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What's it all about Alfie Inverness bolstered their squad with a couple of Alfie's on loan from Aberdeen, Bavidge and Stewart. Jack Walker also returned from Nairn County ahead of the visit of fellow Administration side Dumbarton, in what has been described as a six-pointer and it's only the 4th of January. The covers were removed in double quick time thanks to around fifty volunteers who turned up to help get the pitch ready for today's game after a week of frost on a brisk Saturday morning with the sun splitting the sky. It turned into a bitterly cold afternoon but new signing Alfie Bavidge warmed the home fans palms when he opened the scoring after fifteen minutes. The Sons had to replace keeper Brett Long before the break after he caught a ball but landed awkwardly and had to get helped from the pitch. Replacement keeper Paddy O'Neil pulled off a tremendous save just on the interval but he had no chance with a powerful drive from Charlie Gilmour who doubled the lead twenty minutes from the end. The Sons battled hard and Finlay Gray struck the post but Inverness took the points to narrow the gap on Annan Athletic to seven points with a game in hand. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With Alfie Bavidge running the channels up front alongside Billy Mckay and often Adam MacKinnon backing them up it was no surprise that Inverness were on the front foot in the early exchanges. It was no surprise that the hosts opened the scoring after fifteen minutes when a superb ball down the right wing from Luis Longstaff curled invitingly into the feet of Adam MacKinnon who had made the run forward. He went to the byeline before swinging in a dangerous first time ball into the Sons six yard box which they failed to deal with effectively. Alfie won't score an easier goal this season as the ball broke to him inside the box and he swept it into the net for a debut goal. Lovely moment for the young striker. His next attempt minutes later was not so profitable as a wild swing saw him slice the ball out for a throw in fifty yards wide. We'll ignore that one. There followed a bit of a lull with Inverness dominating play and Dumbarton looking to keep the damage to a minimum. They almost conceded a second when Billy Mckay was threaded through on the left side, however after skipping wide of Brett Long, the keeper recovered sufficiently to get a touch on Mckay's effort from the tightest of angles, the ball running across the face of the goal and out for a corner. The Sons then had to replace keeper Long ten minutes before the break after he caught a ball but landed awkwardly and had to get helped from the pitch. MacKinnon tested the sub keeper with a low shot from the edge of the box and the replacement keeper Paddy O'Neil pulled off a stunning save just on the interval diving high to his left to deny a thunderous Luis Longstaff volley from the edge of the box as he tipped the ball out for a corner which never happened. HALF TIME: 1-0 Dumbarton looked a bit more aggressive after the break and Ethan Brown's blocked shot brought about appeals for a penalty, but to no avail. Mckay had an effort saved as the hosts continued to dominate and with twenty-minutes remaining Charlie Gilmour side footed in a second goal after a short corner routine saw MacKinnon cut the ball back to Gilmour fifteen yards out and he first timed a side footer high into the net with power. That goal stung Dumbarton into action and they eventually managed to create a couple of opportunities of their own. Dibaga blocked well from Gray as he sprinted clear on the left side of the box. From the corner, Clark's header grazed the top of the bar although there may have been an infringement in the build up. Either way, a goal kick or free kick was given. Gray was then unlucky with twenty minutes remaining when he was put through on the left side again, this time he beat Dibaga at his near post but the ball rebounded to safety off the base of the post. Devine headed wide late on and a couple of promising moves broke down on the edge of the visitors box as Inverness then saw out the game in control. The only downside was an injury to Longstaff who was replaced by Alfie Stewart for his debut. FULL TIME: 2-0 A thoroughly deserved win after last weeks disappointing result against Cove Rangers. New signing Alfie Bavidge was rightly awarded the MotM, not just for his debut goal, but he was a constant threat, tirelessly running the channels like his olde man did back in the day and with plenty of pace and a good first touch. He also seemed to give Billy Mckay an extra spring in his step and he was unlucky not to score. He will certainly be an asset for the Caley Jags in 2025 and Alfie Stewart got a few minutes under his belt as well. Good start to the year for us and hopefully the springboard to go on a wee run and get back into the pack. Pos Team Pld Gd Pts 1 Arbroath 20 8 34 2 Stenny 20 9 31 3 Kelty Hearts 20 9 30 4 Cove 20 5 28 5 Alloa Ath 20 4 28 6 Queen of St 19 -4 25 7 Montrose 20 -2 24 8 Annan Ath 20 -16 20 9 Inverness CT 19 -1 13 10 Dumbarton 20 -12 07 Date: 04/01/2025 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 1894 Referee: Dan McFarlane Inverness CT: 2 Manager: Scott Kellacher Lineup: Dibaga; Bray, Devine, Savage, Nolan, Longstaff (Stewart 75), Gilmour, Allan, MacKinnon (Cairns 85), B Mckay, Bavidge (C Mackay 94) Subs (not used): Rebilas; Strachan, J Walker, MacLeod, R Thompson Scorers: Bavidge (15), Gilmour (77) Booked: none Sent Off: none Dumbarton: 0 Manager: Stephen Farrell Lineup: Long (O'Neil 37); Pignatiello, Lynas (Durnan 68), Brown, Clark, Wilson (Hilton 68), Niang, Gray (Mumbongo 85), Blair, Shiels (McGuffie 85), Orsi Subs (not used): Young, Wallace, Doyle, Nicol. Scorers: none Booked: Shiels (60), McGuffie (88) Sent Off: none a

Big Loss to Round off a Miserable 2024 Last game of Annus Horribilis had Cove Rangers as visitors to the Highlands on a damp but mild afternoon at the Caledonian Stadium. Robbie Thompson returned to the squad after suspension. Charlie Reilly and Jake Davidson were the main players missing. Paul Hartley in his 200th game in charge of Cove covering two spells was without Will Gillingham, Liam Parker and Blair Yule but Mitch Megginson returned after injury and Findlay Marshall and Declan Glass also started. This fourth meeting of the season between the clubs ended in a disappointing defeat. Declan Glass had opened the scoring in just five minutes after Dibaga had knocked away a shot from Megginson and on the rebound, Emslie. Megginson helped himself to number two after a corner. Remi Savage halved the deficit before the interval. Arron Darge headed Cove two ahead just after the interval, his second in two games. A late Emslie strike was the icing on the cake for Cove. Too little too late despite a late flurry from the hosts made all the more disappointing with the news that Dumbarton won whilst our goal difference took a hammering and Annan picked up a point. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An early setback for the hosts in the fifth minute when Glass scored on the rebound after Megginson's and then Emslie's shot broke to him from Dibaga. Glass had a second effort saved by the keeper a few minutes later as Cove dominated the early exchanges. James Nolan fired over before Megginson forced Dibaga into action again winning a corner. From that corner Megginson added a second goal heading in from the corner of the six yard box, his eighth strike in the League campaign. An uphill struggle after only twenty minutes with Cove dominating proceedings and Inverness unable to create anything of note. Out of the blue, we scrambled a goal back through Remi Savage following a Paul Allan free kick. Just what we needed to kick-start our afternoon. However, the ever dangerous Megginson was denied by Dibaga a couple of minutes later some five minutes before the break. The hosts were trying to salvage their poor first forty-five and Billy Mckay had an effort saved by Nick Suman as possession almost levelled out after Cove's blistering start but Dibaga had been the busier of the two keepers in a disappointing half for the home fans. HALF TIME: 1-2 Ethan Cairns replaced Mathew Strachan at the interval but we fell further behind minutes after the restart when Darge headed home following a free kick. Mckay was denied two minutes later from close range from Luis Longstaff's free kick. Suman saved from Cairns, tipping over the bar after an hour and Connor Scully shot just wide from a free kick with Danny Devine being booked for his troubles. Allan missed the target as Inverness looked to get a lifeline with twenty minutes left. Cove still looked more dangerous and Glass saw an effort saved by Dibaga after being put through by Megginson. Into the final ten minutes and Inverness were finding it difficult to break Cove down and create anything meaningful whilst Darge fancied another but headed off target. Keith Bray saw his shot saved by the keeper from distance and substitute Robbie Thompson headed wide. Adam Emslie rounded off the scoring as we chased a late consolation, slotting in from the edge of the box in some style. FULL TIME: 1-4 Well that was a kick in the teeth for the Caley Jags who were well beaten by Cove. A random summary on CTO: A game of 2 halves and we were sh!te in both Perhaps too much Christmas pud was had by those in red and blue! Couldn't keep possession - either pushed off the ball far too easily or passing to an opponent. Cove came prepared and soaked up everything we threw at them with ease, and with similar ease strolled through our defence whenever they fancied a shot at goal. They wanted it so much more than we did and could have won by a much bigger margin. Pos Team Pld Gd Pts 1 Arbroath 19 10 34 2 Stenny 19 9 30 3 Kelty 19 9 29 4 Cove R 19 6 28 5 Alloa Ath 19 2 25 6 Montrose 19 -2 23 7 Queen of Sth 18 -5 22 8 Annan Ath 19 -16 19 9 Inverness CT 18 -3 10 10 Dumbarton 19 -10 07 Date: 28/12/2024 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 1974 Referee: Iain Snedden Inverness CT: 1 Manager: Scott Kellacher Lineup: Dibaga; Nolan (R Thompson 85), Devine, Savage, Strachan (Cairns 46), Bray, Gilmour, Allan, Longstaff, MacKinnon, B Mckay Subs (not used): Patterson; S Thompson, L Walker, Gardiner, MacLeod, C Mackay Scorers: Savage (37) Booked: Devine (65) Sent Off: none Cove Rangers: 4 Manager: Paul Hartley Lineup: Suman; Lobban, Doyle, Darge, Harrington, Fyvie, Marshall, Scully, Glass, Megginson (Gaffney 81), Emslie Subs (not used): Demus; Murray, McAllister, McGrath Scorers: Glass (5), Megginson (18), Darge (49), Emslie (90+2) Booked: Harrington (81) Sent Off: none a

Happy New Year I hope we will all have a great New Year and are looking forward to getting back to business as usual. For Inverness Caledonian Thistle that will be a case of steadying the ship, not dropping any further in terms of league positions, sorting out the massive black hole where the finances disappeared into, hopefully a new buyer with the interest of the club and the community at heart and the process of building bridges with the local business community and fanbase can be reborn and flourish. Alan Salvage, as we know him on here, has gone a long way to restoring the good name of the Caley Jags. There is, however, still a long way to go. Duncball, relegation, reign of tyranny, oligarchy, lies, deceit destruction and administration. This last season has seen our darkest moments on and off the park and one that showed that Immortality is real as one of our legendary supporters moved on to a spiritual level to oversee our resurrection from the ashes of administration. It's been a difficult time for the club and it's supporters who now have one of their own, Scott Kellacher trying his utmost to repair the damage done over the years of mismanagement. So far it's been a steadying process and recent results have been encouraging as he adopts a more positive approach to the beautiful game, something that has not gone unnoticed amongst the fanbase who are seeing the improvements from a year of Duncball; all possession, relegation and limited entertainment. On Saturday, we face Cove Rangers at the Caledonian Stadium in the last game of our Annus Seasonal Horribilis. It's scheduled for a 3:00pm kick off before Dumbarton first foot us on 4th of January 2025 bringing coal, shortbread, their own administration and a wee dram. To be honest, I'd rather have the three points instead. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Supporters/ Bus Info Half Season Tickets Administration Topic on CTO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Last 10 of 11 Competitive Meetings 0 - 2 (A) 2 - 1 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 2 - 1 (A) 6 - 1 (H) 1 - 0 (A) 4 - 1 (H) 1 - 1 (H) 1 - 3 (A) 3 - 2 (H) INVERNESS CT: D L D D W D D D L / W L(11)D W W W L W That's our League1 season so far, almost half way through the campaign for us. Scott Kellacher came in at matchday 11. His winning streak bookended by the losses at Dumbarton and the loss at home to Arbroath before last weeks stirring late drama at Stenhousemuir where Charlie Gilmour was credited with the goal after full time. We have played Cove Rangers three times this season and it's one win apiece and a draw. Cove's win was a Scottish Cup tie. Drab Draw: 1-1 Inverness hosted Cove Rangers and were without Flynn Duffy, Lewis Nicolson and Ethan Cairns. Paul Allan and former Cove players Luis Longstaff and Charlie Gilmour had returned to the squad with Gilmour and Longstaff starting. Cove had won their last two outings and put three past Kelty Hearts last weekend with Mitch Megginson always a threat up front. Adam Emslie tapped in at the back post to open the scoring after twenty minutes. Substitute James Nolan levelled five minutes after the restart following a corner. A replacement official was required to complete the game and despite fifteen minutes added on, there was no further scoring. Caley Jags Get Vital Win: 1-2 Top versus bottom ended in victory for the Caley Jags who climb into positive numbers at the foot of the table. Cove had made one change from the win at Dumbarton as they looked for their fifth win on the trot. Findlay Marshall replaced Arron Darge. For Inverness, graduate Sam Reid took his place on the bench with Lewis Nicolson missing. On the field, Charlie Gilmour returned to midfield to bolster the squad with Connal Ewan out injured and boss Scott Kellacher would be looking to get into positive numbers with his positive team talks. However, it only took Cove ten minutes to get in front through top scorer Mitch Megginson. Megginson failed to convert a first half penalty with Dibaga saving and two minutes later it was all square when Adam MacKinnon drilled high into the net. With 25 minutes left, Keith Bray popped up with a much needed and deserved winner. This was a great result played out at Cove, sharpened at Inverness but made in the Isle of Lewis. Cup of no Cheer: 0-2 Jake Davidson, Keith Bray, Charlie Reilly, Connell Ewan and Lewis Nicolson were all missing for the The Caley Jags on Scottish Cup 3rd Round action at Balmoral Stadium, Cove. Fraser Fyvie was out for Cove. No scoring in the first half, not for the want of trying, but two very late goals, one from the spot after a dubious handball attributed to Danny Devine put Cove into the draw for the 4th Round. Substitutes Glass with the penalty and McGrath with a strike into the bottom corner sent the Caley Jags tumbling out of the cup after it was looking good for soooo long. Pos Team Pld Gd Pts 1 Arbroath 18 7 31 2 Kelty 18 11 29 3 Stenny 18 7 27 4 Alloa Ath 18 4 25 5 Cove 18 3 25 6 Montrose 18 1 23 7 Queen of S 17 -5 21 8 Annan Ath 18 -16 18 9 Caley Jags 17 0 10 10 Dumbarton 18 -12 04 Latest Team News Inverness have limited options as is the norm these days since administration. No new injury worries that we are aware of and Robbie Thompson will be available after his suspension last week. Charlie Reilly will hopefully be getting closer to a return. Jake Davidson will miss out. Kellacher is reported to have one or two niggles within the squad, we'll have to wait and see what transpires. Cove Rangers Last Six League games: L L L D D W A poor recent run by Cove saw them drop from the top spot but they had a good win last week as they beat Alloa Athletic 2-0 in front of a mere 323 fans at Balmoral Stadium to get back on track. This was their squad for that encounter. Arron Darge scored his first goal for Cove with a header after twenty minutes. Substitute Myles Gaffney sealed the points in the second half with a couple of minutes to spare. Everyone is beating each other as Arbroath sneak their way to the top of the table. Cove are sitting in fifth place only six points off the pace. Ones to watch: Mitch Megginson (7 League ), Adam Emslie (4 ), Findlay Marshall (3 ) Connor Scully and Fraser Fyvie along with Emslie are able providers. Striker Mitch Megginson should be fit to return having missed the Alloa game, but Liam Parker and Blair Yule are still unavailable. Saturday will be manager Paul Hartley's 200th game in charge and it coincides with his 500th game in football management overall. Hartley is confident his team will be well prepared to mount a serious challenge for promotion in the New Year.

The Curse Strikes Inverness and Arbroath met at the Caledonian Stadium as the Christmas shopping got into full swing. With the frost lifting, it was a chilled afternoon for this fixture with Inverness missing four longer term casualties in Jake Davidson, and Lewis Nicolson along with loan players Connall Ewan and striker Charlie Reilly . Ethan Cairns was also missing. Corey Patterson came in as an emergency loan due to an injury to Szymon Rebilas. Arbroath, like Inverness, were one of the form teams in League1 prior to kick off and talk of the Manager of the Month curse was rife. As it happened, the Curse saw Robbie Thompson sent off before the interval and second half goals from Dylan Smith & Gavin Reilly won the points for the Smokies. In truth it wasn't a great performance today, but we can't complain after the recent run we had been on. It was a result that puts Arbroath top of the table, not a bad week for them, and their assistant gaffer who had a Golden baby boy introduced to the world. Congratulations David Gold and fiance Claire. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A quick start from the hosts offered them what looked like a decent chance when a ball from the left was met by a couple of attackers near the edge of the six yard box, alas we seemed to try and walk the ball into the net rather than attempt a first time strike and the fleeting moment passed us by. The fleet footed Luis Longstaff tried to replicate his goal against Montrose from the previous week as he cut in from the left across the face of the box. It was perfect up until his parting shot which he dragged wide on this occasion in the tenth minute. After the initial surge, the game lapsed into mediocrity, littered with fouls and errors from both sides with Arbroath not in any hurry to venture forward. Robbie Thompson was booked for a soft infringement on Ryan Dow. That would come back to bite him on the arse before the interval. On the half hour and following a corner, Adam MacKinnon saw his fierce volley deflected just wide. Five minutes later, the already booked Robbie Thompson was sent off after he tripped Fraser Taylor who had picked up the ball about 30 yards from his own goal and was preparing to surge forward, albeit some 70 yards from Dibaga in the Inverness goal. A needless foul with plenty of bodies between Taylor and Dibaga and a simple clip on the heels was enough for the incompetent Colin Steven to produce a second yellow followed quickly by a red. Thompson slowly took the walk of shame and hopefully he will etch this in his brain for future reference. The sending off was all the impetus that Arbroath needed for the start of the second half and they showed that intent on the interval when after a wee flurry of attacks since the red card, Dow shot over into the North stand. HALF TIME: 0-0 The writing was on the wall from kick-off in the second forty-five and it was no surprise when Ross County loanee Dylan Smith headed high into the net in the fifty-second minute. We had been under the cosh in the opening gambits of the second half failing to clear our lines once too often. That stopped us feeling sorry for ourselves and we tried to make a game of it thereafter, but it was difficult to see where a goal was coming from apart from at the other end when Arbroath looked more direct going forward. Fraser Taylor should have put the game beyond us when Arbroath cut us open but his shot from the centre of the box was blocked by Dibaga who spread himself well on the hour. James Nolan fired a rebound just over after a shot had been blocked in the box and he met it around twenty yards out on the right side of centre. He also shot high and wide into the North Stand when on a promising burst forward and Charlie Gilmour fired a vicious shot over as we realised we were still within range of the Smokies. Our best chance of the game ended without making Smokies keeper McAdams work. A long diagonal ball from Nolan on the right side was well controlled by MacKinnon about eight yards from goal, but instead of bursting the net he stretched out a gangly leg early and his shot sailed harmlessly over the bar. Dow might have done better in the dying embers but he Dibaga denied him. However, we were caught up the park when Nolan fluffed his pass back to his keeper allowing Gavin Reilly to drive forward before calmly clipping the ball past Dibaga and watch it roll slowly into the empty net from twenty yards in stoppage time. Game Over! That was a stand emptying moment if ever I saw one. FULL TIME: 0-2 Our big highlight apart from MacKinnon's miss with fifteen to go was an Arbroath player having to pay to get back into the ground after Luis Longstaff left him for dead around the halfway line. Made me laugh anyway. A disappointing result and an untidy game to boot. We spurned what looked like a great opportunity in the first couple of minutes where nobody was willing to put their laces through the ball and the chance petered out. Some second half wasted opportunities but that would have papered over the cracks where we looked like we didn't believe in ourselves. Arbroath were equally poor but once we were reduced to ten the writing was on the wall. Only a matter of time. The second goal was immaterial as we never looked like scoring and it came as a result of an error from a pass back that gifted Reilly the ball to allow him to run on unchallenged in stoppage time. Dibaga made a couple of good stops when Arbroath should have put the game beyond us, unlike McAdams who could have sat in the stand. Dust ourselves down and we go again next week at Stenhousemuir. Pos Team Pld Gd Pts 1 Arbroath 16 4 28 2 Stenny 17 8 27 3 Alloa Ath 17 6 25 4 Kelty Hearts 16 8 23 5 Montrose 17 2 23 6 Cove 17 1 22 7 Queens 16 -3 21 8 Annan Ath 17 -12 18 9 Inverness CT 16 -1 7 10 Dumbarton 17 -13 1 Date: 14/12/2024 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 1531 Referee: Colin Steven Inverness CT: 0 Manager: Scott Kellacher Lineup: Dibaga; Nolan, Devine, Savage, Strachan (Bray 68), Longstaff, Gilmour, Allan, R Thompson , MacKinnon (Gardiner 82), B Mckay Subs (not used): Corey Patterson; S Thompson, L Walker, C Mackay, MacLeod Scorers: none Booked: R Thompson (18+35), Longstaff (93) Sent Off: R Thompson (35) Arbroath: 2 Manager: Colin Hamilton & David Gold Lineup: McAdams; Smith, Watson, O'Brien, Wilkie, Murray (Spalding 58), Flynn, Taylor (Reilly 76), Stewart, Gallagher (Slater 76), Dow Subs (not used): McConnell; Coulson, Bisland, Sinclair, Callaghan Scorers: Smith (52), Reilly (90+3) Booked: Murray (13) Sent Off: none a

Smokies pre-Xmas fare Arbroath are next up for Inverness at the Caledonian Stadium on Saturday as long as we can beat the frost. It's a 3:00pm kick-off as Scott Kellacher looks for his fourth win on the bounce in League1. Arbroath have edged their way up to third in the table, just two points off the pace with a game in hand over the top two. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Bar94/Info ***Supporters Trust AGM*** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ahead of kick-off and in Bar94, the Supporters Trust will hold their AGM Inverness Caledonian Thistle Supporters Society Ltd Notice of Annual General Meeting On Saturday 14th December 2024 at midday At Bar 94 – Inverness Caledonian Stadium The Annual General Meeting of Inverness Caledonian Thistle Supporters Society Limited will take place at Bar 94 in Inverness at the Inverness Caledonian Stadium at 12.00pm on Saturday 14th December 2024 Please note – if you are unable to attend and you would like to nominate a proxy on your behalf - please forward the details to [email protected] Also note :- The formal AGM meeting is expected to finish at 12.30 Venue Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 27 18 5 4 62 22 +40 Away 26 11 7 8 36 31 +5 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 53 29 12 12 98 53 +45 Last 10 Competitive Meetings 0 - 1 (A) 0 - 0 (H) 2 - 1 (H) 1 - 1 (A) 1 - 2 (H) 3 - 2 (A) 2 - 4 (A) 2 - 0 (H) 4 - 1 (A) 1 - 1 (H) We have played Arbroath twice this season. The first encounter was a no scoring draw in the league cup group stage where Arbroath won the bonus point after a penalty shoot-out. The League game played at Gayfield ended in a 1-0 win for the hosts when Gavin Reilly scored the only goal. Namesake Charlie Reilly who has on the treatment table since he joined us on loan from Dundee after debuting for the Caley Jags in that game. Another Blank: 1-0 Massive financial hurdles were put to one side as we went down to the Greenversity Stadium, or Gayfield as we all know it, for this Scottish League 1 fixture against Arbroath. With both sides getting off to a cautious start in the league this fixture between last seasons relegated pair might give an indication if either of them are capable of challenging for a play-off place at the top end of the table or will it be a few seasons in the doldrums, or administration or worse. Flynn Duffy, Lewis Nicolson and Ethan Cairns were missing. Charlie Reilly came in on loan from Dundee this week met his new team mates today for the first time and Started up front with Billy Mckay. Arbroath were without Scott Stewart and Tam O'Brien with co-manager David Gold and Ross County's young on loan defender Dylan Smith in their starting XI. The other co-manager Colin Hamilton, Ali Spalding and Calum Gallagher were all on the injured list. After a goalless first half where Inverness were looking the more likely, Reilly opened the scoring. Unfortunately it was Gavin Reilly for Arbroath. Another Saturday, another game slips away. INVERNESS CT: Our Season so far... D L D D W D D D L / W L D W W W That is how our season has gone so far. Scott Kellacher has won his last three League games since he started five league games ago with a 3-1 defeat at Dumbarton and he will be looking for a fourth on the trot against Arbroath. That run in November where we picked up seven points from a possible nine earned him the League1 manager of the month trophy. Let's not get too carried away with that, as cast your mind back to last November when none other than Duncan Ferguson won the same November accolade. Nonetheless, congratulations to Scott for picking up this award and let's hope the curse of the MotM does not strike on Saturday. Pos Team Pld Gd Pts 1 Stenny 16 9 27 2 Wasps 16 7 25 3 Smokies 15 2 25 4 Jambos 15 8 22 5 Toonsers 16 1 21 6 Gable E's 16 1 20 7 Queen's 15 -4 18 8 B&G's 16 -16 15 9 Caley Jags 15 1 07 10 Sons 16 -9 01 LATEST TEAM NEWS Read Scott Kellacher's thoughts HERE. Remi Savage returned last week and Keith Bray made the bench. However, Jake Davidson, Charlie Reilly, Connall Ewan and Lewis Nicolson are all longer term casualties. No new team news available at present. Arbroath fielded this team last week in a 2-1 win over Queen of the South thanks to a late strike from Calum Gallagher. Douglas had put Queen of the South ahead with the proverbial screamer twenty minutes from the end. A couple minutes and a couple of inspired subs later and one of them Innes Murray fired in his own screamer. Two minutes later the two subs combined for Murray to cross for Gallagher to secure all three points. Arbroath were one of the bookies favourites before the season started and after a slow start they are now knocking on the door at the top end. L W W D W W Last six League1 results Highlights in this sequence were wins over Annan, Stenhousemuir, Cove & Queen of the South. A draw with Montrose and a disappointing 1-3 defeat at home to Dumbarton.

Wasps Stung Inverness were looking to push on up the table but leaders Alloa were looking to remain unbeaten away from home in League1. Something was going to give. Robbie Thomson replaced the injured Keith Bray (shoulder) in the only change from last week. Sammon and Cawley were again starting on the bench for Alloa. Inverness dominated most of the game with both keepers having to make a crucial save. With twenty minutes left, Charlie Gilmour slotted in the only goal after great work by Adam MacKinnon down the left. No more than we deserved to be honest and another vital three points, much appreciated by the home fans. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A chilly and showery afternoon greeted the teams as they kicked off in this top versus bottom encounter. A slow start from both sides with Jake Davidson and Adam MacKinnon firing the first warning shots of the afternoon. Davidson's afternoon was cut short after quarter of an hour when he burst forward into the box. Unfortunately keeper Morrison came out to meet him at the corner of the six yard box and Jake came off second best as they clashed. Jake's day was over and Mathew Strachan was called into the game to go to left back with James Nolan switching wings to cover the right back berth. Billy Mckay almost sneaked in the opening goal as he pounced on a ball into the box from Paul Allen's free kick, Morrison denying the striker diving low to his right. Robbie Thompson did well but his final shot was dragged wide as the hosts looked the likeliest to open the scoring. Alloa eventually woke up just before the break and picked up a couple of yellow cards but Musa Dibaga remained untroubled at the interval. HALF TIME: 0-0 Alloa probably got a rocket at the interval for their lacklustre approach and looked sharper in the second period. Dibaga saved from Luke Rankin and Callum Waters shot wide but it was at the other end where a goal almost came when Morrison saved from Billy Mckay. A wake up call for the hosts when Donnelly headed onto the post with Dibaga scrambling across goal to try and cover his line. On the hour Adam MacKinnon hit the post at the other end and Paul Allen fired the rebound wide as he shot across the keeper and wide of the post. Danny Devine had a header saved before the winning goal was scored. A recycled ball was taken wide of the box by MacKinnon on the left flank. He did well to pick out Charlie Gilmour who buried his low cut back behind Morrison to the relief of the North Stand. Big Musa saved from Kevin Cawley as Alloa made a late surge to try and get something from the game but a confident Musa and his defence stood firm to a man to ensure the Caley Jags picked up successive wins against the teams at the top. FULL TIME: 1-0 Two wins on the trot for Billy and Kells and not only wins but a dash of panache at times as well. Unfortunate not to score more and fairly comfortable most of the game. Only downside was an injury to Jake Davidson as he was challenged on his own through ball by keeper Morrison. He was replaced by Strachan with Nolan moving to the right side where he combined well with the busy Longstaff. More match reaction>>> Scott Kellacher says his Caley Thistle players stood up and were counted as they defeated Alloa Athletic 1-0 for a second successive victory. “You can see from the boys’ performances that’s what we’re looking to portray on the pitch. “I am delighted for everyone at the club including the staff working behind the scenes. We’re all in this together. “We’re going in the right direction in terms of players, fans, staff and everyone coming together. “When you work as hard as we do, around the stadium or on the pitch, with the fans getting behind us, you can see how much it helps.” Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Table after matchday 14. Off to Dumfries next Saturday 1. Kelty Hearts 14 6 4 4 23 13 22 2. Arbroath 14 6 4 4 17 16 22 3. Alloa Athletic 14 5 6 3 17 12 21 4. Stenhousemuir 14 6 3 5 17 15 21 5. Cove Rangers 14 6 2 6 23 19 20 6. Q.O.S. 14 5 3 6 12 15 18 7. Montrose 14 4 5 5 12 11 17 8. Dumbarton 14 3 6 5 19 24 15 9. Annan Athletic 14 4 2 8 9 24 14 10. Inverness CT 14 4 7 3 12 12 4 Date: 16/11/2024 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 1578 Referee: Colin Whyte Inverness CT: 1 Manager: Scott Kellacher Lineup: Dibaga; Davidson (Strachan 16), Devine, Savage, Nolan, Longstaff, Gilmour, Allan, MacKinnon, R Thomson (MacLeod 66), B Mckay (Cairns (90+4)) Subs (not used): Rebilas: S Thomson, Reid, L Walker, C Mackay Scorers: Gilmour (70) Booked: Gilmour (55), Devine (B Mckay), (Nolan 90+3) Sent Off: none Alloa Athletic: 0 Manager: Andy Graham Lineup: Morrison; Taggart, Mckay, Neill, Waters, Virtanen (Hetherington 58), Scougall (Sammon 82), Buchanan (Cawley 58), Donnelly, O'Donnell (McDonnell 82), Rankin Subs (not used): Ogayi; Graham, Thomson, Nevan, Honeyman Scorers: none Booked: Waters (42), Scougall (44) Sent Off: none a

Top v Bottom Again For the second week in a row Inverness face table toppers. This time it's Alloa Athletic after our win over last weeks toppers at Cove. Now into plus figures, the Caley Jags can focus on the teams directly above them in the knowledge that they can compete with the best in this league after the shackles have been taken off, the legacy from the Duncball era no longer restricting them on the park. It won't all be plain sailing, but those that witnessed the second half at Cove have said this was the best performance for a couple of years. A word of warning, Alloa come North unbeaten away from home on League1 business. For us, it's onwards and upwards as they say at the bottom end of the table. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Bar94/Info Battery Farm Appeal Thrown Out Bar94 Drop Off Point ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Going to the game today? Then drop your donation into Bar94 12:00 - 2:30pm to help the Community Development Trust to provide as many Festive Hampers as possible. The CDT holds free Christmas Lunches at the Stadium for elderly fans and delivers hampers to vulnerable and deserving fans in the lead up to Christmas. Please donate if you can to help make someones Xmas that little bit better. Click HERE for more detail. Venue Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 20 8 10 2 36 22 +14 Away 23 11 6 6 47 24 +23 Neutral 1 0 1 0 4 4 0 Total 44 19 17 8 87 50 +37 Looking at the stats, a draw seems to be the favoured result over the last three encounters with goals in every game. Overall, in a previous life the Caley Jags used to get the better of the Wasps but times have changed. They seem to be a more resilient side at the moment and wins breed confidence, that's why they find themselves leading the pack in the chase for promotion to the Championship. Last 10 Competitive Meetings 2 - 2 (A) 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) The last encounter at Recreation Park ended all square when we threw away a two goal advantage after the introduction of seasoned campaigner Conor Sammon. Wasps Buzzing: 2-2 Inverness were without Charlie Gilmour, Flynn Duffy, Paul Allan, Ethan Cairns and Lewis Nicolson for the trip to Alloa although Jack Newman, Luis Longstaff and Keith Bray have returned to the squad after injury. Alloa have plenty experience in their ranks, notably Conor Sammon and Kevin Cawley and went in to this encounter off the back of a superb win over Partick Thistle last weekend in the Challenge Cup. Sammon started on the bench with Cawley joined by Luke Donnelly up front. Danny Devine gave Inverness an early lead with a tremendous birthday boy volley into the corner. Calum Macleod added a second but a few minutes later we were level when substitute Sammon and Luke Donnelly scored for the Wasps and despite a frantic last twenty minutes, that's how it ended. Our Season so Far on the park INVERNESS CT: D L D D W D D D L / W L 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. 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 at Recreation Park. Last time out we had a disappointing 1-1 draw at home against Cove Rangers who opened the scoring through Adam Emslie. James Nolan on loan from Manchester United's youth squad levelled the game before the hour. Next up was a home game against Stenhousemuir. Quite frankly this was a dull game with neither side able to score although Musa Dibaga did make a wonderful penalty save in the first half. Relegated Arbroath was our final game of the opening round of fixtures and despite creating enough chances, we came away from Gayfield with our second defeat of the League1 campaign. Away from League duty last weekend, we put up a good fight against Livingston in the Challenge Cup at Almondvale but lost out 5-4 in a penalty shoot-out after it finished 2-2 over the ninety minutes. Paul Allan and Charlie Gilmour were our scorers during the ninety minutes. Our first game in the second round of fixtures turned out to be Duncan Ferguson's last stand. It ended like his first game in charge, a win as we defeated Annan 1-0 at home. Administration and management removal followed by five players being released and fifteen points being wiped off our total. First game after Admin was at Dumbarton with Scott Kellacher as head coach and Billy Mckay his assistant on and off the park. Alas it ended in a 3-1 defeat after a promising first hour. Kelty Hearts came North next and went away with a point in a 1-1 draw. Kell's got his first win in week (unlucky for some)13, a deserved 2-1 win at top of the table Cove Rangers. Alloa up next at Inverness in matchday 14... ALLOA Athletic: D D W W D D WD L / W L W D Alloa had an eight game unbeaten start to League1. 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. They drew 0-0 at Gayfield and the following 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 which they also won (1-0). That was Cawley's 79th & 80th goals for Alloa. Our first meeting with the Wasps ended 2-2 after we were two up. Meh! A win over Kelty followed by a draw at Montrose before Cove dished out their first defeat. However they followed that with a win away to Stenhousemuir before Arbroath gained revenge for the Challenge Cup defeat winning 1-0 for Alloa's second League defeat. November saw them hammer Annan 5-0 before drawing with Queens. In midweek they bowed out of the Challenge cup going down 1-0 at Championship side Dunfermline. League1 Fixtures all 3:00pm this Saturday Pos Team Pld Gd Pts 1 Alloa Athletic 13 6 21 2 Cove Rangers 13 5 20 3 Kelty Hearts 13 8 19 4 Arbroath 13 0 19 5 Stenny 13 1 18 6 Queen of Sth 13 -2 18 7 Montrose 13 2 17 8 Annan Ath 13 -13 14 9 Dumbarton 13 -6 12 10 Inverness CT 13 -1 +1 Latest Team News With Scott Kellacher getting the first win under his belt at Cove, hopes are high for another upset at home against Alloa who currently top the table. Charlie Gilmour returned at Cove and our goals were made in the Western Isles thanks to Adam MacKinnon and Keith Bray. Connall Ewan and Lewis Nicolson missed out last week. Former Caley Jags keeper Michael Fraser has been offering advice to cult keeper Musa Dibaga since Goalie Coach Stuart Garden was dismissed in administration. Will post official team news when the club upload it. Alloa's team versus Dunfermline in the Challenge Cup in midweek is shown below. I notice that the keeper was a busy man starting and on the bench. A first half strike from McCann was enough to put the Pars into the semi-final. Noted that Sammon and Cawley started on the bench and keeper PJ Morrison was missing since we last played them, presumably Ogayi getting some game time. Connor Sammon, Luke Donnelly and Luke Rankin all have four League goals. Incidentally, defender Danny Devine tops our League1 scoring chart with three goals. Remember: After the game, our sponsors Dog Falls Brewing Co will be presenting the MotM in Bar94 where all are welcome to attend with players and management in attendance. The bar will remain open until 6:00pm Dog Falls is an award-winning nano brewery in the heart of the Highlands, cranking out fresh, bold & distinctive beers according to one simple observation: Flavour Reigns Supreme. We brew beer that brings people together, beer that captures a moment, and beer that transcends the ordinary.

Kells Home Draw Kelty came North on the back of two defeats on the trot looking to get back on track. Inverness were looking to get out of the minus points total and back into the land of the living with Scott Kellacher and his positive vibes at the helm in his first home game in charge. Danny Devine returned after suspension for the hosts with Tam O'Ware doing likewise for the visitors. Lewis Nicolson and Ethan Cairns made long awaited returns to the bench but Charlie Gilmour is still missing. Pre-match entertainment was in full swing in Bar94 with raffles, auctions, merriment and Dog Falls refreshments lubricating the vocal cords as the Supporters Trust heralded the new partnership with the Dog Falls Brewing Co. An early Luis Longstaff strike was cancelled out by a Ross Cunningham 25 yard free kick after fifteen minutes and that endeth the scoring. Danny Devine hit a post from close range and Keith Bray saw his effort brilliantly saved by Adams just before the break. No further scoring after the interval and it ended all square in the Highland Capital. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A chilly morning gave way to glimpses of sunshine as the day headed towards kick-off on a reasonable afternoon for a kick about with a stiff breeze the only downside, but it dropped before a ball was kicked as we started in a hurry with Luis Longstaff drilling home from a tight angle in the fourth minute following a corner. We let Kelty back into the game after quarter of an hour when Danny Devine gifted the ball to the eager Kelty forwards who drove towards our box only for Connell Ewan to abruptly stop Luke McCarvel in his tracks and earn a caution for his last ditch tackle. Ross Cunningham stepped up and curled a beauty into the top corner from outside the box. In as soon as it left his foot. Doh! Kelty were in control of proceedings in the middle of the half but Inverness ended the half knocking on the door. Clear chances had been hard to come by and a Billy Mckay snap shot on the turn was easily dealt with by Adams in the visitors goal. Ten minutes before the break and Devine was unfortunate to see his hooked shot bounce off the keepers post and back into Adams' arms as he watched helplessly. Keith Bray was then denied by a tremendous save from the keeper who should buy a few lottery tickets tonight. Great save though. Half time followed soon after with Inverness dominant again. HALF TIME: 1-1 Paul Allan had a go but his shot was weak and swallowed up by Adams and Adam MacKinnon leaned back and shot over after a promising move cut open the Kelty defence. Musa Dibaga was forced to dive late to keep out a low curling effort from Mercer as bodies crossed the keepers path to make his task more difficult. Bray did have the ball in the net fifteen minutes from the end but it was ruled out for an infringement on the keeper as we pushed the visitors onto the back foot. Billy Mckay spurned a great headed chance from a super ball into the front post from the industrious Jake Davidson with fifteen minutes remaining. Good to see Ethan Cairns get on the park, albeit only for a few minutes as time ran away from us. FULL TIME: 1-1 Points dropped after a blistering start and then the dreaded defensive error to create the opportunity for the equaliser. Cairns got a few minutes under his belt and Lewis Nicolson took his place on the bench. Charlie Gilmour was missed for a bit of steel in the middle but otherwise a game we could easily have taken all three points although Kelty might disagree, despite Adams and his post dealing with more challenging efforts than Dibaga had to. I thought Davidson was a driving force on the right side. Our biggest downfall was the lack of shots offloaded from good positions, especially in the second half where we tended to end up playing wide instead of having a pop. Paul Allan was named Bar94 MotM after a busy performance. More reaction to follow>>> Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Only 14 points behind now 1. Cove Rangers 12 6 2 4 21 15 20 2. Alloa Athletic 12 5 5 2 16 10 20 3. Arbroath 12 5 3 4 14 14 18 4. Stenhousemuir 12 5 2 5 15 14 17 5. Q.O.S. 12 5 2 5 10 12 17 6. Kelty Hearts 12 4 4 4 19 13 16 7. Montrose 12 4 4 4 11 9 16 8. Annan Athletic 12 4 1 7 8 21 13 9. Dumbarton 12 2 6 4 17 21 12 10. Inverness CT 12 2 7 3 9 11 -2 Week 12 results Results from the weekend that have put Cove Rangers at the top of the table with Alloa Athletic on 20 points. Unfortunately for us, Cove Rangers have hit a bit of form since they rubbed shoulders with us at the lower end of the table a few weeks ago. Since drawing with us back in the last week of September, Cove were beaten 2-4 by Arbroath, but since then have three 2-0 wins in a row and last week they pumped Dumbarton 3-0 at the Rock. 15 points that has rocketed them to top spot. We play Cove away next week with the teams at Polar ends of the table right now. Date: 02/11/2024 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 1502 Referee: Ryan Lee Inverness CT: 1 Manager: Scott Kellacher Lineup: Dibaga; Ewan (R Thompson 36), Devine, Savage, Nolan, Longstaff, Davidson, Allan, MacKinnon, Bray (Cairns 87), B Mckay Subs (not used): Rebilas; Strachan, Nicolson, C Mackay, MacLeod Scorers: Longstaff (4) Booked: Ewan (13), Devine (49) Sent Off: none Kelty Hearts: 1 Manager: Michael Tidser (player manager) Lineup: Adams; Mercer (Thomas 75), O'Ware, Harding, Paterson, McCarvel (Flatman 75), Allan, Moore (Williamson 46), Tidser (Trialist 90+2), Johnston, Cunningham (Owens 87) Subs (not used): Adamson; Bryce, Cole, Hobbs Scorers: Cunningham (14) Booked: none Sent Off: none a

The Training Ground Derby After our ill fated attempt to train in Fife, we host the Training Ground Derby on Saturday 2nd November against Kelty Hearts with Scott Kellacher being handed the reins to start his home reign in the rain no doubt. It's his first home game in charge after defeat at Dumbarton. Most will agree that we looked good for an hour but the second Sons goal took the wind out of our sails. However, with little time for Kell's to prep the team in what was a difficult week for the club off the park, then given time we should be seeing an improvement in the product on the park. We will need to be patient, but time is not on our side now and the deduction of fifteen points was a blow. Remember Dundee? Anything is possible, but it's a big ask. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Bar94/Info Scottish Cup 3rd Rnd Draw Cap'n Danny Devine Caley @ Home with Billy & Kells ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks to Dog Falls Brewing Company for stocking Bar 94 with a wonderful selection of refreshments. Check out their Online Shop to see what is on offer. Dog Falls is an award-winning nano brewery in the heart of the Highlands, cranking out fresh, bold & distinctive beers according to one simple observation: Flavour Reigns Supreme! We brew beer that brings people together, beer that captures a moment, and beer that transcends the ordinary. See the Supporters Trust poster at the bottom of the Preview for more information on the Fundraiser this Saturday at the Kelty Hearts home game in Bar94 in association with Dog Falls Brewing Co. Come along early and get some shouting juice down you ahead of kick-off at 3:00pm. Our Season so Far on the park INVERNESS CT: D L D D W D D D L / W L 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. 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 at Recreation Park. Last time out we had a disappointing 1-1 draw at home against Cove Rangers who opened the scoring through Adam Emslie. James Nolan on loan from Manchester United's youth squad levelled the game before the hour. Next up was a home game against Stenhousemuir. Quite frankly this was a dull game with neither side able to score although Musa Dibaga did make a wonderful penalty save in the first half. Relegated Arbroath was our final game of the opening round of fixtures and despite creating enough chances, we came away from Gayfield with our second defeat of the League1 campaign. Away from League duty last weekend, we put up a good fight against Livingston in the Challenge Cup at Almondvale but lost out 5-4 in a penalty shoot-out after it finished 2-2 over the ninety minutes. Paul Allan and Charlie Gilmour were our scorers during the ninety minutes. Our first game in the second round of fixtures turned out to be Duncan Ferguson's last stand. It ended like his first game in charge, a win as we defeated Annan 1-0 at home. Administration and management removal followed by five players being released and fifteen points being wiped off our total. First game after Admin was at Dumbarton with Scott Kellacher as head coach and Billy Mckay his assistant on and off the park. Alas it ended in a 3-1 defeat after a promising first hour. Kelty Hearts come North next... KELTY HEARTS: D W W D D L L W W / L L After a great start to the season, Kelty suffered their first defeats in successive weeks losing 3-1 at home to Cove Rangers followed by defeat at Alloa (1-0). Two big wins on the trot, 3-0 over Annan and a crushing 5-1 thrashing of Queen of the South at Palmerston. But this League is nothing if not competitive and they have lost their first two fixtures of the second phase, losing 2-0 at home to Montrose and 2-1 at Stenny. Our first meeting this season was the Johndo Memorial Away day. A great day in memory of the Immortal Howden Ender. Unfortunately the football on display was near the end of the Duncball regime and it ended goalless. Mar00ned: Table toppers Kelty Hearts welcomed the Caley Jags to New Central Park, and this was not just for a training session. Musa Dibaga retained the gloves with Jack Newman possibly requiring surgery on his knee and Luis Longstaff is out for a month with a thigh injury. New signing Paul Allan was on the bench. Some 0-0 draws are not as dull as the scoreline might suggest. Well, unfortunately this was not the case here as both sides were reluctant to take the game to their opponents which resulted in a game as dull as dishwater. The visitors did look marginally more industrious, but it would be stretching the imagination somewhat to suggest that we should have won. Billy Mckay shot over from the edge of the box in our best/only moment of the first half. Musa made a couple of routine saves and one from a fierce shot but he was not overly exerted. Adams in the Kelty goal had even less to deal with although part of that was down to our inability to get shots on target. In truth, neither side deserved to win, and in the same vein, neither side deserved to lose, so stalemate it was and a point apiece. The table doesn't look great to be honest ahead of this weekends fixtures>>> Pos Team Pld Gd Pts 1 Cove Rangers 11 3 17 2 Stenhousemuir 11 2 17 3 Alloa Athletic 11 1 17 4 Montrose 11 3 16 5 Kelty Hearts 11 6 15 6 Arbroath 11 -1 15 7 Queen of Sth 11 -3 14 8 Annan Athletic 11 -8 13 9 Dumbarton 11 -1 12 10 Inverness CT 11 -2 -3 Ahoy there Captain Dan... Latest Team News Danny Devine should return after suspension and I wonder if Charlie Gilmour has hopefully been repaired after breaking his hand??? Other than that we should be along similar lines to last week with Ethan Cairns and Lewis Nicolson still missing and Charlie Reilly out for around another month. Kelty had this team out away to Stenhousemuir last week which ended in a 2-1 defeat. Kelty are top equal scorers in League1 with 18 goals. They have conceded 12 times. Top scorer in League1 is Ross Cunningham with 7 goals. Scott Williamson has 4. Captain Tam O'Ware was red carded at Montrose and was suspended last week. Manager Michael Tidser was not best pleased after Tam dived in to get a second yellow, "he knows better than that and he knows my thoughts on it". The Supporters Trust is holding a Fundraiser on Saturday before and after the Kelty game in Bar 94, with all proceeds going to assist in covering the club's running costs. We are also encouraging all fans to come to the game and do their bit to help the management team and players start to recover the points deduction. Full details of events on the day are in this announcement on our website: https://www.ictsupporterstrust.org/post/ictst-back-the-team-and-fundraising-statement Highlights include an auction for Mark Ridgers' signed cup final gloves, that he has kindly donated to assist the club. A raffle will take place, along with a free prize draws. Saturday marks the official launch of our partnership with Dog Falls, the Inverness-based brewery, who are also supporting the raffle. We are very grateful to Dog Falls. Their products were very well received at the soft launch two weeks ago, so come along and try them yourselves on Saturday! The bar opens at 12:00, so please come down early. After the match, the bar will again be open and, as well as the Player of the Match presentation, the full first team will be joining us, so please join us then too.

There's Life Jim but not as we know it With Administration pending at the start of next week, this game might be the last time we will see the famous Inverness Caledonian Thistle in it's present form. Administration does not come alone. Redundancies and heartbreak goes hand in hand with it and that is the price paid for years of neglect. We had already lost twice to Annan this season, once in the League Cup and once on League business when a Tommy Goss penalty was the difference at Galabank but he was missing out this time. Paul McGowan and Wullie Gibson added their experience to the Annan starting XI. Danny Devine returned to the team but Charlie Gilmour, Adam Brooks and Charlie Reilly were missing. After a slow start, Danny Devine headed Inverness in front in the twenty-first minute. That's how it was at the interval with chances difficult to come by. The second half was similar with Devine coming closest to adding a second but his header was just the wrong side of the post and it ended 1-0 with the creditors closing in. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A bright and breezy afternoon greeted the players on a somewhat sombre afternoon for the Caley Jags with the stench of administration lingering around the stadium. Annan looked spritely in the opening few minutes firing wide on a couple of occasions before Inverness ventured forward. Duncan Ferguson was yellow carded after discussing a penalty claim with the referee when Billy Mckay appeared to be barged off the ball inside the penalty area. After a couple of poor balls into the box Paul Allan provided Danny Devine with the perfect opportunity and Danny duly headed the Caley Jags in front after twenty minutes to lift the mood. Keith Bray was put through on goal on the right side of the box but keeper Smith spread himself to block well. HALF TIME: 1-0 The second period was less than entertaining with a bit too much faffing around outside the box and down the wings with directness the last thing on the minds of the players. Bray had a volley comfortably saved and Devine went very close following a free kick angled into the box by Paul Allan, Danny's header just bouncing past the wrong side of the keepers left hand post with Smith beaten. We did have a few attempts from around the edge of the box but they all went well wide of the target. Meanwhile Annan never troubled Musa Dibaga and two poor teams played out the final forty-five without adding to the scoreline. FULL TIME 1-0 I suppose the result was more important than the performance, which was just as well as both sides were honking. However we have bigger fish to fry on Monday as the grim reaper comes calling with bad news. We may have seen the last of some of these players as the high earners might be culled as our cloth gets cut by the Administrators. Billy Mckay did get a rousing round of applause when he was substituted five minutes before the end and the rest were warmly applauded as they left the field at the end of play. Match reaction from CTO Good summary from Robert: I thought we deserved the win, but once again we made hard work of it in the second half. We dominated the first half and should have had more than one goal. One definite penalty was not given, possibly two (I wasn’t sure if the other incident was in or just outside the box). Devine took his goal well and led the back line with, as others have said, MacKinnon also having a good game. Allan also looked good to me. We allowed ourselves to get hemmed in after the break but Annan were fortunately toothless. With the 15 point penalty, next week’s game at Dumbarton becomes a real six pointer as we try to get ourselves back into the pack. Well done to all who played a part today. It must be tough with all the uncertainties at present. Robbo 1985: Danny Devine was awarded the sponsors man of the match and credit to him for popping up with another crucial goal and putting on another very good defensive display. For me though, Adam MacKinnon stood head and shoulders above every other player on the park today. Broke up play, drove us forward, distributed the ball well, had some shots on goal and worked his absolute socks off. A fantastic individual performance but well done to all the players and staff today for digging in to get the result. Alan: A deserved victory over a poor Annan side who didn't manage one shot on target during the 90 minutes. it wasn't the most exciting game but I'll take 1-0 wins in every every match between now and the end of the season. A wins a win Alloa top the table after a 78th minute winner at Stenhousemuir. Other winners today were Inverness, Dumbarton, Cove & Montrose. Pos Team Pld Gd Pts 1 Alloa Athletic 10 2 17 2 Montrose 10 5 16 3 Kelty Hearts 10 7 15 4 Cove Rangers 10 1 14 5 Stenhousemuir 10 1 14 6 Queen of Sth 10 -2 14 7 Inverness CT 10 0 12 8 Arbroath 10 -2 12 9 Annan Athletic 10 -9 10 10 Dumbarton 10 -3 9 Danny Devine got his MotM award after the game in Bar94. Date: 19/10/2024 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 1501 Referee: Peter Stuart Inverness CT: 1 Manager: Duncan Ferguson Lineup: Dibaga; Duffy (Macleod 46), Devine, Savage, Nolan (Ewan 92), Longstaff (Thompson 84), Davidson, Allan, MacKinnon, Bray, B Mckay (Ferguson 84) Subs (not used): Newman; Strachan, C Mackay Scorers: Devine (21) Booked: Devine (17), B Mckay (20), MacLeod 75) Sent Off: none Annan Athletic: 0 Manager: Wullie Gibson (player manager) Lineup: J Smith; Gibson, Todd, Dixon (Ross 81), Breen, Kilsby, (Quitongo 31), Zaid (Quigg 81), A Smith, McGowan, K Fleming, Stevenson, Subs (not used): Aitchison; Muir, Barnes Maxwell, Lennon Scorers: none Booked: Dixon (42), Stevenson (46), Quitongo (74) Sent Off: none a

If we still have a team We are scheduled to play Annan Athletic on Saturday 19th October at 3:00pm as the second phase of League1 fixtures begin. Having played all nine of the teams we find ourselves second bottom of the table with only one win from our opening round of games, a 1-0 win over Queen of the South in the Highlands, who, incidentally are sitting one point off the top in fourth place. However, should administration hit us then a 15 point deduction would see us go bottom on minus 6 points. Worse would follow with top earners being removed from the club and all the other embargo's that go along with these situations. It's almost inevitable that we will drop into League two after 30 years of being in existence. As expected, Administration has now been confirmed this evening, Friday, 18th October 2024. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket & Bar94 Info Supporters Trust Fans Meeting ADMINISTRATION CONFIRMED Club Statement 29 18th OCT ICTFC GO FUND ME PAGE ALL OFFICIAL CLUB NEWS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Events off the Park have caught up with us after more than five seasons of tyrannical malfunction and despite some last ditch efforts to find a buyer to take on the club and their debt we find ourselves heading for Administration and redundancies and all that goes along with it unless there is one final twist to this sorry self inflicted saga. News coming out of the club is changing every few hours, so fingers crossed for a happy ending as we enter Administration on Monday. Bar 94 will be open after the match and will include a presentation to the Man of the Match. If popular, it will hopefully become a permanent additional facility for those attending the games. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our Season so Far on the park INVERNESS CT: D L D D W D D D L 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. 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 at Recreation Park. Last time out we had a disappointing 1-1 draw at home against Cove Rangers who opened the scoring through Adam Emslie. James Nolan on loan from Manchester United's youth squad levelled the game before the hour. Next up was a home game against Stenhousemuir. Quite frankly this was a dull game with neither side able to score although Musa Dibaga did make a wonderful penalty save in the first half. Relegated Arbroath was our final game of the opening round of fixtures and despite creating enough chances, we came away from Gayfield with our second defeat of the League1 campaign. Away from League duty last weekend, we put up a good fight against Livingston in the Challenge Cup at Almondvale but lost out 5-4 in a penalty shoot-out after it finished 2-2 over the ninety minutes. Paul Allan and Charlie Gilmour were our scorers during the ninety minutes. Annan Athletic: W W L L L D L L W After an encouraging start to the season that included two wins over Inverness, one in the League Cup and one in the League, they hit a bit of a slump losing five of the next six League games before beating Montrose 1-0 at home. They crashed out of the Challenge Cup last weekend as Queens Park beat them 1-4, Nikola Ujdur scoring in that one. Our League encounter in August ended in defeat at Galabank at the start of the League campaign. Too Little Too Late: Inverness added their two new signings to their squad which meant Keith Bray was benched with Wallace Duffy returning to the starting XI and Musa Dibaga as back up keeper on the bench. Annan had one change with Josh Dixon replacing Paul Smith in midfield. Jack Newman had the only notable save of the first forty-five denying Aidan Smith after ten minutes. Other than that it was Annan on top without overly threatening. After the interval Annan were awarded a penalty after fifty minutes and Tommy Goss duly scored from the spot. That was the difference between the sides as Annan took all three points despite a late charge from the visitors. Plenty of early posturing and the first action for the keepers saw Jack Newman save brilliantly from an Aidan Smith header in the tenth minute as Annan came close to the opening goal. Inverness' first effort followed soon after as Adam Brooks shot over from a tight angle. Annan were controlling the pace of the game in the first quarter and forced three corners to no avail. Smith again went close on the half hour when he shot just wide. Josh Dixon shot over from the edge of the box ten minutes before the break and Wallace Duffy picked up a yellow for abruptly stopping an Annan attack. Half Time: 0-0 Danny Devine gave away a penalty five minutes after the restart when he fouled Tommy Goss who got up to slot home the spot kick into the bottom corner. Luis Longstaff fired a free kick over the bar and Billy Mckay was denied by the keeper after a turn and run from Longstaff. Almost a tap in for Smith but for a great interception by the defence. Devine headed wide from a Charlie Gilmour free kick as we tried to get back on level terms. A double denial for Inverness as Gilmour's effort was well saved then Devine hit the underside of the bar from the recycled ball as we entered the final ten minutes. Bray shot wide as we pushed for an equaliser with Annan looking for the final whistle. Annan were by now hanging on by a thread and a couple of late corners for the visitors came and went before the final whistle ended the siege. Full Time: 1-0 Here are your fixtures for Saturday 19th October and this is how the table looks ahead of Saturday's fixtures Pos Team Pld Gd Pts 1 Kelty Hearts 9 9 15 2 Stenhousemuir 9 2 14 3 Alloa Athletic 9 1 14 4 Queen of the Sth 9 0 14 5 Montrose 9 3 13 6 Arbroath 9 0 12 7 Cove Rangers 9 -1 11 8 Annan Athletic 9 -8 10 9 Inverness CT 9 -1 9 10 Dumbarton 9 -5 6 Latest Team News It's bad enough off the field of play, but we don't have our troubles to seek on the park either. Flynn Duffy, Ethan Cairns, Lewis Nicolson, Charlie Reilly and possibly Charlie Gilmour are all out. Danny Devine was missing at Livingston.

Bore Draw Stenhousemuir came North for the first time since 1998 on League business when a Mike Teasdale brace won the day after Ian Little had opened the scoring for the Warriors in front of 1414 fans. Brian Thomson has been our all time top scorer against them with seven goals including a hat-trick in a 5-1 rout in 1997. Hope he has taken his boots along for this one. In an instantly forgettable first half, the only highlight was a brilliant penalty save from Musa Dibaga to keep the score level with opportunities non-existant for both sides. The closest we came was when Davidson shot just wide when we broke forward. The second half produced more of the same with neither side able to find the finishing touch. Another point and another game without a goal. Whatever way you spin it, it's another dire performance which won't encourage many fans to come back. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A chilly afternoon with the threat of rain dampened the atmosphere and to be honest it must have got to the players who produced a dire first forty-five only brought to life by a superb penalty save from Dibaga. Nothing wrong with the strike, but the keeper guessed right as he dived full length low to his right to deny Matty Yates. The rest of the half was disjointed and Jake Davidson was the only other one that went close ten minutes before the interval. Half Time: 0-0 The second half was no better with half chances and missed opportunities. Anderson glanced a header a yard or two wide and Yates shot wide as the Warriors threatened to take control. However with defences on top it was unlikely that anyone would score and James Nolan lifted a shot over the bar after good work down the right flank by Longstaff and lay-off's from Billy Mckay and MacKinnon. Nobody could hit the target and Brooks dragged a long range shot two or three yards wide. MacKinnon had an effort blocked from close range from the edge of the six yard box. Highlight of this half was a tremendous block by Jake Davidson as Ross Meechan looked favourite to score. Unfortunately it was the same old same old as we struggled badly to create enough and take any chances that did come our way. Full Time: 0-0 Poor fare at the Caledonian Stadium as we huffed and puffed our way around the park to little effect. Great save from MotM Musa Dibaga to deny Matty Yates but that was all there was to cheer. We did have an early penalty claim brushed aside, as Billy Mckay seemed to be barged off the ball and another in the second half when Duffy appeared to be pushed in the box going for a cross. Either way, a draw was about right, but two poor teams on display. OCG on CTO: Well that was dire possibly even worse than last week. Does DF ever try to play football that suits the players he has? Does he even know that we need to win anymore? Most exciting bit was good natured banter with the Stennie keeper! Finding it harder and harder finding any positivity these days. Can you imagine what it will be like watching football like this when it's minus 3 and dark by full time!! More match reaction to follow Big Musa with a big hand <<caleyjags.com>> Pos Team Pld Gd Pts 1 Queen of the South 8 4 14 2 Alloa Athletic 8 3 14 3 Montrose 8 4 13 4 Kelty Hearts 8 5 12 5 Stenhousemuir 8 0 11 6 Inverness CT 8 0 9 7 Arbroath 8 -1 9 8 Cove Rangers 8 -3 8 9 Annan Athletic 8 -9 7 10 Dumbarton 8 -3 6 Date: 28/09/2024 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 1601 Referee: Peter Stuart Inverness CT: 0 Manager: Duncan Ferguson Lineup: Dibaga; W Duffy, Davidson, Devine, Savage, Longstaff, Gilmour, MacLeod (Allan 69), Nolan, MacKinnon, B Mckay (Brooks 68) Subs (not used): Newman; Strachan, Ferguson, Ewan, C Mackay, Thompson Scorers: none Booked: Devine (17), B Mckay (56) Sent Off: none Stenhousemuir: 0 Manager: Gary Naysmith Lineup: D Jamieson; Meechan, Buchanan, Bilham, Wedderburn (Alston 55), Berry, Ewen (Tomlinson 75), Aitken, Banner, Anderson, Yates (O'Reilly 88) Subs (not used): Trialist A (Hogarth), Trialist B (Cameron). Scorers: none Booked: Berry (45) Sent Off: none a

Warriors up for the Battle The second home League1 game in a row has Stenhousemuir visiting for the first time since 1998 when we won 2-1. Mike Teasdale scored both goals as we came from behind to win that relegation battle after Ian Little had opened the scoring early in the first half. It's a standard 3:00pm kick-off this Saturday afternoon apart from Cove v the Smokies which can be seen on BBC Alba at half past five. The revamped 94' Bar will be open at mid-day for both sets of fans with Supporters Trust members and helpers at your service and if you are free around 10:30am on Saturday morning, pop over and help with the tidy up around the Stadium. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket Info Livingston Date Ch Cup ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 3 3 0 0 11 3 +8 Away 5 3 1 1 10 5 +5 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 8 6 1 1 21 8 +13 Brian Thomson We have only met Stenhousemuir eight times in total, winning six and losing once, a 3-2 reverse at Ochilview in August 1997. Our top scorer of all time against Stenny is Brian Thomson who has scored seven times in all competitions including a hat-trick in a league cup encounter in 1997 at the Caledonian Stadium. Get yer boots on Brian, we need someone to put the ball in the net. Alas, Brian can't make it, he's washing his hair this weekend. Signed from Huntly - Position: Forward Previously with Fraserburgh, Motherwell, Peterhead & Arbroath Debut Played: 16 Dec 1995 - Last Game: 2 May 1998 Third Division Championship medal 1996/97; Joint top Second Division goalscorer 1997/98 (20 goals) Scored a barrowload, including the vital goal v Stenhousemuir which gained access to Rangers in the Scottish Cup in 1996 and he was a star in that quarter final at Tannadice as well. He made a stunning debut v Ross County in the Inverness Cup Final in December 1995. First Goal: January 13th, 1996 - Alloa Athletic 0 - 2 Caley Thistle (Div 3 "The first goal came in 30 minutes - a header by Brian Thomson after a cross from Richard Hastings) Born: June 19th, 1966 (Fraserburgh) Height: 1.83m Position: inside forward Signed: July 1st, 1995 Left Club: May 31st, 1998 Career Stats: 93 appearances, 34 goals Full Debut: December 16th, 1995 - Cowdenbeath 0 - 0 Inverness CT (League - ) First Goal: January 13th, 1996 - Alloa Athletic 0 - 2 Inverness CT (League - ) Also Played For: Arbroath, Buckie Thistle, Fraserburgh, Huntly, Motherwell, Peterhead Season so Far INVERNESS CT: D L D D W D 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. 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 at Recreation Park. Last time out we had a disappointing 1-1 draw at home against Cove Rangers who opened the scoring through Adam Emslie. James Nolan on loan from Manchester United's youth squad levelled the game before the hour with his first goal for the club. The optimist said it's only one defeat in seven games. The pessimist said FFS, we've only won one game out of seven. Billy Dodds said folk have been sacked for less... Stenhousemuir: W L L W W L D Having been promoted as Champions in season 23/24, the Warriors opened their account in League1 with a 2-1 home win over Arbroath but lost the following week at Kelty (2-0). Another loss followed at Alloa (1-0) before a 3-2 home win over Cove Rangers. The highlight of their season so far was a 5-1 thrashing of Annan Athletic at Ochilview. Bilham, Anderson and a Blair Alston hat-trick did the damage as Stenny took their chances whilst Annan only took one of their many opportunities. Montrose brought them back down to earth in the next League game with a 3-0 win at Links Park. Last week a no scoring home draw where Queen of the South dominated the game as Darren Jamieson earned the Warriors another vital point. They also knocked Falkirk out of the Challenge Cup on penalties after a 1-1 draw. Jamieson was again a standout for Stenhousemuir denying Falkirk half a dozen times. Blair Alston is their top scorer in the League with three goals followed by midfielder Michael Anderson on two. Former Hearts defender Gary Naysmith is the Warriors manager. It's difficult to assess the teams this early in the season with everyone capable of pulling off wins over all the other challengers.... except for us with our waltzing slowwww slowwww slowwww slowwww slowwww approach to the game which must be easy to set up against and our lack of penetration in the final third. Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Table ahead of this weekends game with Stenny two points above Inverness. 1. Alloa Athletic 7 3 4 0 8 5 13 2. Montrose 7 3 3 1 7 3 12 3. Q.O.S. 7 3 2 2 6 4 11 4. Stenhousemuir 7 3 1 3 10 10 10 5. Kelty Hearts 7 2 3 2 9 7 9 6. Inverness CT 7 1 5 1 6 6 8 7. Cove Rangers 7 2 2 3 10 11 8 8. Annan Athletic 7 2 1 4 6 12 7 9. Dumbarton 7 0 6 1 10 11 6 10. Arbroath 7 1 3 3 6 9 6 Saturday 28 September 2024 Inverness CT v Stenhousemuir Kelty Hearts v Annan Athletic Montrose v Alloa Athletic Queen Sth v Dumbarton (BBC Alba) Cove v Arbroath (17:30) Latest Team News Flynn Duffy, Lewis Nicolson and Ethan Cairns are still out and Keith Bray has not trained all week. We remain toothless up front with Billy in a withdrawn role and little other attacking options available. Striker for the weekend anyone? Here's Dunc talking about his young team, strikers (or lack of), grass, defence and goals; the hardest part of the game isn't it>>> <<<This was the Stenhousemuire starting XI that Gary Naysmith went with in the home draw against Queen of the South. Nat Wedderburn was a sixth minute sub for the Warriors as Kyle Jacobs went off injured. With six yellow cards last week, looks like the Warriors will be up for the battle. Last week was an open game with Queens more than matching their hosts who were thankful for keeper Jamieson pulling off a handful of great stops. Assistant manager Brown Ferguson bemoaned a number of injuries during this game and was pleased with the battling point against a full time team in QotS. Alston, Taylor, Steele, O'Reilly and Jacobs were all substituted against Queens. Maybe Alston for his own good having just been booked in the closing stages of the game. Ayr United midfielder Scott Tomlinson has recently signed on loan for the season at Ochilview.

Drab Draw Inverness hosted Cove Rangers and were without Flynn Duffy, Lewis Nicolson and Ethan Cairns. Paul Allan and former Cove players Luis Longstaff and Charlie Gilmour had returned to the squad with Gilmour and Longstaff starting. Cove had won their last two outings and put three past Kelty Hearts last weekend with Mitch Megginson always a threat up front. Adam Emslie tapped in at the back post to open the scoring after twenty minutes. Substitute James Nolan levelled five minutes after the restart following a corner. A replacement official was required to complete the game and even with fifteen minutes added on, there was no further scoring. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An overcast but calm afternoon greeted the players and a freshly painted bar area greeted the fans at the stadium. After a slow start, Adam Brooks was first to have a go, in fact a double go as his first effort was saved at the expense of a corner, the second fired over the bar. Cove opened the scoring after twenty-minutes following a quick break forward involving Marshall, Adam Emslie the scorer and Megginson after he missed the ball at the front post and Emslie had the simple task of tapping in at the far post. Brooks missed a great opportunity to level matters but headed over from close range at the near post. Scully shot over from the edge of the box five minutes before the break. It had been a poor first half for the hosts who trailed at the interval with Brooks the biggest sinner in front of goal. HALF TIME: 0-1 James Nolan came on at the restart and five minutes later he was scoring his first goal for the club after his initial shot was saved but his follow-up found the net. Keeper Suman was replaced by Demus when he went off injured minutes later. Duncan Ferguson appeared to pick up another yellow card after an angry exchange when Gilmour was booked. An injury to the referee prompted a tannoy call for a replacement from the crowd as the game was halted. One of the assistants took control of the game and a substitute linesman was sourced from the stand and duly appeared to run the line as assistant Will Pare took centre stage. On resumption, Emslie was denied a second goal by Dibaga. Megginson was blocked brilliantly by Calum MacLeod as he looked favourite to add a second for Cove as the game approached the ninety-minute mark. However, there was plenty time added on for the replacement of the referee and Jake Davidson fired wide deep into added time. 15 minutes of additional time came and went before Will Pare brought the game to a halt and the points were shared with opportunities at a premium. FULL TIME: 1-1 The only positive to take from today was Caley Jags fan Jamie Mackinnon stepping in to save the game being abandoned and running the line after the referee went off having made too many wrong decisions... Or maybe he was injured. Apparently the tannoy announcement was so successful the club will do the same at next weeks game with Stenhousemuir and will ask the fans if there is a manager in the stands willing to step in and do Dunc's job. There you go Jamie. This week running the line, next week running the club. The world is your lobster. <<<Jamie can be seen here jogging past Remi Savage after assuring him that the offside law has been cancelled. Well done you. <<image from Caley Jags.Com >> Pos Team Pld Gd Pts 1 Alloa Athletic 7 3 13 2 Montrose 7 4 12 3 Queen of the South 7 2 11 4 Stenhousemuir 7 0 10 5 Kelty Hearts 7 2 9 6 Inverness Caledonian Thistle 7 0 8 7 Cove Rangers 7 -1 8 8 Annan Athletic 7 -6 7 9 Dumbarton 7 -1 6 10 Arbroath 7 -3 6 Date: 21/09/2024 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 1505 Referee: Stewart Luke Inverness CT: 1 Manager: Duncan Ferguson Lineup: Dibaga; W Duffy (Nolan 46), Devine, Savage, Davidson, Longstaff, Gilmour, MacLeod (Allan 90), MacKinnon, B Mckay (Thompson 90), Brooks (Bray (82) Subs (not used): Newman; Strachan, Ferguson, Ewan, C Mackay Scorers: Nolan (51) Booked: Gilmour (60) Sent Off: none Cove Rangers: 1 Manager: Paul Hartley Lineup: Suman (Demus 55); Doyle, Gillingham, Darge, Parker, Harrington (McAllister 61), Scully, Yule, Megginson (Gaffney 90+6), Marshall, Emslie Subs (not used): Demus; Murray, McGrath Scorers: Emslie (21) Booked: Doyle (39), Darge (42), Yule (43), Marshall (85) Sent Off: none a

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.

Trust Trophy Triumph It's a couple of years since we edged past Stirling Albion in a Scottish Cup tie at the Caledonian Stadium and they were back today for a Challenge Cup 3rd Round tie against a Caley Jags club in crisis and ravaged by injury. Wallace Duffy was fit enough to start as did our two recent loan signings of James Nolan and Connall Ewan. In a first half dominated by the hosts, Adam Brooks scored twice to give the Caley Jags a comfortable lead at the interval. After the break Adam Mackinnon added a third after an hour with another deflected effort to kill the tie as Inverness cruised into the fourth round. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Reslpendent in our new away kit, Billy Mckay was first to make a keeper work when Derek Gaston saved his low effort. Inverness had a goal disallowed for offside before Adam Brooks backheeled to Mckay, but his shot from the edge of the box missed the target. Inverness had been knocking on the door in the opening stages and it was no surprise when Adam Brooks opened the scoring on the half hour after being fed through by Adam MacKinnon to slot behind the keeper. Musa Dibaga took a knock soon after but was able to continue after treatment as our medical staff held their breath. When Brooks was brought down thirty-yards out some ten minutes before the break he took the kick himself and with the aid of a deflection the ball nestled behind Gaston for his second of the afternoon. HALF TIME: 2-0 Lewis Milne replaced Aaron Weir at the break for the visitors. However, it was the hosts that added to their lead through Adam Mackinnon with deflection now topping the assist list after James Nolan's shot had been brilliantly blocked by Gaston. After a spate of substitutions the game became a bit more disjointed and Ally Roy brought a save out of Dibaga ten minutes from the end before shooting over moments later. Brooks failed to get his hat-trick as Gaston saved in the final minute and that was it for the first outing of the 30th Anniversary shirt. FULL TIME 3-0 With Duncan Ferguson red carded last week, Gary Bollan was in charge against the Bino's and a 3-0 win is a good way to hand the team back. Great for Brooks to grab a couple but my MotM was Adam MacKinnon who set up the first and scored the third goal. His general play between the boxes was one of our main driving forces and he capped it with the shot for his goal. Date: 07/09/2024 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 0000 Referee: Ryan Lee Inverness CT: 3 Manager: Gary Bollan Lineup: Dibaga; W Duffy, Devine (Strachan 63), Savage, Ewan, Nolan (Thompson 61), Davidson (Keogh 74), MacLeod, MacKinnon (Ferguson 73), Brooks, B Mckay (C Mackay 61) Subs (not used): Rebilas; Corner Scorers: Brooks (29, 38), MacKinnon (60) Booked: none Sent Off: none Stirling Albion: 0 Manager: Alan Maybury Lineup: Gaston; McGeachie, Kerr, Davidson (Knox 66), Sula, Roy, Brown, McKinley, Weir (Milne 46), Waugh (Howe 80), Crane (Dall 66) Subs (not used): McTavish; Featherstone Scorers: none Booked: Sula (41), Roy (64), Waugh (69) Sent Off: none a

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.

First win for the Caley Jags Another controversial week in the life and death of the Caley Jags culminated in a home fixture against Queen of the South at the Caledonian Stadium. A couple of new faces were acquired prior to kick-off with four faces missing, Newman, Longstaff, Bray and Cairns. In came Connall Ewan and James Nolan. Kai Kennedy was in the Doonhamers squad. A first half goal from Billy Mckay in a turgid encounter was enough to secure all three points. A bit of pinball around the visitors goal ended with Billy scoring from close range. Referee Gavin Duncan was the focal point of many a strange decision as he ignored two big penalty claims for the hosts, and a brilliant goalline clearance from an Adam Brooks effort kept Queens in with a chance. Despite a late flurry from Queens we held on for our first win of the League 1 campaign. The downside of these industrial challenges today was that both Duffy's left the field injured, Flynn on a stretcher. Duncan Ferguson was also redcarded for continuallly questioning the referee's decisions. One in particular when Brooks was booked for simulation instead of being awarded a penalty. Baffling incompetence from the ref! On the plus side, the pitch looked in fantastic condition. Full Time: 1-0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The points were more important than the performance. However, it was encouraging to kick-start our season today and put us only three points off the pace in the table. Billy Mckay beavered away on scraps and got his reward in the first half and Brooks was unfortunate a couple of times. Musa Dibaga did not have too much to deal with, but he seemed to read situations well and took the pressure off the defence with some good catches under pressure, especially when Queens were hurling massive throw-ins into our penalty box in the final quarter of the game. Devine and Savage were solid in the heart of the defence but it was disappointing to lose both full backs to injury. Todays scores on the doors in League 1 Team Pld Gd Pts 1 Kelty Hearts 5 5 9 2 Stenhousemuir 5 3 9 3 Alloa Athletic 5 2 9 4 Queen of the South 5 1 7 5 Inverness CT 5 0 6 6 Montrose 5 0 6 7 Annan Athletic 5 -4 6 8 Dumbarton 5 0 5 9 Cove Rangers 5 -3 4 10 Arbroath 5 -4 3 Date: 31/08/2024 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 1703 Referee: Gavin Duncan Inverness CT: 1 Manager: Duncan Ferguson Lineup: Dibaga; W Duffy (Nolan 67), Devine, Savage, F Duffy (Ewan 75), Davidson, Gilmour, Allan (MacLeod 46), A MacKinnon, B Mckay, Brooks (C Mackay 79) Subs (not used): Rebilas; Strachan, Thompson, Ferguson, Keogh Scorers: B Mckay (19) Booked: Brooks (48), Devine (63) Sent Off: none Queen of the South: 0 Manager: Peter Murphy Lineup: Stewart; Hewit (Johnston3 43), MacIntyre, Hannah, Douglas, Lyon, Dickenson, Kennedy (Doherty 85), Luissint (Walker 58), McKechnie, McIntosh. Subs (not used): Hogarth; Willis, Church, Rogerson, McLinden, Ross Scorers: none Booked: McKechnie (19), Johnstone (70) Sent Off: none a

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

New Start Same Problems The first game after the olde CEO was prized from his oligarchy bubble saw a decent crowd turn out in appreciation of the efforts of Alan Savage to right the wrongs. It won't happen overnight, but the first steps have been taken to put some life back into the ailing Caley Jags. On the park, Musa Dibaga replaced the injured Jack Newman in goal with emergency loan keeper from Clach Martin MacKinnon on the bench. Keith Bray kept his place with Adam Brooks on the bench. Montrose were the visitors and they are a more settled side although Michael Gardyne was suspended with former Inverness youth player Matheus Machado starting. Both teams were looking for their first win of the League campaign. Kane Hester scored after twenty minutes but on the interval Montrose were reduced to ten men when Sean Dillon was sent off. After the break it was one way traffic against the ten men and no surprise when Adam MacKinnon equalised. However the winning goal eluded us and it was a point apiece. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It was an overcast, breezy and somewhat chilly afternoon with an Autumnal feel about it as the teams emerged from the tunnel, Inverness in their new strip, the visitors in white tops with black shorts. Prior to kick off Captain Billy Mckay was presented with a wee memento on reaching 300 appearances for the Caley Jags, not to mention his 112 goals for the club. The first action saw Keith Bray's shot deflected at the expense of a corner when he spun on the edge of the box and tried to get his shot away in the seventh minute. Twenty minutes in and what a finish for the opening goal. Former Elgin player Kane Hester opened the scoring with a tremendous strike into the top corner from a tight angle after his miscontrol seemed to deceive Danny Devine to give the visitors the early advantage. Machado was booked a minute later. Billy Mckay came close to levelling the scores after half an hour when Cammy Gill turned his shot across the keeper onto the post with his fingertips. It was a half littered with fouls and Luis Longstaff shot over ten minutes before the break. Sean Dillon headed over at the other end before he received a second yellow card for a late challenge on Billy Mckay. How dare he on his 300th appearance! That was on the interval to leave the visitors to face the second half a man short but a goal to the good. HALF TIME: 0-1 Mathew Strachan replaced Flynn Duffy at the start of the second half and Gill denied Longstaff shortly after. The other Duffy was hooked for Callum MacLeod ten minutes into the half and Mckay was again foiled by Gill as he shot from inside the box. It was turning into a procession towards Cammy Gill and Longstaff and Gilmour had a go before Adam Mackinnon equalised just after the hour, drilling home from outside the box. He almost scored a second momnents later. Mckay would not find that elusive strike as Gill saved again and Gilmour was blocked before Davidson should have done better at the back post. MacKinnon had another couple of attempts ten minutes from the end and Mckay was denied for the 300th time by the keeper in the top corner. We plugged away until the end but try as we did, the winning goal eluded us and it ended all square. FULL TIME: 1-1 A disappointing result but we did create enough chances to win three games. However, as has been our downfall over the last few seasons, we struggle to get the ball in the net. Great for Adam MacKinnon to get his first goal, and with a bit of fortune he could have scored another couple. Overall the concensus of opinion is that it is a bit of improvement on recent dire performances but we still have a long way to go. Let's not forget we played against 10 men for the whole of the second half. Doofers Dad summarised neatly: Of course it is very disappointing to not to beat a 10 man part time team at home, but I felt there were a lot of positives yesterday. We laid siege to their goal for lengthy periods in the second half and created more chances than we have for a long time. It got the crowd going and was quite exciting to watch. (Dunc, please take note.). A mixture of very narrow misses and weak efforts meant we couldn't find the winner but it could just have easily have been a victory by 3 or 4 goals. How that would have changed the mood! Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Table after today's draw with Montrose 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 If you can make out what is being said, you are better than me... Sort this out, the wind did the same last time. Can just about make it out in the interview, but it sounds like keeper Jack Newman has gone back to Tannadice for treatment. Sounds like he could be out for some time. Date: 17/08/2024 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 1902 Referee: Alastair Grieve Inverness CT: 1 Manager: Duncan Ferguson Lineup: Dibaga; W Duffy (MacLeod 55), Davidson (Thompson 86), Devine, Savage, F Duffy (Strachan 46), Bray, Gilmour, A MacKinnon, Longstaff (Brooks 77), B Mackay (Ferguson 86) Subs (not used): M MacKinnon; Walker, Keogh, C Mackay Scorers: A MacKinnon (63) Booked: F Duffy (40), Gilmour (45) Sent Off: none Montrose FC: 1 Manager: Stewart Petrie Lineup: Gill; Williamson, Quinn, Masson (McKenzie 59), Steeves, Hester (Maciver- Redwood 70), Dillon, Lyons (Trialist 70), Hannah (Shrive 58), Brown, Machado (Smith 77) Subs (not used): Mathews; Scorers: Hester (20) Booked: Machado (22), Dillon (34 & 45+1), Masson (38), Steeves (72), Smith (87) Sent Off: Dillon (45+1) a

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.

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.

Howden Enders Farewell With the sad passing of the Immortal Howden Ender, the outcome of this game was immaterial. Johndo had travelled all over Britain to watch his beloved club and also into Europe when we went to Astra Giurgiu of Romania. Sadly, this morning he passed away suddenly and everyone at CTO passes on our our deepest condolences to his family friends and extended family at this saddest of times. He did witness Inverness lift the Scottish Cup and was looking forward to the club getting back on track after the financial woes. Sadly, he will never know, but his legacy will live longer than those at the helm just now. Johndo was Captain of the HMS Sneck a vessel he guided through stormy waters and the doldrums. It just won't be the same without you and your Smileymometer after the games, or your pre-season five-a-side tournaments RIP Legend! Arbroath won the bonus point after winning the penalty shoot-out following a goalless 90 minutes, but that was of secondary importance tonight. This was Johndo casually lying on the goal line after we won promotion by beating St Johnston 3-1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A couple of early corners came to nothing for the visitors in the first two minutes, and in an even start to the game, both keepers were called into action over opening twenty minutes, Newman saving from Innes Murray and McAdams denying Calum Mackay. Ryan Dow passed up a good opportunity after half an hour but he shot narrowly wide of the home goal frame. Jack Walker was stretchered off with a nasty head injury after a lengthy stoppage before the interval and he was replaced by Charlie Gilmour. On the resumption of play, Shae Keogh had an effort saved by McAdams in the visitors goal but it remained goalless at the interval. HALF TIME: 0-0 Billy Mckay, Luis Longstaff and Ben Corner came on after the break but it was Arbroath who started the second half with intent. Newman saved from Mark Stowe and Tam O'Brien headed close to the post following a corner. David Gold was crocked with twenty minutes left and he was unable to continue ten minutes later leaving the visitors down to ten men for the final fifteen. Jake Davidson tried his luck but shot wide with the clock ticking down and Billy Mckay shot over with two minutes of normal time left. FULL TIME: 0-0 Penalty Shoot-Out for the bonus point goes to the visitors 3-5 with a full house. Arbroath: Murray Callachan Stowe Wilkie Bisland 5 Inverness CT: B Mckay Longstaff Savage Gilmour 3 Date: 23/07/2020 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 0794 Referee: Stewart Luke Inverness CT: 0 (3 pens) Manager: Duncan Ferguson Lineup: Newman; Bray, Davidson, Walker (Gilmour 42), Savage, Strachan, C Mackay (Longstaff 46), MacLeod, Keogh (B Mckay 46), Thompson (Ferguson 71), Brooks (Corner 46) Subs (not used): Rebilas; Nixon Scorers: none Booked: none Sent Off: none Arbroath: 0 (5 pens) Manager: Jim McIntyre Lineup: McAdams; Steele, Wilkie, O'Brien (Walker 60), Bisland, Slater, Gold, Callachan, Dow (Stowe 45+6), Murray, Spalding Subs (not used): Hemfrey (gk) Scorers: none Booked: Stowe (90+1) Sent Off: none a

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.