Raith at Home, Saturday

[tm4tj]

Injuries R us.

 

After the disappointing result in midweek, we face Raith Rovers at the Caledonian Stadium on Saturday in a game that kicks-off at 3:00pm. We have held the Indian sign over Raith Rovers for practically all of the last 22 years, however, they will never have a better chance to get the monkey off the back as we could well be without ten players due to injury. Mixed fortunes for both clubs over the last couple of weeks but an early opportunity to get points back on the board, and for Inverness keep in touch at the top whilst Raith strive to bridge the gap to those above them.

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MATCH/TICKET INFO

OFFICIAL PREVIEW

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Venue

Pld

Won

Drn

Lst

For

Agst

+ / -

Home	19	13	4	2	37	14	+23
Away	16	9	4	3	32	19	+13
Neutral	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	35	22	8	5	69	33	+36

It's twenty years since Raith beat us 1 - 2 at the Caledonian Stadium. Here's Ian Broadfoot's report, and apparently injuries played a big part back then as well. Injury-hit Caley Thistle lost this game because of a poor first half display. Despite this they nearly took the lead in 13 minutes when a David Bagan shot was blocked by Greig McCulloch and spun over the bar. Raith scored first in 16 minutes when Jim Calder failed to hold a Shaun Dennis cross and Jay Stein hit home the loose ball from six yards. In 21 minutes a poor headed clearance by Stuart McCaffrey was picked up by Andrew Clark and he set up Ivan Mballa and the Frenchman slammed the ball into the net from 12 yards. ICT had a penalty claim turned down in 38 minutes when Charlie Christie was brought down by Paul Browne. After the break the home side improved but Guido Van de Kamp denied them on several occasions. Paul Sheerin pulled one back in 79 minutes when he netted from close range after a good cut back by Roy McBain. Four minutes later Sheerin watched in frustration as Van de Kamp saved his low shot. As time ran out he came close twice more but Raith held on to win. 

Ahhhhhhhh, nostalgia, it aint what it used to be.

Last 10 Competitive Meetings

2 - 0 (A)

3 - 2 (A)

1 - 1 (H)

0 - 0 (H)

1 - 1 (A)

1 - 0 (H)

1 - 0 (A)

0 - 0 (H)

2 - 0 (H)

3 - 3 (A)

We missed the chance to top the table on Tuesday night but Accies did themselves a huge favour by getting temselves off the bottom rung combined with Arbroath going down to Raith Rovers. It's all getting very congested with only five points separating teams from seventh (Raith) to Partick at the top.

Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts   1. Partick Thistle 10 6 2 2 23 13 20 2. Inverness CT 11 6 2 3 14 10 20 3. Ayr United 10 5 2 3 20 13 17 4. Dundee 11 5 2 4 19 16 17 5. Morton 11 5 2 4 15 13 17 6. Queens Park 11 5 2 4 15 19 17 7. Raith Rovers 11 5 0 6 12 12 15 8. Cove Rangers 11 3 2 6 14 18 11 9. Hamilton Ac. 11 2 4 5 9 19 10 10. Arbroath 11 1 4 6 7 15 7

Full Fixture List on Saturday, all 3:00pm Kick-Offs

Arbroath v Accies 

  Ayr Utd v Cove   

    Dundee v Morton 

         Inverness v Raith Rovers

      Partick v Queens

Last Time Out

Inverness' injuries eventually caught up with them against Hamilton. Maybe we had been pushing our luck over the previous five games where we managed to take all the points. Last Saturday we struggled to impose ourseves at Cove but still came away with three points thanks to Steven Boyd's first goal for the club. However, Accies seem to have our number and turned the tables on us when Winter scored the only goal of the game despite a late flurry from the hosts. Too little too late was the order of the day.

Raith also had mixed fortunes. A 1-0 defeat at Morton was followed by a hard earned win at Arbroath. Sam Stanton struck five minutes before the break at Gayfield to tuck Raith in behind Queens Park in the table, only five points off the top.

Latest Team News

Well, what can we say. Six or seven missing before the Accies game, we found ourselves another man down before a ball was kicked in earnest when the semi-fit Wallace Duffy had to pull out to be replaced by Max Ram who in turn came off injured before the end. Daniel Mackay also came off injured in the second half. Sean Welsh had made the bench but was obviously not fit enough to kick a ball. So, I make it: Shane Sutherland, Tom Walsh, Roddy MacGregor, Danny Devine, Austin Samuels, Scott Allardice, Wallace Duffy, Daniel Mackay, Max Ram, Sean Welsh. That adds up to ten players likely to be out or not fully fit. It might have been quicker to name those that are available.

Head Coach Billy Dodds said: “There’s a couple of improvements but I don’t know if they are going to be ready for the game or if it’s coming too quick. I wish the game wasn’t as quick as it was but after the game midweek it is onto Saturday now.”

 

Eck's Raith catch-up

It is always sad to hear that a youngster has had to give up his career and such is the case with Kyle Bow. A goalkeeper who was previously a Raith apprentice who signed a full-time contract in August 2021, he has had to retire from football aged 18 due to a persistent knee injury.
Latest addition to the Squad is Danish centre forward John Frederiksen who arrived at the start of October having been without a club, previously with Austrian second tier side SKU Amstetten for a season. Apparently he is about nine feet tall. Yikes!
Still on the long-term injury list for the Rovers, both with Cruciate Ligament problems are centre back Tom Lang and centre forward Lewis Vaughan.

 

 

 

[IBM]

I am hoping for a better game than Tuesday night which won’t be hard and hopefully we can sneak a win with the players we have left fit. 

[tm4tj]

 

[Robert]

With the injuries, I’d take a scrappy win over a good performance.

Let’s focus on being tight at the back and trying to score on the break: we should play it like an away game given our away form.

Off topic, the cup ties at Buckie and Fraserburgh are being streamed live, including to UK viewers tomorrow despite being 1500 kick offs. Seemingly they have permission to do so.

Edited October 21, 2022 by Robert

[Robert]

Mckay and Shaw start in place of Doran and Mackay. Doran on bench.

https://twitter.com/ICTFC/status/1583807670099681280/photo/1

Ridgers

Carson Ram Deas Delaney

Boyd Hyde Harper Shaw

Mckay Oakley

With the mist, I wonder how visibility will hold up.

 

Edited October 22, 2022 by Robert

[+snorbens_caleyman]

1 hour ago, Robert said:

With the mist, I wonder how visibility will hold up.

With that team, I'd be praying for dense fog.

I see that Raith have just scored.  Did anyone see it?

[Yngwie]

1-1 HT. With our poor home record and extremely depleted squad today, would you take a draw?

[+snorbens_caleyman]

With Queens currently 1 up on Partick, I would not accept anything other than a win!

[+roarer]

If partick were winning I wouldn't accept any less either!!!

[+snorbens_caleyman]

Top by a point, but Partick have a game in hand.  Shame we couldn't have won the 3 points.

BBC stats look horrific - shots, shots on target, and corners are 13-3, 7-2 and 13-3, all to Raith.  Possession was 52-48 for us.

Look forward to reading first-hand reports.

[Caley Mad In Berks]

Well, that sounded like a lucky draw!   Amazed to see us at the top of the table.  Imagine if we had won these last 2 home games, we could have been well clear at the top.  Badly need another good run of wins.  Let's start with the TV game away to Morton next Friday.  Come on lads, we can do it

[Peleistheman]

I thought Raith were on top today, we did well to get the draw and we just did not create enough to win this. Top of table tonight take that, nice to see the other Thistle get thumped.

[Douglas Mackenzie]

Well a hard fought draw,  which we are probably lucky to have secured.I thought we were all over the place for the first 15 and then settled a bit. To be fair we nearly have a team on the injured list so any points are a bonus and despite the injuries we are top.For me Billy Mackay and Oakley were very good,especially Oakley's hold up play.I actually thought that was Oakleys best game to date, but they all did their best which is all we can ask for.Now to get a win at Morton by any means or method.

Oh and special mention for Strachan I think he looks a great prospect going forward.Good to see Billy changed formation of defence early on as the original three at back didn't work.

Edited October 22, 2022 by Douglas Mackenzie

[jed5697]

Injury crisis and go top of the league- it's a funny old game. We never looked like scoring the whole game apart from when we did Raith will feel unlucky not to have won today. Two fantastic saves from ridgers and good defending. Good effort from a depleted and disjointed standpoint. 

[Robert]

We were better today than Tuesday and, with 8 players missing due to injury, I will take the point.

It was a game that was there for the taking and both teams will feel they could have won, but equally could have lost, so a draw was the fair result.

We started with 3 at the back and Carson in midfield, but it wasn’t working, with Raith getting too much joy down our left. It looked like the players were unsure of their roles and who should be covering the full back positions.

Raith deservedly took the lead during that spell with what looked like a tap in after an effort was deflected on to the post.

Credit to Dodds, as he changed things to a back 4 and we grew back into the game.

Deas’ goal was a cracker. He moved forward with the ball and continued his run after passing it, and buried a great header into the net. He was MOTM for me with several good tackles too.

In the second half, both teams were looking for a winner but the draw was the most likely outcome throughout.

Deas got a bad knock in a challenge late on and was helped from the pitch, so our injury list may be worsening. However, Welsh looked comfortable when he came on.

Credit to young Strachan who slotted in at left back after Deas’ injury. He looks a prospect and wasn’t scared to want the ball. He also made a tremendous block in the box.

Whilst Deas was my MOTM, Ridgers had a good game, Delaney again looked good (after we changed formation), Harper was looking to be an outlet in midfield and Mckay as always worked his socks off.

At half time I felt we should hook Shaw, but he showed a few glimpses in the second half that he has some talent.

Friday on tv next, a winnable game in Greenock, but hopefully we have a few players back.

Top of the league, goodness knows how, but if we can weather the current injury storm, we should be able to gain consistency.

With hindsight I may have been overly critical on Tuesday but today was better.

Edited October 22, 2022 by Robert

[forresjags]

Better than Tuesday although than cannot be hard.

Same story as Tuesday trying to play through Oakley and same as Tuesday didnt work. Best moments came out wide, thought Nathan Shaw did ok until he was moved out right to make way for Doran.

 

Feel we have dropped 5 winnable points and unbelievable that we have gone top.

[tm4tj]

Deas was immense. Won every high ball forward, tackled strong, drove forward at times and scored a brilliant headed goal. Oakley and Mckay did well up front. Unfortunately it was mainly holding the ball up and laying it off against some big defenders. Delaney & Harper were prominent and Max Ram did some good defensive work. Mention too for Hyde who worked hard. Given our problems, i'm pleased with the outcome. Not a game for slating anyone.

[tm4tj]

Happy Days

Pos Team Pld W D L F A Pts   1. Inverness CT 12 6 3 3 15 11 21 2. Partick Thistle 11 6 2 3 23 17 20 3. Queens Park 12 6 2 4 19 19 20 4. Ayr United 11 5 3 3 22 15 18 5. Dundee 12 5 3 4 19 16 18 6. Morton 12 5 3 4 15 13 18 7. Raith Rovers 12 5 1 6 13 13 16 8. Cove Rangers 12 3 3 6 16 20 12 9. Arbroath 12 2 4 6 8 15 10 10. Hamilton Ac. 12 2 4 6 9 20 10

[CaleyHedgehog]

36 minutes ago, tm4tj said:

Given our problems, i'm pleased with the outcome.

Me too!

I thought the boys gave it their best and Ridgers deserves a mention for making some fantastic saves.

I just hope we don't have another one on the injury list now. 

 

[Eagle4Caley]

2 hours ago, tm4tj said:

Deas was immense. Won every high ball forward, tackled strong, drove forward at times and scored a brilliant headed goal. Oakley and Mckay did well up front. Unfortunately it was mainly holding the ball up and laying it off against some big defenders. Delaney & Harper were prominent and Max Ram did some good defensive work. Mention too for Hyde who worked hard. Given our problems, i'm pleased with the outcome. Not a game for slating anyone.

Given the injury list, this is a fab result especially with Partick getting thumped at home and Ayr drawing, to see us top.    Really, Really hope Deas isn't out for too long, that said Delaney [in particular] and now Ram look decent signings. Harper is now having to shoulder more responsibility, at least Welsh is coming back [slowly please if possible]

Looking at the way the Championship is shaping up, our optimism at the start of the season is not unfounded, if only we can get more of our squad back soon-ish. Not sure we can handle any more injuries though

I'm up for the Queens Park match soon...looks like it could be a very interesting game!

[Jaggernaut]

6 hours ago, Douglas Mackenzie said:

Well a hard fought draw,  which we are probably lucky to have secured.I thought we were all over the place for the first 15 and then settled a bit. To be fair we nearly have a team on the injured list so any points are a bonus and despite the injuries we are top.For me Billy Mackay and Oakley were very good,especially Oakley's hold up play.I actually thought that was Oakleys best game to date, but they all did their best which is all we can ask for.Now to get a win at Morton by any means or method.

Oh and special mention for Strachan I think he looks a great prospect going forward.Good to see Billy changed formation of defence early on as the original three at back didn't work.

I could believe the amount of times Oakley was fouled today, without getting much from the ref. He was man handled, shirt pulled and brought down, without getting any of the 50/50's, so he did well in holding anything up.

[Jaggernaut]

I said to my son before kick off that I'd take a draw, considering our horrendous injury list, so I've no complaints with the point. We certainly ground out the point, with a fantastic goal from Robbie Deas, he was disappointed that he didn't score last season, so at least now he's off the mark, but his injury late in the game looked a bad one, so I hope he is not added to the long injury list long term. All we would need now is for a keeper to pick up an injury and we'd have an injury eleven!

I thought Robbie Deas was immense in defence, and scored that wonderful goal, Billy Mckay worked his socks off, and some of his close control and shielding of the ball was very impressive, if he could only have got a goal as a birthday present. Delaney for me, has been our best new signing this season, and put in another good display, and a word for our central midfield duo, Harper and Hyde, considering that you wouldn't have thought they'd be our CM's at the beginning of the season, I thought they gave everything they had, and stuck to their task valiantly. 

If we can keep grinding points out with our threadbare squad, just think how good we could be when we have everyone back and fit.

And a special mention for the late sub Strachan, the team had to readjust again, and he never put a foot wrong, and he protected our valuable point with an outstanding block, when I was convinced that it would be a late winner for Raith.

So on to Morton on Friday now, so let's hope that one or two of our injury list will be eased, and we can bring the points back up the A9.

[IBM]

8 hours ago, Jaggernaut said:

I could believe the amount of times Oakley was fouled today, without getting much from the ref. He was man handled, shirt pulled and brought down, without getting any of the 50/50's, so he did well in holding anything up.

I agree and it was the same on Tuesday night 

[givmeaccccc]

Regardless of injuries it is dsappointing that we have dropped 5 points at home against teams who will not feature anywhere near the top of the league come the end of the season. We desperatley need a leader on the park, someone who shouts and encourages, the team don't seem to get that from the sidelines.

Oh for a Kirk Broadfoot type character who would galvanise the squad. Saying that we are in a great position, keep the faith.

[Satan]

56 minutes ago, IBM said:

I agree and it was the same on Tuesday night 

I thought we signed him for the physical side of the game. Looked like he was giving as good as he was getting. If only he was as mobile as Billy.