0 - 3 (H) 0 - 2 (A) 0 - 1 (H) 4 - 0 (H) 1 - 1 (A) 1 - 2 (H) 1 - 2 (A) 2 - 1 (H) How did we get into this mess Our demise has been well documented this season in the Championship where we got off to a poor start before relieving Billy Dodds of his duties after winning 1 point in our first six games. In comes our saviour, Big Dunc. However all is not well and we just kept our heads above water thanks to Arbroath being rubbish. Onto the play offs and an insipid performance at Links Park left us all wondering if our time has come to drop into oblivion. Our performance certainly would not look out of place in the lower leagues. We clung on for a 0-0 draw away from home and scraped a 1-0 win at Inverness with Billy Mckay saving our blushes with his 112th goal for the club and most important to date. Everything about the club has negative undertones at the moment. Well travelled and long suffering Caley Jags fan Gringo said:  "That was my first game of the season and my first chance to see with my own eyes how gash ICT have become. That was one awful unentertaining game and by far the worst I've seen from the team I support. No passion, no urgency, no desire, no creativity...nothing. Square balls across the back line time after time. Can't keep possession. Can't shoot. Two game against a part time outfit and we can only bag one goal. There needs to be drastic improvement against Hamilton and I fully believe Dunc is incapable of doing that with this bunch of players. Hamilton will be a tough hurdle to overcome and I fear the worse".  John Rankin's Hamilton Accies on the other hand are rightly in a positive mood after an excellent season in League 1 finishing second to all conquering Falkirk and conceding the same amount goals as the Champions. Hamilton's stats for their League campaign with (ict in brackets). Won 22 (10) Drawn 8 (12) Lost 6 (14) Goals for 73 (41), Goals against 28 (40)  Top Scorers Kevin O'Hara 16 Euan Henderson 10 Ahkeem Rose 7 Lewis Smith 5 (Lewis also tops the assist chart with 11) Kyle MacDonald 5 Reghan Tumilty 5 ICT loan player Jake Davidson has also bagged a couple of goals for Accies but will be ineligible to play. Hamilton did face Championship opposition in the Challenge Cup, losing 4-1 to Raith Rovers. That game was nicely poised at 0-1 until Lee Kilday was red carded after 54 minutes. Raith capitalised and scored a further three goals with Zanatta netting for Accies. Let's not forget, Accies also have an artificial surface which is something Ferguson bleated about after the Montrose game at Links Park. Accies team v Alloa: Lyness; Longridge, Kilday (Owens 68 ), Barjonas (Rose 68 ), Henderson (Hastie 78 ), Martin (Murray 84), O’Hara, L. Smith, McGowan, Tumilty, Williamson (Davidson 45). Subs Not Used: J. Smith; Redfern, Winter, Hendrie.   Inverness latest Team News Here's Dunc's briefing: Sean McAllister out with recurring injury. Sounds as though the rest will be as you were and Charlie Gilmour is hopefully fit to play some part. Don't look for any drastic changes.    

  Play-Off Second Leg   It's only Half-Time in the League 1/Championship semi-final play-offs. Both games are finely poised, Inverness v Morton scoreless and Accies v Alloa level at 2-2. Inverness had a shocker at Links Park on the artificial surface. However, the reality of the matter is we showed no urgency whatsoever and played second fiddle to Montrose throughout the game. Many fans have said this is the worst team they can remember in the clubs short history. No passion, no swashbuckle, nothing, just completely flat and zero dimensional. Only Lawal and Ridgers were given pass marks by the less than impressed Caley Jags support. As much as we have criticised the Caley Jags performance on Tuesday night, let's not lose sight of the fact that Montrose are a decent League 1 side with a good blend of experience and talented prospects. For our part, let's keep them as a good League 1 side and that means no room for faffing about. Time has run out now, there's no hiding places and no room for shirkers. Ditch the sideways passing or put goal posts in front of the Main Stand and tuck shops. Gardiner, Morrison and the rest of the suits. Are you listening to the fans, because nothing seems to have changed and the standard of football on display is driving people away from the Stadium. Here's a selection of comments from the forums on CTO, have a gander: An utterly shameful performance tonight. Mortifying to be in this position but to approach the game with such little intent or urgency is unforgivable and up there with one of the most insipid performances I can recall in such a crucial game. Genuinely one of the most depressing experiences in 30 years of watching ICT. I simply cannot see us staying up with this group of players and management. Just got home and realised that instead of travelling to Montrose and enduring that p1sh, I could’ve stayed at home and watched the Eurovision semi-final! Awful game.  Caley were outplayed and outfought all over the pitch.  As others have said, only Lawal gets pass marks - the only one to show a bit of urgency and desire. (perhaps Samuel, too, but he was just so isolated).  Lawal's run down the left with a great little turn gave us the only thing to cheer about, and then his shot off the bar, of course.  That was it.  Imagine if we had a former Scotland U21 midfielder who had played for the club on over 100 occasions, born and bred in Inverness and brought through our youth system. Imagine he’d been available since January. I doubt he’d be as good as the loanees though so no point imagining anything apart from life in League 1  Not really shocked by the result it’s the same old crap week in week out bar the odd lucky result .And by odd I mean ODD  Simply not good enough. Can’t believe a former (striker) manager plays a team the way he does! We are a disgrace to the jersey so far. Absolutely honking. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket Info ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Latest Team News Not much has changed since Tuesday, but word has it that Danny Devine is a doubt. However, it's at the other end of the park where most of our troubles lie. Carragher and McAllister are available, Devine a doubt as suggested, and Charlie Gilmour training on grass. Think we all need some after Tuesday night...    Mark will be a vital player for us on Saturday.   Montrose have three strikers who have totalled over thirty goals between them, so danger all around the box. We can not afford to be complacent, and we need to show more urgency, passion and quality than we displayed at Links Park.  

Play Offs Looming Down to the nitty gritty now as we enter the last two games still in the danger zone and just one point ahead of Queens Park who, as it happens, face Arbroath, the very club that Big Dunc said might have downed tools by now! You couldn't write it, could you. In fairness, Dunfermline have nothing to play for but pride, and a few shekels, does that mean that they will also down tools? Have a word with yourself if you answered yes. The final day of the season next Friday night has Queens Park at home to Airdrie and Inverness at home to Morton. It's going to the wire. At the moment, it's still in our own hands, but it's not over until the fat lady sings. (sit down Michelle...) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Bus Info ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue H2H v Pars Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 25 10 10 5 31 22 +9 Away 25 9 11 5 30 27 +3 Neutral 2 0 1 1 3 4 -1 Total 52 19 22 11 64 53 +11 We have a pretty hefty advantage over the Pars since we first locked horns with them in the First Division (Championship) back in August, 1999. Our first encounter was at East End Park after we had gained promotion. That didn't end well, a 4-0 defeat, an early injury to Barry Wilson after 6 minutes, a Pars penalty before half time and a red card for Andrew Allan after 66 minutes. Ian Broadfoot's summary of that game: The reality of the First Division hit Caley Thistle hard in this opening league fixture as they slumped to a 4-0 defeat. They were hit by an early injury to Barry Wilson and Andrew Allan was ordered off in the 66th minute for a tackle on Brian Reid. Caley Thistle were only one down at half time to an Andy Smith penalty, but were overwhelmed in the second half. A Brian Reid low drive in 61 minutes made it 2-0 then came the ordering-off. Scott Thomson made it three in 81 minutes and Stewart Petrie completed the rout on the final whistle. Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Pars 0 - 0 (H) 1 - 1 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 2 - 0 (H) 1 - 1 (A) 1 - 2 (H) 0 - 0 (A) 1 - 0 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 1 - 3 (A) The stats show six draws from the last ten meetings with all three this season ending all square. That's where the smart money will be going. However, this is a different beast with more than just relegation at stake. Given our financial plight, the mere existence of our club functioning as it is just now is a growing concern. Going down may well be the catalyst for part time football and seasons in the doldrums should we survive. The ultimate price to pay for failure is plain for all to see. LAST TIME OUT The Caley Jags battered Raith Rovers to a 0-1 defeat at the Caledonian Stadium last Friday night, thanks mainly to a worldy performance by Raith keeper Kevin Dabrowski and his woodwork. Ably assisted by our inability to stick the ball into the net, we snatched defeat from the jaws of a comfortable victory. In terms of performance, everything was positive. In terms of result, it was a disaster. We can't fault the players for effort, but the season long issue of not taking our chances reared it's ugly head big time. It certainly looks likely that some familiar faces will not be here next season. LAST SIX: L D L W W L Dunfermline drew 0-0 with Queens Park at EEP last week as Queens showed plenty of resilience to deny their hosts. The Pars saw the better of the game in a dour scoreless encounter that ensured they have nothing left to play for and QP remained below us in the table. I'm sure Pars' aim will be to finish with a flourish especially at home in front of their own fans and of course the extra £££ for places. LAST SIX: W W W D L D Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Table ahead of Airdrie v Dundee United on Friday night. 1. Dundee Utd 34 21 8 5 69 22 71 2. Raith Rovers 34 19 8 7 53 42 65 3. Partick Thistle 34 14 12 8 62 50 54 4. Airdrieonians 34 15 6 13 44 42 51 5. Morton 34 12 8 14 42 43 44 6. Dunfermline 34 11 10 13 39 44 43 7. Ayr United 34 12 6 16 50 58 42 8. Inverness CT 34 9 11 14 37 38 38 9. Queens Park 34 9 10 15 43 56 37 10. Arbroath 34 6 5 23 35 79 23 Friday 26th April Airdrieonians v Dundee United Saturday 27th April Arbroath v Queens PK Dunfermline v Inverness CT Morton v Rovers Partick Th v Ayr United LATEST TEAM NEWS Aaron Doran looks likely to have pulled on the Caley Jags strip for the last time after limping off against Raith Rovers last Friday. Sean McAllister returning was a bonus though but the mystery deepens as to why Roddy MacGregor, Austin Samuels and Nikola Ujdur are not featuring either on the injury list or the team list. Baffling to be honest as Roddy has the midfield attributes required, Austin has the speed and potential and Nikola in my opinion, if fit, would be my first choice on the team sheet. Are these guys on the way out? Add to that seven or eight loan players, then next season will see a massive restructure and rebuild at the Caledonian Stadium. I imagine the board members are squirming in their seats like Angela van den Bogerd at a Post Office inquiry. Here's Dunc isn't it>>> No changes, Doran Out with a knee injury... Dunfermline have former St Johnstone striker Chris Kane available and he is a handful, a sort of taller version of Alex Samuel but with less hair. They also have the human battering ram in the shape of the powerful Alex Jakubiak. Pars v QP last week @ EEP 3-4-3 Mehmet Fisher (Breen 86) Benedictus Fagan-Walcott Welch-Hayes (Jakubiak 68) Hamilton Ritchie-Hosler Edwards Todd Kane McCann (Holmes 80) Subs Not Used: Little; Sutherland, Chalmers, O'Halloran, Benjamin, Moffat

  Great Escape is still on   The great escape coninues on Friday night at the Caledonian Stadium as we host Raith Rovers in a game that will also be screened live on BBC Scotland with Raith trying to cling on to the coat tails of Dundee United and the Caley Jags looking to slither away from the play-off zone. What could possibly go wrong? Savage and Carragher will be joined in the squad by a welcome returnee in Sean McAllister who has returned fit from Everton after about six weeks out. That's a nice wee bonus for Big Dunc. However, he has the wrath from Arbroath after his "tools down" comment in his pre-match interview. As long as he has not got the wrath from Raith. Keep the faith! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket Info Bring a friend for a Fiver Alex Chisholm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue H2H v Rovers Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 22 14 5 3 41 17 +24 Away 19 10 5 4 37 24 +13 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 41 24 10 7 78 41 +37 We hold a massive advantage over Raith Rovers in all games played since the universe was created. Only 7 defeats in 41 encounters and two of them have come this season, our darkest for many a year. However, normal service resumed when we won the last game at Stark's Park on the 27th of January thanks to a 14 minute first half hat-trick from Alex Samuel. Little did we know that would be his last goal for the next eleven games until he popped up with the winner against Arbroath on the 6th of April. Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Rovers 3 - 2 (A) 1 - 2 (H) 0 - 1 (A) 2 - 0 (H) 2 - 2 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 2 - 0 (A) 3 - 2 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 0 - 0 (H) Cast your mind back to January 12th 2002, and the scene of our biggest win over Raith Rovers with an attendance of 1822:  Report from Ian Broadfoot:  Prior to the match the Kevin Bisset Enclosure was officially opened. The first goal came in seven minutes when Russell Duncan crossed from the right and Ross Tokely sent a looping header into the top corner. Simon Miotto had a number of good saves before, at the other end, a Darren Henderson header came off the post in 33 minutes. Goal number two came in 36 minutes after a scramble which included the ball rebounding off the woodwork. Roy McBain was well placed to take advantage and he hammered home from close range. On the half-time whistle a strong 25 yard shot from Dennis Wyness took a slight deflection and Miotto made a flying save. 30 seconds after the restart a long Nicky Walker kick-out reached Barry Robson on the left well inside the Raith half. He took a touch then crossed for Martin Bavidge to head home from six yards. Raith's best second half effort came on the hour mark when a Darren Henderson header was cleared off the line by Stuart McCaffrey. In 67 minutes Robson's inswinging corner reached a ruck of players and it went in off the head of Bobby Mann. The best goal of the game came with 10 minutes left when substitute David Bagan surged through the middle, played a one-two with Wyness and hit a low ball past Miotto from 12 yards. Starting XI: Nicky Walker; Ross Tokely, Grant Munro, Bobby Mann, Stuart McCaffrey, Charlie Christie, Barry Robson, Roy McBain, Russell Duncan, Martin Bavidge, Dennis Wyness.  Subs:  Jim Calder; Stuart Golabek, Graeme Stewart, David Bagan, Paul Ritchie   Last Couple The Caley Jags claimed their first back to back wins of the season last weekend, having beaten Arbroath 2-1 a fortnight ago thanks to goals from Wallace Duffy and Alex Samuel. That was Duffy's second goal in recent weeks having also netted at Tannadice. Last weekend was massive for us as we scraped ourselves out of ninth place and above Queens Park in a huge six-pointer at Hampden. Cammy Harper made the difference with a superb free kick in the 25th minute, a strike fit to win any game at the National Stadium. Those two wins have placed our destiny within our own hands. Last Six: D L  D L  W W  Take a bow Cammy Harper>>>   Raith Rovers have lost ground at the head of the table in the last fortnight. They began April with a 2-1 win over Ayr United. Easton and Hamilton either side of the break with Logan Chalmers notching the United goal. That result was followed by a home defeat from Airdrieonians, going down 3-1 at Stark's Park. Josh Mullin was the Rovers scorer that night as Raith never got to grips with a lively Airdrie who scored through Frizzell twice and McGregor. Last week they had a no score draw against Partick Thistle to allow the gap at the top to open further. Last Six: W D L  W L  D    Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts We are the Friday night game this weekend. Smokies are now Relegated 1. Dundee Utd 33 20 8 5 68 22 68 2. Raith Rovers 33 18 8 7 52 42 62 3. Partick Thistle 33 13 12 8 58 50 51 4. Airdrieonians 33 15 6 12 44 38 51 5. Dunfermline 33 11 9 13 39 44 42 6. Ayr United 33 12 6 15 50 57 42 7. Morton 33 11 8 14 40 42 41 8. Inverness CT 33 9 11 13 37 37 38 9. Queens Park 33 9 9 15 43 56 36 10. Arbroath 33 6 5 22 34 77 23   Friday 19th April Inverness CT v Raith Rovers Saturday 20th April Arbroath v Morton Dundee United v Ayr United           Dunfermline v Queen's Park      Partick Thistle v Airdrieonians  Latest Team News Remi Savage is back training after concussion and James Carragher missed out last week with a hamstring injury but has also trained this week. Wallace Duffy has a niggle and has missed a couple of sessions. The good news is that Sean McAllister has returned from Everton after injury and could be good to go. Here's Dunc winding up the Smokies.... and they are biting>>>    Immortal Howden Ender is picking the team this week and here's his thoughts: It would not surprise me that Dunc will go for the same starting X1 as Hampden. That has positives, maybes and negatives. Playing the same 5 at the back will provide the stability required and hopefully another shut out. I can see this allowing Harper to be more of a wing back but Kerr is not really that type of player. Anderson and Longstaff ran and ran and tackled and tackled. But they are stuck in the middle of the park and with only Samuel as the forward option. Starting Doran and Billy is risky. Both can produce something different, especially from free kick positions, but they need to support Samuel more. That's why I would play Doran alternating wide right and left. Billy did have a couple of chances at Hampden but I would play him closer to Samuel. As for the Tinkerville Taz then same again please. He will not give the Raith defence any breathing space and he is a cert to win free kicks. And with Billy ploughing likewise for an hour both may get more clear cut opportunities. What we can't allow to happen is giving away an early goal. Raith at home is a far more difficult task than the Spiders away. But I reckon Dunc and his dogs of War will be howling at the end of 90 minutes AND I would take a point if offered now...    Raith Rovers may have slipped up recently as their title challenge fades. However, they are still a dangerous side. Raith team v Partick last week (0-0) Dabrowski   Brown   Watson   Murray   Dick   Brown   Mullin (Connolly 86)   Stanton (Hamilton 77)   Turner (Easton 45)   Smith (McGill 86)   Rudden (Vaughan 59)   Subs Not Used: McNeil; Corr, Mathews, Byrne.      

We're off to Hampden~den~en~n It's a trip to a less than full Hampden Park for us in the next stage of the relegation battle after we dodged a bullet last week against Arbroath. Goal difference wise we are the best placed of the bottom four clubs. Our defence is also better than the other bottom four, in fact we are second equal defensively in the Championship, however what has let us down is scoring goals and in that department we are second worst in the league, only two goals better off than relegation certainties Arbroath. We did put four goals past Queens Park last time we were there. Unfortunately that was followed by three defeats and two draws in our next five games and we lost at Inverness when the Queens visited back at the beginning of February. The only certainty here is that the Hampden Park crowd record of 149,415 from 1937 won't be broken. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Travel Info ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue H2H v QP Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 14 4 5 5 16 17 -1 Away 9 6 0 3 19 13 +6 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 23 10 5 8 35 30 +5 Only the last eight games since Queens Park came up into the Championship and QP are streets ahead of us since then. The 3 - 0 win was a League Cup encounter 14 years ago courtesy of these guys with goals from Lee Cox (20), Eric Odhiambo (55), Ross Tokely (58) Ryan Esson; Ross Tokely, Grant Munro, Stuart Golabek, Kevin McCann, Russell Duncan, Lee Cox, Nick Ross, Gil Blumenshtein, Adam Rooney, Dani Sanchez. Subs: Jonny Tuffey; Chris Innes, Roy McBain, Eric Odhiambo, Shane Sutherland Full report on that one came from hislopsoffsideagain (click on the 3-0 scoreline above) Last 8 Competitive Meetings since QP came up. 0 - 1 (H) 4 - 1 (A) 1 - 2 (H) 1 - 2 (A) 0 - 2 (H) 0 - 0 (H) 1 - 2 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 3 - 0 (H) 1 - 2 (H) Hampden Success: 4 - 1 Danny Devine had recovered from the knock that saw him limp off against Raith Rovers on the hour last week. Sean Welsh and Luis Longstaff were on the bench. Grant Savoury, Charlie Fox and Craig Napier missed out for the Spiders. Jack Turner put Queens Park ahead early in the first half before Max Anderson levelled the match ten minutes later. Jack Thomson hit the bar, Mckay deemed offside when putting a loose ball into the net after Wotherspoon's header was saved and that prompted some words of comfort for the referee for which Big Dunc eventually ended up in the stands at the break. After the interval Inverness eased themselves up into sixth place in the league with goals from Nikola Ujdur, his first for the club, David Wotherspoon and a Billy Mckay penalty. (For Full report click on 4-1 scoreline above) Last Time Out Inverness made hard work of taking the points from all but relegated Arbroath. We dominated the first half and but for some brilliant saves from Max Boruc we could have gone in three or four goals to the good at the break. As it was Wallace Duffy scored on half time and that should have given us something to build on against a poor Arbroath who were simply going through the motions. As per usual, we failed to take full advantage of the numerous opportunities and paid the price when Leighton McIntosh hammered home a wind assisted shot from the edge of the box. We huffed and puffed somewhat thereafter before the energetic MotM Alex Samuel turned and thrashed in the winner from fifteen yards for a belter of a goal. It was a crucial strike that has all but relegated Arbroath and it keeps our hopes alive of avoiding the play-offs. Last Five: D L D L W Queens Park had a day to forget last weekend at Hampden as Champions in waiting Dundee United put five past them. It didn't look likely after the first half when they trailed by a single goal from Fotheringham on the stroke of half-time. However four goals in a fifteen minute spell from Moult, Graham, Fotheringham again, and Sibbald put Queen's back in trouble and United on track for the Premiership. Last Five: D D W L L Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Table ahead of Morton v Dundee United on Friday night. 1. Dundee Utd 32 19 8 5 64 21 65 2. Raith Rovers 32 18 7 7 52 42 61 3. Partick Thistle 32 13 11 8 58 50 50 4. Airdrieonians 32 14 6 12 42 37 48 5. Dunfermline 32 11 9 12 38 42 42 6. Morton 32 11 8 13 39 38 41 7. Ayr United 32 11 6 15 45 57 39 8. Queens Park 32 9 9 14 43 55 36 9. Inverness CT 32 8 11 13 36 37 35 10. Arbroath 32 6 5 21 34 72 23 FRIDAY 12TH APRIL Morton v Dundee Utd SATURDAY 13TH APRIL Airdrieonians v Dunfermline Ayr Utd v Arbroath Queens Park v Inverness CT Raith Rovers v Partick Thistle Latest Team News Duncan Ferguson has much the same squad to select from as last week. Luis Longstaff came off the bench on Saturday after being out for a couple of months with a knee injury and will be back in the squad again for Saturday. Carragher, although he did play, and Ujdur had a bit of a bug last weekend. However Carragher is now a doubt after feeling his hamstring. Other than that not much has changed apart from Remi Savage, who has not recovered after he got a boot in the face from Cammy Kerr. Apparently Kerr's boot is OK but Savage is suffering from minor concussion and will miss the next couple of games. Maybe that was Kerr ensuring he gets a game this weekend. Here's our underfire Gaffer looking like Sherlock Holmes with his pipe>>> Callum Davidson will be smarting after the drubbing they took last week. That's seven goals in their last two games with none scored. Word of warning though, they still have Ruari Paton who has sixteen goals this season. They also have our often broken ex-captain Sean Welsh and Cillian Sheridan who surprisingly has bagged a couple of goals since leaving us. He looked like an unfit Sunday League pub player when at the Caledonian Stadium. Dom Thomas, who scored the winner last time Queens came North, has scored eight, but he was missing last week. He does enjoy a goal against us. Could Davidson be keeping him under wraps for the six-pointer against us this weekend? Last weeks QP flops: Ferrie Thomson Wilson Bannon Longridge Turner (Sheridan 53) Welsh (Tizzard 85) McKinstry (Carse 53) Scott (Bruce 52) Paton McLeish (Mauchin 62) Subs Not Used: Wills: Fox, Robson, Williamson Latest from Queens Park: Ben McPherson, Patrick Jarrett and Grant Savoury continue to be injury absentees with Dom Thomas’ fitness being monitored closely in training this week after missing the last two games.

It's Now or Never That's what Elvis used to say. We are in deep trouble up to our necks with no signs that we can turn this around. Defeat to Arbroath could be the final nail in our coffin with only fifteen points available to us ahead of this game. The play-offs are looking more likely by the minute, but it's not beyond the realms of possibilty that automatic relegation is still an option should Arbroath beat us on Saturday. With the long suffering fans rapidly losing faith in Big Dunc, it's crunch time as Arbroath head North to the venue they won at the last time they were here. Sadly they come to the Caledonian Stadium off the back of a 2-1 midweek defeat to Airdrie, and we could all but relegate them on Saturday with a win. However, that's nothing to gloat about as we could be next... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket Info Bring a friend for £5 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue - H2H v Arbroath Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 25 17 4 4 60 21 +39 Away 25 11 7 7 36 30 +6 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 50 28 11 11 96 51 +45 Big advantage to us at home over the years, but there's a different feel about our squad this season. Many feel it's the worst squad we have ever had. There's no hiding place now, it's time to stand up and be counted. We lost our last home game against Arbroath, and that gives many of us the fear given our struggles to score goals and turn things around. The 3-2 win at Gayfield was Ferguson's first game in charge. To be honest, it's been downhill shortly after the new manager bounce wore off. Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Arbroath 1 - 1 (A) 1 - 2 (H) 3 - 2 (A) 2 - 4 (A) 2 - 0 (H) 4 - 1 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 0 - 0 (A) 0 - 0 (A) 0 - 0 (H) Should we need one, here's a reminder of our last home game against Arbroath: 1 - 2 Looking Down: With both sides losing in midweek, this game took on more significance for Big Dunc's side and Jim McIntyre was also looking to get away from the bottom of the table after he replaced Dick Campbell. David Wotherspoon was fit enough to start and good to see Keith Bray return to the squad alongside Robbie Thompson. Arbroath came North with only four on the bench with Michael McKenna and Ricky Little still out injured and O'Brien suspended. As it turned out we are now looking down the table instead of up after back to back defeats to the two teams who were below us only four days ago as Arbroath won 2-1. That was new manager Jim McIntyre's first win and it moves Arbroath off the bottom of the table. one point behind Inverness. All the goals came in the first half from Jay Bird, Billy Mckay and two minutes later David Gold. Looks like a few will be going cheap in the January sales. Last Time Out After an encouraging point at Tannadice we were looking for more of the same at Firhill. Alas we went down to the only goal of the game from Robinson to leave us staring into the Abyss. We gave as good as we got at Firhill but that age olde problem of not scoring goals was evident once more. To add insult to injury Cammy Kerr was red-carded after an hour although we will be appealing this decision as his first booking for simulation seemed unwarranted, therefore his red card could be rescinded. Last Five: W D L D L Arbroath have lost twice over the last week. Defeat by Partick Thistle last weekend was quickly followed by a 2-1 loss at home to Airdrieonians on Tuesday night. Jay Bird hit a late consolation for the Smokies and Leighton McIntosh saw his penalty saved just before the interval. However two second half strikes from Fordyce and McGill were enough to give Airdrie all three points in a game they pretty much dominated, and that's five defeats on the bounce for Arbroath. Last Five: L L L L L Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts 1. Dundee Utd 31 18 8 5 59 21 62 Heading to the Premiership 2. Raith Rovers 30 17 7 6 49 38 58 3. Partick Thistle 31 13 10 8 57 49 49 4. Airdrieonians 30 12 6 12 36 35 42 5. Dunfermline 31 11 8 12 37 41 41 6. Morton 30 11 7 12 37 34 40 7. Ayr United 30 11 5 14 43 54 38 8. Queens Park 31 9 9 13 43 50 36 Below here you are in the play-off and also Fecked 9. Inverness CT 31 7 11 13 34 36 32 Below here you are definitely Fecked 10. Arbroath 31 6 5 20 33 70 23 Saturday 6th April Airdrie v Morton Dunfermline v Partick Thistle Inverness CT v Arbroath FC Queen's Park v Dundee Utd Raith Rovers v Ayr United Latest Team News Cammy Kerr has had his first yellow card rescinded which in turn makes his second yellow (still stands) and the subsequent red card that followed null and void. The correct decision and Cammy will be available for selection this weekend. However, it does not get us back the points that we may have got as a result of his sending off. In saying that, we performed better with ten men. Big Dunc said: So, this weekend we need to treat it like an away game. With that in mind the team will leave the Caledonian Stadium at 09:00 on Saturday morning and go for a three hour run in a D&E bus, returning at 12:00 to prepare for the game where we will start with just ten men. Ferguson said in his press conference that "this could be key to our survival and we will give it a go, won't we. We were excellent, we're no in trouble yet but it's getting close, isn't it". Carragher and Ujdur have picked up a sickness bug and will need to be assessed. Other than that no major changes expected. Here's what he actually said>>> Looks like the Smokies time in the Championship is up even if they avoid defeat on Saturday. They have had some great results in their five season stint in the Championship and have proven to be difficult to beat at times, especially at home. However, all good things come to an end. Five defeats in a row since they beat Raith Rovers 3-2 on the 1st of March has them 9 points adrift at the foot of the table and heading into League 1. With a massive minus goal difference of -37 that's worth another point and I can't see even the Caley Jags throwing that away over five games........ fingers crossed Arbroath team on Tuesday night v Airdrie Boruc Walker Teale Little Lyon Gold Mackinnon (Slater 66) Stewart McKenna (Bird 67) Dow (Stowe 77) McIntosh (Robinson 77) Subs Not Used: Gaston; Steele, Jacobs, Murray, Dünnwald-Turan It's not that I don't have any friends. It's just that nobody wants to come and watch this dross

  Firhill for Chills   Another chilling prospect coming up this Saturday as we travel to the West End of Glasgow to tackle third place Partick Thistle with only six games left to salvage our miserable season. We escaped from Tannadice with a hard earned point last weekend, mainly thanks to a tremendous display from keeper Mark Ridgers. An acceptable result under normal circumstances, but given our precarious situation we could have done with all three. However it was not to be and we face the prospect of a pointless weekend unless we can show the same commitment as last week. Anything less and it looks like the play-offs for us with only Arbroath below us at present. We are now at the must not lose stage of the season. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Supporters Bus Info Scott Young SLO Official Preview ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue H2H v Partick Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 27 12 8 7 42 36 +6 Away 25 6 7 12 26 40 -14 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 52 18 15 19 68 76 -8 Honours are fairly even over the years and over the last ten meetings Partick just have the edge although uncharacteristically we did suffer a couple of heavy defeats at Firhill in recent seasons. Historically, home advantage seems to be crucial to the outcome of these encounters. Oh dear! Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Partick 3 - 3 (H) 1 - 1 (A) 0 - 0 (H) 1 - 0 (H) 1 - 5 (A) 1 - 0 (H) 1 - 4 (A) 1 - 0 (H) 2 - 1 (A) 0 - 1 (A) Just before Xmas we were held to a  1 - 1  draw after Max Anderson's 21 second opening goal. Danny Devine was fit enough to start and Jake Davidson again replaced the injured Wallace Duffy at right back. Otherwise no surprises in the Inverness starting XI or bench. As per normal, Brian Graham will present our defence with a robust challenge with Fitzpatrick and McInroy able and willing elfs. 205 visiting fans were on hand to check out this one and at the end of the day Status Quo was maintaned as all five games ended level this weekend. Max Anderson and Jack McMillan were the scorers today. Ooooooft; having got the match underway, it was an early start for the visitors who caught Partick cold as Max Anderson's weak effort deflected off a defender and found the net after an assist from Billy Mckay, long before all the bums had landed in their seats. 21 seconds apparently! The fast start continued in the third minute as Cammy Harper shot over from the left side. Alas, Jack McMillan squared the game after quarter of an hour scoring from close range. Fitzpatrick shot wide after twenty minutes and Ridgers was then brought into action to stop a long range low effort from Ben Stanway. Ten minutes before the break Wotherspoon bounced a shot just wide from the edge of the box as we ventured forth. A free kick in a promising position for the hosts ended when Graham shot over from just outside the box. Charlie Gilmour had the final effort of the half in stoppage time but it was well wide of the target. Partick with the bulk of the play but it remained all square at the interval. A late goal for Arbroath on half time meant that Inverness had gone from 8th to 5th to 9th over the course of the first forty-five. Meh! The hosts set the ball in motion for the second half and they were quick to avoid a repeat of the first minutes of the match as they went straight onto the front foot winning a couple of early corners before Anderson went close to his second of the game as the visitors went up the park. Devine did well to deny McMillan his second as he cleared his effort away from goal and Ujdur was booked for fouling Milne moments later. Partick were first with the changes after the hour. Ujdur took a knock but was able to continue and almost got on the end of the ball during a melee following a corner with fifteen minutes remaining. More corners followed but nothing doing before Longstaff saw his shot blocked five minutes before the end. Harper went down in the box but big appeals for a penalty went unanswered. It ended with a point apiece at a difficult venue. FULL TIME: 1-1 A good point at a difficult venue and one which kept us in eighth place after a late goal for Dunfermline scuppered the Smokies. After the last two defeats, this was a welcome performance and point for the 205 hardy souls who braved the weather to keep away from the Xmas shopping. Last Time Out We came away from Tannadice with a point thanks to a backs to the wall performance over Dundee United. An early goal from an unusual but very welcome source put us ahead, only his fourth ever goal for the Caley Jags and his first since 26th November 2022. Wallace Duffy scored after a dozen minutes before a sensational lob from the halfway line saw Louis Moult equalise after the break. A bit of dubiety over the goal as we felt Cammy Kerr had been fouled by Moult when he took the ball from the Caley Jags player. Nothing dubious about the strike as it flew over Ridgers before bouncing into the net off the underside of the bar. Carragher and Gary Bollan were booked for protesting and they seem to have a valid point. Mak Ridgers was otherwise the star of the show and Carragher could have nicked all three points at the death when his powerful shot was cleared off the line by Docherty. Good point under normal circumstances, unfortunately circumstances are not normal at the moment as the league table will show. Last Five: D W D L D  Cheers Mark>>> Partick Thistle beat Arbroath 1-0 at Gayfield to stop them encroaching on us although they still have a game in hand. A 15th minute strike from Aidan Fitzpatrick was enough to keep the Smokies at bay although the game was not as close the scoreline might suggest. Partick had the ball in the net another couple of times but they were chalked off. That result pretty much ensures that Partick will at least be in the play-offs. (at the top end of the table) Last Five: D D L W W  Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Table ahead of Friday night game at Ayr 1. Dundee Utd 30 17 8 5 57 21 59 2. Raith Rovers 29 17 7 5 49 36 58 3. Partick Thistle 30 12 10 8 56 49 46 4. Airdrieonians 28 11 6 11 33 32 39 5. Dunfermline 30 10 8 12 34 39 38 6. Morton 29 10 7 12 35 34 37 7. Queens Park 30 9 9 12 43 48 36 8. Ayr United 29 10 5 14 41 53 35 9. Inverness CT 30 7 11 12 34 35 32 10. Arbroath 29 6 5 18 30 65 23     FRIDAY 29th March  Ayr Utd. v Airdrie    SATURDAY 30th March  Arbroath v Dunfermline Morton v Queen's    Dundee Utd. v Raith Rovers        Partick Thistle v Inverness CT         Latest Team News Inverness still have major injury concerns. We seem to have been saying that for three or four seasons now. Nathan Shaw was a gamble that backfired last week and it has been confirmed that he will now miss the rest of the season. Morgan Boyes came through unscathed on his return and Nikola Ujdur was an unused sub last week. MacGregor is also reportedly fit, but he and Austin Samuels appear to bo off the radar. Here's Dunc with the latest smokescreen>>>   Alex Samuel ahead of the game at Firhill>>>   Partick Thistle still have the man we love to hate, Brian Graham. Enough said, the big lad does like a goal or two against us. Partick are the second top scorers in the division with 56 goals, but they have conceded an abnormally large amount of goals in 49, the second most goals against with only Arbroath losing more. Partick team at Gayfield: Mitchell   McMillan   Muirhead   McBeth   Milne   Lawless   Neilson   Robinson   McInroy (Stanway 77)  Fitzpatrick (Ngwenya 90+3)   Graham   Subs Not Used: Stewart; Alston, Diack, MacKenzie, Campbell, Horn    

  Beyond the pale...   With most fans patience having been tested to the limit, we head into the first of two difficult away games starting at Tannadice on Saturday to be followed the week after by a visit to Firhill. Zero points from these two fixtures is a distinct possibility given our current predicament and the repercussions of that are horrendous. The only thing in our favour is that both are away fixtures as our home form has been abysmal. Clutching at straws, all three previous games this season have been close encounters. And now for the wake up call. ONLY FIVE GAMES LEFT TO SAVE OUR SEASON AFTER THESE TWO AWAY GAMES. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Supporters Bus Info ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue H2H v Arabs Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 35 10 10 15 35 45 -10 Away 29 7 11 11 37 43 -6 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 64 17 21 26 72 88 -16 United have always held the Indian sign over us. More recently, it's ten games since we beat them. That was a televised Scottish Cup game in 2019 when Joe Chalmers curled in a beauty to give us an early lead before Nicky Clark levelled from the spot. However, Aaron Doran scored a deserved winner after 92 minutes to send us off to Hampden for a semi-final date with the Jambos. (That ended in a 3-0 defeat for the Caley Jags) Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Dundee United 0 - 1 (H) 1 - 1 (A) 0 - 1 (H) 1 - 2 (A) 0 - 3 (H) 1 - 4 (A) 0 - 3 (A) 0 - 1 (H) 0 - 2 (H) 2 - 1 (A) Last time out We slumped badly once again at home. In fact our last two matches were home games against the only two teams we have beaten in the Championship this season. Airdrie was played out as a scoreless draw. Against Ayr we looked well off the pace and were fortunate to go in level at the break when we were gifted an unlikely penalty on the stroke of half time. That squared the game after Stanger had given Ayr the lead with only five minutes gone. Ayr took all three points when Bryden scored on the hour with the home defence floundering. We didn't lack effort, but we were sadly lacking in quality and managerial direction at a stage in the season when we need it most. Last Five: D D W D L  United faltered badly a week after thrashing Arbroath 4-0. On the telly last Friday they went down 3-1 to a resurgent Dunfermline who were all over them like a rash at East End Park. All United had to show for their effort was a late consolation goal, and that was an og from Benedictus. Oh well, that shows that they can be got at although you have to attack in the first place to make something happen. You have to be in it to win it as they say. Dundee United manager Jim Goodwin said this on BBC Sport after last weeks defeat: "We didn't start the game well enough, it's as simple as that. The first 45 minutes is one of our worst performances, there's no doubt about it. We didn't offer anything going forward. "We didn't carry a threat at all in the final third and we weren't at the races in the first half. Dunfermline looked as if they were a little bit more energetic than us, picking up a lot of second balls. I can have no arguments about the result." Last Five: L D W W L  Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Airdrie in Challenge Cup final on Sunday - that makes Raith Rovers idle as well. 1. Dundee Utd 29 17 7 5 56 20 58 2. Raith Rovers 29 17 7 5 49 36 58 3. Partick Thistle 29 11 10 8 55 49 43 4. Airdrieonians 28 11 6 11 33 32 39 5. Morton 28 10 7 11 35 33 37 6. Dunfermline 29 9 8 12 33 39 35 7. Ayr United 28 10 5 13 40 51 35 8. Queens Park 29 8 9 12 41 47 33 9. Inverness CT 29 7 10 12 33 34 31 10. Arbroath 28 6 5 17 30 64 23 Championship games on Saturday 23rd March    Arbroath v Partick Thistle Ayr United v Queen's Park Dundee Utd v Inverness CT     G Morton v Dunfermline   Latest Team News Inverness' injury problems are no better. Still a whole team of players missing or carrying knocks. Here's Dunc ahead of the Arab's game. Nathan Shaw will reluctantly be thrust back into the squad as will Nikola Ujdur and Morgan Boyes.     Dundee United have the biggest squad of luxury players available in the Championship yet they are still struggling to break free at the head of the table. Maybe Jim Goodwin should try another job. United team beaten last week at EEP Walton   Thomson   Gallagher   Holt   McMann   Tillson (Middleton 45)   Sibbald   Docherty (Mochrie 64)   Greive   Moult (Fotheringham 64)  Watt   Subs Not Used: Newman; Cudjoe, Meekison, Grimshaw, Graham, McLelland        

  Ayr we go again   Unfortunately it's another home game this Saturday as fellow languishers Ayr United make the long trek North to face home strugglers Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Ayr are one of only two teams we have beaten at home in the Championship this season. However, in the presence of one of our highest profile managers ever, it would be rude not to think about the possibility of a seven goal barrage. Terry Butcher is in the area doing a gig with Richard Gough and will pop along to the stadium for a look at the current side. It has to be said that they are not a patch on what Tel Boy built before being lured to Leith for a custard cream, a team we beat 2-0 in our next match. However, that is history and the mess we find ourselves in now is a sad indictment of the times we live in now under the present regime. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket Info Battery Farm - Rejected ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 25 11 11 3 42 27 +15 Away 27 13 6 8 50 33 +17 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 52 24 17 11 92 60 +32 We have always had the edge over Ayr United and the H2H shows that. Even recent form has us on top, and that is not always the same for all of our recent opponents. Only three defeats at home. Our prime objective this weekend is a win and would be a bonus but avoiding defeat is an absolute priority. Maybe even scoring a goal might ease the pain... Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Ayr United 3 - 1 (A) 3 - 1 (H) 0 - 1 (A) 1 - 2 (H) 2 - 1 (A) 2 - 2 (H) 1 - 0 (A) 2 - 2 (A) 1 - 2 (H) 2 - 2 (A) Inverness ease away from the bottom:  3 - 1  Inverness added Sean Welsh to the ever expanding longer term injury list suffering from a recurring back injury, but Luis Longstaff was fit enough to make the bench. Ayr United had Logan Chalmers, Jamie Murphy and Anton Dowds as a triple threat up front. Despite this, Inverness cruised home without having to get out of second gear. Three goals inside the last ten minutes of the first half ended the game as a contest. Two from David Wotherspoon and a penalty from Billy Mckay. Ayr got a consolation penalty in a poor second half, but it was an important three points for the Caley Jags and Big Dunc. As comfortable as it was it was still a poor second half where we should have gone on to put Ayr to the sword. As it was, the result was huge in the context of our season and we can overlook the turgid performance in the light of three excellent points and a step up the table to eighth place with games in hand over some teams. FULL TIME: 3-1. Interesting to note that we only had five of the team that started against Ayr back on November 11th available for selection last week with Carson & Wotherspoon away and the rest injured. Still here: Mark Ridgers, Cameron Harper, Danny Devine, Max Anderson, Billy Mckay (subs C Mackay, Wallace Duffy) Gone/Unavailable: Morgan Boyes, Nikola Ujdur, David Wotherspoon, David Carson, Charlie Gilmour, Nathan Shaw (subs Delaney, Thompson, Hyde, Sheridan, Longstaff, Lodovica, Brooks) Last Time Out Inverness failed again at home last Saturday against one of the two teams they had already beaten at home this season. The other being this weeks opponent Ayr United. The Airdrie game ended scoreless, and that was no surprise to those at the stadium. Plenty of effort, plenty of passes, however our Achiles Heel of creating and scoring chances has haunted us for most of the season. Last Five: D D D W D  Ayr United were idle last weekend. Their last game was a 2-0 defeat at East End Park on 2ndMarch. Two goals just before the interval by Chris Hamilton and a first for loan signing Chris Kane was the difference between the sides.Scott Brown's best result was a stunning 4-3 win over Partick Thistle (McAllister, Willoughbyx2 and McHugh were the scorers in a see-saw game). However, Ayr have shipped a massive fifty goals in the League and that's something that we need to capitalise on. They have also scored thirty-eight times, so it's important to keep our fourth clean sheet in a row to give us a platform to build on. Last Five: L W L W L  Table ahead of Friday nights big game Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Dunfermline v Dundee United Friday night @ 7:45 1. Dundee Utd 28 17 7 4 55 17 58 2. Raith Rovers 28 17 6 5 49 36 57 3. Partick Thistle 28 10 10 8 53 48 40 4. Morton 27 10 7 10 34 31 37 5. Airdrieonians 27 10 6 11 28 30 36 6. Queens Park 28 8 8 12 41 47 32 7. Dunfermline 28 8 8 12 30 38 32 8. Ayr United 27 9 5 13 38 50 32 9. Inverness CT 28 7 10 11 32 32 31 10. Arbroath 27 6 5 16 28 59 23 SATURDAY 16TH MARCH    Airdrie v Arbroath Inverness CT v Ayr United      Partick v Morton Queen's v Rovers  Latest Team News Inverness: Still have massive injury worries ahead of this one with most on the bench still nursing knocks. Long term: Gilmour, Longstaff, Chilokoa-Mullen, Big Harry & Lewis Nicolson. Out: McAllister (4-6 weeks), Macgregor, Shaw, Ujdur (2 weeks). Struggling: Carragher, Boyes... Have I missed any   Ayr United: One glaring alteration at Ayr United since they were last here is their manager. Former Hibs and Celtic midfielder Scott Brown is now in charge after Lee Bullen was relieved of his duties on the 15th of January a few days after we had beaten the honest men 3-1 at Somerset Park. He was replaced by Brown some ten days later. Brown has 3 wins to his credit since then from seven games ( QP, Airdrie, Partick), losing to Dundee United, Rangers (cup), Raith Rovers and last time out at Dunfermline. Ayr's January sales deals. In: Nathan McGinley, defender (Motherwell) Loan in: Jack Sanders, defender (Kilmarnock); Josh Clarke, goalkeeper (Celtic); Harry McHugh, midfielder (Wigan Athletic); Kurt Willoughby, forward (Oldham Athletic). Logan Chalmers was a big threat last time we met and with players like Murphy and McGeady on their books plenty of experience at a higher level. On loan forward Kurt Willoughby looks handy. Ayr team @ EEP   Clarke   McAllister (Tomlinson 90+1)  Sanders   McGinty   Musonda   Bryden (Chalmers 45)  Dempsey (Smith 76)   McHugh   Murphy (Syla 76)   Dowds   McKenzie (Willoughby 56)   Subs Not Used: Albinson; McGeady, Stanger, McGinley   Good to see that bullying in the workplace is alive and kicking in the Highland Council.  

Diamondonians Promoted Airdrie are sitting in fifth place in the table, just below the play-off places with former Caley Jag Nikolay Todorov getting amongst the goals and he will provide a big test for our central defence. We have found Airdrie a difficult proposition at times this season but we did win the last home encounter against them. Our off-field problems are out in the open now after a meeting with fans on Wednesday evening. See the responses below from the CTO forum page 16 onwards. Suffice to say it is worth a lot of money and it does have a massive part to play in the future of our club. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket Info Battery Farm - CTO Topic Chairmans Response after meeting ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 9 5 0 4 14 12 +2 Away 8 2 2 4 9 17 -8 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 17 7 2 8 23 29 -6 Only this season's games are relevant as prior to the 2-3 defeat in the League Cup group stages, our previous game against Airdrie was in 2002 when a Martin Bavidge strike was the only goal of the game. Not only that, it keeps our record thrashing of 0 - 6 out of sight as though it never happened. (just for the record, Owen Coyle scored a hat-trick, Neil McFarlane planted a header behind Nicky Walker, Lee Gardiner drove in from the edge of the box and Paul Armstrong ended the rout five minutes before the end. Gubbed!) This season's Competitive Meetings 0 - 2 (A) 1 - 0 (H) 1 - 2 (A) 2 - 3 (H) Not much success for us this season against the Diamonds although we did win the last home game against them thanks to a superb finish from the long gone Spoony: FULL TIME: 1 - 0. The fabulous execution of his goal was a great introduction for David Wotherspoon but for me the Man of the Match and new version of Bobby Mann was Nikola Ujdur. The Aussie defender is solid, strolled through the game unflustered and can pick a pass. Good graft in midfield but Sheridan and Big Harry need some work done. Shaw picked up a booking at the end when Big Dunc sent him back onto the pitch to get treatment. Last Time Out Inverness extended their unbeaten run to four games (3xD & 1xW) with an excellent result at Cappielow that ended Morton's 14 game Championship undefeated run. Clinical strikes from Billy Mckay, his 110th goal for the club, and a first from Sean McAllister (video below) ensured we grabbed all three points in a crucial game at the bottom end of the table given Arbroath's unexpected win over Raith Rovers the night before. Last Five: L D D D W Airdrieonians played twice this week. A 1-1 draw last Saturday at home to Queens Park was followed in midweek by a stunning 2-0 win at East End Park. Mason Hancock scored the leveler against QP with two former Dunfermline players Nikolay Todorov and Gabby McGill (video below) sinking their old team. Manager Rhys McCabe said on BBC Sport: "We knew coming here it was about playing the percentages really well, doing the basics really well. We never really felt in danger towards the latter stages of the game." Last Five: L L W D W Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Only four games this weekend as Morton are on Scottish Cup duty 1. Dundee Utd 27 16 7 4 51 17 55 2. Raith Rovers 26 15 6 5 46 36 51 3. Partick Thistle 26 10 9 7 51 45 39 4. Morton 27 10 7 10 34 31 37 5. Airdrieonians 26 10 5 11 28 30 35 6. Dunfermline 27 8 8 11 30 36 32 7. Ayr United 27 9 5 13 38 50 32 8. Queens Park 27 8 7 12 39 45 31 9. Inverness CT 27 7 9 11 32 32 30 10. Arbroath 26 6 5 15 28 55 23 SATURDAY 9TH MARCH Dundee Utd v Arbroath fc Inverness CT v Airdrieonians Queen's Park v Partick Thistle Raith Rovers v Dunfermline Latest Team News Inverness beat the injury woes last weekend to take all three points at Morton. New loan signing Samson Lawal from Livingston remained on the bench. We have a number of long term casualties in Charlie Gilmour, Luis Longstaff, Chilokoa-Mullen, Harry Lodovica and Lewis Nicolson. Roddy MacGregor, Nathan Shaw and Morgan Boyes were shorter term injuries. Austin Samuels has yet to be unleashed after his return to the bench and the similarly named Alex Samuel has been through the wars but has continued to feature despite a broken hand and numerous stitches about his body. He's a warrior. A number of players have also been carrying injuries so we will have to wait and see what Big Dunc is saying. Dunc's Update: Sean McAllister out for at least a couple of weeks (thigh). Boyes and Ujdur might make the bench. Dunc's loon (Cameron) might be a signing option. And surprise surprise, even our trialists are picking up knocks aren't they! Airdrie had a good week picking up four points. Calum Gallagher and Nikolay Todorov are their top scorers this season so far with seven goals each. Despite that, they are the lowest scoring side in the Championship with only 28 goals, four less than Inverness. Defences are similar with Airdrie two goals better off although they have played one game less than us. Airdrie team v Pars: Rae Megwa Watson Fordyce Hancock McCabe Telfer Frizzell McStravick (McMaster 72) McGill (Donnell 66) Todorov (Gallagher 72) Subs Not Used: Hutton; Lyall, Dunlop, O'Connor, Taylor-Sinclair

A visit to the form team Morton host Inverness on Saturday at 3:00pm. They are unbeaten over ninety minutes in their last 17 outings, including a 5-0 pumping of the Pars, a 3-2 win at Tannadice and they also knocked Motherwell out of the Scottish Cup. It wasn't that long ago Morton were below us in the table and now they are in contention for a play-off place at the top end of the table. Us, on the other hand, have slumped to ninth in the table with the distinct possibility of making a play-off place as well. Unfortunately, that's at the relegation end of the table. Arbroath beating Raith Rovers last night shows that anything is possible. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Bus Info Samson Lawal ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue H2H v Morton Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 22 12 6 4 48 20 +28 Away 20 11 3 6 38 26 +12 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 42 23 9 10 86 46 +40 We hold a fair advantage over Morton but most of that will be historical. More recently the pendulum has swung towards the Greenock club although we did take a point from the last encounter with them played at the Caledonian Stadium 0 - 0 Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Morton 0 - 0 (H) 1 - 2 (A) 2 - 1 (A) 2 - 2 (H) 0 - 4 (A) 0 - 1 (H) 1 - 0 (A) 0 - 1 (H) 6 - 1 (A) 1 - 1 (A) Our last meeting at Cappielow ended in a 1 - 2 victory for the hosts. Sloppy Stuff in Greenock: Wallace Duffy missed out with a calf injury with Jake Davidson getting a rare start and the paternal David Carson was still on maternity leave. Good to see Roddy Macgregor was on the bench following another lengthy layoff through injury alongside Sean Welsh and Nathan Shaw. Morton had three players that were on our books recently. Defender Kirk Broadfoot, wide player Stephen Boyd and striker George Oakley. And it was that man Oakley that gave Morton the lead after errors in defence. Jack Baird smashed in a second ten minutes from time. Adam Brooks added a late consolation, but it was too little too late in Greenock as the revolution ground to a halt. Last Week Inverness have failed to beat two of their relegation candidates over the last week. A 1-1 draw at Arbroath, thanks to a late Cammy Harper strike, was followed by a goalless draw at home to Dunfermline in a rather turgid encounter as injuries curtailed the quality of both sides. Last Five: W L D D D Morton have no such issues after 17 unbeaten games. This week saw them gain four points with a win against Airdrie and a draw at Stark's Park against promotion chasing Raith Rovers, where Morton were unlucky not to come away with all three points having created the better chances. Last Five: L L D W .D It's not difficult to spot that none of the Inverness players feature in the top scorers list. However Robbie Muirhead and George Oakley of Morton are included. Ferguson has massive injury problems ahead of this game. The latest disaster has Charlie Gilmour out for the rest of the season. Just what we need with only ten games left to save our season. Nathan Shaw will miss a couple of weeks with a hamstring injury. Max Anderson should return after suspension. Portugese and Czech players on trial this week, we'll see how that goes. In the meantime, the Caley Jags are delighted to announce the signing of midfielder Samson Lawal on loan from Livingston until the end of the season. Lawal, 19 years-old, joined Livingston on a 3-year deal in August 2023 from Nigerian side Katsina United. We've got injuries, haven't we>>> Unbeaten in 17 games, Morton are on a high just now and are looking to get into second place soon. Morton team at Raith Rovers in midweek MacDonald French Baird O'Connor Strapp Power Blues Crawford Wilson (Gillespie 38) Quitongo (Garrity 82) Muirhead Subs Not Used: Murdoch; Bearne, McGrattan, Broadfoot, Waters

  Every Point is a Prisoner   Apart from the top three teams, every point gained is crucial in the Championship, especially at the end of the table we find ourselves rooted to. Like us, Dunfermline hit a sticky patch but look to be over the worst and came away from Firhill with all three points on Friday night after nine winless games. We salvaged a draw in stoppage time at Arbroath. No rest for the wicked though, so it's back to action against our fellow strugglers on Tuesday night at 7:45pm. Ferguson has wholesale injuries to contend with for this one. It might be quicker to say who is fit. What could possibly go wrong! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket Info ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue H2H v Pars Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 24 10 9 5 31 22 +9 Away 25 9 11 5 30 27 +3 Neutral 2 0 1 1 3 4 -1 Total 51 19 21 11 64 53 +11 Overall, we have had the beating of Dunfermline over the years since we first crossed swords with them back in August 1999 where our first taste of Championship (Division 1) football ended in a 4-0 defeat at East End Park in front of 4865 fans. You can read the report on that game HERE. Five out of the last ten meetings have ended in draws with two wins apiece. Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Pars 1 - 1 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 2 - 0 (H) 1 - 1 (A) 1 - 2 (H) 0 - 0 (A) 1 - 0 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 1 - 3 (A) 2 - 1 (A)  Our last home win over Dunfermline:  2 - 0 Looking promising...Inverness took a massive step towards a play off place by defeating Dunfermline Athletic for the first time this season. An encouraging but goalless first half where Reece McAlear had hit the post was replaced by a two goal second half with chances at both ends. The deadlock was broken by a man who only scores screamers. Reece McAlear lashed the ball across the keeper and into the top right corner of the goal from a difficult position wide on the inside right area. What a strike that was but it only woke the Pars up from their lethargy and they had three or four great opportunities before substitute Austin Samuels sealed the points after he sprinted on to a through ball from Aaron Doran to slot neatly behind Mehmet in goal. Comfortable thereafter for the remainder of the game and an excellent three points to strengthen our hold on third place with Raith, Arbroath and Partick all dropping points.  Last Time Out A week after we let slip a two goal advantage over Partick Thistle, we salvaged a point at Gayfield with a 94th minute goal from Cammy Harper after loanee Adam Mackinnon had put Arbroath ahead ten minutes from the end. To be honest, we spurned far too many good opportunities, enough to win three games, but credit to the players for snatching a point at the death. Always a difficult venue, made moreso by a lengthy injury list that saw us without around ten players (Longstaff, Mullen, Ujdur, Boyes, Duffy, MacGregor, Lodovica, Nicolson) and a suspended Max Anderson who will miss the Dunfermline game as well. That left us with a sparse bench of only four outfield players, and not all of them were fully fit. Last five Championship games:  L W L D D  Dunfermline threw a relegation spanner in the works last Friday a week after they also drew with Arbroath to complete this wee quadrangle of fixtures. However, they landed us all in the kacke by defrauding Partick 3-1 at Firhill where shockingly poor refereeing decisions affected the result in Dunfermline's favour. Brian Graham should have had a hat-trick but officially is only credited with scoring once. Goals from Walcott, Todd and Benjamin turned this game on it's head, much to the chagrin of bottom clubs Arbroath and Inverness. Last five Championship games: D L L D W  Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Full fixture list on Tuesday night 1. Dundee Utd 24 15 6 3 49 14 51 2. Raith Rovers 24 15 5 4 44 33 50 3. Partick Thistle 24 10 8 6 47 40 38 4. Morton 24 10 6 8 34 28 36 5. Ayr United 25 8 5 12 34 45 29 6. Dunfermline 24 7 7 10 28 34 28 7. Airdrieonians 23 8 4 11 23 29 28 8. Queens Park 25 7 6 12 32 44 27 9. Inverness CT 25 6 8 11 30 32 26 10. Arbroath 24 5 5 14 25 47 20 Tuesday night 27th Feb all at 7:45pm Ayr United v Partick Thistle Dundee United v Airdrieonians Inverness CT v Dunfermline Queen's Park v Arbroath Rovers v Morton Latest Team News Jeremiah Chilokoa-Mullen is out for the season with a stress fracture in his back. We already have long term issues with Longstaff, Lodovica and Nicolson. Added to that list is Ujdur, Boyes, MacGregor, Duffy and now Charlie Gilmour who limped off injured to be substituted after an hour and is out with a knee injury. Alex Samuel managed to play the full game with his hand strapped and also picked up stitches after the tackle from Adam Mackinnon. Nathan Shaw was also a doubt on Saturday but played all 95 minutes as well. The good news is that Max Anderson is not injured. The bad news is that Max Anderson is suspended. Of our injured squad, Wallace Duffy and Alex Samuel look the most likely to make an appearance. Expect a another sparse bench tonight. We're injured, aren't we>>>   The addition of Chris Kane to the Pars squad was a great bit of business for them in the January sales. Here's all of their new additions, all loans: Chris Kane, forward (St Johnstone); Xavier Benjamin, defender (Cardiff City); Malachi Fagan-Walcott, defender (Cardiff City); Brad Holmes, forward (Blackpool). Pars team at Partick on Friday night Mehmet   Benjamin (Welch-Hayes 80)   Hamilton   Fagan-Walcott   Todd (Moffat 67)   Otoo   Allan   Edwards   Holmes (Jakubiak 61)   Kane   McCann   Subs Not Used: Little; Chalmers, Sutherland, Summers,     

  Back to the start   We head to Arbroath on Saturday, the scene of Big Dunc's first game in charge of the Caley Jags, where we earned our first win of the season in our seventh Championship game and his tenure at the Caley Jags began with only one point on the board prior to this game. We now sit on twenty-five points, but still perilously close to the relegation zone, unable to put a consistent run together to climb the table like others have done (Morton the prime example). Max Anderson is suspened and something like five definite outs and another five struggling with knocks.  Nothing new there then!  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Travel info  Max Anderson  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue H2H v Arbroath Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 25 17 4 4 60 21 +39 Away 24 11 6 7 35 29 +6 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 49 28 10 11 95 50 +45 We have always generally had the edge over Arbroath but have found them to be more resilient of late, losing at home last time we met. Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Arbroath 1 - 2 (H) 3 - 2 (A) 2 - 4 (A) 2 - 0 (H) 4 - 1 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 0 - 0 (A) 0 - 0 (A) 0 - 0 (H) 3 - 0 (H) Looking Down:  1 - 2  For cod's sake! Inverness slumped to an embarrassing defeat as Arbroath stunned Ferguson's flops at the Caledonian Stadium. Arbroath with big players out and only three outfield players on the bench proved too good for an overrated Inverness bunch of haddies who were easily beaten by the Smokies. With both sides losing in midweek, this game took on more significance for Big Dunc's side and Jim McIntyre was also looking to get away from the bottom of the table after he replaced Dick Campbell. David Wotherspoon was fit enough to start and good to see Keith Bray return to the squad alongside Robbie Thompson. Arbroath came North with only four on the bench with Michael McKenna and Ricky Little still out injured and O'Brien suspended. As it turned out we are now looking down the table instead of up after back to back defeats to the two teams who were below us only four days ago as Arbroath won 2-1. That was new manager Jim McIntyre's first win and it moves Arbroath off the bottom of the table. one point behind Inverness. All the goals came in the first half from Jay Bird, Billy Mckay and two minutes later David Gold. Looks like a few will be going cheap in the January sales.   Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Partick Thistle v Dunfermline: Friday Night TV game (mon the Harry Wraggs) 1. Dundee Utd 23 14 6 3 46 13 48 2. Raith Rovers 23 14 5 4 42 32 47 3. Partick Thistle 23 10 8 5 46 37 38 4. Morton 23 9 6 8 32 27 33 5. Ayr United 24 8 5 11 33 43 29 6. Airdrieonians 22 8 4 10 22 27 28 7. Queens Park 24 7 6 11 31 41 27 8. Inverness CT 24 6 7 11 29 31 25 9. Dunfermline 23 6 7 10 25 33 25 10. Arbroath 23 5 4 14 24 46 19 SATURDAY 24TH FEBRUARY   Arbroath v Inverness CT Ayr United v Raith Rovers Dundee Utd v Queen's Park  Morton v Airdrie    Latest Team News We threw away a two goal lead last week against Partick Thistle and ended up hanging on by a thread as Partick pushed for a late winner. Highly entertaining stuff, but disappointing to only take a point after going two ahead through Kerr and Savage. Pegged back by Fitzpatrick and a Graham penalty, Shaw then restored our lead only for Graham to volley in the equaliser with five minutes left. Frantic ending to the game, but we kept our point. Both sides feel they should have won and defences are being questioned about giving away cheap goals. At least we scored a couple in the Home end, so that's a small crumb of comfort. However, every point is a prisoner now with only twelve games left to preserve our status and we can not afford to give away preventable goals. Inverness failed to get Max Anderson's red card rescinded and he misses the next two games. His direct replacement Roddy MacGregor has a foot injury. We have five definite crocks and five doubtful crocks, so it's back to making your own selection for this game. Here's Dunc to explain all... It's someting like this plus the usual mirrors, smoke screens and cloak & daggers. OUT INJURED: (Longstaff, MacGregor, Lodovica, Nicolson, Mullen, Duffy, Anderson suspended) Maybe Out: (Alex Samuel, Austin Samuels, Boyes, Shaw) We've got injuries, haven't we>>>     Jim McIntyre's Arbroath had a battling 1-1 draw at East End Park last week after going behind in the 18th minute through Walcott. An early second half header from Tam O'Brien levelled the game and that's how it ended. Arbroath have secured the services of Charlie Reilly on loan from Dundee for the rest of the season. The wide midfielder is available for selection tomorrow. Leighton McIntosh took a knock last week and is a doubt. Line-up v Pars last week Boruc   Gold   O'Brien   Teale   Hamilton (Walker 90+4)   Stewart   Dow   Norey (Murray 45)   Slater   Stowe (Mackinnon 45, Bird 90+7)   McIntosh (Robinson 45) Subs Not Used:  Gaston; Lyon, Dunnwald-Turan  

Jags on Jags Third place Partick Thistle come calling at the Caledonian Stadium this Saturday for a game scheduled to kick-off at 3:00pm. The sides can't be separated so far this season with both fixtures ending all square. Partick will be looking to hang on to the coat tails of the top two who face each other on Friday night whilst we are in desperate need of points to avoid being sucked into the hub of the relegation play-offs. Both sides exited the Scottish Cup last weekend against Premiership opposition, but it's back to the grind on Saturday with a tough encounter expected. Off the field, the Battery Farm project is still a cause for concern with the local council doing a U-turn. You couldn't make this up, what an omnishambles. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket Info ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ H2H v Partick Thistle Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 26 12 7 7 39 33 +6 Away 25 6 7 12 26 40 -14 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 51 18 14 19 65 73 -8 Home team is normally the best indicator in these fixtures. We suffered a couple of heavy away defeats a year or two ago but other than that most of these fixtures have been close affairs and usually favour the home side. Both games this season ended all square, although it's fair to say that Inverness shaded the play but our lack of penetration in the final third is a continuing problem. Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Partick Thistle 1 - 1 (A) 0 - 0 (H) 1 - 0 (H) 1 - 5 (A) 1 - 0 (H) 1 - 4 (A) 1 - 0 (H) 2 - 1 (A) 0 - 1 (A) 3 - 3 (H) FULL TIME: 0 - 0. Thistle be the day: This will be the day that Duncan Ferguson made his bow to the Caley Jags fans. The weather might have dampened the atmosherics, but inside the stadium it was a warm welcome for Big Dunc. He was without the long term absentees (MacGregor & Nicolson) plus more recent victims in Sean Welsh, Danny Devine and Wallace Duffy. After the first win last week, it was an unchanged starting XI that took to the sodden turf. Partick had our olde foe Brian Graham up front. Enough said. Neither side can complain about a point apiece but Partick will now know that they can not expect to pick up easy points against us. In fact had Gilmour placed his shot within the bounds of the posts then we could have taken all three points. Meh! Another step in the right direction for Inverness who matched high scoring Partick Thistle all over the park. Best for Inverness were the tricky Longstaff, the unflustered Ujdur and the driving force of Gilmour, with Ridgers doing his bit at the end. Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Big game on Friday night: Raith v Dundee United 1. Dundee Utd 22 14 6 2 45 11 48 2. Raith Rovers 22 13 5 4 40 31 44 3. Partick Thistle 22 10 7 5 43 34 37 4. Morton 22 9 5 8 32 27 32 5. Airdrieonians 21 8 4 9 20 24 28 6. Queens Park 23 7 5 11 31 41 26 7. Ayr United 23 7 5 11 30 41 26 8. Inverness CT 23 6 6 11 26 28 24 9. Dunfermline 22 6 6 10 24 32 24 10. Arbroath 22 5 3 14 23 45 18 FRIDAY 16TH FEBRUARY Raith Rovers v Dundee Utd SATURDAY 17TH FEBRUARY Airdrieonians v Ayr United Dunfermline v Arbroath Inverness CT v Partick Thistle Queen's Pk v Morton Last Time Out Both sides fell at the 5th round stage of the Scottish Cup. We went down 3-1 to a seasoned Premiership side in Hibs. Defensive blunders, a deflected goal and a bit of extra quality saw Hibs through to face Rangers in the next round. The goal of the game came from Aaron Doran in stoppage time. A mere consolation, but a cracker nonetheless. <<click watch on X to start video>> No disgrace really, but the disappointing aspect of this defeat, as is the case most weeks, is our inability to break down a defence and get a shot on target. However, with Alex Samuel injured, we lost our only form of aggression up front, and with it, any hope of causing an upset. Partick had cheered us all up when they knocked County out of the Cup in the previous round, however, surprisingly they found Livingston to be much more resilient and went down 2-3 after extra time. McInroy and Fitzpatrick had put the Harry Wragg's two ahead on the hour before Livi produced a match winning comeback to win in extra time thanks to Kris Doolan's untimely substitutions. Latest Team News Inverness will be without Luis Longstaff for a couple of months with a knee injury. Alex Samuel missed out last week with a fractured hand and misses out again. Morgan Boyes fell out with a post against Hibs and will be out. The post escaped without injury and will be back in action on Saturday.Danny Devine and Nikola Ujdur have had limited training this week. Here's Bim>>> Partick Thistle manager Kris Doolan lamented making the two substitutions in the five minute spell between Partick going 2-0 ahead and Joel Nouble starting the Livi comeback in the 66th minute. My Bad he said Speaking on BBC Sport: "I'm gutted. We put so much into it, but to be 2-0 up and lose is tough. We pushed them the full way. I take responsibility, I made two subs quickly, took off two key players. Maybe they should have stayed on the pitch. "We caused them problems, but we just couldn't deal with their physicality at the end of the game. It's heartbreaking when it comes down the last 20 seconds and you lose a goal, but there are positives to take." Team v Livi in Cup: Sneddon McMillan Williams 71) Muirhead (McKenzie 100) Neilson Milne Bannigan Stanway Lawless (Diack 64) McInroy (Alston 87) Fitzpatrick (Ngwenya 87) Graham (Adeloye 64) Subs not used: Mitchell; Stewart; Lyon