Start of the Season - Annan Away

[+CaleyHedgehog]

Best of luck to the team today in their cup game against Annan Athletic.

There are so many worries just now, but at the centre of it all are a group of players who just want to play football, so get out there boys and Gie It Laldy today.

C'mon Caley 

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Well I'm on ma way with Mrs IHE and the grandkids - who have never seen ICT get beat!! Watch out for a no holds barred report later.

 

[+jagster]

9 minutes ago, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

Well I'm on ma way with Mrs IHE and the grandkids - who have never seen ICT get beat!! Watch out for a no holds barred report later.

 

Let’s hope they are lucky today 

[IBM]

Not very enthusiastic about the start of the season but will be following the scores today with fingers crossed  

[tm4tj]

Into the Unknown

 

It's a journey into unchartered waters as the rebooted Caley Jags travel to Galabank Stadium, Annan, for the first competitive game of season 2024/2025. It's going to be a difficult season for pennyless Inverness unless a wealthy benefactor appears out of the Highland mist or the Battery Farm Project takes a massive U turn. I'm no holding my breath for a quick decision on either happening anytime soon. As they say around here, it is what it is, but it beats training at Kelty and and being dictated to by the very people who are responsible for the situation we find ourselves in. We will try and concentrate on events on the field and keep our fingers crossed that a resolution can be sought for the off-field issues.

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Match/Ticket Info

Panos pleads for patience

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First Competitive Meeting

Jan 24th, 1998

Scottish Cup (Rd 3)

(H)

8 - 1

We have only met twice in competitive games with both ending in resounding wins for the Caley Jags. Last meeting was in 2009 though and Annan have bedded themselves in to the Leagues well. However, given our current demise I would imagine Annan will be feeling confident about this one as Ferguson has little to choose from since our financial demise and mismanagement.

This was Ian Broadfoot's report from the first meeting in 1998: 8 - 1  The home side demolished a determined Annan side after an early fright. A loose ball found Norman Montgomery clear inside the Inverness half and he lobbed the ball over Jim Calder. Caley Thistle stormed upfield and scored 3 goals in a 6 minute spell. In 16 minutes Barry Wilson was set up by Iain Stewart just inside the area and he drove the ball low past Robert McColm. Three minutes later Brian Thomson slipped it to Stewart on the 18 yard line and he sent a low ball past the keeper. On the 20 minute mark Thomson was fouled just outside the box. He took the kick himself and sent it into the top corner. A fourth goal came in the 38th minute. Thomson and Stewart set up Barry Robson down the right and he headed straight for goal. Under strong pressure Robson hit it home. In 55 minutes Mark McCulloch cleared upfield from the half-way line and found Stewart who ran through the defence and slipped it to the side of the keeper he unselfishly sent it across to Thomson who only had to tap it in. In 74 minutes it was 6-1. A Vetle Andersen cross from the left went in off the head of defender Stanley Leslie. 10 minutes later Wilson got the seventh with a low drive from 15 yards and with 4 minutes left substitute Duncan Shearer rose above the Annan defence on the penalty spot and headed in an Andersen cross to complete the 8-1 record score. Annan's bad tempered tackling was finally punished in 86 minutes when Stanley Leslie was sent off. 

Only other Meeting: Adam Rooney (21), Robert Eagle (52), Dougie Imrie (72), Dani Sanchez (87)

Aug 1st, 2009

League Cup (Rd 1)

(H)

4 - 0

Annan Athletic: They finished 8th in League 1 last season and will be facing us at least another four times this season. New additions: Wullie Gibson (Manager) Paul Smith (midfielder, Ayr United) Paul McGowan (midfielder Cove Rangers) Josh Todd, (midfielder Queen of the South). Max Kilsby and Ryan Muir are signed on again. Loans in: Jamie Smith (GK Hamilton Academical).

Who to look out for: 

• Striker Aidan Smith became the clubs leading SPFL goalscorer last season when he passed Peter Weathersons goal total. His great work ethic and attacking running has seen him become the first name on the managers team sheet. The lively, left sided attacker started his career at Queen of the South before moving to Annan then onto Peterhead FC.
• Striker Tommy Goss joined the club from Queen of the South in the summer of 2021 and has become a firm fans favourite. The 6ft 4″ striker grabbed 28 goals last season and became the clubs record scorer for goals scored in a single SPFL season.
• A man with a wealth of experience at hailing taxis, Paul McGowan joined Dundee in June 2014 and became a mainstay and a key player for the side throughout his 9-year tenure there, making over 300 appearances for the Dark Blues. He joined Dunfermline Athletic on loan in 2023 and won both the Scottish Championship and the Scottish League One in the same season. After leaving Dundee he then spent a season with Cove Rangers.

Inverness CT: Much has been made about our plight, and the way the club has handled it. Danny Devine, Charlie Gilmour and Billy Mckay were the only big names not to be disconnected from the club. Add a couple who struggled for game time last season in Luis Longstaff, Adam Brooks and Jake Davidson and the rest of the squad is made up of fringe players and youths. Yes, that is the reality we are facing this season in League 1. It's going to be a long season methinks unless a miracle happens to come our way.

Injuries are starting early this season and we have doubts over Billy Mckay, Danny Devine Robbie Thompson and Adam Brooks, so nothing new there.

[Yngwie]

It’ll be interesting to see if today heralds the start of an exciting new era of a team rebuilt on youth, or whether we see the same turgid football as last season and find out that Ferguson had been right to shun the youngsters.

[IBM]

Oh those memories 
I think it will be the same turgid football as last season simply because that’s the way Ferguson wants to play regardless of who we have in the team. 

[Robert]

Ferguson has said we will build from the back, so the tactics will be the same.

However, with our youngsters, whilst we must accept that they will make mistakes in games, there is plenty enthusiasm and pace.

We should play to our strengths and, from what I saw in the Clach and Nairn games, that’s using the pace of guys like Bray, Thompson, Mackay and Brooks to stretch teams and make space that we can exploit.

We need to play to the strengths our players have, not try to fit them into a system that doesn’t suit them.

I look forward to hearing the post match views of those who have travelled all the way to Annan, and hope they have an enjoyable day. 

[tm4tj]

[LisleRightPeg]

No Walker or Cairns

[STFU]

We can't put a useless CEO on gardening leave but we can leave a useful Udjur out of the squad.

[tm4tj]

Aye, it's time Niko spoke up about his situation. I wonder is he on a pay per game or a clause if he plays so many games. Best player still signed for us and stalemate.

[ICTPaisley]

16 minutes ago, STFU said:

We can't put a useless CEO on gardening leave but we can leave a useful Udjur out of the squad.

Would that not make him cup tied and therefore unable to play for Queens Park? 

[Stephen Malkmus]

Ujdur won't be wanting to risk injuring himself and that stopping his move. 

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Not needed at pre-match talk ? Needed ? 

[Yngwie]

Got excited when BBC text commentary said Penalty to ICT. Got suspicious when it then credited Newman with drawing the foul to win it. A minute later it was corrected to say free kick in our half.

[Yngwie]

1 down 

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Don't deserve to be 1-0 and I am quitely impressed.

[tm4tj]

H/T report

Inverness got the season underway on the 3G surface as captain Billy Mckay sets the ball rolling. Annan were first to threaten through Aidan Smith who saw Keeper Jack Newman save low to his left after eight minutes. Adam Brooks had our first effort after being fed through on goal but shot just wide five minutes later. Annan opened the scoring in the 21st minute through a Tommy Goss header. Brooks was denied from outside the box as Jamie Smith saved his effort on the half hour and following a corner Aidan Smith's header from a tight angle was denied by Newman with a super save. Billy Mckay shot over ten minutes before the break as the visitors looked to draw level before the interval. Brooks again missed the target shooting over after a lengthy injury break for Jake Davidson. Possession was even over the first 45 but it's the hosts that have the one goal advantage.

[tm4tj]

No changes at the interval and we were very close to an equaliser two minutes into the second half as Adam Brooks saw his initial effort hit the post and the rebound fell to Calum MacLeod in the box. Alas, his effort came off the bar and Billy Mckay couldn't quite scramble the ball in. Meh! Keith Bray brought out a save from the keeper and Aidan Smith did likewise at the other end before being booked a minute later for a late tackle on Charlie Gilmour. The hosts continued to dish out the rough treatment and Quitongo was booked minutes later for being late on Bray. Brooks continued missing the target, shooting wide after the hour and he would be replaced by Robbie Thompson for the last twenty minutes. Thereafter a spate of substitutions and one of them, Calum Mackay, had an effort saved by Jamie Smith. A late header by Ferguson never troubled the keeper and it was defeat in our opening match.

FT: 1-0

[ClickbaitProponent]

Started last season led by a donkey and it seems this season is no different. Oh, and when is Gardiner leaving?

[Robert]

Meanwhile a goal and an assist for Roddy MacGregor who our Manager clearly didn’t rate last season. 

[Yngwie]

Loooong journey home for our team and fans after a defeat. In fact when did we ever have such a long journey home after losing, must be Stranraer some time last century?

[DWH]

If we can get money to pay Ferguson's apparently ludicrous salary plus keep us full time, can we not find the money just to get rid of him??

 

He clearly is no manager and is much more likely to lead us into League 2 rather than the Championship....

[caley1]

43 minutes ago, DWH said:

If we can get money to pay Ferguson's apparently ludicrous salary plus keep us full time, can we not find the money just to get rid of him??

 

He clearly is no manager and is much more likely to lead us into League 2 rather than the Championship....

We need a kit man maybe he could do that? Amazing how staff won’t work with Gardiner but they are scared to get rid of him . Mind boggles