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Sons on the Rocks The Admin Derby saw plenty of changes from both clubs previous starting XI. Scott Kellacher was without Luis Longstaff with Ben Brannan taking his place. James Nolan came back into the starting XI with Alfie Stewart dropping to the bench. Michael Ruth who fired in a thunderba***rd of a free kick in midweek was on the home bench after taking a knock against Arbroath. Orsi, Wallace, Niang and Young all joined him on the bench. After a battling performance from the hosts including McGuffie rattling the crossbar, Inverness clambered out of the relegation zone with a last gasp goal from our saviour, Alfie Bavidge who scored his sixth goal since coming here in January nine games ago. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Inverness forced a corner in the opening minute after which there followed a scramble in the box when Sliwinski had blocked the ball before Adam MacKinnon shot over. With the visitors on the front foot James Nolan had an effort saved as we dominated the early exchanges. Carlo Pignatiello had a shot blocked as Dumbarton made their way forward. He then clipped a ball in but Finlay Gray glanced his header wide. Sliwinski then kept out a low shot from MacKinnon with his feet. Dumbarton were slowly clawing their way back into this game and Craig McGuffie shot over from a free kick. Ten minutes before the break Alfie Bavidge shot from a tight angle, winning a corner and Ben Brannan had an effort blocked as the corner count mounted, but still nothing to show for it. In the final minute of the first half, another corner as we ended the half as we started it but the opening goal has eluded both sides. HALF TIME: 0-0 McGuffie bounced a twenty-five yard shot just wide as the Sons came out of the blocks fast on the restart. Minutes later he bounced a shot off the crossbar and over for a goal kick. Deserved better and a big warning for the visitors. Billy Mckay was denied by Sliwinski from inside the box and minutes later saw another effort blocked. Dibaga saved from Mark Durnan as the hosts reminded us they are still in this game, and as we entered the final ten minutes Dibaga saved a close range volley from substitute Michael Ruth and Aron Lynas headed over. Billy Mckay fired a volley just wide as time was running out to find a winner. However, up popped Alfie Bavidge to seal the deal with a 93rd minute winner. It started deep on the right with Danny Devine and Ben Brannan playing a neat one-two before a great ball into the box from Brannan found Charlie Gilmour who did well to control it and lay it back to Alfie some twelve yards out and he drilled it low into the bottom corner. Sensational ending to the game in the dying embers to leave Dumbarton floundering on the Rock. FULL TIME: 0-1 What a finish to the game with Alfie scoring his sixth goal since coming in on loan. With Annan losing to Stenhousemuir we are no longer in the bottom two and the chance to go even higher should we beat the Warriors on Tues night. It might be a dream just now, but it could be reality. Big shout out to Musa Dibaga for another solid display between the sticks. Mantis on CTO: We murdered them in the first half but a very open second half with probably the better chances falling to them and Musa saving us a few times. That winner was the highlight of the season for me but then I missed the Montrose game… LisleRightPeg: It’s great to win games when the team hasn’t played well. Yet again Big Musa came up with crucial saves to keep us in it. Pos Team Pld Gd Pts 1 Arbroath 28 17 52 2 Stenny 27 15 47 3 Cove 27 14 44 4 Alloa Ath 28 6 40 5 Kelty Hearts 27 4 35 6 Queen of Sth 28 -6 35 7 Montrose 28 -7 32 8 Inverness CT 27 2 29 9 Annan Ath 28 -24 27 10 Dumbarton 28 -21 08 Date: 08/03/2025 Venue: Dumbarton Football Stadium Attendance: 0757 Referee: Steven Kirkland Dumbarton FC: 0 Manager: Stephen Farrell Lineup: Sliwinski; Lynas, Durnan, Miller, Pignatiello, Webster, Shiels, Blair (Niang 75), Gray, Mumbongo (Ruth 71), McGuffie (Hilton 81) Subs (not used): Kelly; Young, Orsi, Wilson, Wallace, Clark Scorers: none Booked: Shiels (19), Lynas (51), Miller (89) Sent Off: none Inverness CT: 1 Manager: Scott Kellacher Lineup: Dibaga; Bray, Devine, Savage, Nolan (Stewart 70), Brannan, Gilmour, Allan (MacLeod 88), MacKinnon, B Mckay (R Thompson 92), Bavidge Subs (not used): Rebilas; Walker, Ewan, Strachan, Keogh, Cairns Scorers: Bavidge (90+3) Booked: Brannan (25), Bavidge (90+3 for celebrating) Sent Off: none a

Life in Administration Starts on Saturday at Dumbarton Stadium in the Scottish League 1 with Inverness now deducted fifteen points which puts us twelve points below our hosts this weekend. Unfortunately, five players have been released along with the management team of Duncan Ferguson, Gary Bollan and Stuart Garden. So far, we have retained the bulk of our squad including our senior players with Scott Kellacher taking on the head coaching role assisted by none other than Billy Mckay. They will also be given further assistance from Charlie Christie and the rest of the youth squad trainers. So, it's almost as you were without our management team and a 15 point deduction. The downside so far is the dismissal of four contracted players and loan keeper Jack Newman. More details later in the preview. Good luck to those released through no fault of their own. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Administration Info on ICTFC Match/Ticket/Travel/Info 5 Players let go (1 loan) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our Season so Far on the park INVERNESS CT: D L D D W D D D L / W Our season got off to a slow start with a draw at home to Dumbarton followed by a penalty defeat at Annan. Another two draws against Montrose (h) and Kelty Hearts (a) before our first win of the season over Queen of the South at the Caledonian Stadium. We beat Stirling Albion 3-0 to send us into a fourth Rnd tie away to Livingston thanks to a brace from Adam Brooks and a strike from Adam MacKinnon. That was followed up by us throwing away a two goal lead at Alloa to end up with a 2-2 draw six minutes later. A Danny Devine volley and Calum MacLeod with his first goal for the club were the scorers at Recreation Park. Last time out we had a disappointing 1-1 draw at home against Cove Rangers who opened the scoring through Adam Emslie. James Nolan on loan from Manchester United's youth squad levelled the game before the hour. Next up was a home game against Stenhousemuir. Quite frankly this was a dull game with neither side able to score although Musa Dibaga did make a wonderful penalty save in the first half. Relegated Arbroath was our final game of the opening round of fixtures and despite creating enough chances, we came away from Gayfield with our second defeat of the League1 campaign. Away from League duty last weekend, we put up a good fight against Livingston in the Challenge Cup at Almondvale but lost out 5-4 in a penalty shoot-out after it finished 2-2 over the ninety minutes. Paul Allan and Charlie Gilmour were our scorers during the ninety minutes. Our first game in the second round of fixtures turned out to be Duncan Ferguson's last stand. It ended in like his first game in charge, a win as we defeated Annan 1-0 at home. Administration and management removal followed by five players being released. First game after Admin is at Dumbarton this week... Dumbarton: D D D D D D L L L / W Dumbarton started the season with six draws on the trot followed by three defeats. It was only last week that they recorded their first league win of the season in their tenth League fixture with an excellent 1-3 away win at Gayfield. Arbroath had opened the scoring through Tam O'Brien after ten minutes but Carlo Pignatiello replied ten minutes later. A Dylan Smith og and a last minute goal from Finlay Gray ended the scoring as the Sons celebrated their first win in style..... just in time for our visit, meh! Our first game of the League1 campaign was against Dumbarton at the Caledonian Stadium on the back of disappointing League Cup group stages for both sides. It was also the game where Johndo was remembered in the sixth minute. I wonder what Johndo would make of all this. As already said on CTO, plenty of scope for his CTO Xmas pantomime with villains in abundance and a hero in Alan Salvage. Game of two halves: 1-1 A rousing round of applause rang out from the crowd on the sixth minute in appreciation of the dedication of John Mackenzie, AKA the Immortal Howden Ender who sadly passed away last week. A fitting tribute as cheering and clapping broke out around the ground and one in which he would have loved to have led the way. Rest in Peace my well travelled friend. You would have enjoyed the first half. The second I'm sure you would have had some choice words for in your after match summary. It was the proverbial game of two halves. Inverness were miles ahead in the first half and rubbish after the break. Plenty of possession and slick movement with new signings Flynn Duffy and Adam Mackinnon prominent in attacking moves. Charlie Gilmour brought out a tremendous reflex save from keeper Long, however most of the good work petered out when we got into the final third but we took the lead on the stroke of half time when Danny Devine sneaked in behind the defence to nod in unchallenged at the back post from a corner. Hey ho we all thought, lifes not so bad after all. Wrong!!! We allowed Dumbarton to dominate the next half hour and they deservedly levelled through Carlo Pignatiello as we seemed to go back into our shell. Niang was booked a second time for persistent fouling and reluctantly left the field when he was red carded. Billy Mckay had cracked one off the bar and Charlie Gilmour and Remi Savage were denied by the keeper but it was a bit of an anti climax after a promising first half. Jack Newman also had to make a good save five minutes from the end to keep the score level when he denied Mumbongo. Here's the fixtures for this weekend and this is how the table looks after we were deducted 15 points. Meh! Pos Team Pld Gd Pts 1 Alloa Athletic 10 2 17 2 Montrose 10 5 16 3 Kelty Hearts 10 7 15 4 Cove Rangers 10 1 14 5 Stenhousemuir 10 1 14 6 Queen of Sth 10 -2 14 7 Arbroath 10 -2 12 8 Annan Athletic 10 -9 10 9 Dumbarton 10 -3 9 10 Inverness CT 10 0 -3 Latest Team News With administration comes redundancies. First to go was Duncan Ferguson and his coaching staff of Gary Bollan and Stuart Garden. Four players were released although the bulk of the experienced players were retained. No surprise that Cameron Ferguson was released. Bit part striker Adam Brooks was also released along with the promising left back Flynn Duffy who has been recovering from a punctured lung after looking lively in the five games he did play. Wallace Duffy was the most experienced player to be released after coming back into the squad since being ignored at the end of last season, in total making 113 appearances and scoring five goals. Big comedown for Wallace having been our MotM in the Scottish Cup Final against Celtic in 2023. I'm sure we all appreciated the efforts of those released although like every team, we have our boo boys who picked on the unfortunate. In this instance young Cameron was the brunt of most ill feeling which probably stunted his development whilst here although one wonders would he have been here had his father not been the manager. Some may say that the release of the management team is a step in the right direction as many questioned our style of play since Ferguson arrived. It looked like a case of keep the ball at all costs and don't be rushing up the park. We were set up to hold what we had with little directness. That led to too many draws and late defeats as we regressed. That aside, he can't be faulted for his gesture of not drawing a wage and I wish him and his team good fortune for the future. Duncan Ferguson gone. Gary Bollan gone Stuart Garden gone Players out Cameron Ferguson (12 appearances, not ready at this level) Adam Brooks (7 goals in 41 appearances) Flynn Duffy (recovered from a punctured lung) Wallace Duffy (113 apps, 5 goals) Jack Newman (loan ended back to Dundee United...maybe) On the plus side, Scott Kellacher has been promoted to Head Coach with Billy Mckay as his assistant player coach. Charlie Christie appears to be assisting as well, possibly overseeing/helping with the coaching along with the rest of the clubs youth coaches. Good luck Scott and Billy, all the best and all at CTO will get behind you and the boys as we attempt to play.... Against All Odds as Charles Bannerman once said. (No truth in the rumour that his next book will be entitled Against All Frauds) Given the circumstances, I imagine we will be along similar lines to last time out without Wallace Duffy in the starting XI. It will be interesting to see how we set our stall out under Scott and Billy. Good luck guys. Dumbarton's last Starting XI in the win at Arbroath. Carlo Pignatiello scored in the first fixture at the Caledonian Stadium and he scored last week in the 3-1 win over Arbroath. Pignatiello, Ruth and Durnan have all scored three League goals. Dumbarton have the leakiest defence conceding 17 goals whereas we have only conceded 7 times. The Sons are third top scorers with 14 goals, twice as many as our shot shy players.

Group E - Game Two We face a midweek trip to Dumbarton Football Stadium for both clubs' second fixture in this seasons ViaPlay League Cup. Tuesday night at 7:45pm is the scheduled kick-off time for this group E fixture. Contrasting results in the opening games with Inverness easing past Bonnyrigg Rose 2-1 thanks to a stunning brace from Aaron Doran. A late header from Keiran McGachie gave the Rose the reward their endeavour deserved but it was Inverness that took the points. The Sons were hit with two late strikes from Airdrie in the last five minutes of their game. Nikolay Todorov and Lewis McGregor were the late saviours for the Diamonds at the Excelsior Stadium. In the other Group E game on Tuesday night, Bonnyrigg host Dundee at New Dundas Park. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ticket/Match/Streaming info Tuesday night we face Dumbarton away from home Tickets available online now or cash turnstile on Tuesday Dumbarton Stadium Bar open from 6.15pm Live Stream Info Supporters Bus ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Memory Lane: We eventually got the better of Dumbarton in the 2018 Challenge Cup Final at MacDiarmid Park in Perth. It took a late strike from Carl Tremarco in the 93rd minute to ensure the Cup came North after Dumbarton had coped well with our efforts for ninety minutes. Tremarco stole in at the back post to bury a low cross from a young substitute called Mackay. Daniel Mackay was that lad. Tom Walsh was in the Sons line-up that day and he went on to play for us over two spells until his unfortunate knee injury. Dimitris Froxylias the enigmatic Cypriot played in the final and he was capable of producing the unexpected. Stuart Carsewell played and David Wilson was an unused sub for the Sons that day. Mark Ridgers and Aaron Doran are our only survivors from that game. Last 10 Competitive Meetings - None since 2018 1 - 0 (A) 5 - 1 (H) 1 - 0 (N) 1 - 0 (H) 1 - 2 (A) 3 - 1 (H) 2 - 0 (H) Latest Team News Inverness tinkered with their selection in the opening fixture against Bonnyrigg. Whilst the scoreline remained close throughout, we were fairly dominant and should have been out of site before the last minute goal for the Rose. Some things worked and other things need worked on. It's still basically pre-season for us so we will not know our most suitable team selection at present, but that will come with more game time. The weather did not help on Saturday as a couple of monsoons dampened the atmosphere, but hey ho, we got the points. One or two still to make an appearance so I'll leave it for Billy Dodds to sort out. Good to see Roddy MacGregor get some game time at the weekend. Can Aaron Doran keep this up>>> Dumbarton: What can we expect? The Sons will be playing in League Two this season. They finished last season in second place behind Stirling Albion but failed to progress via the play-offs. They suffered a 6-0 defeat to Annan Athletic in their first leg game and that put paid to any hopes of promotion . The return leg was a no scoring draw. They lost 2-0 at Airdrie in their opening Group E fixture but it took two very late goals to win the game. Former Caley Jag Nikolay Todorov was on the scoresheet for Airdrie. Steve Farrell had this starting XI against Airdrie Long; Lynas, Durnan, Blair, Wilson, MacLean, Pignatiello, Hilton, Ruth, Crighton, Young Subs: Broun; Wylde, R Wallace, Byrne, T Wallace, Vata Pre-Season for Dumbarton 1 July 2023 Dumbarton 2 - 3 Hebburn Town (Hilton and MacLean with the goals) 4 July 2023 Dumbarton 0-3 St Mirren 8 July 2023 Workington 0-4 Dumbarton (MacLean, Blair, Byrne, Vata with the goals)

Nothing has changed (apart from date) Despite a crushing win at the weekend, nothing has changed in our quest for a play-off place. Win our remaining games and it's achievable. One slip up and it's then out of our own hands. Game now goes ahead on Wednesday evening due to pitch having surface water. Forking Pitch was wet apparently. We went nap at the weekend over Tuesday's Wednesday's opponents with Nathan Austin notching a hat-trick into the bargain. Aaron Doran had scored a thumping equaliser after Grant Gallagher had scored a tremendous opener for the Sons. Iain Vigurs added the other goal to round off the scoring on a day when Liam Polworth, George Oakley and Vigurs would have claimed MotM but for Austin's timely treble. That was the first by an Inverness player since trebles for Iain Vigurs and Scott Boden a year ago in the League Cup group stages. Billy Mckay scored our last League one in a 4-3 win over Motherwell in 2013, his second of that season as he also did the treble in a 4-4 draw at Tannadice. We were without Coll Donaldson, Carl Tremarco and Charlie Trafford for the last game due to suspension but they are all available for this one. No doubt Robbo will continue to rotate the players anyway with bigger games coming up in the final three although they are all important if we want to get into the play-off slot. Dumbarton will freshen up as they look to stay competitive with the relegation play-off looming. The Sons have now confirmed their relegation play-off place after results went against them last night whilst they were forking their pitch. They had Froxylias on the bench at the weekend and he could be a threat should he get a start. David Smith, Sam Wardrop and Liam Dick will all miss-out tonight, as will Stuart Carswell. Tom Walsh is set to serve a suspension this Saturday against Falkirk but is added to tonight's squad. tm4tj prediction:- Assuming we have the same urge to have a go then I see no reason we can't take all three points to keep the pressure on Dunfermline and Dundee United above us. Dumbarton will have done their homework and we will find it tougher down there, but we should have enough ammunition to see them off. If not, then we don't deserve our late flirt with the play-off places. Supporters Notes: Gates open tonight at 6.30pm. DFC season tickets are valid and gate prices are £20 for adults, £12 concessions. Parent and Child - £28. Here's a wee reminder of how it went on Saturday............... Here's something I spotted on the Dumbarton page. Whodunnit? Nathan Austin, in the Stadium with a Hat-Trick