ICT v Hibernian- PREVIEW

[Andrew Fraser]

So then Mr Brewster, will it be a 4-4-2, or a 4-2-3-1, or a 4-5-1, or a 4-3-3 or something else? Whatever it is, after last week the fans will be sure he can pick the right formation again and lead Caley Thistle to victory. I am sure he is glad to have Malky back as his no.2, and it will be interesting to see how the players respond to this.

With Rankin and Proctor both producing good performances last week, they will both be in contention this week I am sure. And with Wyness a doubt, will he stick with the lone striker, and will it be Niculae? With a good record against Hibernian, ICT will be aiming to keep it going.

DETAILS

Inverness CT v Hibernian

Tulloch Caledonian Stadium

Saturday 8th December @ 3pm

SPL

Referee: Kenny Clark

Others: George Drummond, Gary Cheyne (Assistants), Mike Tumilty (4th official).

FIXTURES

Saturday 8th December:

Aberdeen v Kilmarnock

Celtic v St Mirren

Falkirk v Dundee Utd

Hearts v Motherwell

Inverness CT v Hibernian

Sunday 9th December:

Gretna P-P Rangers (postponed due to Rangers European tie midweek)

SPL RESULTS

Saturday 1st December:

Dundee Utd 0-1 Inverness CT (Black wonder strike)

Hearts (Velicka) 1-1 Celtic (McDonald)

Motherwell (Clarkson 2, Porter) 3-0 Gretna

Rangers (Darcheville, Whittaker) 2-0 Kilmarnock

St Mirren (Mehmet) 1-5 Falkirk (Moutinho 2, Thomson, Barrett, Finnigan)

Sunday 2nd December:

Aberdeen (Miller, Clark, Young) 3-1 Hibernian (Fletcher)

If anyone managed to predict the 6 score lines from last week, then they have something special about them. Going by the score lines from the 1st weekend, December is going to be an unpredictable month.

Hearts and Celtic was a tie that could have gone either way so a draw was probably the predicted result and so it proved to be. Elsewhere on Saturday, an inspired Inverness CT performance brushed aside the unbeaten home record of Dundee Utd thanks to a superb Ian Black strike. Brewster and Proctor played their first game against their old club, and showed Darren Dods that ICT are not to be messed with. Motherwell recorded a likely victory over Gretna, with a double from Clarkson and one from Porter. Rangers also got a win their fans expected, beating Kilmarnock 2-0. St Mirren and Falkirk was always going to be a close one to call with both teams near the bottom of the table. However Falkirk produced an awesome display to easily dispose of a wasteful St Mirren 5-1. With Dargo still not ready to play his first game for his new club, St Mirren could do with him now as they are starting to struggle. On Sunday, Aberdeen got a victory to lift the confidence after the defeat to Athletico Madrid. They beat Hibs 3-1, and it was evident that Hibernian missed captain Rob Jones who was injured.

So did anyone expect a Caley Thistle victory, Falkirk to score 5 or Aberdeen to bounce back from Europe. If you did, please tell me the Lottery numbers for Saturday!!

PAST MEETINGS

The teams have played a total of 10 times (10 League, 0 Cup) with 22 goals (14 Inverness CT, 8 Hibernian) between them.

Inverness CT: 5 wins (5 League, 0 Cup)

Draws: 1 (1 League, 0 Cup)

Hibernian: 4 wins (3 League, 0 Cup)

A GAME TO REMEMBER

For this weeks game to remember we take you back to one of the biggest wins in this fixture. It took place at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium in the SPL on the 02/03/2005. This was Inverness? only second game in Inverness in the SPL after ground sharing with Aberdeen for the first half of the season. Inverness out played Hibs for the whole game and deserved their 3-0 victory. Goals came from Juanjo, Brewster and Wilson. The attendance was 4443.

The teams were as follows:

INVERNESS CT: Brown, Tokely, Munro, Dods, Golabek, Wilson, Hart, Duncan, McBain, Brewster, Juanjo.

Subs- Proctor (for Hart), Bayne (for Brewster), Fatai (for Juanjo), Fraser, McCaffrey, Hastings, Prunty.

HIBERNIAN: Simon Brown, Whittaker, Caldwell, Smith, Murphy, Orman, Antonio Murray, Ian Murray, Scott Brown, O?Connor, Riordan.

Subs- Shiels (for Orman), McDonald (for A.Murray), Sproule (for I.Murray), Brown, McCluskey, Morrow, Konte.

The referee was John Underhill and there were three bookings on the day all for Hibernian: Antonio Murray, Murphy and Ian Murray. Seven of the Inverness players who started the match still play for the club (including Brewster who has returned).

FACTS BETWEEN THE TEAMS

? All League meetings between the teams have taken place in the SPL. There have been no cup ties between the teams.

? Inverness have won five out of the last eight meetings. In the five wins, Hibernian have only scored once.

? Barry Wilson is the top scorer in this fixture with 5 goals.

? In Craig Brewster?s first spell at the club, his opening game was away to Hibernian. Now in his second spell in managing the club, his first league game was away to Hibernian. This was the last fixture where Hibs won 1-0, however, Brewster will be out to prove he can get his tactics right again.

? Inverness CT are one of Hibernian?s bogey team!!

TOP SCORERS

5 goals: Barry Wilson (ICT)

3 goals: Derek Riordan (Hibs), Fletcher (Hibs),

2 goals: Juanjo (ICT), Dargo (ICT)

1 goal: Brewster (ICT), Proctor (ICT), Wyness (ICT), Dods (ICT),

Beuzilin (Hibs), Killen (Hibs), McBain (ICT)

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Marius Niculae (Inverness CT): How many more weeks will we be saying, ?its ok, he will score for us this weekend?! Had that penalty gone in at Easter Road on the 1st of September, things could have been so different. With a huge amount of bad luck, Marius is still without a league goal, but is playing some good football according to some fans. He played as a lone-striker last week against Dundee Utd, but will it be the same this week?

John Rankin (Inverness CT): Its funny what can happen in a week. This time last week Rankin was already saying he would be interested in a move to St Mirren if he had to leave to get 1st team football. However, Brewster gave him his first start of the season last weekend and it paid off as he played well. He may well feature tomorrow, depending on the formation, but one things for sure, there is now a possibility of our most expensive player staying at the club.

INJURIES

Dennis Wyness is a doubt and Ross Tokely is suspended for one more game.

FUTURE FIXTURES

Saturday 12th January 2008 @ Easter Road (Scottish Cup)

Saturday 23rd February 2008 @ Easter Road

[tm4tj]

Good work agent Fraser. :021:

[kencar]

Rankin started against Rangers so last weekend wasn't his first start of the season.

Anyway that's ancient history.

Hopefully today will be all about Hibs missing Jones more than we miss Wyness. I think the giant juggernaut is an integral part of the Hibs defence so fingers crossed he won't play. I feel we can cope better without Wyness than Hibs can cope without him!!

[+Gringo]

Nice work Andrew...

Fact: Hibernian have never scored at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium.  :014:

[Charles Bannerman]

Commentary on BBC Radio Scotland 103.5-105 FM from Mr. Bill Leckie with summaries from Mr. Brian Irvine.

For the sake of Scotty and the other "diasporate housewives"  :003: I hope this is a game which can be obtained worldwide.

[Fanoffooty]

 

    Mon the Caley  :icon_santa: :icon_reindeer:

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

I would love to see Brew going fer a 4-5-1 at home - and leaving the side unchanged - with Bazza coming on EARLIER and Bayne to run his guts off in the closing 10-15 minutes - when Marius is invariably fecked. Niculae looked really uncomfortable last week but away from home is a far different game. Playing Niculae up front alone at home is what I have been calling fer since day one - either as a lone striker or with Wyness running the lines in front of him. Niculae simply has to stop going so deep as he practically needs a feckin taxi to get back up front again.  Lets use the mans' skills fer fecks sake. Cowie,Black Rankin, Proctor,Wilson running from deep on to his lay offs and flicks - Cowie and Wilson using width on the flanks. McBain is yer extra "holding" option even if it turns him into the Invisible Man.

And whilst I am revering Marius - lets use him more tactically at corner kicks. He has some feckin footballing sense - stop getting him to attack the front post or the middle of the goalmouth - start letting him ghost in at the back post - he is more lucky to have the presence of mind where to go and what to do.

I really hope that he doesnt go fer Bayne and Marius together.  :029:  And/or drops McBain and sidles Rankin to the left.  :029:

Wouldnt it be nice to play the same team and the same system for two weeks running.

[davieB]

Gotta love this guy's comments on Hibs.net about the dark, frozen, wasteland that is Inverness....

"Posted about travel to Inverness after we went up there to play on boxing day 2 years ago and about the nightmare and dangerous journey we had coming back and feel that Inverness should be a no no for home games in dec and January due to the weather that will be encountered trying to get there in these months hopefully the ones who venture up there tomorrow get there and back safely but I for one wont be venturing near there tomorrow"

:rotflmao: :rotflmao:

Winter break anyone?? Just for us Like???

[RossP]

Gotta love this guy's comments on Hibs.net about the dark, frozen, wasteland that is Inverness....

"Posted about travel to Inverness after we went up there to play on boxing day 2 years ago and about the nightmare and dangerous journey we had coming back and feel that Inverness should be a no no for home games in dec and January due to the weather that will be encountered trying to get there in these months hopefully the ones who venture up there tomorrow get there and back safely but I for one wont be venturing near there tomorrow"

:rotflmao: :rotflmao:

Winter break anyone?? Just for us Like???

Everyone else in that thread then goes onto disagree with him, saying that we have to make the same journey back if we were to play Hibs at Easter road though. So not all Hibs fans are as insular as that one.

To be fair, I haven't met a Hibs fan that I didn't get on with. Even during the Tartan Army March in Paris there were a few that we shared various alcoholic bevarages with, who had brilliant chat.

[Scotty]

Commentary on BBC Radio Scotland 103.5-105 FM from Mr. Bill Leckie with summaries from Mr. Brian Irvine. For the sake of Scotty and the other "diasporate housewives"  :003: I hope this is a game which can be obtained worldwide.

Fortunately, Hibernian are a forward looking club who employ a team of reporters to provide Hibs Interactive with coverage that is specifically tailored to the Hibees faithful and therefore DO NOT block the BBC from broadcasting their games so we should get the game.

[davieB]

Aye, I should've added that he was quickly shot down by the other posters......bizarre comment though.

Nothing against Hibees myself either, infact, I've nothing against anyone other than OF fans.