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  1. Merry Xmas Danny Devine was fit enough to start and Jake Davidson again replaced the injured Wallace Duffy at right back. Otherwise no surprises in the Inverness starting XI or bench. As per normal, Brian Graham will present our defence with a robust challenge with Fitzpatrick and McInroy able and willing elfs. 205 visiting fans were on hand to check out this one and at the end of the day Status Quo was maintaned as all five games ended level this weekend. Max Anderson and Jack McMillan were the scorers today. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ooooooft, having got the match underway, it was an early start for the visitors who caught Partick cold as Max Anderson's weak effort found the net after an assist from Billy Mckay, long before all the bums had landed in their seats. 22 seconds apparently! The fast start continued in the third minute as Cammy Harper shot over from the left side. Alas, Jack McMillan squared the game after quarter of an hour scoring from close range. Fitzpatrick shot wide after twenty minutes and Ridgers was then brought into action to stop a long range low effort from Ben Stanway. Ten minutes before the break Wotherspoon bounced a shot just wide from the edge of the box as we ventured forth. A free kick in a promising position for the hosts ended when Graham shot over from just outside the box. Charlie Gilmour had the final effort of the half in stoppage time but it was well wide of the target. Partick with the bulk of the play but it remained all square at the interval. A late goal for Arbroath on half time meant that Inverness had gone from 8th to 5th to 9th over the course of the first forty-five. Meh! HALF TIME: 1-1 The hosts set the ball in motion for the second half and they were quick to avoid a repeat of the first minutes of the match as they went straight onto the front foot winning a couple of early corners before Aderson went close to his second of the game as the visitors wenr up the park. Devine did well to deny McMillan his second as he cleared his effort away from goal and Ujdur was booked for fouling Milne moments later. Partick were first with the changes after the hour. Ujdur took a knock but was able to continue and almost got on the end of the ball during a melee following a corner with fifteen minutes remaining. More corners followed but nothing doing before Longstaff saw his shot blocked five minutes before the end. Harper went down in the box but big appeals for a penalty went unanswered. It ended with a point apiece at a difficult venue. FULL TIME: 1-1 A good point at a difficult venue and one which keeps us in eighth place after a late goal for Dunfermline scuppered the Smokies. After the last two defeats, this was a welcome performance and point for the 205 hardy souls who braved the weather to keep away from the Xmas shopping. Have a great Christmas. From BBC Sports Partick Thistle manager Kris Doolan: "Inverness are a good team and a point is probably fair. It was such a freak goal to give away but the way we react is key. We get on the front foot and Jack McMillan scores a fantastic goal." Inverness CT manager Duncan Ferguson: "We couldn't have started any better. We created chances and could've had a couple of goals. "Everyone could see our attacking play which is lovely to watch, and on another day we could've had a penalty - we're not getting any 50-50 decisions at all. But we're really happy." Mantis saw it like this: That turned out to be a valuable point thanks to the Pars late equaliser. Both sets of players deserve nothing but praise considering the awful conditions. We totally dominated the opening 15 minutes and had a couple of half chances to double the lead which appeared to deflect off a defender and trundle in. Partick scored with their first attack of the game and it was a case of tragic failure to clear the ball. Never would have happened with Robbie Deas in there. We’re playing with 3 centre backs and nobody seems to know what their job is. We went to pieces after that and Partick murdered us for the rest of the half. Going by previous visits to Firhill we feared the worst for the second half but it never materialised. We really dominated the last half hour and had very few clear cut chances but it was like the Alamo with Partick defending scrambles in their six yard box and we must have had about 8 corners. However we’re still trying to walk it into the net with nobody trying to take a risk. Graham was substituted having had very little influence for once. So was Billy, for Longstaff, and he must have been frustrated trying to pull down long balls from Ridgers all day with big Muirhead breathing down his neck. Two shockers from Grainger the ref. He booked Ujdur for a clash of heads where the Partick player came off worst, and he missed a stonewall penalty when Cammy was hauled down late on. A draw away at Partick is not to be sniffed at against a team that has 29 points and a decent squad with Milne, Graham, Lawless and Alston. Date: 23/12/2023 Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 3326 Referee: Graham Grainger Partick Thistle: 1 Manager: Kris Doolan Lineup: Sneddon; McMillan, Muirhead, Neilson, Milne, Stanway (Robinson 62), McInroy (MacKenzie 82), Lawless, Alston (Bannigan 62), Fitzpatrick, Graham (Adeloye 82) Subs (not used): Mitchell; Williams, Williamson, Lyon, Diack, Scorers: McMillan (15) Booked: none Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 1 Manager: Duncan Ferguson Lineup: Ridgers; Davidson, Ujdur, Devine, Boyes, Shaw, Gilmour, Anderson, Harper, Wotherspoon (Sheridan 90), B Mckay (Longstaff 75) Subs (not used): C Mackay; Delaney, Bray, Thompson, Welsh, Brooks Scorers: Anderson (22 secs) Booked: Devine (43), Ujdur (57), Gilmour (88) Sent Off: none a
  2. Firhill for Chills It's not a TV spectacular for us on Friday night as we venture down to the big smoke after the freeze to take on Partick Thistle at Firhill. All Championship games this week are to be played on Friday evening at 7:45pm with our game at Firhill your preferred Xmas viewing if you stream it from Partick TV, or maybe not given our TV horror earlier in the season when Partick romped home 4-1. We had last weekend off after New Douglas park was deemed unplayable whilst Partick beat Ayr 3-2 to re-ignite their failing season. Partick are fifth on 27 points and we slipped to seventh on 23 points with Raith jumping above us after drawing with Arbroath. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Supporters Bus Info Partick TV Carnihan & Nicolson Half season tickets on sale now MD CCST Orth MFSEM FRCS ICTFC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue Head 2 Head Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 24 11 6 7 38 33 +5 Away 23 6 6 11 24 34 -10 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 47 17 12 18 62 67 -5 Home advantage historically denotes the winner in these fixtures and we tend to find Firhill a difficult place to pick up wins with only six in twenty-three attempts. Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Partick Thistle 1 - 0 (H) 1 - 4 (A) 1 - 0 (H) 2 - 1 (A) 0 - 1 (A) 3 - 3 (H) 0 - 0 (A) 3 - 1 (H) 1 - 3 (A) 1 - 3 (H) Here's our overview from our last visit to Firhill Firhill Flops: 1 - 4 A Brian Graham double gave Partick a first half lead. For the first the defenders got the wrong side of him, the second a gift from the Inverness defence with a loose pass across the box. It was a lacklustre performance from the visitors in the first forty-five with Billy Mckay having the best effort after an Aaron Dorran lay off, but David Mitchell was equal to the shot to deny the striker from twelve yards. We almost gifted a third early in the second half with a short header back, but Ridgers stood tall to deny Graham his hat-trick. A third did come from the spot after Carson was alleged to have brought down his man. Kevin Holt kept his cool to slot home. Anton Dowds bulleted a header home with five minutes left to add to our miserable night. George Oakley powerfully headed a consolation in time added on, but that won't detract from the rubbish on show tonight. Embarrassing night for the Caley Jags, and on national TV too! Current form over the last six games Partick beat League leaders Ayr 3-2 last Saturday Overall Home Away Pos Team Pld W D L F A W D L F A W D L F A +/- Pts 1. Dundee 6 4 2 0 9 4 2 1 0 3 0 2 1 0 6 4 +5 14 2. Queens Park 6 4 1 1 17 7 2 1 0 8 3 2 0 1 9 4 +10 13 3. Morton 6 3 3 0 10 4 2 0 0 6 1 1 3 0 4 3 +6 12 4. Ayr United 6 3 2 1 12 8 1 1 0 3 1 2 1 1 9 7 +4 11 5. Cove Rangers 6 1 4 1 11 10 1 1 1 4 3 0 3 0 7 7 +1 7 6. Partick Thistle 6 2 1 3 10 11 2 0 1 8 5 0 1 2 2 6 -1 7 7. Raith Rovers 6 2 1 3 9 11 2 1 1 9 7 0 0 2 0 4 -2 7 8. Arbroath 6 0 4 2 4 9 0 2 1 2 4 0 2 1 2 5 -5 4 9. Inverness CT 6 0 3 3 5 11 0 3 1 4 5 0 0 2 1 6 -6 3 10. Hamilton Ac. 6 0 1 5 7 16 0 1 1 6 7 0 0 4 1 9 -9 1 All games FRIDAY 23RD DECEMBER 7:45pm Arbroath v Queen's Ayr Utd v Dundee Cove R v Accies Rovers v Morton Partick Th v Inverness CT We did beat Partick last time out at the Caledonian Stadium on 7th October He scores when he wants: 1 - 0 A first half where defences were on top offered little opportunity for either side to create the clear cut chance required until the half hour when Robbie Deas pounced on a loose clearance within the box. His header was bundled away from goal a yard from the line by two defenders with Mitchell floundering. A couple of minutes later and Mitchell was called into action to scramble the ball away low down at his post from a Duffy header. Billy Mckay clipped one over the bar after a tremendous turn and run by Daniel Mackay. Kyle Turner was red carded for what appeared to be a slightly high tackle on Roddy MacGregor and Inverness ended the half knocking on the Partick door. Cammy Harper brought out a super save from Mitchell with 65 minutes gone, diving high to his top left corner. Ten minutes later Billy Mckay opened the scoring with his fifth goal of the season, drilling home from twelve yards after good work by MotM Dan Mackay. Kevin Holt came close to an unlikely equaliser with a low shot across the face of the goal ten minutes from the end, but Partick rarely threatened. Oakley had an effort kept out on the line acrobatically by Holt as Inverness looked to close out the game. However, Inverness saw out the game to go joint top of the table after their fourth win in a row. That'll do nicely. That win put us joint top. A couple of weeks later it all went tits up and we now have no wins in our last 7 League games. Latest Team News We have had an extra week to get more bodies back, but given the seriousness of most of our injuries the extra time off is like a drop in the ocean. The Ridgers rift saw Mark playing with the youngsters at Accies a couple of weeks ago. Our last meaningful game was on the 3rd of December when we went down at home to Dundee 0 - 1. Bily Mckay and Sean Welsh missed that one but I would imagine they might be available for this one. If not, why not! This isn't the team lines for the Dundee game, it's just the players that were unavailable: Ridgers, Deas, Delaney, Welsh, Allardice, MacGregor, Walsh, Sutherland, Mckay, Samuels. There may be others, the list is inexhaustible. Off the Park: Panos Thomas: MD, CCST Orth, MFSEM, FRCS as a Director of ICTFC. It's not an anagram, it's our new director. Eck's Partick peek: Reveals nothing new happening at Firhill. They did beat Ayr last week with goals from Milne, Graham and Lawless in an entertaining five goal encounter. Harry Milne beginning to attract a bit of attention. Of course Brian Graham likes a goal against the Caley Jags. As normal, Partick will have a full bench to pick from with the likes of Dowds, Holt and Mullen starting on the bench last week. Off the Park: BBC Sport 14th December: Former Glasgow Rocks owner Duncan Smillie has been confirmed as strife-torn Partick Thistle's new chairman. Chair Jacqui Low and six directors resigned last week after recent fan protests followed the Partick Thistle FC Trust becoming majority shareholder. Smillie was the only director not to resign and has become interim chair until the end of the season. Not just us that are in some turmoil then!
  3. Xmas Grinch's Inverness went to Glasgow for their pre-Xmas fare looking for three points for their Xmas stocking. In the end we were stuffed like Turkeys and got our chestnuts roasted. We looked like Turkeys in the first half as Partick knocked in two simple goals through Brian Graham and Kyle Turner. Meanwhile Inverness were at sixes and sevens as they tried to stem the flow without success whilst failing to make an attacking contribution to the game. After the interval McKinnon and Muirhead added early goals like the Grinch to completely ruin Xmas for the Highland folk. Doran nicked a consolation but Mullen added a fifth immediately. To add insult to injury, Duffy was red carded, probably too embarrassed to wait until the end. A few more should have walked with him. Embarrassing stuff from Inverness. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Billy Dodds was still without a squad of injured players as we went to Firhill on the Friday before Xmas hoping for a wee present from the West End. Sean Welsh, Zak Delaney and Billy Mckay returned after injury but Danny Devine, Cammy Harper and Nathan Shaw were now missing and only five on the bench including Mark Ridgers who is still on the naughty boy step. Sounds like plenty of work for our new director, alphabet man, to contend with. For Partick, Scott Tiffoney has been out for a couple of months and has been missed as Partick floundered. Still, a strong squad with a full bench for the Maryhill Magyars. Inverness were in their red'nblack away strip for this one as Partick kicked off in a mostly yellow kit. There appeared to be a false dawn following good pressing by the visitors in the opening exchanges but it was Partick that forced the first corner where Brian Graham snatched at his opportunity and hit it wide into the side net at the back post. That was just a warning. Who else but Brian Graham tapped in the opener after an Aiden Fitzpatrick cross picked him out inside the six yard box. All too easy for the big striker. Almost a second from a similar break down the left five minutes later but the defence scrambled it clear. It had been all Partick since the opening five minutes as Inverness failed miserably to build anything whatsoever, totally devoid of any attacking intent. As if by magic, Dan Mackay managed to get a cross into the middle where Billy Mckay spun but his shot from the edge of the box was weak and easily gathered by Sneddon. Dan Mackay was looking our man most likely to succeed with the limited time he was having on the ball, but his moments were fleeting to say the least. The replica second goal came from Kyle Turner after a tremendous diagonal ball from Lawless found Harry Milne whose low cross was turned into the net by Turner five minutes before the interval. HALF TIME: 2-0 Aaron Doran came on at the interval replacing the ineffective Steven Boyd. Mind you, they were all ineffective, or maybe just defective. Max Ram continued where he left off in the first half, in fact he went one better picking out absolutely nobody for a throw in to Partick out of nothing. Men against boys as Partick scored a third after Graham unselfishly knocked down a ball for Cole McKinnon to drill home from fifteen yards. FFS, a fourth followed minutes later after a corner was met early by Muirhead at the near post and planted firmly behind the keeper to surely loosen the shoogly peg holding Dodds' coat. We have been an absolute shambles for seventy minutes here and it will get worse. We got a consolation goal from Aaron Doran but that just angered Partick who went up the park and scored a fifth goal through Danny Mullen moments later. Wallace Duffy saw red when he tugged back a player bursting forward. Just what we needed on top of all our injuries. To be honest it could have been more as we failed to participate in the game. A late goalline clearance denied Partick number six as the game petered out. As it was, that was our heaviest defeat by Partick Thistle who didn't need to be anything other than competent. FULL TIME: 5-1 Match Reaction from Alsy: ICTFC playing like a team assembled from random characters found in the car park 20 minutes before kick off. What’s going on here? From CTO: 5-1 is embarrassing, and now down to 10 men. Something is beyond wrong. It can’t all be blamed on injury and bad luck, surely it is managements job to manage and motivate ???? That’s what’s lacking Here's a cutting assessment from the Immortal Howden Ender Any match report simply has to focus on the 109 supporters who had to suffer this total embarrassment. Even if 10-20% left before the final whistle which in itself is a rarity and basically sums the whole night up. I did stay until the final whistle just to ensure that I had witnessed the worst ICT performance ever. I usually include comments on the tactics and the formation but I couldn’t suss out who was playing where and what their roles were. The main one to confuse me was Carson as he appeared to be just roaming around the midfield area and rarely where the play was taking place. Welsh meanwhile was the man looking for the ball to be played to him but usually lobbed the ball forward to Billy McKay surrounded by four defenders!! It may be cruel but Ridgers is the biggest miss of the lot. MacKay looks to have lost all his confidence and that evidently affects the defence in front of him. And add to that the system of holding a line is unknown as is pressing the ball. Who scouted Barrett who makes Djebi-Zadi look like Carlos Alberto. Duffy was unfortunate to get a red but probably looked at it as a blessing. Billy McKay tried but he simply looks fed up as does Dan. He intermittently held his hamstring and he must have been hoping that it will keep him out for a few weeks. And why were our players slipping so often and why was Oakley kept on the bench and why were there more of a smattering of the kids who apparently did us proud at Hamilton. At least Doran showed glimpses of his old self. I am going to stop as I could go on and on. It is absolutely obvious that Dodds has lost the dressing room and the support. Sure there are injuries but selection and tactics are non existent. We will survive but is that enough? It may cost to get rid of Dodds and his supporters but a deal has to be done sooner than later as the support will surely dwindle. To me seeing fellow supporters and the social aspect is what will keep me going at the moment. At this time of year Dodds is Ebenezer Scrooge and we need a Jacob Marley to haunt him as soon as possible, OR, we will all be stuffed. Merry Christmas to you all - well apart from?? From CTO: I think it's not unreasonable to say that was probably the weakest starting XI the club has ever put on the field (recent Hamilton game aside) and I'm including 3rd division days here. A number of these guys are simply not professional footballers, and these are Dodds' signings. 9-1 on aggregate from our two visits to Firhill this season is quite the statistic yet Gardiner and Co. will do nothing. The club is in terminal decline and we need radical change NOW! Cringe... Date: 23/12/2022 Venue: Firhill, Partick Attendance: 2243 Referee: Peter Stuart Partick Thistle: 5 Manager: Ian McCall Lineup: Sneddon; McMillan (Holt 62), Brownlie, Muirhead, Milne (MacKenzie 68), Turner, Bannigan, McKinnon, Lawless (Mullen 68), Graham (Weston 80), Fitzpatrick (Lyon 79) Subs (not used): Mitchell; Smith, Stanway, Dowds Scorers: Graham (16), Turner (39), McKinnon (53), Muirhead (57), Mullen (74) Booked: none Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 1 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: C Mackay; Barrett, Duffy, Ram, Delaney, Boyd (Doran 45), Welsh, Carson, Hyde (Strachan 80), D Mackay, B Mckay Subs (not used): Ridgers; Bray, Oakley Scorers: Doran (73) Booked: none Sent Off: Duffy (77) a
  4. Firhill for Chills It's not a TV spectacular for us on Friday night as we venture down to the big smoke after the freeze to take on Partick Thistle at Firhill. All Championship games this week are to be played on Friday evening at 7:45pm with our game at Firhill your preferred Xmas viewing if you stream it from Partick TV, or maybe not given our TV horror earlier in the season when Partick romped home 4-1. We had last weekend off after New Douglas park was deemed unplayable whilst Partick beat Ayr 3-2 to re-ignite their failing season. Partick are fifth on 27 points and we slipped to seventh on 23 points with Raith jumping above us after drawing with Arbroath. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Match/Ticket/Supporters Bus Info Partick TV Carnihan & Nicolson Half season tickets on sale now MD CCST Orth MFSEM FRCS ICTFC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Venue Head 2 Head Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 24 11 6 7 38 33 +5 Away 23 6 6 11 24 34 -10 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 47 17 12 18 62 67 -5 Home advantage historically denotes the winner in these fixtures and we tend to find Firhill a difficult place to pick up wins with only six in twenty-three attempts. Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Partick Thistle 1 - 0 (H) 1 - 4 (A) 1 - 0 (H) 2 - 1 (A) 0 - 1 (A) 3 - 3 (H) 0 - 0 (A) 3 - 1 (H) 1 - 3 (A) 1 - 3 (H) Here's our overview from our last visit to Firhill Firhill Flops: 1 - 4 A Brian Graham double gave Partick a first half lead. For the first the defenders got the wrong side of him, the second a gift from the Inverness defence with a loose pass across the box. It was a lacklustre performance from the visitors in the first forty-five with Billy Mckay having the best effort after an Aaron Dorran lay off, but David Mitchell was equal to the shot to deny the striker from twelve yards. We almost gifted a third early in the second half with a short header back, but Ridgers stood tall to deny Graham his hat-trick. A third did come from the spot after Carson was alleged to have brought down his man. Kevin Holt kept his cool to slot home. Anton Dowds bulleted a header home with five minutes left to add to our miserable night. George Oakley powerfully headed a consolation in time added on, but that won't detract from the rubbish on show tonight. Embarrassing night for the Caley Jags, and on national TV too! Current form over the last six games Partick beat League leaders Ayr 3-2 last Saturday Overall Home Away Pos Team Pld W D L F A W D L F A W D L F A +/- Pts 1. Dundee 6 4 2 0 9 4 2 1 0 3 0 2 1 0 6 4 +5 14 2. Queens Park 6 4 1 1 17 7 2 1 0 8 3 2 0 1 9 4 +10 13 3. Morton 6 3 3 0 10 4 2 0 0 6 1 1 3 0 4 3 +6 12 4. Ayr United 6 3 2 1 12 8 1 1 0 3 1 2 1 1 9 7 +4 11 5. Cove Rangers 6 1 4 1 11 10 1 1 1 4 3 0 3 0 7 7 +1 7 6. Partick Thistle 6 2 1 3 10 11 2 0 1 8 5 0 1 2 2 6 -1 7 7. Raith Rovers 6 2 1 3 9 11 2 1 1 9 7 0 0 2 0 4 -2 7 8. Arbroath 6 0 4 2 4 9 0 2 1 2 4 0 2 1 2 5 -5 4 9. Inverness CT 6 0 3 3 5 11 0 3 1 4 5 0 0 2 1 6 -6 3 10. Hamilton Ac. 6 0 1 5 7 16 0 1 1 6 7 0 0 4 1 9 -9 1 All games FRIDAY 23RD DECEMBER 7:45pm Arbroath v Queen's Ayr Utd v Dundee Cove R v Accies Rovers v Morton Partick Th v Inverness CT We did beat Partick last time out at the Caledonian Stadium on 7th October He scores when he wants: 1 - 0 A first half where defences were on top offered little opportunity for either side to create the clear cut chance required until the half hour when Robbie Deas pounced on a loose clearance within the box. His header was bundled away from goal a yard from the line by two defenders with Mitchell floundering. A couple of minutes later and Mitchell was called into action to scramble the ball away low down at his post from a Duffy header. Billy Mckay clipped one over the bar after a tremendous turn and run by Daniel Mackay. Kyle Turner was red carded for what appeared to be a slightly high tackle on Roddy MacGregor and Inverness ended the half knocking on the Partick door. Cammy Harper brought out a super save from Mitchell with 65 minutes gone, diving high to his top left corner. Ten minutes later Billy Mckay opened the scoring with his fifth goal of the season, drilling home from twelve yards after good work by MotM Dan Mackay. Kevin Holt came close to an unlikely equaliser with a low shot across the face of the goal ten minutes from the end, but Partick rarely threatened. Oakley had an effort kept out on the line acrobatically by Holt as Inverness looked to close out the game. However, Inverness saw out the game to go joint top of the table after their fourth win in a row. That'll do nicely. That win put us joint top. A couple of weeks later it all went tits up and we now have no wins in our last 7 League games. Latest Team News We have had an extra week to get more bodies back, but given the seriousness of most of our injuries the extra time off is like a drop in the ocean. The Ridgers rift saw Mark playing with the youngsters at Accies a couple of weeks ago. Our last meaningful game was on the 3rd of December when we went down at home to Dundee 0 - 1. Bily Mckay and Sean Welsh missed that one but I would imagine they might be available for this one. If not, why not! This isn't the team lines for the Dundee game, it's just the players that were unavailable: Ridgers, Deas, Delaney, Welsh, Allardice, MacGregor, Walsh, Sutherland, Mckay, Samuels. There may be others, the list is inexhaustible. Off the Park: Panos Thomas: MD, CCST Orth, MFSEM, FRCS as a Director of ICTFC. It's not an anagram, it's our new director. Eck's Partick peek: Reveals nothing new happening at Firhill. They did beat Ayr last week with goals from Milne, Graham and Lawless in an entertaining five goal encounter. Harry Milne beginning to attract a bit of attention. Of course Brian Graham likes a goal against the Caley Jags. As normal, Partick will have a full bench to pick from with the likes of Dowds, Holt and Mullen starting on the bench last week. Off the Park: BBC Sport 14th December: Former Glasgow Rocks owner Duncan Smillie has been confirmed as strife-torn Partick Thistle's new chairman. Chair Jacqui Low and six directors resigned last week after recent fan protests followed the Partick Thistle FC Trust becoming majority shareholder. Smillie was the only director not to resign and has become interim chair until the end of the season. Not just us that are in some turmoil then!
  5. Friday Footie Frills at Firhill It's Friday Footie Frills at Firhill for a TV spectacular as we take on fellow contenders Partick Thistle in the Championship. This game can be seen on BBC Scotland, that's cooncil TV to you and me, or even better get yersel along to Firhill and cheer the lads on. It's a 7:45pm kick off as two of the fancied teams for a play-off place meet head on. We have history of course. We ended Partick's ambitions last season with home and away wins in the play-offs. Early doors yet, but both teams will be looking to keep pace with favourites Dundee at the top of the table. MATCH/TICKET/SUPPORTERS BUS INFO Venue H2H v Partick Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 23 10 6 7 37 33 +4 Away 22 6 6 10 23 30 -7 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 45 16 12 17 60 63 -3 Home advantage looks to be the deciding factor in these fixtures. We did however get the better of Partick in last seasons play-off games, winning 2-1 at Firhill:- Advantage Inverness: The first leg of the Premiership Play-Offs saw Inverness travel to Glasgow to take on the Maryhill Magyars as a place in the top division beckoned. Neither side were able to dominate on the Firhill tattie field and they went in goalless at the break although Logan Chalmers looked to be impeded as he tried to get a shot away. Crawford opened the scoring when he got onto a reverse ball from Graham to shoot high into the net from inside the box to put Partick in the driving seat. Inverness turned it round in the second half with goals from Shane Sutherland and Austin Samuels and it's back to the Highlands on Friday night to conclude this tie. And that turned out to be a 1-0 home win for the Caley Jags. Here's the goals from that last game at Firhill Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Partick 1 - 0 (H) 2 - 1 (A) 0 - 1 (A) 3 - 3 (H) 0 - 0 (A) 3 - 1 (H) 1 - 3 (A) 1 - 3 (H) 2 - 1 (A) 1 - 2 (H) Saturday fixtures Arbroath v Queen's Park Cove v Ayr Utd Accies v Rovers Morton v Dundee This Season Partick Thistle started the season with a bang. A tremendous away win at Dens Park in a five goal thriller was followed up by a home draw against Hamilton Accies, Brian Graham salvaging a point with a late equaliser in a game that Partick always had the edge but had to battle to get their point. Last week the big Glasgow derby ended in defeat as newly promoted Queens Park stunned the visitors faithful with a 3-2 win. Makes Inverness' opening day draw with Queens feel like a point gained instead of a point lost. Our second game was a predictable no scoring draw at Arbroath and last Saturday brought our first win of the campaign by 4-1 over Cove Rangers. Austin Samuels the one responsible for most of that with a couple of goals along with Aaron Doran and Nathan Shaw who opened his account at the Caledonian Stadium. Latest Team News Alas, Sutherland and Walsh are out long term with Sean Welsh and Max Ram also in recovery mode. Wallace Duffy and David Carson missed out last week which left us a bit lop sided at the back. To compound that, left sided defender Lewis Nicolson has gone on loan to Elgin City until January. Austin Samuels' performance last week earned him a 'place' in the team of the week. Eric's Partick probe Exodus from Firhill: Mason McCready goalkeeper on loan to Dalbeattie Star. The following players had their loans terminated by parent club Rangers FC, Andy Firth goalkeeper, Lewis Mayo centre back and centre forward Juan Alegria. Loan player right winger Kyle McCallister back to St Mirren and forward Alex Jakubiak returned to Dundee FC. Three players have gone on free transfers to Queen of the South, backs Ciaran McKenna and Stephen Hendrie also right-winger Connor Murray Moving on from Firhill on free transfers are Steven Bell centre back to Kelty Hearts, Shea Gordon a midfield player now at Larne FC and forward Ross MacIver to Alloa. Zak Rudden confirmed signed for Dundee after being on loan there for the second half of last season. Another couple of players have left, Ricky Foster is off to Detroit City and midfielder Robbie Crawford has just joined Morton this afternoon. New faces at Firhill that have arrived on a free transfer basis. David Mitchell goalkeeper from Hibernian: Harry Milne left back from Cove Rangers: Jack McMillan right back from Livingston FC Another right back in Aaron Muirhead from Ayr United: Aiden Fitzpatrick from Queen of the South plays on the right of midfield. Steven Lawless right winger previously at Dunfermline Athletic: A couple of centre forwards added to the squad are Danny Mullen from Dundee FC and Anton Dowds ex Falkirk. Loan players in include Lee Hodson a right back from Kilmarnock, and no surprised to find a couple of Loan ins from Rangers FC in Cole McKinnon in midfield and forward player Tony Weston. Thanks Eric, Partick Thistle keeping you on your toes I see View full article
  6. Firhill Flops A Brian Graham double gave Partick a first half lead. For the first the defenders got the wrong side of him, the second a gift from the Inverness defence with a loose pass across the box. It was a lacklustre performance from the visitors in the first forty-five with Billy Mckay having the best effort after an Aaron Dorran lay off, but David Mitchell was equal to the shot to deny the striker from twelve yards. We almost gifted a third early in the second half with a short header back, but Ridgers stood tall to deny Graham his hat-trick. A third did come from the spot after Carson was alleged to have brought down his man. Kevin Holt kept his cool to slot home. Anton Dowds bulleted a header home with five minutes left to add to our miserable night. George Oakley powerfully headed a consolation in time added on, but that won't detract from the rubbish on show tonight. Embarrassing night for the Caley Jags, and on national TV too! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Inverness were without half a dozen regulars for this fixture. Out were Shane Sutherland and Tom Walsh on long term injuries. Sean Welsh and Max Ram are in recovery mode with Danny Devine struggling. Wallace Duffy and David Carson are both nursing injuries and were on the bench. Scott Tiffoney and Brian Graham started up front for Partick with Steven Lawless. From the off it was clear that Partick were up for this clash, the inexperienced Lewis Hyde being thrown to the wolves in this one. It's a difficult enough task for an official right back to try and contain the trickery of Scott Tiffoney, but without a go to right back, Billy Dodds hung young Lewis out to dry on TV at Firhill. Already skinned a couple of times in the opening minutes an opportunity arose for Cole McKinnon at the back post but he screwed his effort wide. Perennial thorn in our side Brian Graham also shot wide after eight minutes just after Delaney sliced a clearance over his own bar from another Tiffoney moment. Five minutes later and Steven Lawless brought a save out of Mark Ridgers. The opening goal came after a tremendous reverse pass from Lawless released Mckinnon on the right side for him to cross to the front post where Graham got in front of his marker to score high into the net from a few yards out. Good strikers goal, poor defensively from Inverness. We grew into the game after this and Aaron Doran chested down inside the box for Billy Mckay to get a shot away, but his controlled effort was well saved by David Mitchell in the Partick goal. Moments later a long ball forward was closely watched by Robbie Deas. He cut the ball back across the box to the safety of keeper Ridgers. Unfortunately the first person to spot this move was Tiffoney who nicked the ball away from Ridgers which allowed Graham to step forward to score his second goal. HALF TIME: 2-0 Doran and Hyde were withdrawn at the interval, but the damage was already done, with Carson and Oakley replacing them. The alterations saw a flurry of activity in the opening minutes of the second half, but that would change around the hour. Graham almost notched his hat-trick courtesy of another error when substitute Carson was shorts with a headed back pass but Ridgers stood tall to snatch the attempted lob out of the air. Before the hour Graham was upended as he latched onto a loose ball in the box by the over eager Carson who was booked for his protests. Harsh, maybe, penalty, maybe, goal definitely. Graham was denied his treble though as Kevin Holt took the spot kick calmly slotting into the opposite corner from the keeper. The game was put to bed with six minutes remaining as Anton Dowds stooped to bullet a header behind Ridgers to compound our misery. We ended the game firing in long range efforts from all angles which has probably skewed the statistics somewhat, but lets not beat about the bush, even before our consolation, we were well beaten. George Oakley scored the consolation goal in the 92nd minute to round off the scoring and close the book on a poor night for the Caley Jags as he headed in from a corner. FULL TIME:4-1 One of our worst ever results at Firhill. Our second 4-1 defeat there beaten only by a 4-0 on December 13th, 2014. We were set up wrong and reacted too late to make a difference. Billy Dodds needs to take this one on the chin. Yes we were without some regulars, but that will be the same for big parts of this season. Second to every ball, lack of cover for young defenders, lack of bite in midfield, lack of quality where it was needed. I'm afraid there was only ever going to be one outcome, and frankly, we got off lightly. Meh! Highlights from Partick Thistle FC Date: 19/08/2022 Venue: Firhill, Glasgow Attendance: 2632 Referee: Grant Irvine Partick Thistle: 4 Manager: Ian McCall Lineup: Mitchell: McMillan, Holt, Milne, Tiffoney (Fitzpatrick 74), Bannigan, McKinnon, Docherty (Turner 45), Lawless (Weston 85), Hodson (Brownlie 45), Graham (Dowds 69) Subs (not used): Sneddon; Akinola, Lyon, Mullen Scorers: Graham (21, 35), Holt (pen 59), Dowds (84) Booked: Bannigan (13) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 1 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers; Hyde (Carson 45), Deas, Delaney, Harper, Samuels, Allardice, MacGregor (Shaw68), Doran (Oakley 45), D Mackay (Boyd 62), B Mckay Subs (not used): C Mackay; Duffy Scorers: Oakley (90+2) Booked: B Mckay (33), Carson (58) Sent Off: none a
  7. Friday Footie Frills at Firhill It's Friday Footie Frills at Firhill for a TV spectacular as we take on fellow contenders Partick Thistle in the Championship. This game can be seen on BBC Scotland, that's cooncil TV to you and me, or even better get yersel along to Firhill and cheer the lads on. It's a 7:45pm kick off as two of the fancied teams for a play-off place meet head on. We have history of course. We ended Partick's ambitions last season with home and away wins in the play-offs. Early doors yet, but both teams will be looking to keep pace with favourites Dundee at the top of the table. MATCH/TICKET/SUPPORTERS BUS INFO Venue H2H v Partick Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 23 10 6 7 37 33 +4 Away 22 6 6 10 23 30 -7 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 45 16 12 17 60 63 -3 Home advantage looks to be the deciding factor in these fixtures. We did however get the better of Partick in last seasons play-off games, winning 2-1 at Firhill:- Advantage Inverness: The first leg of the Premiership Play-Offs saw Inverness travel to Glasgow to take on the Maryhill Magyars as a place in the top division beckoned. Neither side were able to dominate on the Firhill tattie field and they went in goalless at the break although Logan Chalmers looked to be impeded as he tried to get a shot away. Crawford opened the scoring when he got onto a reverse ball from Graham to shoot high into the net from inside the box to put Partick in the driving seat. Inverness turned it round in the second half with goals from Shane Sutherland and Austin Samuels and it's back to the Highlands on Friday night to conclude this tie. And that turned out to be a 1-0 home win for the Caley Jags. Here's the goals from that last game at Firhill Last 10 Competitive Meetings v Partick 1 - 0 (H) 2 - 1 (A) 0 - 1 (A) 3 - 3 (H) 0 - 0 (A) 3 - 1 (H) 1 - 3 (A) 1 - 3 (H) 2 - 1 (A) 1 - 2 (H) Saturday fixtures Arbroath v Queen's Park Cove v Ayr Utd Accies v Rovers Morton v Dundee This Season Partick Thistle started the season with a bang. A tremendous away win at Dens Park in a five goal thriller was followed up by a home draw against Hamilton Accies, Brian Graham salvaging a point with a late equaliser in a game that Partick always had the edge but had to battle to get their point. Last week the big Glasgow derby ended in defeat as newly promoted Queens Park stunned the visiting faithful with a 3-2 win. Makes Inverness' opening day draw with Queens feel like a point gained instead of a point lost. Our second game was a predictable no scoring draw at Arbroath and last Saturday brought our first win of the campaign by 4-1 over Cove Rangers. Austin Samuels the one responsible for most of that with a couple of goals along with Aaron Doran and Nathan Shaw who opened his account at the Caledonian Stadium. Latest Team News Alas, Sutherland and Walsh are out long term with Sean Welsh and Max Ram also in recovery mode. Wallace Duffy and David Carson missed out last week which left us a bit lop sided at the back. To compound that, left sided defender Lewis Nicolson has gone on loan to Elgin City until January. Austin Samuels' performance last week earned him a 'place' in the team of the week. Eric's Partick probe Exodus from Firhill: Mason McCready goalkeeper on loan to Dalbeattie Star. The following players had their loans terminated by parent club Rangers FC, Andy Firth goalkeeper, Lewis Mayo centre back and centre forward Juan Alegria. Loan player right winger Kyle McCallister back to St Mirren and forward Alex Jakubiak returned to Dundee FC. Three players have gone on free transfers to Queen of the South, backs Ciaran McKenna and Stephen Hendrie also right-winger Connor Murray Moving on from Firhill on free transfers are Steven Bell centre back to Kelty Hearts, Shea Gordon a midfield player now at Larne FC and forward Ross MacIver to Alloa. Zak Rudden confirmed signed for Dundee after being on loan there for the second half of last season. Another couple of players have left, Ricky Foster is off to Detroit City and midfielder Robbie Crawford is going spare. New faces at Firhill that have arrived on a free transfer basis. David Mitchell goalkeeper from Hibernian: Harry Milne left back from Cove Rangers: Jack McMillan right back from Livingston FC Another right back in Aaron Muirhead from Ayr United: Aiden Fitzpatrick from Queen of the South plays on the right of midfield. Steven Lawless right winger previously at Dunfermline Athletic: A couple of centre forwards added to the squad are Danny Mullen from Dundee FC and Anton Dowds ex Falkirk. Loan players in include Lee Hodson a right back from Kilmarnock, and no surprised to find a couple of Loan ins from Rangers FC in Cole McKinnon in midfield and forward player Tony Weston. Thanks Eric, Partick Thistle keeping you on your toes I see
  8. No Hiding Place   It's Play-Off time:  There's no hiding place now as we enter the first leg of the Premiership Play-Offs at Firhill to take on fourth place Championship finishers Partick Thistle. After a Championship campaign that saw more ups and downs than fair fortnight on the Big Dipper at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, it's now crunch time for all the Premiership contenders. Arbroath await the winners of this two-leg tie after they fell just two points short of automatic promotion with Killie making the step up. What a season for Dick Campbell and his Smokies though. However, it's one game at a time and let's see how far that will take us. TUESDAY - MATCH/TICKET/SUPPORTERS INFO SUPPORTERS BUS 07462218717 FRIDAY - MATCH/TICKET/HOSPITALITY INFO We come into the play-offs on the back of a resounding 4-0 win over Hamilton Accies in the final game of the regular campaign. With one or two rested, it was a great opportunity for others to stake a claim for a start in this important finale to the season. Not much was anticipated ahead of that game with Accies also a bit understrength, but Inverness blew Accies away with a four goal first half blitz. Gone were the long hopeful punts forward to be replaced by slick interplay and incisive passing and clinical finishing. A joy to behold at times as we bemused hapless Hamilton. Tremendous team goals from Walsh (2), Sutherland and a first for wee Joe Hardy enabled us to cruise through the second half without getting out of second gear.  Partick also rested players ahead of this one but they were turned over 3-1 by Ayr United. Expect them to be at full strength though when we visit as thorns in our side Brian Graham and Scott Tiffoney missed out at Somerset Park. Venue H2H v Partick (all) Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 22 9 6 7 36 33 +3 Away 21 5 6 10 21 29 -8 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 43 14 12 17 57 62 -5   One win apiece and two draws is the tale of the tape this season. CTO Sep11th 3-1: After a difficult first half, Inverness ran out comfortable winners against Partick Thistle in a second half goal blitz. The visitors dominated the first forty-five and Scott Tiffoney drilled the opener out of nothing as the defence backed off. Manny Duku was denied by a combination of keeper and post but it was Partick that should have scored a second, however Mark Ridgers did well to deny Brian Graham. Harsh talking at the break saw Inverness come out for the second half with the bit between the teeth and Kirk Broadfoot was the unlikely hero as his twenty yard shot evaded the outstretched fingertips of the keeper to level the score. Shane Sutherland did well to drill in the second from an angle after the keeper fluffed his lines allowing Shane to slot in from twenty yards. The third was a peach as Duku stepped over the ball and Aaron Doran fired high into the net for a brilliant goal and game over. That's five wins out of five and the run goes on... CTO Oct30th: Caley Jags pay the penalty 0-0:  Partick Thistle survived to earn a point after the woodwork saved them twice and keeper Jamie Sneddon denied Sean Welsh from the spot after guessing the right way. Inverness were well on top but it's only a point which means Killie pull further away at the top. Performance of the day was from Arbroath who came from two down to beat Dunfermline Athletic 4-2. CTO Feb9th: Late Leveller 3-3:  Partick Thistle struck early to add to our gloom through Brian Graham but Billy Mckay squared the game after twenty minutes with a close range finish from a Carson cross. Graham scored his second with a header soon after, Scott Tiffoney once again the provider and he almost scored one for himself but for a fine save from Ridgers. Shane Sutherland equalised just on the interval with a header from a McAlear corner. With twenty minutes left Deas conceded a stone wall penalty and Graham notched his hat-trick. Substitute Cammy Harper drove into the box but Sneddon blocked his shot and moments later Pearson appeared to hit the bar with an angled drive from twelve yards and Mckay rolled one past the post. We got the draw with the last head of the ball deep into stoppage time when Broadfoot headed in a cross from McAlear. CTO Mar4th: The slide goes on: 1-0  On a pitch resembling the aftermath of the battle of the Somme, Inverness blew any lingering hopes of promotion with another unacceptable performance at Firhill. Billy Dodds keeps telling us that training is going well. Stats will show something like nineteen shots with only one on target. What the hell do we actually practice? On the plus side, a cut and paste of his post match report will suffice as it's been the same story for almost three months now. Absolutely abysmal, the lifeblood seems to have been sucked right out of the whole team, management and long suffering support. Kevin Holt scored the only goal in the 85th minute after a low corner was driven through a ruck of bodies in the penalty box into the centre of the goal. Game over, season over and surely Dodds over and out! Apologies to Dodds and the team  we have managed to turn it round again and here we are, ready for the play-offs, but that 11 match run was a nightmare. ***Dates for your diary*** CINCH PREMIERSHIP PLAY-OFFS Tuesday May 3 Quarter-final, 1st leg  Partick Thistle v Inverness CT Live on BBC Scotland, kick-off 7.05pm Friday May 6 Quarter-final, 2nd leg Inverness CT v Partick Thistle Live on BBC Scotland, kick-off 7.45pm Latest Team News Scott Allardice is the one long term casualty and Wallace Duffy took a knock in midweek against Hamilton. Some legs were spared in midweek but I would be expecting them to feature in the play-off games.  Brian Graham and Scott Tiffoney missed the loss to Ayr United but will be important players for Partick in these games. Fans Player of the Year David Carson    Some of these would be much appreciated     View full article
  9. Advantage Inverness The first leg of the Premiership Play-Offs saw Inverness travel to Glasgow to take on the Maryhill Magyars as a place in the top division beckoned. Neither side were able to dominate on the Firhill tattie field and they went in goalless at the break although Logan Chalmers looked to be impeded as he tried to get a shot away. Crawford opened the scoring when he got onto a reverse ball from Graham to shoot high into the net from inside the box to put Partick in the driving seat. Inverness turned it round in the second half with goals from Shane Sutherland and Austin Samuels and it's back to the Highlands on Friday night to conclude this tie. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This one's for you big fellow RIP Stew x Aaron Doran was missing along with Wallace Duffy and Roddy MacGregor as the fragility of both squads reared it's ugly head. Scott Allardice was a surprise inclusion on the Inverness bench, his return kept quiet. Lewis Mayo was a big miss for the Jagsters but as expected, Brian Graham and Scott Tiffoney took their place in an attack minded Partick Starting XI. A frantic opening on the tattie field pitch saw a snapshot from players player of the year Shane Sutherland go wide inside five minutes. In the tenth minute Sean Welsh was just beaten to the ball by Crawford as he bust into the box. Unfortunately Tom Walsh took a knock as he tried to shoot and the result of that was Lewis Hyde coming on to replace the wide midfielder in the twentieth minute. Early indicators are that Walsh will struggle to make Friday's game. From a corner Mark Ridgers snatched the ball on his line as Tunji Akinola knocked goalwards and Kirk Broadfoot was the third Inverness player to receive treatment for his troubles in trying to defend. Scott Tiffoney lashed a ball over the bar after yet another corner with neither keeper overly troubled so far. Inverness were denied a penalty when Logan Chalmers appeared to be blocked off from taking a shot by Akinola inside the box, but the referee was not interested. Seen them given, also seen them denied. In truth the intensity of the game and state of the pitch made for a scrappy affair as neither side was able to impose themselves on the game in the first forty-five. Some frantic defending and missed clearances led to an opportunity for Partick but we weathered the mini-storm. At the other end a Reece McAlear free kick was thumped into the body of keeper Sneddon five minutes before the break. A minute before the interval and Billy Mckay dollied a shot towards goal which Sneddon gathered easily. Last effort of the first half fell to Robbie Deas wide on the left side of the box but after he brought the ball down well he dragged it across the goal without troubling the keeper. The half ended goalless but it was the visitors that were having the better of the game so far. HALF TIME : 0-0 Six minutes into the half and Ridgers flopped on the ball just as Brian Graham pulled the trigger from one yard. However a minute later Partick opened the scoring after a neat ball through from Graham found Robbie Crawford who hit the ball high past Ridgers from ten yards. Samuels replaced Hyde in a tactical switch as Sutherland volleyed over, but Partick appeared motivated by their goal. Sutherland showed good feet to get a shot away but it just cleared the corner of the bar. He did better ten minutes later after Billy Mckay hit a powerful shot towards goal. Sneddon parried it but it fell to Sutherland who knocked in the rebound from eight yards to restore parity. Wow! A complete cock up by David Carson allowed Alegria a tremendous chance but the young striker curled his shot over when he should have scored. A let off for Inverness after a slip by Carson. Substitute Austin Samuels put the visitors ahead when he got on the end of a sublime cross from Sutherland to score from six yards and that was enough to turn the game around and put Inverness in pole position. Great away performance from the Caley Jags and our only worry is injuries to key players with Walsh taking a sore one tonight. MotM was Shane Sutherland, a goal and superb assist. A hard fought win on a disgrace of a pitch which apparently will be in use tomorrow for another play-off game. God save the grass CALEY AWAY IN GOOD VOICE Here's the Goals that Mattered Date: 03/05/2022 Venue: Firhill, Partick Attendance: 2919 Referee: Steven Maclean Partick Thistle: 1 Manager: Ian McCall Lineup: Sneddon; McKenna, Akinola, Holt, Hendrie, Crawford, Bannigan, Jakubiak (Alegria 74), Docherty, Tiffoney, Graham (Smith 86) Subs (not used): Firth; Stanway, Foster, Bell, Murray Scorers: Crawford (54) Booked: Hendrie (40), Graham (76) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 2 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers; Carson, Broadfoot, Devine, Deas, Walsh (Hyde 19) (Samuels 60), Welsh, McAlear, Chalmers (Harper 75), Sutherland, B Mckay (Hardy 75) Subs (not used): C McKay; Allardice Scorers: Suttherland (71), Samuels (82) Booked: Chalmers (49), Samuels (90+2) Sent Off: none __________________________________________________________________________________________
  10. No Hiding Place It's Play-Off time: There's no hiding place now as we enter the first leg of the Premiership Play-Offs at Firhill to take on fourth place Championship finishers Partick Thistle. After a Championship campaign that saw more ups and downs than fair fortnight on the Big Dipper at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, it's now crunch time for all the Premiership contenders. Arbroath await the winners of this two-leg tie after they fell just two points short of automatic promotion with Killie making the step up. What a season for Dick Campbell and his Smokies though. However, it's one game at a time and let's see how far that will take us. TUESDAY - MATCH/TICKET/SUPPORTERS INFO SUPPORTERS BUS 07462218717 FRIDAY - MATCH/TICKET/HOSPITALITY INFO We come into the play-offs on the back of a resounding 4-0 win over Hamilton Accies in the final game of the regular campaign. With one or two rested, it was a great opportunity for others to stake a claim for a start in this important finale to the season. Not much was anticipated ahead of that game with Accies also a bit understrength, but Inverness blew Accies away with a four goal first half blitz. Gone were the long hopeful punts forward to be replaced by slick interplay and incisive passing and clinical finishing. A joy to behold at times as we bemused hapless Hamilton. Tremendous team goals from Walsh (2), Sutherland and a first for wee Joe Hardy enabled us to cruise through the second half without getting out of second gear. Partick also rested players ahead of this one but they were turned over 3-1 by Ayr United. Expect them to be at full strength though when we visit as thorns in our side Brian Graham and Scott Tiffoney missed out at Somerset Park. Venue H2H v Partick (all) Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 22 9 6 7 36 33 +3 Away 21 5 6 10 21 29 -8 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 43 14 12 17 57 62 -5 One win apiece and two draws is the tale of the tape this season. CTO Sep11th 3-1: After a difficult first half, Inverness ran out comfortable winners against Partick Thistle in a second half goal blitz. The visitors dominated the first forty-five and Scott Tiffoney drilled the opener out of nothing as the defence backed off. Manny Duku was denied by a combination of keeper and post but it was Partick that should have scored a second, however Mark Ridgers did well to deny Brian Graham. Harsh talking at the break saw Inverness come out for the second half with the bit between the teeth and Kirk Broadfoot was the unlikely hero as his twenty yard shot evaded the outstretched fingertips of the keeper to level the score. Shane Sutherland did well to drill in the second from an angle after the keeper fluffed his lines allowing Shane to slot in from twenty yards. The third was a peach as Duku stepped over the ball and Aaron Doran fired high into the net for a brilliant goal and game over. That's five wins out of five and the run goes on... CTO Oct30th: Caley Jags pay the penalty 0-0: Partick Thistle survived to earn a point after the woodwork saved them twice and keeper Jamie Sneddon denied Sean Welsh from the spot after guessing the right way. Inverness were well on top but it's only a point which means Killie pull further away at the top. Performance of the day was from Arbroath who came from two down to beat Dunfermline Athletic 4-2. CTO Feb9th: Late Leveller 3-3: Partick Thistle struck early to add to our gloom through Brian Graham but Billy Mckay squared the game after twenty minutes with a close range finish from a Carson cross. Graham scored his second with a header soon after, Scott Tiffoney once again the provider and he almost scored one for himself but for a fine save from Ridgers. Shane Sutherland equalised just on the interval with a header from a McAlear corner. With twenty minutes left Deas conceded a stone wall penalty and Graham notched his hat-trick. Substitute Cammy Harper drove into the box but Sneddon blocked his shot and moments later Pearson appeared to hit the bar with an angled drive from twelve yards and Mckay rolled one past the post. We got the draw with the last head of the ball deep into stoppage time when Broadfoot headed in a cross from McAlear. CTO Mar4th: The slide goes on: 1-0 On a pitch resembling the aftermath of the battle of the Somme, Inverness blew any lingering hopes of promotion with another unacceptable performance at Firhill. Billy Dodds keeps telling us that training is going well. Stats will show something like nineteen shots with only one on target. What the hell do we actually practice? On the plus side, a cut and paste of his post match report will suffice as it's been the same story for almost three months now. Absolutely abysmal, the lifeblood seems to have been sucked right out of the whole team, management and long suffering support. Kevin Holt scored the only goal in the 85th minute after a low corner was driven through a ruck of bodies in the penalty box into the centre of the goal. Game over, season over and surely Dodds over and out! Apologies to Dodds and the team we have managed to turn it round again and here we are, ready for the play-offs, but that 11 match run was a nightmare. ***Dates for your diary*** CINCH PREMIERSHIP PLAY-OFFS Tuesday May 3 Quarter-final, 1st leg Partick Thistle v Inverness CT Live on BBC Scotland, kick-off 7.05pm Friday May 6 Quarter-final, 2nd leg Inverness CT v Partick Thistle Live on BBC Scotland, kick-off 7.45pm Latest Team News Scott Allardice is the one long term casualty and Wallace Duffy took a knock in midweek against Hamilton. Some legs were spared in midweek but I would be expecting them to feature in the play-off games. Brian Graham and Scott Tiffoney missed the loss to Ayr United but will be important players for Partick in these games. Fans Player of the Year David Carson Some of these would be much appreciated
  11. The slide goes on On a pitch resembling the aftermath of the battle of the Somme, Inverness blew any lingering hopes of promotion with another unacceptable performance at Firhill. Billy Dodds keeps telling us that training is going well. Stats will show something like nineteen shots with only one on target. What the hell do we actually practice? On the plus side, a cut and paste of his post match report will suffice as it's been the same story for almost three months now. Absolutely abysmal, the lifeblood seems to have been sucked right out of the whole team, management and long suffering support. Kevin Holt scored the only goal in the 85th minute after a low corner was driven through a ruck of bodies in the penalty box into the centre of the goal. Game over, season over and surely Dodds over and out! Partick had made four changes from the side that drew at Arbroath. Richard Foster and midfielders Connor Murray and Robbie Crawford all started alongside Colombian Juan Alegria. For Inverness, Cammy Mackay continued in goal with Mark Ridgers on the bench and David Carson replaced Lewis Hyde in the starting XI. Millions of chances for both sides but very few on target. Alegria hit the woodwork in a first half mostly dominated by Partick. However, for professional footballers to fail to strike the ball properly for ninety minutes it's an utter embarrassment. Same old same old... Match reaction from BBC Sport Partick Thistle manager Ian McCall: "It's a big three points. I thought in the first half we dominated, but in the second half Caley Thistle were better than us. "But at Firhill one goal can win a game and Kevin Holt got us that tonight with his right foot. I think any of the top five could win the league and we are in the top five." Inverness Caledonian Thistle manager Billy Dodds: "We are suffering at both ends because we aren't taking those chances and we are getting punished from the one shot Partick Thistle have in the second half. "It's a sore one to take because I thought in the second half we were excellent. There's eight games to go - we need to win nearly every one of them." Excuse me Billy, considering we have not won any of the last eleven, are you being a tad optimistic? It's certainly a big ask. Date: 04/03/2022 Venue: Firhill, Glasgow Attendance: 2099 Referee: Colin Steven Partick Thistle: 1 Manager: Ian McCall Lineup: Sneddon; Foster, Mayo, Holt, McKenna, Bannigan (Bell 90), Graham, Murray (Smith 62), Crawford (Turner 62), Doherty, Alegria (Jakubiak 70) Subs (not used): Firth; Akinola, Stanway, Hendrie, McAllister Scorers: Holt (85) Booked: none Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 0 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: C Mackay; Carson, Broadfoot, Devine, Deas, Pearson (Sutherland 45), Welsh, McAlear, Doran (Chalmers 75), Samuels (Hardy 45), B Mckay Subs (not used): Ridgers; Duffy, Hyde, Harper, Walsh, Scorers: none Booked: none Sent Off: none a
  12. Onerous task at Firhill Not always a happy hunting ground for the Caley Jags, we travel to Glasgow to take on the often high scoring Partick Thistle at Firhill. We did get the better of them last time we met, but only after a tortuous first half when we could have been three down. We turned that game around after the interval and ran out 3-1 winners in a dominant second half. Saturday's game is a 3:00pm kick off. MATCH INFO & TICKETS PPV STREAM FROM PARTICK OFFICIAL PREVIEW SUPPORTERS BUS 07462218717 Venue - Head2Head Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 21 9 5 7 33 30 +3 Away 19 5 5 9 21 28 -7 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 40 14 10 16 54 58 -4 First Competitive Meeting Aug 4th, 1998 League (H) 1 - 0 Most Recent Competitive Meeting Sep 11th, 2021 League (Championship) (H) 3 - 1 Last 10 Competitive Meetings 3 - 1 (H) 1 - 3 (A) 1 - 3 (H) 2 - 1 (A) 1 - 2 (H) 1 - 0 (A) 3 - 2 (H) 1 - 1 (A) 0 - 0 (H) 0 - 2 (A) Biggest Victories Apr 30th, 2016 League (A) 4 - 1 Jan 10th, 2009 Scottish Cup (Rd 4) (H) 3 - 0 Apr 27th, 2002 League (H) 3 - 0 Heaviest Defeats Dec 13th, 2014 League (H) 0 - 4 Highest Attendance Feb 23rd, 2002 Scottish Cup (Quarter Final) (A) 8,700 Highest Home Attendance Mar 5th, 2002 Scottish Cup (Quarter Final Replay) (H) 5,037 Our last win at Firhill was on 22nd March 2019 when Tom Walsh scored a stunning volley to win all three points in this 2 - 1 game: Inverness went back in front when Polworth chipped a ball into the box and a cheeky flick from Doran saw substitute Tom Walsh lash a left foot volley home from fifteen yards with ten minutes left. Tremendous goal by Walsh who had scored the winner last time Inverness were here with an equally stunning strike. Over to you Mr Walsh, time to get the finger out and get back to doing what you do best. We lost our top spot in midweek as Killie overhauled us having been five points behind us last Saturday morning. Pld W D L F A +/- Pts 1. Kilmarnock 11 7 2 2 14 7 7 23 2. Inverness CT 11 7 2 2 13 6 7 23 3. Arbroath 11 5 4 2 19 9 10 19 4. Raith Rovers 11 5 4 2 18 13 5 19 5. Partick Thistle 11 5 2 4 23 14 9 17 6. Ayr United 11 3 3 5 10 15 -5 12 7. Hamilton Academical 11 3 2 6 11 23 -12 11 8. Queen of the South 11 3 1 7 10 15 -5 10 9. Morton 11 1 5 5 7 14 -7 8 10. Dunfermline 11 0 7 4 7 16 -9 7 Other fixtures this Saturday Arbroath v Dunfermline Killie v Queens Morton v Hamilton Raith Rovers v Ayr United Last time out we failed miserably against Arbroath on a totally miserable night for football. We lacked any real penetration and when your most reliable player errs, then you know it's not going to be a good night. Credit to Arbroath though, they did what they had to do to get the three points and top scorer Michael McKenna's wind aided free kick found the net to give the Smokies all three points. The defeat was hard to take, but the manner of defeat has been a cause for concern in recent weeks. Lack of guile and quality up front and lack of pace at the back has seen us struggle, even against ten men, twice. Partick fared little better as they drew 0-0 with Morton following a 0-0 draw with the Pars. However, go back a further week and they ransacked a hapless Hamilton Accies 1-6 at NDP. Latest Team News David Carson is still absent but Cammy Harper has resumed training although he is unlikely to be fit for this game. Ian McCall had this starting XI out on Tuesday night in a 0-0 draw at Morton: Sneddon; Foster, Akinola, Mayo, Holt, Bannigan, Docherty, Turner, Tiffoney, Rudden, Graham View full article
  13. Caley Jags pay the penalty Partick Thistle survived to earn a point after the woodwork saved them twice and keeper Jamie Sneddon denied Sean Welsh from the spot after guessing the right way. Inverness were well on top but it's only a point which means Killie pull further away at the top. Performance of the day was from Arbroath who came from two down to beat Dunfermline Athletic 4-2. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Inverness were looking to bounce back after their midweek shocker against Arbroath and being knocked off the top perch, and Partick were hoping to get back to winning ways after drawing with Morton and Dunfermline in their last two. Neither club would achieve what they were hoping for in a 0-0 draw. David Carson was still on leave and Cammy Harper was not ready to return with Shane Sutherland posted missing. RIG saw the game like this: Obviously if you don't take your chances you can't really say you deserved to win but we should have got the three points yesterday. We had by far the better chances but for some good saves, desperate defending and a bit of bad luck we just couldn't force the ball into the net. Walsh, Gardyne and Mckay all had great chances in the first half (still don't know what happened with the Walsh effort as I was sure it had gone in and turned to celebrate). Welsh's penalty was poor but Sneddon timed his movement off his line well. I always feel that penalties should be struck high(er) rather than low as it makes it easier for the keeper to get a stop. Doran hit the bar / forced Sneddon into a save not long after and also had another "penalty" claim waved away (though it looked like it was outside the box) before MacGregor turned a close range effort over the top. Partick seemed very subdued. Aside from a disallowed goal towards the end, which would have been oh so cruel, I can't really think of any time Ridgers was overly troubled. Sure he had saves to make but they were all pretty comfortable. Odd move from McCall to move Tiffoney over the ICT left after Deas got yellow carded. I assume he wanted Tiffoney to try and draw a foul and second yellow from Deas but he wasn't up for that and completely snuffed one of their better players out of the game. It was superb performance from a defender on a tightrope for so much of the game. Duffy on the other side was also much improved, perhaps as a result of having Walsh in front of him. Allardice and Welsh dominated the middle of the park and we looked a lot better attacking with Mckay, Doran, Gardyne and Walsh although we still aimed a few aimless balls towards Mckay were he was dominated in the air by the Partick CBs. With MacGregor and Jamieson coming on later on this seemed to disrupt us more than anything but I guess the likes of Doran were tiring and we needed to freshen things up. Despite not getting the win that was easily one of our best performances of recent weeks and I would have taken a point before the game but given how it played out it was definitely 2 points dropped. Onto Ayr next week! Although this was a much improved performance from Tuesday night's dismal showing against Arbroath, the lack of a cutting edge came back to haunt us. Walsh and Gardyne both hit the frame of the goal which denied access to the net and with Sneddon guessing the right way to dive we missed out on a glorious opportunity from the spot. Best on the day were Scott Allardice who was back in midfield, Aaron Doran and Wallace Duffy back in at right back. From YouTube Date: 30/10/2021 Venue: Firhill, Partick Attendance: 2527 Referee: Gavin Duncan Partick Thistle: 0 Manager: Ian McCall Lineup: Sneddon; Foster, Mayo, Tiffoney (Murray 86) Holt, Bannigan, Akinola, Docherty, Smith (Gordon 63), Rudden, Graham (Hastie 63) Subs (not used): McGready, Turner, McKenna, MacIvor Scorers: none Booked: Docherty (59), Rudden (82) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 0 Manager: Billy Dodds Lineup: Ridgers; Duffy, Broadfoot, Devine, Deas, Gardyne, Welsh, Allardice, Walsh (MacGregor 86), Doran (Jamieson 79), Mckay Subs (not used): C Mackay; McAlear, McDonald, Duku Scorers: none Booked: Deas (19) Sent Off: none a
  14. Onerous task at Firhill Not always a happy hunting ground for the Caley Jags, we travel to Glasgow to take on the often high scoring Partick Thistle at Firhill. We did get the better of them last time we met, but only after a tortuous first half when we could have been three down. We turned that game around after the interval and ran out 3-1 winners in a dominant second half. Saturday's game is a 3:00pm kick off. MATCH INFO & TICKETS PPV STREAM FROM PARTICK OFFICIAL PREVIEW SUPPORTERS BUS 07462218717 Venue - Head2Head Pld Won Drn Lst For Agst + / - Home 21 9 5 7 33 30 +3 Away 19 5 5 9 21 28 -7 Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 40 14 10 16 54 58 -4 First Competitive Meeting Aug 4th, 1998 League (H) 1 - 0 Most Recent Competitive Meeting Sep 11th, 2021 League (Championship) (H) 3 - 1 Last 10 Competitive Meetings 3 - 1 (H) 1 - 3 (A) 1 - 3 (H) 2 - 1 (A) 1 - 2 (H) 1 - 0 (A) 3 - 2 (H) 1 - 1 (A) 0 - 0 (H) 0 - 2 (A) Biggest Victories Apr 30th, 2016 League (A) 4 - 1 Jan 10th, 2009 Scottish Cup (Rd 4) (H) 3 - 0 Apr 27th, 2002 League (H) 3 - 0 Heaviest Defeats Dec 13th, 2014 League (H) 0 - 4 Highest Attendance Feb 23rd, 2002 Scottish Cup (Quarter Final) (A) 8,700 Highest Home Attendance Mar 5th, 2002 Scottish Cup (Quarter Final Replay) (H) 5,037 Our last win at Firhill was on 22nd March 2019 when Tom Walsh scored a stunning volley to win all three points in this 2 - 1 game: Inverness went back in front when Polworth chipped a ball into the box and a cheeky flick from Doran saw substitute Tom Walsh lash a left foot volley home from fifteen yards with ten minutes left. Tremendous goal by Walsh who had scored the winner last time Inverness were here with an equally stunning strike. Over to you Mr Walsh, time to get the finger out and get back to doing what you do best. We lost our top spot in midweek as Killie overhauled us having been five points behind us last Saturday morning. Pld W D L F A +/- Pts 1. Kilmarnock 11 7 2 2 14 7 7 23 2. Inverness CT 11 7 2 2 13 6 7 23 3. Arbroath 11 5 4 2 19 9 10 19 4. Raith Rovers 11 5 4 2 18 13 5 19 5. Partick Thistle 11 5 2 4 23 14 9 17 6. Ayr United 11 3 3 5 10 15 -5 12 7. Hamilton Academical 11 3 2 6 11 23 -12 11 8. Queen of the South 11 3 1 7 10 15 -5 10 9. Morton 11 1 5 5 7 14 -7 8 10. Dunfermline 11 0 7 4 7 16 -9 7 Other fixtures this Saturday Arbroath v Dunfermline Killie v Queens Morton v Hamilton Raith Rovers v Ayr United Last time out we failed miserably against Arbroath on a totally miserable night for football. We lacked any real penetration and when your most reliable player errs, then you know it's not going to be a good night. Credit to Arbroath though, they did what they had to do to get the three points and top scorer Michael McKenna's wind aided free kick found the net to give the Smokies all three points. The defeat was hard to take, but the manner of defeat has been a cause for concern in recent weeks. Lack of guile and quality up front and lack of pace at the back has seen us struggle, even against ten men, twice. Partick fared little better as they drew 0-0 with Morton following a 0-0 draw with the Pars. However, go back a further week and they ransacked a hapless Hamilton Accies 1-6 at NDP. Latest Team News David Carson is still absent but Cammy Harper has resumed training although he is unlikely to be fit for this game. Ian McCall had this starting XI out on Tuesday night in a 0-0 draw at Morton: Sneddon; Foster, Akinola, Mayo, Holt, Bannigan, Docherty, Turner, Tiffoney, Rudden, Graham
  15. Pumped Again As sure as Inverness Caledonian Thistle can beat Ayr United, Partick Thistle can beat us. Partick hold the Indian sign over Inverness this season with another 3-1 win over second place Inverness. James Keatings had levelled an Alex Jones opener for Thistle, but further goals from Steve Saunders and Dario Zanatta made it a long and miserable journey back up the A9. That win moves Partick up to eighth in the table. Immortal Howden Ender was on hand to witness our demise....... Ok I have slept on it and my “report” will be more considered, less emotive but still very critical. I suspect that after savouring the win and performance at Alloa and the positivity following the Dundee game I may well have underestimated Plastic Whistle and I feel that the team did as well. We have been crying out for a Plan B and that has been recently been delivered and in some style. There may be a load of armchair managers on this forum but there were a few things tactically that Robbo was blinded to yesterday. You can play the tippy tappy football on 4G or well cared for surfaces in cold and frosty conditions. Robbo has introduced that recently but – when you are faced with a boggy pitch, it is feckin freezing cold, added to by a strong, swirling wind and driving rain (especially in the second half) then the “hoof” is a more sought tactic. McCall sussed us yet again. He played two lines of four playing deep in defence. They only pressed when we were in the final third. They were only too happy to sit back and let us play meaningless passes across the pitch and often played backwards as well. And did we do just that !! And then we did not use the width. When we did go wide we looked more threatening. How many times did Storey run forwards but then stop and play the ball backwards or sideways. Doran simply does not have the stamina and pace in such conditions and defensive set up. But then again we do not have a holding forward or a striker with the “poacher” penalty box instinct. I would also criticize Doran and Storey for not channeling back and that increased the workload on Carson and Trafford. Plastic Whistle had the old head in Kenny Miller (playing in central midfield) and pace up front which made them always dangerous on the counter. BUT we did not revert to the hoof and Robbo stuck by the starting XI until it was too late. Our following was bellowing for the changes eventually made since the hour mark and then it was too late. We were always “chasing” the game which again wholly suited Partick. Alex Jones, who had been wholly ineffective, popped up early in the second half to put the Whistle ahead. KEATINGS pulled one back and, at that stage, you felt that we would take over. Well we did possession and territory wise but always looked susceptible to the counter. Saunders put those thoughts to bed and Zanatta scored a third with the last kick from an incredible angle. Lets just sum things up as “so disappointing” and three valuable points chucked away. For once I can see the comments made by both managers afterwards. McCall said – “I was really pleased, I thought it was terrific entertainment. "It could have been 5-3 to us but yes a big three points and takes us above Morton. You are only four or five points off fifth place now so we've another big game next week." It was terrific entertainment for the home fans !! Our three would have come from goalmouth scrambles and/or from dead ball situations. Robbo replied - "It was a good game, both teams obviously had chances. I thought we were the better team in the first half, a couple of great saves from Scott Fox, a couple of great chances from set plays. And you need to take those chances." We had at least double the “chances” but they took theirs. We were the better of two bad teams at half time. I would have at least doubled our chances from set plays. And Ridgers kept us in the game in both halves with two sensational saves in both. I am sure that there will be a Happy Clapper stating IF we had gone 2-1 up or IF we had taken one of those second half melee chances. There are no feckin Ifs in football. And as for McLean and the stand side linesman it is more shocking proof of the deterioration in standards this season. Although they gave strange and bad decisions against both sides. I am looking forward to seeing the replay of the alleged White “dive” which did look more like a penalty from our distant viewpoint. Apologies if this Smileymometer is insulting and aggravating but it is a personal perspective and I dare not give points !!. RIDGERS – May have fecked up the third goal but he kept us in the game and is the only player close to being a MOM candidate, far less a MOM ROONEY ? – Wish that he had been playing wide right instead of Storey. He was the one player looking to drive forward instead of the incessant “Ray Wilkins” passing tactics. TREMARCO ? – Looked shaded but does not exactly get much defensive support from Doran. Is Carl hitting the end of his playing days ? DONALDSON ?– Appears to be trying to play in the Virgil Van Dyke mode. Unfortunately looked more like Dick Van Dyke at times yesterday. McCART ? – Probably came the closest to scoring from the dead ball situations. Defensively and passing wise he was the Julie Andrews beside Dick Van Dyke. Perhaps he should have retrieved Red Cards brolly. STOREY ? – My high hopes blew away in the Maryhill winds. Why did he not run at the defenders ? I lost count of the times that he stopped, back tracked and passed back !! CARSON ? – I thought that he played well and gave his all. Again he rarely got forward and tended to be another Ray Wilkins impersonator. TRAFFORD ?– Bad day at the office. Gave his all but his distribution was poor and he made no impact. DORAN ? – Hugged the touchline for most of the game. Did not defend at all. Most of our good stuff came down the right and even Aaron resorted to the back pass. WHITE ? – I have really tried to give him the benefit of the doubt but he did not win anything in the air and why did we relent with trying to play the ball into his feet. In his defence who was there to play it off to ? KEATINGS ?– If that was playing number 10 then why was he so deep ? You cant be a playmaker and a No 10. He was deep playing balls into the feet (mainly White) but then who was playing off White. Answers on a small piece of toilet paper. ROBBO ? – You should have changed the tactics and McCall sussed that. Keatings Overhead. Boom !!!!! Date: 14/12/2019 Venue: Firhill, Partick. Attendance: 2144 Referee: Steven McLean Partick Thistle: 3 Lineup: Fox; Williamson, Penrice, O'Ware, Cardle (Zanatta 58), Bannigan, Miller (Palmer 86), Jones (Harkins 72), Cole, Kakay, Saunders. Subs (not used): Sneddon; McGinty, Robson, Slater. Scorers: Jones (48), Saunders (64), Zanatta (90 +3) Booked: none Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 1 Lineup: Ridgers; Rooney, Donaldson, McCart, Tremarco (Harper 85), Doran (Curry 84), Carson, Trafford, Keatings, White (Todorov 84) Subs (not used): C Mackay; B Mckay, McHattie, MacGregor. Scorers: Keatings (57) Booked: White (35), Robertson (manager 35) Sent Off: none a
  16. Firhill for thrills..... This Saturday it's the battle of the Jags as Caley Thistle face Partick Thistle, second top versus second bottom with Firhill the venue, 15:00 the time. First time round this season it was the Partick Jags that came out on top in the Highlands but Inverness have put together a tidy wee run of three to bounce back to second in the table whilst the Firhill men are struggling to get away from the bottom end. All to play for on Saturday with a crucial three points for either team available. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ticket Info Adults: £20, Under 16s: £5 Concessions: (Over 65s*, students, disabled supporter including carer, 16-18 year olds) £15 Tickets available from Firhill on the day of the match. Cash gates will be available at turnstiles 40&41 and located in the Jackie Husband Stand. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The new manager bounce is long gone for the Maryhill Magyars, but when Ian McCall had his first game back in charge they were whipped 5-0 by Celtic in the League Cup. However, move forward three days to the Caledonian Stadium and the team with the greater desire on that day ran out comfortable winners as Inverness shot themselves in the foot......twice. It ended 3-1 to Patrick with Inverness the architects of their own downfall. Dario Zanatta opened the scoring early but Jordan White levelled ten minutes later. Kenny Miller benefited from some poor defensive play just after the break to put Patrick back in front and a late goal from Cammy Palmer secured the points. However since beating Inverness on the 28th of September, Partick have struggled to put a run together and still find themselves second bottom of the League with some indifferent performances. Three wins, five defeats and a draw plus 2 wins in the Chocolate cup and a narrow defeat of Penicuik Athletic in the Scottish Cup are the stats. A couple of really low points in that run were the 4-1 humbling from McCalls old team, get it right up ya, and an absolute 5-1 humping from Dunfermline with a 4th minute red card thrown in for good measure for Tam O'Ware. Speaking to BBC Sport after the Pars mauling, Ian McCall said: "We were very confident to come here and win but after four minutes everything changes. I think everybody was in shock, it's inexcusable."We didn't give ourselves an opportunity to win it and it was too easy for Dunfermline. I felt for the fans because it was a non-contest." Their last outing saw them come from behind to beat the inconsistent Queen of the South 2-1. Joe Cardle had pulled Thistle level after Connor Murray opened the scoring for Queens and a late Reece Cole goal nicked the points for McCall's men. How festive, goal king Cole! He's a merry olde soul apparently. Inverness are on a three game winning streak in the Championship, the latest win was a merited 2-0 victory over Ayr United in the Highlands. Superb strikes from Jordan White and a rejuvenated Miles Storey were enough to see off McCalls old side. Previous victories over Alloa and Dundee took us out of the doldrums with a virus possibly partly responsible for defeats by Arbroath and Dundee United. Not so much the fact that we were losing, but the lethargy was palpable. With all the catch up games played in midweek, the table now looks like this after 16 games. Arbroath v Dundee United Ayr United v Alloa Athletic Dundee v Dunfermline Morton v Queen of the South Partick Thistle v Inverness CT Immortal Howden Ender will be Previewing and Reporting on this game for us.......... The Magic Hat derby What is happening? Four clean sheets on the trot – Challenge Cup Semi Final, three vital wins, nine points taking us to second in the league. And there is more – Positive posts galore on CTO and not just the Happy Clappers. Are we going to have a very Merry Christmas or is the bauble going to shatter. Let’s enjoy our trip to Maryhill, let’s take something from the on-form Pars, enjoy Xmas and then gain revenge against the Smokies and enjoy a New Year that we surely could not have envisaged as the dark days of Winter brought initial gloom and doom to Inversneckie. But as the old adage goes “Let’s take one game at a time” so it is off to see the Hipsters of the West End of Glasgow. The Plastic Thistle are more unpredictable than us !! They get hammered by the Pars and then they turn up and turn over the Doonhamers in Dumfries. The one thing that you have to be envious of is the presence of a “Sugar Daddy” in the form of Lottery Winner – Colin Weir. He is the major shareholder, has a holding in the land at Firhill, is going to hand over “ownership” to a Fan Group by April 2020 and is funding a new Youth Academy. But Mr. Weir does not appear to be widely backed by the Magyar diehards and I don’t think that the potential of Jacqui Low and Alan Rough taking control is being heralded. It looks like they are putting a lot of faith in Kakay, Zanatta and Cole but are bemoaning a pedestrian back four which should be good news for us. Weir and McCall will need to dive into the transfer market and may well do in the New Year sales so we need to ensure that we take those three points back with us this weekend. Revenge is needed for the Ian McCall “first game back” defeat at Sneck in late September. That was well and truly three points chucked away and a performance only just worse than the Gayfield gutting. History would suggest that we usually take something away from Firhill and we don’t give away many goals either. Let’s hope that there is a 17-point gap between us come Saturday night. Robbo recently echoed the Seer recently and let’s hope it is an end of 2019 prophecy – John Robertson says Caley Thistle’s ability to string a run of wins together will decide if they are good enough to challenge for the Championship title. “Our problem this season is that we have not put a run together. If you look at Dundee United and Ayr they have managed to put five straight victories together. That is something that we need to do to get ourselves back in there. But I said to the lads find a way to keep winning games, pushing up the table and see where that takes us.” As for our starting 11 – well it is simply a case of “Same Again Please. To me that is not surprising given our injury list but I am surprised, albeit delighted, that our back five appear to have got back their mean defending after a leaky spell – Carson and Trafford have blended and are bossing the midfield – Keatings has returned to form and White has also shown signs of improvement and hopefully will be adding to his goal tally before 2020 as well. But the player who may well shine on Saturday is Miles Storey. The last time that I was in Maryhill we were giving him pelters – so lets hope that this time it will be adulation and applause. This is only my third away day this season, following Ayr and Alloa. Lets hope that it will bring about a hat-trick - another entertaining match and a 2-0 victory. And if we don’t I will eat his Magic Hat. Team News Sean Welsh is still out but recovering well from his broken foot. Carl Tremarco was injured last week and is a doubt. Kevin McHattie will be a ready made replacement should Tremarco not make it. Tom Walsh has missed the last few games with a hamstring problem and misses out along with James Vincent and Brad Mckay. ***Latest News*** Inverness u18 players Millar Gamble and Lewis Nicolson have been called up to the Scottish Schools FA Under 18 Centenary Shield Squad. Both players attend Culloden Academy. Congratulations to them both.
  17. Moving on up Inverness jumped back into the top four momentarily after second half goals from Aaron Doran and Tom Walsh plunged Partick further into the relegation battle. Stuart Bannigan had levelled for Partick before substitute Walsh leathered home a superb volley with ten minutes to go. Only Dundee United v Alloa on this weekend and we play the Wasps on Tuesday night to see if we can take further advantage of the situation. Should Alloa take full points from their two games in hand over Partick, then they will jump to seventh and the Harry Wraggs will slump to the bottom. It's that tight! Inverness had Tom Walsh and Kevin McHattie on the bench after injury alongside Nathan Austin with young prospect Matheus Machado joining the squad after recent impressive performances in training. Partick Thistle had Gary Harkins and Scott McDonald starting with Blair Spittal warming the bench along with Miles Storey, the former Inverness enigma. Keeper Conor Hazard was on international duty with Northern Ireland and Jamie Sneddon replaced him. A wet and miserable night met the players as they came out in front of a sparse crowd and Scott McDonald started the ball rolling in this televised game. It was ten minutes before Carl Tremarco had the first attempt, but his sneaky curler lacked power with better options available. It was a midfield battle at this point with neither side able to get to grips with the conditions. Partick forced a couple of corners and the second one produced a moment of uncertainty in the visitors defence but the ball was hacked to safety eventually from almost on the goal line. Similar followed at the other end after Charlie Trafford won a free kick, but defences prevailed. Another free kick saw the ball fired over the bar by Sean Welsh after Joe Chalmers had been fouled. Aaron Doran drew a booking from Steven Anderson as the Caley Jags player broke over the halfway line. Doran did slide the ball into the net shortly after but was offside. Most of the possession was coming from the visitors midway through the half, but chances were at a premium. Anderson headed over Mark Ridgers' bar after a corner but it was an untidy game so far and Lewis Mansell was booked for fouling Jamie McCart. The first positive action of the half saw Inverness break at speed and Chalmers brought out a good save from Jamie Sneddon at the expense of a corner. Moments later, Doran slid a teasing ball across goal but it was neither a shot or a cross and the chance went abegging. Five minutes before the break another opportunity arose in the Partick box but it was tidied up and chested back to the keeper on the goal line. Inverness almost broke the deadlock but for a superb save by Sneddon from a Brad Mckay header, the rebound being hustled out of play by a sliding Tremarco. Close, but no cigar. Sneddon was the only man keeping the eager Inverness players out and he had already produced two or three excellent stops It had been a brutal first 45 with Inverness looking the most likely to score, but Partick's robust tactics saw them go in level at the break but leading 4-0 in bookings as John Beaton pointed to the dressing rooms. The brutal fare continued at the start of the second half with Partick not shy to stop the game at the expense of free kicks, carefully taking it in turn to foul the visiting players to avoid an inevitable red card. Suddenly, they realised they could play football and it was game on as the play opened out, the tempo of the game increased dramatically and the first half was soon forgotten. Saunders did find the net but it was ruled out for offsides after a Slater volley had been deflected for a corner. Ridgers scooped up a low strike from Slater that went straight at him as Partick decided to have a go and at the other end Doran created a bit of space to fire at goal but Sneddon was untroubled as he gathered. Liam Polworth seriously needs some shooting practice as he fired his nth effort well wide of the target. McDonald must have been studying Liam and he shot twenty yards wide at the other end. Substitute Miles Storey's power and pace was causing some problems and from one burst forward he slid a dangerous ball into the box but thankfully it went behind all the forwards and was cleared. Partick were beginning to look more dangerous since the substitutions but it was Inverness that made the breakthrough. Aaron Doran raced onto a tremendous ball through the middle from Joe Chalmers and a wee dummy from big Jordan White created the space for Doran to fire behind Sneddon. Well worked and well deserved. However, it didn't take long for Partick to level as Stuart Bannigan curled a low effort behind Ridgers from the edge of the box three minutes later. Tom Walsh replaced Charlie Trafford and Coll Donaldson had to look sharp to thwart Storey as he broke forward. Substitute Blair Spittal looked as though he rattled the back edge of the post as Partick broke forward although Ridgers looked to have it covered. Inverness went back in front when Polworth chipped a ball into the box and a cheeky flick from Doran saw substitute Tom Walsh lash a left foot volley home from fifteen yards with ten minutes left. Tremendous goal by Walsh who had scored the winner last time Inverness were here with an equally stunning strike. It could have been three soon after but Sneddon did well to smother an effort from Doran as he closed in on goal. Inverness began to look more composed after getting their noses in front again and took the ball for a walk to the corners to see out the game. Coll Donaldson picked up a booking late on as Partick tried to surge forward but Inverness held firm for all three points in a deserved win at Firhill. Aaron Doran was deserving of his Man of the Match award and he was ably backed up by the fleet footed Jordan White (not a phrase I use often so enjoy it), a wonderful assist for the opening goal by the big striker. Coll Donaldson held the defence together and Tom Walsh's goal was simply stunning. This is not a win to be scoffed at with Partick battling for points to avoid the drop. Our own Stirling Observer saw it like this.......... Was a very intriguing game, conditions were difficult in the first half but we seemed to deal with it much better and were more confident on the ball. Whilst we were the better team we were too slow moving the ball. We made two decent chances in the last 5 mins of the half. Second half the conditions calmed and McDonald starting dropping deep more and more, when they brought on storey his running caused us a bit of danger and opened the game up. All three goals were excellent. The final goal killed Partick and they visibly gave up after it. Think we deserved to win but it was a hard fought one. Thought everyone played their part. Playing Chalmers wide means his natural instinct in the check back or run into the middle and not go beyond the opposition defence like Doran does. Whilst Chalmers did well it harms out forward opportunities. It's harsh to drop Chalmers or Trafford but think it's for the greater good to get Walsh back into the starting 11. Special mentions to Doran, Welsh and White. More reaction and footage to follow........... Inverness boss John Robertson said on BBC SPORT: "It was a great first goal; great ball through by Joe Chalmers and a beautiful step-over from Jordan White, and the finish by Aaron Doran. "But then we fell asleep, Thistle upped the tempo and got their equaliser. We weathered the storm and got another brilliant finish. It was a deserved three points. "The next few weeks are a big ask but we showed tonight we have the players to handle it." If you can access BBC SPORT, here's the winner from Walsh............. If not, try this............. Aye Tom, she's a belter Robbo was pleased.............. And here is the man of the moment, Walsh the Walloper............. Date: 22/03/2019 Venue: Firhill, Glasgow. Attendance: 2149 Referee: John Beaton Partick Thistle: 1 Lineup: Sneddon, Elliott (Cardle 72), Penrice, Anderson, Bannigan, McDonald, Harkins (Spittal 61), Slater, Mansell (Storey 55), McMillian, Saunders. Subs (not used): Lennox, McGinty, Doolan, Fitzpatrick.. Scorers: Bannigan (68) Booked: Anderson (23), Mansell (33), Saunders (43), McMillan (45) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 2 Lineup: Ridgers, B Mckay, Donaldson, McCart, Tremarco, Chalmers, Polworth, Trafford (Walsh 69), Welsh, Doran (Rooney 86), White. Subs (not used): C Mackay, McCauley, Austin, McHattie, Machado. Scorers: Doran (65), Walsh (81) Booked: Trafford (62), Donaldson (90+2) Sent Off: none a
  18. Firhill for Thrills Final trip to Firhill for the season coming up on Friday night in the Championship, and if you can't get along to the game, fear not for BBC Scotland will be covering the game live with the action kicking off at 19:05. It won't be our last run to Glasgow though as we have a Scottish Cup semi-final to play at Hampden on April13th with a 12:15 kick-off. Who knew! Anyway, this is League business, a totally different beast. ICT Supporters Travel Club The ICT Supporters Travel Club are running a bus to this match and the leaving times are as follows: Leaving the Caley Club: 1.45PM Leaving the Caledonian Stadium: 2PM Book on through their Facebook page or call/text 07462 218717 Unfortunately, our off-field antics are fast becoming known as the 'banter years'. The AGM has just occurred and judging by the sound of silence coming from the board, it's more Disturbed than Simon & Garfunkel. In fact it could even be a Bridge over troubled waters. Chief executive officer Yvonne Crook gone. Academy director Danny MacDonald gone. Youth coach and head of recruitment Ronnie Duncan gone. Club Secretary Jim Falconer going................ With rumours that we are heading towards a one million pound debt, what is going on inside the Boardroom and what is going to be done about it? It's at this stage of the season that there are no such things as an easy game with teams either looking for promotion or trying to avoid relegation. This is when teams in the lower half tighten their defences and battle for everything. A drop into league two would be a disaster for most clubs. At the top end, it seems to be all over bar the shouting, but United made it more interesting with a win over County in midweek. As it stands at the moment, we are just outside the play-off's albeit with a home game in hand over the Pars, (Alloa). In our absence last weekend, Dunfermline were supposed to take on Dundee United at East End Park but the weather decimated the Championship fixtures. Our realistic goal is to make the top four although it's well within the grasp of Dunfermline and ourselves to topple Ayr should they continue to falter. Incidentally, out of our grasp but, Dundee United closed the gap at the top to eight points after beating Ross County at Tannadice thanks to an early headed goal from Calum Butcher. With County playing in the fizzy pop final this weekend, there is the potential for that gap to be further reduced. Getting interesting up there. Partick's last game saw them in a relegation threatened tussle with Falkirk, the only game to beat the weather and it ended in stalemate at 1-1. Scott McDonald put Partick ahead but Ian McShane squared it for the Bairns. Partick have also bowed out of the Scottish Cup, narrowly losing 2-1 in the replay against our next opponents, Hearts. The previous games this season will show that we hold the upper hand, just. A 3-2 home win back in September was followed by a barely deserved 1-0 win at Firhill in November, Tom Walsh nicking the winner in the 71st minute and Mark Ridgers making a penalty save. Partick came North at the beginning of February and first half goals from loan signing Steven Anderson and Aiden Fitzpatrick was just enough for them to edge the game 2-1 despite a late Darren McCauley goal. Here's the Walsh goal last time at Firhill The only good to come out of last weekends downtime is that our injured players had more recovery time. So Tom Walsh, Anthony McDonald, Kevin McHattie and Daniel Mckay let's be havin you, we have a Scottish Cup Semi coming up! Young Brazilian wing back Matheus Machado has shown up well in the Turkish training camp and will be included in the squad. Also returning after injury are Tom Walsh and Kevin McHattie. Partick's recent get out of jail signing 35 year old Scott McDonald has been doing his best to help Partick beat the drop and scored his third goal in six appearances. His experience will present a danger to our stuttering promotion aspirations. Gary Harkins is another experienced player drafted in to take the strain and he has skill in abundance. In our favour, they still have the misfiring Miles Storey. Here's what Partick Manager Gary Caldwell had to say to BBC Sport after the Falkirk game............. "That was frustrating because we played better than Falkirk and should have been more than one goal in front before losing a sloppy goal. "We were the only team trying to win the game in the second half, but we created our own problems. There was a lack of cutting edge from us and a lack of killing a team off when were were on top." Ooft, sounds familiar Gary........... If you like a wee flutter, our partnership with FansBet can offer you something. Just click on FansBet to get started. "Remember to select CaleyThistleOnline when you register and you’ll be helping us support ICT fan causes." FansBet are partners with Supporters Direct Scotland and already have many impressive stories of giving back to and empowering fans, ranging from funding away travel, share purchases, backing safe standing projects and many more. You can read some of FansBet’s Giving Back stories on their blog at https://blog.fansbet.com/fansbet-giving-back/partners/fan/ Draw with goals 3/1.............. fair bet! Always remember to adopt safe gambling and responsible policies.
  19. Walsh stunner stuns Jags Tom Walsh scored the only goal of the game with a brilliant solo goal to earn the Caley Jags all three points. Inverness had Mark Ridgers to thank for keeping another clean sheet as he superbly saved a Blair Spittal penalty with 15 minutes to go. Lest we forget................... John Robertson made a couple of enforced changes from the side that started the Highland derby against Ross County. Out went the disgraced Riccardo Calder who has had his contract terminated and Shaun Rooney has ligament damage and will be out for some time. Carl Tremarco is still out injured. That meant a revamp at the back with Brad Mckay moving to right back, Joe Chalmers to left back and Jamie McCart teaming up with Coll Donaldson at the heart of the defence. Charlie Trafford was drafted into midfield. Gary Caldwell had former Inverness striker Miles Storey on from the start with Jai Quitongo and Kris Doolan backing him up. The impressive Cammy Bell was the man hoping to keep Inverness out, with midfield powerhouse Blair Spittal a key player for the Harry Wraggs. A crowd of around two and a half thousand observed an impeccable silence to remember the fallen before Partick got the match underway, Inverness defending the Glasgow end of Firhill Stadium. Immortal Howden Ender was our man at the match and here is his report.............. Didn’t we have a lovely day the day went to Partick. Well I just about got there and no thanks to yet another Rail strike. But it was well worth it to watch a sublime Tom Walsh curler hit the back of a rain soaked net in the 71st minute of what I can only describe as a turgid affair. Pre match we went “Into the Deep” and I enjoyed a scuba dive with Red Card, RIG, the Moffat Bros and a certain Mr. Oliver. Nice to actually listen to plaudits for the backroom staff and confirmation that a lot is actually been done behind the scenes. Never saw or heard a vulture all day. Anyway to the game and probably a reason to make a more extensive introduction. In a way we were lucky to get away with three points. Partick had the more clear cut chances BUT they looked poor and never really looked like scoring, even from the penalty spot. It isn’t hard to cheer on Caley when you are bombarded with “Come on Thistle / Jags” shouts and chants !! And a paltry crowd of just over 2500 at the ”Energy Check Stadium” just summed up the fall of the Magyars of Firhill. A closed main stand and the barren hill at one end was a rather pitiful sight – especially when the heavens opened. It was another disciplined and well organized defensive display that brought home the points. To be honest we never really tested Cammy Bell until the goal and although it was a sweet strike Bell did appear to flounder – and perhaps we should have had more than four strikes on target from 15 attempts. The first half was rather tedious. It was an open affair but neither side showed that killer touch. It looks like neither outfit have that goal scoring forward. Nice but ineffective tippy-tappy stuff but always either a poor last touch or a failed through ball. Plastic Whistle probably had the best opportunities when Ridgers saved from Quitongo and Doolan fluffed a half chance. We appeared to move up a gear at the start of the second half and Oakley squandered a couple of chances from corner kick ploys. And then Thistle IMHO made a major error in hooking Miles Storey who had evidently been buoyed by facing his old team but his magic hat vanished and Gary Calwell displayed some of his tactical magic once again. And then on 71 minutes TOM WALSH successfully pulled a rabbit out of the hat. Picking up the ball on the left, neatly cut inside and curled a beauty via a sweeter right foot. But it was only three minutes later when we could have fecked it up. IMHO it was never a penalty but officials have a tendency to make such rewards when the ball accidentally is fired at a defenders flailing arm. But Ridgers stood tall and showered himself with a Calderesque (Jim by the way) slap off the crossbar, through himself to his left and tapped the ball round the post. He is definitely “One of our own”. And the Plastic boys then went all out to save the game but Ridgers, Coll and McCart stood firm and were abetted by the substitute Fitzpatrick of Partick who missed a 1-1 chance and never even tested Ridgers. So our unbeaten run continued and Thistle slumped to their seventh consecutive defeat. And the relief from our players was clearly displayed as to a man plus Robbo they hailed the travelling support. SMILEYMOMETER RIDGERS ? ? ?? ?– I suspect that many will award him MotM. Well to me he was a very close second. But he has come on leaps and bounds and must be as good a custodian as anyone else in Scotland. Perhaps Tin-Tin Mcleish should have a wee gander. McKAY ? ? ?– Well he basically did his job defensively but rarely went forward apart from dead ball situations. DONALDSON ? ? ?? ?– MotM with a superb display. Made one bad error but more than made up for it. His calmness and distribution was a joy to behold. McCART ? ? ?? - Now that was a very solid looking central defence pairing. McCart was more of a get rid / hoof type performance but almost as effective as Coll. CHALMERS ? ? ?– Has not played at full back for some time but did a good job. Evidently was thinking defence and like Brad rarely foraged forward. POLWORTH ? ? ? - Well he ran and ran and ran. Clearly designated as the play maker but his good touches and good deliveries were almost the same ratio as the flawed ones. But he really did not have many moving targets. Perhaps Doran should be taking more of the dead ball ploys. TRAFFORD ? ? ?– Stood his ground, didn’t make any mistakes but had a quiet 90 minutes. WELSH – ? ? ?Did a good job as the defending midfielder. Clearly thinks a good game and was leading others around him. DORAN – ? ? ? not sure exactly where he was playing. Perhaps it was supposed to have been as a Number 10 but it looked more like an extra midfielder to me. I far prefer him playing out wider. WALSH – ? ? ??Apart from the goal he looked the man most likely to produce chances. The only flaw was his reluctance to take on defenders and play the through ball 20-30 yards out instead of hitting the bye line. OAKLEY – ? ? Basically up front on his Jack Jones and really should have scored from the one heading chance that came his way. WHITE – Never really got a chance to show anything as he came on when we were under the cosh. But perhaps he should have started as his height may well have been more effective. And we only had four outfield players on the bench including McGregor and Harper. So three points was more deserving for a depleted squad. So lets roll on to Dumbfries and plunder another three points from the Doon Hammers. Here's a wee summary from Caley Stan.. Typical performance from us. Solid, organised, lacking creativity, but full of spirit. A real moment of magic from Tom Walsh and an excellent penalty save from Ridgers won us the game. McCart and Donaldson played very well but it looked like Coll was carrying an injury for much of the second half. Polworth also had a good game - great to see him finding pockets of space in wide and deep areas and using his ability to keep the ball - he's growing as a player. And Ridgers was excellent throughout, giving it big licks at the end too. What a season he's having. Walsh's superb goal and Mark's brilliant penalty save............. Robbo aftermatch at Partick. Here's Tom Walsh talking post match............. Date: 10/11/2018 Venue: Firhill, Partick Attendance: 2509 Referee: Steven Kirkland Partick Thistle: 0 Lineup: Bell; Elliott, Penrice, Keown, McGinty, Spittal, Bannigan, Doolan, Slater, Storey (Fitzpatrick 66), Quitongo Subs (not used): Storer, McCarthy, Wilson, Sneddon, Scobbie, Ntambwe Scorers: none Booked: Slater (69), Quitongo (78) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 1 Lineup: Ridgers; Mckay, McCart, Donaldson, Chalmers, Doran, Polworth, Trafford, Welsh, Walsh, Oakley (White 68) Subs (not used): Hoban; Harper, McGregor, Austin Scorers: Walsh (71) Booked: Trafford (39), Chalmers (90+2) Sent Off: none a
  20. Thistle be the day Draw specialists Inverness head to Firhill on Saturday to take on Partick Thistle in the Championship. Last weeks draw against Ross County was the seventh in a row and that extended the unbeaten run to a record twenty-three games. It wasn't for the want of trying in the derby but few watching could be disappointed in the manner with which we applied ourselves and we were unfortunate not to take all three points. Caley Stan has checked out the opposition and he has this informative preview for us........... On my way home from Waitrose the other day, I stopped for a coffee in Artisan Roast Stockbridge and quietly pondered some way to construct an opening to this preview that included a disparaging reference to Partick Thistle fans’ middle-class, hipster, bohemian, pseudo-intellectual pretensions, when who should appear out of the Mellis Cheesemonger sporting the famous red and yellow hoops, but The Hoff himself. Beyond parody. Hassellhoff has previously sought to justify his support for Thistle on the grounds that they represent something beyond geographical or tribal identity, and they must have picked up a few fans over the years by simple virtue of not being Rangers or Celtic. But with attendances at Firhill starting to sink below the 3,000 mark, I suspect we won’t see many of those folk tomorrow. I might be wrong, but I assume most Partick Thistle fans, like the rest of us, identify with the club because they grew up near the ground, or their dad came from round there. One thing’s for sure, they’re not glory hunters. With just two major honours to show in a 142-year history (the 1921 Scottish Cup, and the 1971 League Cup), they haven’t been in a major final for sixty years. This is particularly surprising when you consider that they played in the top league for most of the 20th Century, never experiencing a sustained period in the second tier until the late 1980’s. History of the Fixture Won 11 Drawn 10 Lost 13 The teams first met in the opening game of the 1998/99 Second Division season. The Maryhill club were playing in the third tier for the first time in their history, and we came into it off the back of a mid-table debut season at that level. It was a tense affair with one moment of true quality on the hour mark when a delightful through ball from Charlie Christie was buried from an acute angle by Barry Wilson. We rode our luck for the reminder of the game, Jim Calder making a number of decent saves, and departed to a stream of Highlandphobic abuse from a home support whose club had just reached a new low. Their true nadir was to come later in that season when they avoided another relegation by a single point. Meanwhile, we were promoted comfortably, winning 3 of the 4 games against them in the process. It was another 2 years before we saw Partick again, and by the end of that 2001/02 season we were glad to see the back of them as they ruthlessly re-established themselves as Scotland’s premier Thistle, winning 3 out of the 4 league games with our solitary victory coming after they had already won the First Division. We also played them in both cups, coming out on top in the League Cup 2nd Round in Inverness on penalties after a 3-3 draw – Barry Robson notching a double and scoring the winning penalty. But it was the was Scottish Cup Quarter-Final of that season that will be remembered most of all. These were the biggest games the fixture has seen, with a crowd of 8,700 taking in the 2-2 draw at Firhill and over 5,000 attending the replay despite the SFA’s controversial decision to stage the game underwater. Maryhill Mod Scott Paterson scored the only goal, a decent free-kick in fairness, though I’d like to see Nicky Walker’s starting position. After a brief skirmish in the Court of Session in the summer of 2004, the clubs reconvened on the pitch for the 4th Round of the 2005/06 Scottish Cup. The tables had turned once again, we were enjoying a second season in the SPL while they were back in the third tier after successive relegations. They came up to Inverness and kicked us off the park before Mark Roberts scored an underserved equaliser with a 93rd minute penalty that he had dived to win. The replay was turgid, on TV, and we went out on penalties. The next meeting, another 4th Round Scottish Cup tie in 2009, saw a very different Caley team run out 3-0 home winners – Felipe Morais scoring a double. That stands out as a very strange result in retrospect – Partick were having a decent season in the First Division, and we were coming into it off the back of six straight league defeats – it was the week before ‘shoes off’, a seventh defeat at Hamilton, and the final departure of Craig Brewster. The following season we shared a league for the first time in eight years, losing the first two and winning the second two in line with our form that year, and Partick joined us in the top flight for four years in 2013. Over that spell we won just two of the thirteen league ties between the sides, despite finishing above them in three of the four seasons, and, of course, knocking them out in the 5th Round of the 2014/15 Scottish Cup……. Teams and Tactics Partick Thistle fans seem to have given up trying to analyse performances recently and spend their time online howling for players to be removed/imprisoned/murdered etc. so it’s been tricky to work out how they line up. From what I can gather, Caldwell’s been playing some kind of 4-5-1. The persistence with a misfiring Miles Storey has been a particular source of frustration, while a recent injury to Kris Doolan has given opportunities to Jai Quitongo and our old friend Andrea Mutumbo, with neither making much of an impact. Robbo has persisted with the 4-2-3-1, although he’s always keen to bring on a second striker and go more direct when we’re not creating. With Oakley and Austin now fit, he may find it increasingly tempting to return to the shape that he started the season with. The termination of Riccardo Calder’s contract and the ongoing absence of Carl Tremarco with a thigh injury leaves us without an experienced left back for tomorrow’s game. Joe Chalmers has played there before, but it wasn’t pretty, and Cameron Harper’s first team experience is limited to a farcical four-minute appearance at East End Park following a team-sheet error. Robbo has stated in the past that he feels Harper is ready to step in if needed, but in the aftermath of Calder’s dismissal this week, he suggested that the club may look to recruit a free agent to cover the position. Shaun Rooney has not recovered from the knock that forced him off in the derby. The Riccardo Calder situation has been dealt with by the club and they released This Statement. In effect Riccardo has left the building. The Official Site has a Preview with more detail and Robbo chat..... League Form Thistle: LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL Thistle: DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD Prediction: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
  21. Gary has the final say. Inverness snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat at Firhill thanks to a last second Gary Warren header. It could prove to be a crucial point for Foran's men as late goals in other games around the country kept us in touch at the foot of the table. Kris Doolan looked to have given a dominant Partick all three points but Warren answered his critics in the best possible fashion. Immortal Howden Ender ventured North to the bistro's and wine bars of Maryhill and has this report for us. Read on. Gary Warren's last-minute, last touch, injury time (offside ) header saved our bacon in Maryhill. Great sliding celebration and 194 Invernessians went ballistic once again. We don't usually have any luck at Firhill but we got dollops of it yesterday. We didn't deserve a point but WTF Kris Doolan's 10th goal of the season looked to have earned Plastic Whistle their fourth straight Premiership win. They actually looked like a good footballing team but more like a Spanish outfit than from the hipster West End of Glesga. But good old Gary Warren nodded home at the far post for the Highlanders, who had a first-half strike from Henri Anier disallowed with Billy Mckay standing offside. We had the first effort of the match when Greg Tansey fired a 25-yard shot wide and he followed that up with 3 or 4 others which all went off target, other than a tame back-pass free kick. But at least he had a go !!. But that was their our only real threat as the Maryhill Magyars totally dominated possession and we either hoofed or gave them the ball back. "Musthavea Walrus look-alike, sound alike" was proving to be a handful and got the home fans MOM. Warren was the man to mark him but he was played wide right of a three man defence !! Early injuries to Abdul Osman and Lawless should have helped us to but feckin didn't. Lawless hadn't even be replaced and they were down to 10 men when Anier produced his only "effort" of the day and we thought that we had stolen an equaliser. But the flag went up for offside against wee Billy. Need to see the highlights BUT if he didn't touch it that would have been mightily harsh. It would have been great to have gone in 1-0 up but 0-0 was undeserved but happy to take it. But in the 56th minute the DOOLAN inevitably put the Whistle ahead and many of us braced ourselves fer a Hamilton away repeat. Thankfully our shaky defence all of a sudden began to look resolute or did the Whistle sit back on their Laurel or Hardy's. And even the shaky Fon Williams looked safer and produced what I can only describe as a "World Cup save" and it probably also saved our season. AND THEN two minutes into the two minute allotted stoppage time Gary Warren rose at the back post (looking suspiciously offside ) to head in the equaliser from Billy King's cross. 194 Invernessians applauded the sliding celebration an "oh, oh Gary Warren filled the Maryhill air and many Plastic Whistle supporters were either on their way oot or had feckin left already. FON WILLIAMS Still looked shaky and I shudder when anything goes at him but his second half performance literally saved our bacon. WARREN Played on the right of a three man defence for ALL of the game. Give me a break but our saviour once again. LAING Did OK in the central position. He, like many others, didn't seem to understand our system but he stood his ground and can only get better. McCART Bet he never witnessed anything like this at Parkdread !! But as with Laing he stood his ground. BRAD MACKAY Played in yet another position - like a right sided wing back. And he got plenty of space and plenty of the ball. He did OK but he simply didn't know how to play in that position. RAVEN Played in the left sided wing back position but he popped up all over the place. What a gut-busting performance. Eat, Sleep, Raven, Repeat - MOM by a feckin country mile. TANSEY Now that was more like the Tansey of old. Like Raven he was clearly motoring at 100%. Only player who looked comfortable on the ball, passed successfully, looked to shoot and very close to MOM. POLWORTH I thought that he put in a lot of effort and was clearly the runner fer Tansey and Vigurs. He did not deserve to be substituted and appears to have become the whipping boy. VIGURS Best footballer in the team - Most skillful player in the squad - One of my faves - BUT if I could have got on to the pitch and past the stewards I would have slapped him. He feckin gave up. DISGRACEFUL and should have been hooked instead of Polworth. But he still managed to get another yellow card !! ANIER Sorry but why did he even start ? He looks like the mercenary that he is. Except he is sticking his head in the feckin sand rather than fighting. BILLY Mckay If there ever was a player to feel sorry for - enuff said !! Took King on in the 62nd minute and played him where ? Answers on a postcard please. Took Cole and Boden on in the 81st minute for the ineffectual Vigurs and Anier. Probably saved us the point and we pressed Whistle. But Cole in central midfield !! Richie Foran said : "It's a huge point today. (No **** Sherlock). I thought it was a very close game (what !!), but we've played against, for me, a top-four side today (what!!) . They are an excellent team, strong aggressive, can pass the ball and have goal scorers (what!!), so it's a big point. I always believed we'd score (what!!) and we've scored a lot of late goals this season. If you put balls in the box you've got a chance (what!! - when!!). It was a great leap [by Gary Warren] and a great finish. It was a good ball hung up by Billy King. "I'm delighted for the players and we're going in now to two home games. Results have gone our way, so it sets it up for a cracking game of football next week against Ross County." OK lets sum up in a nice, positive manner. We got out of the Jail End yesterday. Any of us would have taken a point. Can see the reason for playing 3-5-2 but why not with King and Cole wide ? Or why didn't we change it earlier ? We were terrible for most of the 92 minutes and 33 seconds. With Draper and Tremarco back and getting back to a well worked system then we can get 6 out of 6 points at the Dump. But I don't feel comfortable singing "WE ARE STAYING UP " YET Match footage from SPFL website. will be available soon. Date: 11/03/17 Venue: Firhill Stadium, Glasgow Attendance: 3082 Referee: Willie Collum Partick Th: 1 Lineup: Cerny, Dumbuya, Booth, Lindsay, Osman (Amoo 33), Doolan, Erskine (Elliott 89), Lawless (Azeez 43), Barton, Keown, Edwards Subs (not used): Ridgers, Nisbet, McCarthy, Lamont Scorers: Doolan (56) Booked: Amoo (83) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 1 Lineup: Fon-Williams, Raven, Warren, Polworth (King 62), Vigurs (Cole 81), McCart, W.McKay, Tansey, Laing, B.McKay, Anier (Boden 81) Subs (not used): Hoban, McNaughton, Ebbe, Fisher Scorers: Warren (92) Booked: Vigurs (21), McCart (45) Sent Off: none a
  22. Six-Pointers from here on in! It's all six pointers from here on in as we travel to Firhill to take on Partick Thistle in the Premiership looking for more points to add to the rather unexpected but nonetheless welcome four we gleaned from Hearts and the Rangers recently. Despite those fantastic results, other clubs have not been so keen to help us out and we still find ourselves at the foot of the table, two points behind Hamilton. We suffered a setback in our last outing even before we kicked off against Celtic. Hamilton never read the script properly and defeated Aberdeen on the Friday night to leapfrog us in the table. With County getting a bonus win at Tynecastle on the Saturday and Killie losing to Motherwell on Sunday, Inverness were the big losers going down 0-4 to a rampant Celtic. After a battling first 45, we were the architects of our own downfall, gifting goals like they were going out of fashion. But enough of the doom and gloom. The good news is that we don't have to play Celtic again and our fate is in our own hands over the next eleven games, the most important in our history. There were plenty of positives against Celtic despite the crushing scoreline although they were undone by some calamitous errors that verged on comedy. We were never going to win this game, but after gifting a second and third goal our task was well beyond us and we had to take our punishment as a result. Partick have been one of the success stories of this season and we go down to Firhill with a less than impressive record there in recent years. Only four wins in our seventeen visits, one of which was a Scottish Cup game in 2015, that was a good year if I recall correctly. Others were a First Division game in 2010, our first visit in 1998 and one at the tail end of last season when the campaign was done and dusted (1-4). That was our best ever result against the Harry Wragg's Partick have been a bit of a bogey team for us although overall the stats will show that victories are fairly even. Historically, home advantage seems to prevail and at Firhill we have six defeats, four wins and seven draws. Our last encounter was at Inverness where the sides played out an unspectacular 0-0 draw. The first game at Partick ended in defeat for Inverness by 2-0, Foran's first game in charge. Goals by Chris Erskine and David Amoo gave Partick an untroubled victory. We all knew this early in the season that scoring goals would not be our strong point as we struggled to create anything. What we did not foresee was that our normally reliable defence would be even worse; and here we are today, bottom of the league on merit. Partick's last game saw them limp out of the Scottish Cup in a rather tame affair at the hands of Aberdeen, but in the League they have made their way under the radar into the top-six, ten points above Inverness. Goals for are similar, but once again it's our defensive record that is the main issue. Richie Foran spoke to the BBC after his first game in charge at Firhill back in August. I wonder what he thinks of his comments now? And who is Scott Boden? "It's only early. You don't become a bad team overnight. We're going to stay positive. "I thought we had poor imagination in the final third. With the quality that we have up there I expect a little bit more but we didn't get enough help around Scott Boden. "(It's a) disappointing result but I can't be too hard on the lads. They've been magnificent since I've come in. "I think we're in for a good season. We've got the quality. We just need to work on a few bits and pieces." Alan Archibald has doubts over Danny Devine and Christie Elliott after the pair sustained knocks during last weekend's defeat by Aberdeen. On-loan Crawley winger Jason Banton (groin) could be involved but long-term absentees Sean Welsh (foot), Ryan Scully (shoulder), Stuart Bannigan and Gary Fraser (both knee) remain out. Richie Foran hopes to have Jake Mulraney back after he missed the Celtic game. He will be needed as Aaron Doran is reported to be out for the season after undergoing surgery on his knee. The operation was not on the same knee that has been a problem over the last two seasons. Carl Tremarco will be out, either through injury or suspension and Ross Draper is suspended for one match, he will be a big miss. Josh Meekings and Lewis Horner are long term casualties but Kev McNaughton is making good progress and was on the bench for the Celtic game. Ryan Esson has returned to training and Horner is ready to begin legwork. Other crucial fixtures over this coming weekend that will have a bearing on our destiny. Hearts v Hamilton, Aberdeen v Motherwell and County v Killie tm4tj prediction:- Eleven games left to save our season. Celtic apart, we have shown some willingness to try and stay in this League with credible draws against Dundee and Hearts and an excellent win over Rangers. Unfortunately other results have meant that we are back on the bottom and we will remain there unless we show a real desire to fight for everything. In Billy Mckay we have one man who can almost work miracles, but he needs help and Jake Mulraney if fit could be his provider, with King on the opposite flank. Our creaking back four have been shuffled more than a deck of cards at a Las Vegas casino, through injury, suspension and parent club ruling. We need our best players on the park and they need to be performing at the top level. Owain Fon Williams has been sloppy lately, but he can perform much better as he has done on occasion, let's hope his confidence is not shattered after that Celtic debacle as we have no suitable cover for him with Esson not fully fit. Partick hold the Indian Sign over us, but I'm hopeful of at least a draw if not a rare win at Firhill. Beware the scalded cat!
  23. What is it with Partick Thistle? Richie Foran's side lost their first big test going down 2-0 at Partick in the seasons opener after a rather insipid display which disappointed the away support given the promise offered in the League Cup showing, where goals were in abundance. Goals in either half from Chris Erskine and David Amoo were enough to give Partick the points as Inverness rarely threatened and they can have no complaints about the three points staying in Glasgow. Alternative Maryhill was on hand to witness Foran's first Firhill visit as manager. New season, new manager, new signings, same old story for Inverness Caley Thistle at Firhill. This was a disappointing season-opener that showed, once again, that there are few managers better than Alan Archibald at setting up his teams to contain and nullify the ICT threat, and provided a useful reminder to those of us buoyed with enthusiasm after the last two Betfred Cup Games that there is a significant difference between lower-league and Premiership sides, that even the most promising new signings will need time to adjust to their new surroundings and new opponents, and that we should probably temper our more extravagant predictions about top-three or top-two finishes. Richie Foran opted to continue with the starting line-up that had beaten Dunfermline and Arbroath so convincingly, which meant a back five of Fon Williams, Raven, McNaughton, Warren and Tremarco, Polworth and Tansey in the centre of midfield with Mulraney and King on the wings, and Vigurs playing an advanced midfield role behind the lone striker Boden. The decision to continue with a winning side was understandable, but the consequent omission of Ross Draper, a player proven to be highly comfortable and effective at this level, probably contributed to Caley Thistle’s inability to seize control of this match at any point. Draper took a place on the bench, alongside Aaron Doran. The opening ten minutes set the tone for much of what was to follow: rather than taking the game to the ICT players, Partick seemed content to allow them possession, but closed down and marshalled attackers very effectively whenever they got into the final third, doubling up on Mulraney to make it difficult for him to exert any influence, and maintaining a solid back line that restricted Caley Thistle, in the main, to shots from distance. An early example of this was when King cut in from the left and fired a shot a couple of feet over from about twenty yards out; later in the half Mulraney gained a rare bit of space and made a similar attempt coming in from the opposite wing, but his shot ballooned high over. It also became clear in the opening exchanges that this was going to be a stop-start game characterised by niggly fouls, not all of which would have been given by a less whistle-happy referee than Nick Walsh. On twenty-four minutes, ICT were given one of their best opportunities of the half when Billy King was brought down on the edge of the box after a tricky run at the Partick defence. In attempting to place the ball to the left of the keeper, however, Greg Tansey succeeded only in sending it off the wall for a corner, which was dealt with well by the Glasgow side. Partick then had their own chance when Liam Lindsay got on the end of a David Amoo free kick into the Caley Thistle penalty area, but his downward header went wide of Owain Fon Williams’ right hand post. The opening goal came during a period where ICT had enjoyed one of their best spells of possession without being able to do much with it, and while the goal was an excellent example of fluid counter-attacking football, it also raised questions about the Inverness players’ willingness or ability to get close to and close down their opponents as effectively as the Partick players were able to do. During the slick passing move that culminated in Chris Erskine receiving Steven Lawless’ pass on the right-hand corner of the ICT penalty area and bending a fine left-foot shot past Fon Williams, Vigurs, Raven, Polworth and McNaughton all failed to challenge effectively, either diving in too late or not committing at all. Obviously this will happen at times throughout the season, but it was a little worrying to see the team cut open quite so easily by a side that hadn’t looked particularly threatening going forward, and is something that the manager must hope can be tightened up before his players come up against faster and trickier teams. As half time approached, Caley Thistle had a couple of half-chances to even up the scoreline. A diagonal ball from Liam Polworth found Boden approaching the right-hand corner of the penalty area, but the ICT striker sent a weak shot across the goal and well wide. A few moments later, Iain Vigurs worked space on the left hand edge of the area, but instead of shooting elected to play in Tremarco, who seemed to stumble and failed to make meaningful contact with the ball. Half time: Partick Thistle 1, Inverness Caledonian Thistle 0 The second half started similarly to the first, with Caley Thistle allowed plenty of the ball but unable to make their possession count, despite winning six free kicks in the opening ten minutes of the half. The best effort for ICT during this period was a shot from twenty yards by Greg Tansey, after being played in by Liam Polworth, which flew wide of the Partick keeper’s right hand post. Caley Thistle’s frustration began to show, with Polworth getting agitated over the referee’s failure to book one of the Partick players after yet another foul, and it was perhaps this frustration, coupled with having been robbed of possession far too easily, which led to Iain Vigurs’ unnecessarily clumsy challenge on Sean Welsh, and thus to the goal which finished the match as a contest. Welsh took the free kick himself, floating it over the ICT defence towards the head of Abdul Osman. His header back into the Caley Thistle penalty area was helped on by Liam Lindsay, and David Amoo forced the ball over the line from a yard out, with the Inverness defenders outmuscled and floundering. Foran gave his chosen starting eleven five more minutes to try to play themselves back into the match before making his first change. Perhaps a little surprisingly, although he had had a largely ineffective afternoon, it was Jake Mulraney who made way for Ross Draper, with Polworth taking up Mulraney’s berth on the right wing. Draper’s commitment to the cause was exemplified by a thunderous fifty-fifty challenge with Liam Lindsay which led to the Partick player having to be substituted, but this change, and the subsequent appearance of Fisher for Vigurs, did little to improve the Caley Thistle performance and nothing to influence the eventual result. If anything, the final half hour was ICT’s least effective or urgent passage of play, despite being in a position where they should have been chasing the game, with a weak Vigurs shot and a Fisher header that was easily saved being the only chances of note. In the end, Partick Thistle comfortably deserved the victory for their superior defensive organisation and their more clinical play going forward. Full time: Partick Thistle 2, Inverness Caledonian Thistle 0 The post-match comments from Richie Foran struck the right note, acknowledging the disappointingly flat nature of the team’s attacking play while vowing to remain patient and praising the players for their commitment so far. However, with two important games to come this week, against in-form Alloa in the Betfred Cup, and then against local rivals Ross County, who had a similarly disappointing league curtain-raiser yesterday, it will be interesting to see what sort of response Foran gets from his players and whether he will make immediate changes to his starting line-up. One thing is clear: it is far, far too early to make any meaningful predictions, whether they are of glorious success or impending doom. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Venue: Firhill, kick off 15:00, Saturday 6th August 2016 Partick Thistle - 2 (Erskine 36) (Amoo 60) X1: Cerny, Booth, Welsh, Lindsay (Azeez 78), Osman, Amoo, Doolan, Erskine (Edwards 72), Lawless, Devine, Gordon. Subs: Scully, Azeez, Wilson, Edwards, McDaid, Syme, Pogba Inverness CT - 0 X1: Fon Williams, Raven, Tremarco, McNaughton, Warren, Polworth, Vigurs (Fisher 76), Mulraney (Draper 66), Tansey, Boden, King. Subs: Mackay, Draper, Doran, Brown, Horner, Fisher, Sutherland Referee: Nick Walsh Crowd: 2943
  24. Matchday One at Firhill Saturday afternoon in Maryhill, under the twisted leer of Kingsley and assorted Buckied freeloaders on the canal towpath, sees the first match of Inverness Caledonian Thistle’s 2016-17 Scottish Premiership campaign, and another new chapter in the club’s already rich history well and truly underway. From the opening paragraph, you might have detected that Altenative Maryhill is the author of this Preview. Opinion among the Inverness support was divided, sometimes fiercely, over John Hughes’ recruitment, tactics and management style last season, but while his eventual departure was mourned by some and celebrated by others, the majority of ICT supporters seemed to welcome the announcement of club captain Richie Foran as his successor. Naturally, however, questions were raised: would Foran still be too close to the players to command the respect of his squad in his new role? Would he have the profile, contacts and scouting network to attract a decent quality of player to the club? Would he be able to develop a playing style that was more attractive and effective than the latterly much-criticised, but overall largely successful, approach adopted by Hughes? Would his lack of experience tell in periods of adversity and increased pressure? Was the board’s awarding of a four-year management contract to an existing employee simply the cheap option? Obviously, these are very early days, and it will be some time before we can say confidently that all these questions have been answered, but the signs so far are very promising indeed. Foran in his early interviews, while acknowledging the benefits Hughes’ playing philosophy had brought the players, promised a return to a more direct, attacking style of football which would yield more chances and goals, and this commitment was reflected in the signings of striker Scott Boden from Newport and winger Jake Mulraney from Queen’s Park Rangers on three- and two-year deals respectively, and the recruitment of Billy King, a winger with significant Scottish top-flight experience, on loan from Hearts. Meanwhile, the signing of Kevin McNaughton, a Scottish international with 201 appearances for Aberdeen and almost 300 for Cardiff City, seemed to suggest that Foran could indeed attract players of quality to the club. The real hope, however, has come from the team’s performances on the field, in the Betfred Cup group stages. In the first two games, against Cowdenbeath and Dundee Utd, the team’s play sometimes lacked fluency, and there was a failure to capitalise on final balls, but Foran’s avowed attacking intent was evident in King’s frequent threatening runs and particularly in the pace and trickery exhibited by Mulraney in his two second half substitute appearances, while Kevin McNaughton, deputising at centre half for the injured Josh Meekings, strolled through the games, showing his class and experience. With the promotion of Mulraney to the starting line-up against Dunfermline, Foran’s team clicked as an attacking force. While a positive and combative Pars side caused Caley Thistle problems in the first half, defensively they simply could not cope with Jake Mulraney, and where chances had been squandered in the previous two games, here the Inverness attackers were clinical, with Iain Vigurs claiming the perfect hat-trick from an advanced midfield role, King being rewarded for his willingness to run at players and shoot on spec with a deflection that brought another goal, and even left-back Carl Tremarco getting in on the act after being first to the rebound from a Greg Tansey free kick. The pattern continued in last Saturday’s 7-0 trouncing of Arbroath: Vigurs, King and Tremarco, with an unlikely brace, all found the net again; Scott Boden provided even more cause for optimism, with a well-taken hat-trick; and despite not being on the scoresheet, the man of the match, by common acclaim, was Mulraney, who already looks to be a gem of a signing. In terms of style and recruitment Foran is already beginning to answer the questions posed when he took over, and those who doubt whether he may be able to command and motivate players, and make difficult and unpopular choices, may be encouraged by the apparent increase in the fitness and work rate of Iain Vigurs, and the surprising decision to leave Ross Draper, a mainstay during the club’s most successful period, on the bench for the games against Dunfermline and Arbroath. Foran has stated that the club is still keen to bring in one or two more players, and most supporters would agree that another, more mobile attacker is needed to either complement or provide an alternative to Boden and Alex Fisher, but with any new deals looking increasingly unlikely before Saturday’s game, Foran’s main area of focus, and the supporters’ main source of intrigue and debate, will be deciding who gets the nod to start against Partick. Will Draper be restored to the team against a side that has frequently overpowered and over-run the ICT midfield in recent seasons, and if so, will it be Polworth, or Mulraney, the man for whom Draper made way, who drops to the bench? Will there be any room for Aaron Doran, finally restored to the squad again against Arbroath, after a year out through injury? How close to fitness is Josh Meekings, and when he is ready to return, will it be in central defence? And if so, does the impressive McNaughton drop out, or does he take one of the full-back roles in place of either fans’ favourite David Raven or the vastly-improved Carl Tremarco? These are, to employ a football cliché, pleasant problems for a manager to have, and the result of the club managing to put and keep together what looks, on paper, like one the strongest first-team squads the club has yet had. Of course, the optimism could yet prove premature; some of the new players, notably Mulraney and Boden, are as-yet untested against Premiership opposition, Partick Thistle are a team that has a strong record against ICT, notwithstanding a 4-0 home defeat to John Hughes’ team in the final weeks of last season, and they too are entitled to feel positive about their prospects this season after a 100% record in the Bedfred Cup group stages, and a summer recruitment programme that looks to have strengthened the first team squad. Chris Erskine, a folk-hero at the club, has returned in midfield after a spell at Dundee Utd where his talents seemed to be squandered by poor management, and has already impressed in with two goals in the Betfred Cup games; Ziggy Gordon, one of Hamilton Accies’ standout players over recent seasons, will be the new first choice at right back, while attacker Ade Azeez apparently rejected a new contract offer at Wimbledon to join the Maryhill club. A Partick recruit more familiar to ICT supporters is Danny Devine, signed to replace highly-rated central defender Danny Seaborne, who rejected a new contract. While Devine was a very useful deputy to Josh Meekings and Gary Warren in his first two seasons in Inverness, his period last season as a first choice centre half, during Meekings’ injury lay-off and then mystifying deployment at right back, revealed some shortcomings in positional sense and decision-making, and while he was perhaps scapegoated by supporters to some extent for defensive frailties that stemmed from the team set-up as a whole, Foran may see him as a potential weak link to be exploited in the Partick defence. Predictably, a recent press interview with Devine, in which he claims to have made a step up in his club career on the grounds that Glasgow is, shock, horror, a bigger city than Inverness, has been used to ramp up the non-existent tension ahead of this interview. Expect blood to flow in the streets of Maryhill. An intriguing and potentially very enjoyable game lies ahead then, and hopefully the interest and positivity around the Foran revolution will see a large and noisy travelling support there to back Inverness. [A quick note to travelling supporters; the underground is off, and the best options for getting to Firhill from the city centre are either to share a taxi, which shouldn’t cost much more than a fiver, or to get a number 60 or 61 bus from the corner of Hope St and Sauchiehall St, to around Queens Cross church on Maryhill Road. Don’t try to go to Maryhill train station – it’s almost as far from the ground in the opposite direction as Queen St is.] It’s hard game to call, and one that I suspect will feature more goals than we’re used to seeing between these sides, but in the spirit of optimism, I’m going to predict a final scoreline of Partick Thistle 2, Inverness Caledonian Thistle 3.
  25. Caley Jags rout sad Partick Inverness jumped into seventh place with a 1-4 rout of Partick Thistle to end our Firhill hoodoo and give Partick a taste of their own medicine for some of the beatings they have given us in recent years. Partick were quickest out of the blocks but it was Inverness that opened the scoring after 14 minutes through Carl Tremarco when Mutombo and Roberts sent him through on goal. Miles Storey added a second just after the break from another Mutombo assist. Josh Meekings knocked in number three with quarter of an hour left. Kris Doolan got a consolation for Partick and that seemed to annoy the Caley Jags as they went up the park and scored a belter from Jordan Roberts to round off the scoring. Yogi produced a surprise change to the starting line-up with Jordan Roberts getting a start ahead of Danny Williams. An enforced change also saw Andrea Mutombo in the starting X1 with Iain Vigurs suspended. Partick had Ryan Scully in goal for the injured Tomas Cerny and Inverness targets Abdul Osman and Steven Lawless started. Mathias Pogba was on the bench. Old Caley Girl has this report for us................ The Caleyaway faithful rolled up to Firhill in smallish numbers for the last Saturday awayday of the season. There was an air of optimism in the stadium bar, probably due to the sunshine, as this was Partick away after all which is never a happy hunting ground for us. Or so we thought…. Your first choice match reporter IHE failed in his endeavours to attend due to the inability of public transport in the UK to actually work. Sorry Johndo you missed a cracking display and a day out! Pre-match the news greeted us that Jordan Roberts had returned to the first eleven. He certainly didn’t disappoint! The first half started in an uneventful fashion with both sides having a few chances in what was a good open game. It was clear that ICT were playing a more pressing game than of late and in 14 minutes fans favourite Mutombo split the Partick defence open allowing Carl Tremarco to race from the halfway and slot home. Carl has been threatening to score for weeks but it was worth waiting on. The game changed following the goal and it was all ICT but despite several chances the score remained with us only one ahead. Half time: Partick 0 – ICT 1 Caleyaway had barely got back to their seats with their steak and ale pies when we went further ahead. Miles Storey nicked the ball past the keeper and slotted home into the right hand corner. From then on the chances kept coming. This was ICT at their best. Pressing forward at pace and first to every ball. The ball hit the post several times and it was if it just wouldn’t go in again when in 76 minutes an assist by Greg Tansey found Josh Meekings who slotted ball into the right hand corner from the centre of the box. At this point the boos from the home support would have been heard in Inverness and the stand to our left emptied. A lot of abuse was shouted by the home crowd at their keeper Scully but if it hadn’t been for several fine saves the score would have been 8 or 9 for us at this point. In 83 minutes Richie Foran replaced Storey who left the field to loud cheers. A few seconds later Partick ruined our clean sheet plans with Doolan scoring a consolation goal. Owain Fon Williams protesting loudly he had been fouled but the ref wasn’t listening. If Partick had any hopes of turning this around they were dashed a minute later. A pass from Foran found Jordan Roberts in the centre of the box who unmarked thumped the ball home making it 1-4. At that the score remained. What a second half display, possibly the best of the season. Full time: Partick 1 – ICT 4 Didn’t really see this one coming tbh and begs the question why haven’t we seen this enough this season? Hard to pick a man of the match as everyone played their part well. If had to pick it would be between Tremarco, Mutombo and Draper with my final vote to Mutumbo. Roberts and Storey were both shown yellow cards during the match for not very much. Funny moments worth a mention go to the young lad who decided to do a one man pitch invasion in the second half. Ran on hugged Draper (a selfie wouldn’t have been out of order at this point ha ha) and then hobbled off having probably injured himself jumping over the stand wall. Chant of the day goes to “You’re just a s**t Paul Pogba” to his hapless brother Mathais who had slammed the ball into the stand in frustration. I’m sure the noisy support and drumming is much appreciated by our players tho. All in all a good day out for Caleyaway. If you can’t make Hamilton see you all next season. Cheers Video from SPFL website here https://www.youtube.com/user/splofficial Date: 30/04/16 Venue: Firhill Stadium, Glasgow Attendance: 2609 Referee: Euan Anderson Partick Th: 1 Lineup: Scully, Dumbuya, Seaborne, Lindsay, Booth (Elliott 63), Welsh, Osman, Edwards (Pogba 52), Amoo (Wilson 68), Lawless, Doolan Subs (not used): Gallacher, Miller, Frans, Nesbitt Scorers: Doolan (83) Booked: Edwards (32), Pogba (75) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 4 Lineup: Fon Williams, Tremarco, Warren, Meekings, Draper, Devine, Tansey, Roberts (Hughes 90), Polworth, Mbuyi-Mutombo (D.Williams 84), Storey (Foran 82) Subs (not used): Esson, Wedderburn, Horner, Raven Scorers: Tremarco (14), Storey (46), Meekings (76), Roberts (85) Booked: Roberts (22), Storey (31) Sent Off: none
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