Tight at the Top

 

The hectic week continues with the visit of Championship leaders Kilmarnock on Friday night for a 7:45 kick off. With only two points separating the top five, there's little room to slip a fag paper between the lot of them. We managed to surreptitiously extricate ourselves from the Challenge Cup on Tuesday night to alleviate the fixture schedule thanks to a couple of weak penalties. Not too weak to bring us to the attention of everyone, but just enough to get dumped out of the event. Next up for the same treatment is a trip to Cappielow in the Scottish Cup next midweek, another waste of our time. So, let's concentrate 100% on the Championship from now until the end of the season.

MATCH INFO

OFFICIAL PREVIEW

GAME ON BBC SCOTLAND

ICTV for Season Ticket Holders

 

 

Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts   1. Kilmarnock 15 9 2 4 20 9 29 2. Raith Rovers 15 8 5 2 26 16 29 3. Inverness CT 15 8 4 3 18 11 28 4. Partick Thistle 15 8 3 4 29 14 27 5. Arbroath 15 7 6 2 26 13 27 6. Dunfermline 15 2 7 6 15 24 13 7. Ayr United 15 3 4 8 13 26 13 8. Hamilton Ac. 15 3 4 8 13 29 13 9. Morton 15 2 6 7 12 20 12 10. Q.O.S. 15 3 3 9 13 23 12

Venue Head to Head

Pld

Won

Drn

Lst

For

Agst

+ / -

Home	23	10	9	4	43	32	+11
Away	25	8	6	11	36	44	-8
Neutral	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	48	18	15	15	79	76	+3

Last 10 Competitive Meetings

1 - 0 (A)

1 - 2 (A)

1 - 1 (H)

1 - 1 (A)

1 - 1 (H)

3 - 1 (H)

1 - 2 (A)

2 - 1 (H)

0 - 2 (A)

3 - 3 (H)

We have a decent home record overall against Killie although most of these games were in the Premier League. We shocked Killie earlier in the season when a Michael Gardyne strike earned us all three points. Killie have taken nine points from there last five Championship games, whilst we have been dropping points all over the place with only five points from a possible fifteen. We did however stop the rot with a deserved 2-1 win at Palmerston, our first win in six league games.

Last Time out on league duty we beat Queen of the South 2-1 having been cruising at 2-0 with only fifteen minutes to go. However, we do nothing the easy way and had to be wary in the final fifteen after Lee Connelly threw Queens a lifeline. As it was, the two goals from Billy Mckay were enough to give us all three points. Since then we drew 1-1 with Morton in the Scottish Cup, Mckay scoring his tenth of the season in that game, and a weakened squad went out of the Challenge Cup on penalties after a 0-0 draw with Raith Rovers on Tuesday night.

Killie's last league game was a home defeat by part-time Arbroath (0-1), the success story of the season so far. They followed that with a 1-0 win over Queens Park in the Scottish Cup, Euan Murray with the goal. And in the Mickey Mouse Trophy they put Accies out with a very late double to win 2-3. That was basically a second string for Killie, but unfortunately for them, they still managed to get through

Latest Team News

The midweek squads can be disregarded as both sides rested players. Look out for Ridgers, Broadfoot, Devine et all returning to bolster the squad for the better...... maybe. No news forthcoming on the 'niggles' front so be prepared for anything, except you know who.

Killie also rested a raft of players in midweek so apart from any outstanding long term injuries, they should have a full squad to pick from.

 

Billy Dodds.....not really saying much to be honest 

 

 

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5 hours ago, IBM said:

What's all this talking about a draw?  We are at home and live on TV so I will be disappointed if we don't get a win and back up to the top after our recent poor form.  Come on guys play the full 90 minutes get us 3 points and send Kilmarnock back down the A9 with nothing 

Well I am happy tonight  that was a good game, a great goal and we held on for a change on recent form to get the three points well done to all the team   It's a long road home for the Kilmarnock team and their fans tonight.

Great result, strong performance, perseverance rewarded. Great work by Allardice before passing to Welsh. I expected a behind the sofa ending, but we saw it out coolly and confidently, and could have scored another. This league is so competitive it will be an exciting, nerve shredding season. But on the evidence tonight we are up there on merit and can give a game to anybody.  Doddsy saying he expects to do business in the transfer market in January. Striker top of the shopping list?

Edited December 3, 20213 yr by The Long Man

5 minutes ago, The Long Man said:

Great result, strong performance, perseverance rewarded. Great work by Allardice before passing to Welsh. I expected a behind the sofa ending, but we saw it out coolly and confidently, and could have scored another. This league is so competitive it will be an exciting, nerve shredding season. But on the evidence tonight we are up there on merit and can give a game to anybody.  Doddsy saying he expects to do business in the transfer market in January. Striker top of the shopping list?

...and some cover in defence I hope as we enter the season of injury and suspension.

49 minutes ago, IBM said:

  It's a long road home for the Kilmarnock team and their fans tonight.

And the A9 is shut at Dalwhinnie due to an accident.

Great result. We were the better team, and we kept up closing them down for the whole game. Everyone played their part and the game management towards the end of the match was so much better. We just need to pick better passes in the final third and more goals will come. Sean's goal was a thing of beauty. 

Fantastic game. I must admit that when it was pouring down at 7pm I was thinking twice about attending, but I'm so glad I did. That is the kind of game that fans pay their season ticket for. The atmosphere was great and although it took a while, the boys just kept plugging away until they got the goal, showing some talented footwork along the way.

A special mention for those fans in the new 'noisy' stand - the rain failed to dampen their enthusiasm and it was great to see the team cheering them at the end too. 

Finally the pink strip looks surprisingly amazing under the floodlights. Maybe 'Pretty in Pink' could be added to the playlist at games - they certainly looked pretty damn good tonight.

Well done and thanks lads.

Looks like we've totally broken Kilmarnock FC according to their forum:

Edited December 4, 20213 yr by Fontaines ICT

The Killie players were booed off by their travelling support. 

No wonder, they were useless.

I really enjoyed the game tonight. We played for the full 90 minutes and were solid as a team, with good team spirit.

We outplayed the promotion favourites and deservedly won.

This should give us confidence to beat Morton twice next week before two home league games.

There was not a failure in our team tonight with all 14 players used doing their jobs well. Welsh and Allardice are rightly being praised, but a shout out too to Sutherland who I thought was immense tonight.

Broadfoot clearly enjoyed getting the better of his old team, with Polly being subbed after a quiet game.

Hopefully our wobble in October and November is behind us and we kick on from this.

Well done to all and given the sad events this week with him losing his mother, hopefully it has given Barry Wilson a lift too:

https://ictfc.com/jessie-wilson

Edited December 4, 20213 yr by Robert

I fancy a trip to the Angus seaside.

Nip into Spink's for a couple of smokies, a pint and a bite to eat at Tuttie's Neuk abd then over the road to Gayfield to cheer on the home team.

Do you think Robbo would lend ne a maroon scarff ?

That was a great win. Every team in the league is going to go and have a spell where they don't win games and drop points.  Hopefully we have had our spell and we can build on two very good wins in our last two league games. 

9 hours ago, CaleyHedgehog said:

Finally the pink strip looks surprisingly amazing under the floodlights.

We tend to do well when playing in pink.  I have wondered if it stands out so well that the players pick each other out just a fraction of a second more quickly. The opposite of the infamous Man U grey strip that lasted only 45 minutes because they couldn't see each other.

 

8 hours ago, Robert said:

The Killie players were booed off by their travelling support. 

Long journey for their travelling fans to see a defeat and very poor performance from their team, to be followed by either a long delay or lengthy detour due to the A9 being closed. I almost feel sorry for them. Almost.

10 hours ago, The Long Man said:

Great result, strong performance, perseverance rewarded. Great work by Allardice before passing to Welsh. I expected a behind the sofa ending, but we saw it out coolly and confidently, and could have scored another. This league is so competitive it will be an exciting, nerve shredding season. But on the evidence tonight we are up there on merit and can give a game to anybody.  Doddsy saying he expects to do business in the transfer market in January. Striker top of the shopping list?

Full backs hopefully ?

12 hours ago, Kingsmills said:

 

Don't you just love Friday evening football!

Friday nights are fer quaffing  a few celebratory Doddsies 🥃

32 minutes ago, snorbens_caleyman said:

We tend to do well when playing in pink.  I have wondered if it stands out so well that the players pick each other out just a fraction of a second more quickly.

For this same reason, but the opposite if that makes sense, I always think there is a slight advantage to having your own goalie wearing a grass green strip, so that the opposition are not so aware of where they are. Avoid the fluorescent strips Ridgers, at all costs! 

Yep excellent performance and goal which was deserved.  Killing were kept quiet by our work rate for the whole game.

Allardice does so much work un-noticed, Broadfoot coasted and the killie attack was in his pocket, Mention for Billy Mackay who does so much work off the ball, even made an excellent tackle at the edge of the box!

Large celebratory malt was enjoyed... (15 Yr old Aberlour)

👋 Morning ICTFC fans!

🚀 Sean Welsh's screamer sealed all three points against Kilmarnock last night!

Enjoy your weekend 🔴🔵 pic.twitter.com/MhImXHy2Qm

— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) December 4, 2021

"Large celebratory malt was enjoyed... (15 Yr old Aberlour)"

Steady lad, you'll get arrested

Great result. Lads put in a power of graft, with a moment of magic from Welsh for the goal, happy days.

Loved big Broadfoots knee slide over to the singing section at the end, nice touch from the big fella.

Watching the goal back today, it’s even better than I thought it was last night - it’s obviously a cracking strike, but the build up to it and creating the space for the shot too, great stuff.

Good performance all round, defence looks pretty strong, and Billy Mac back to his best. A great goal by Welsh, but the man who caught my eye was Shane Sutherland, one of his best games foir us, won the ball so often and rarely got it taken from him, unlucky not to score.

The only team in the top five to take maximum points.

A perfect weekend. Still top of the league.

Today’s results have gone well for us, with Arbroath and Raith drawing and Partick failing to beat Queen if the South.

We are the only one of the top five to win (and score) this weekend and have finished the weekend still top of the league.

That feels good. 

Edited December 4, 20213 yr by Robert