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Dunc get's off to a flier Dunc's reign of apprehension got off to a promising start at Gayfield as Inverness opened the scoring in the tenth minute through Luis Longstaff who scrambled the ball into the net after a Nikola Ujdur header was not dealt with by keeper Gaston. Longstaff then turned provider as Aaron Doran turned his driven cross into the net after half an hour. Other chances came and went: Nathan Shaw not catching his shot plumb from the edge of the box making it comfortable for Gaston to flop on the ball and save and Billy Mckay not making the most of a great break forward, his low shot a bit of a dolly for the keeper to block. HALF TIME 0-2 Billy Mckay added a third just after the interval lobbing Gaston perfectly with an assist from his own keeper Mark Ridgers. At 3-0 Shaw again might have done better when one on one with Gaston but he chose the wrong option and took himself too wide and the chance was gone. Arbroath came back into it with strikes from Ross Stewart and Michael McKenna to set up a grandstand finish. Stewart's goal was as massive a fluke as you will see. Ujdur attempted to thunder the ball clear on the edge of his own box. Unfortunately Stewart anticipated this and turned his back on the defender expecting him and ball to go flying forward. Alas it looks like it cannoned off his arse and it floated over the despairing flail of Mark Ridgers and into the net. Unbelievable, you couldn't write it, however, I just did. McKenna's goal favoured the hosts as it bobbled off a couple of bodies before he despatched it behind Ridgers off his near post with a tidy finish. With much biting of fingernails, Dunc got off to a winning start after a lengthy period of time added on and that means that we are no longer bottom of the table (just). Phew! FULL TIME: 2-3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ferguson was without the services of Roddy MacGregor, Lewis Nicolson, Sean Welsh, Wallace Duffy and Danny Devine. Nikola Ujdur made his debut last week and looks like a solid unit and both he and Aaron Doran started. Ricky Little returned after suspension for Arbroath with Jay Bird relegating Dünnwald-Turan to the bench. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ More match reaction to follow>>> The fans were looking forward to this one with a mixture of fear, trepidation, apprehension, pessimism, optimism and excitement in equal proportions. Dunc has certainly got the fans talking again and there's a feelgood factor lurking just round the corner. Rome wasn't built in a day, however Ferguson was not the foreman. Time will tell if this will be a successful appointment, but he has the full backing of the fans at the moment. Arbroath were off the back of a four game winning run. We were on downward spiral since the start of the season, the reason why Dunc is here now. As it happened, we escaped with all three points... Speaking to BBC Sport, Inverness CT manager Duncan Ferguson: "I thought my players were magnificent, we really should have had a lot more goals on the counter attack. "To a man, the players put their bodies on their line for the club. They gave 100% effort and showed a lot of resilience, we just need to be a bit braver on the ball. "To deliver a win for the fans, it was a great moment for myself and the team." From CTO: Great to get the win but that was hard work to watch in the second half. From cruising at 3-0 to hanging on for dear life and looking like we might easily lose in the space of a few minutes, we still look fragile. Well done to the boys for steadying a bit towards the end and hanging on. And top marks to big Dunc for coming over to the fans and showing his delight at the end Full Highlights Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts Off the bottom at last 1. Dundee Utd 7 5 2 0 16 3 17 2. Raith Rovers 7 5 1 1 12 8 16 3. Partick Thistle 7 4 1 2 17 9 13 4. Arbroath 8 4 0 4 15 11 12 5. Airdrieonians 7 4 0 3 7 10 12 6. Dunfermline 7 3 2 2 9 8 11 7. Queens Park 8 3 0 5 11 19 9 8. Ayr United 7 2 0 5 9 16 6 9. Inverness CT 7 1 1 5 6 10 4 10. Morton 7 1 1 5 8 16 4 Date: 30/09/2023 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 1723 Referee: Don Robertson Arbroath: 2 Manager: Dick Campbell Lineup: Gaston; Steele, Little, O'Brien, Stewart, Dow (Stowe 63), Slater (Balde 70), McKenna, Gold, Hylton (Dünnwald-Turan 85), Bird (Mcintosh 63) Subs (not used): Adams; Lyon, Norey, Jacobs Scorers: Stewart (69), McKenna (79) Booked: Slater (47) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 3 Manager: Duncan Ferguson Lineup: Ridgers; Carson, Ujdur, Boyes, Harper, Longstaff (Davidson 75), Gilmour, Anderson, Doran (Samuels 55), Shaw, B Mckay (Delaney 64) Subs (not used): C Mackay; Hyde, Thompson, Bray, Brooks, Lodovica Scorers: Longstaff (10), Doran (31), B Mckay (48) Booked: Gilmour (88) Sent Off: none

Dawn of a New Era Big Dunc takes charge of his first game at Inverness with a visit to Gayfield to take on Dick Campbell's Arbroath. Kick-off is at 3:00 on Saturday with Inverness looking for a change in fortunes after a disasterous run of games saw Billy Dodds sacked after the defeat to Dundee United, with just one point from six League games and out of the League Cup and Challenge Cup. Success won't happen overnight and the Caley Jags fans might have to wait a bit for a turnaround in results, but it won't be for a lack of passion or enthusiasm for the game. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Duncan Ferguson Match/Ticket Info Supporters Bus £20 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 24 17 4 3 59 19 +40 Away 23 10 6 7 32 27 +5 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 47 27 10 10 91 46 +45 We hold a big advantage over Arbroath in the H2H's but it's tighter in the away fixture. Last 10 Competitive Meetings 2 - 4 (A) 2 - 0 (H) 4 - 1 (A) 1 - 1 (H) 0 - 0 (A) 0 - 0 (A) 0 - 0 (H) 3 - 0 (H) 0 - 0 (A) 0 - 1 (H) In our last Championship game at Arbroath - Smokies Smoked 4 - 1: Both clubs had big wins in the first games of 2023 and it was Inverness that continued in style with a 4-1 win at Gayfield. Billy Mckay, who scored a hat-trick last week, opened the scoring at the back post in the ninth minute but Ben El-Mhanni levelled fifteen minutes later when he slotted into the bottom corner. Jay Henderson put us ahead just before the break as he lifted a shot high into the net from inside the box. Twenty minutes into the second half Dan Mackay shot into the bottom corner to double our advantage. Substitute Lewis Nicolson concluded the scoring in the 86th minute with a header from sub Steven Boyd's cross. Great win on the road for the Caley Jags that moves us into sixth place in the table, eleven points behind table toppers Queens Park. Great start to 2023 for the Caley Jags with two big wins on the bounce. Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts 1. Dundee Utd 6 4 2 0 12 2 14 2. Raith Rovers 6 4 1 1 10 7 13 3. Arbroath 7 4 0 3 13 8 12 4. Dunfermline 6 3 2 1 9 5 11 5. Partick Thistle 6 3 1 2 14 9 10 6. Airdrieonians 6 3 0 3 6 10 9 7. Queens Park 7 3 0 4 10 15 9 8. Ayr United 6 2 0 4 8 14 6 9. Morton 6 1 1 4 8 15 4 10. Inverness CT 6 0 1 5 3 8 1 Saturday 30th September Arbroath v Inverness CT Ayr United v Raith Rovers Dundee Utd v Queen's Park Morton v Airdrie Partick Thistle v Dunfermline Current Form Inverness start a new era tomorrow after a winless start to their Championshp campaign. However, it's a clean slate with Big Dunc at the helm although he will still have the same tools to work with. Roddy MacGregor, Lewis Nicolson, and Sean Welsh have missed out over the last month and Danny Devine and Wallace Duffy were added to the injury list last time out. We did field a Caley Jags XI in the North of Scotland cup win over Rothes with Keith Bray getting the only goal of the game.`That side was a mix of youth and fringe players with three or four first team choices making up the side. Difficult to know what players Ferguson will be looking to, but I doubt it will be a massive shift from the Dodds era this early in his role. Caley Jags so far: L L L D L L Arbroath have got their act together after a poor start to their Championship. Three straight losses have been replaced by three straight wins. Their last game was an emphatic 3-0 win at Firhill. Jermaine Hylton scored either side of a strike from Thomas O'Brien to pull them up to third in the table. Smokies so far: L L L W W W W Latest Team News: Dick Campbell had this team out against Partick Thistle: Gaston Norey Steele O'Brien (Stowe 90) Stewart Slater (Jacobs 88) Gold Dow (Candé Baldé 84) McKenna Hylton (McIntosh 84) Dünnwald-Turan (Bird 45) Adams; Lyon