Darren Dods eat yer heart out

[Alex MacLeod]

Defensive duo hold key to success

By Andy Dixon Inverness Courier

Published:  11 December, 2007

STATISTICS show that Saturday's win makes the central defensive pairing of Grant Munro and Phil McGuire the best Caley Thistle combination since the side entered the SPL.

Of the nine games they have started together Inverness have won six and drawn one, collecting an average of more than two points per game.

Together they have also helped keep four clean sheets ? all in their last four starts alongside each other.

Comparison to Munro's regular appearances alongside third-choice Stuart McCaffrey and former stopper Darren Dods, who moved to Dundee United in the summer, indicate that while the partnership has played fewer games in total, it averages out as the best of the last four seasons.

Club captain Munro is hopeful McGuire ? who is currently on-loan from Dunfermline ? will remain in the Highlands beyond the new year when he is set to return to Fife.

"We're starting to work off each other with us both playing well and the team is keeping more clean sheets so I hope the manager can work a deal to him here at the club," said ever-present Munro. "It would be good because it would give our partnership the chance to flourish a bit more and hopefully the team will continue to do better and keep more clean sheets.

"But it's not only about Phil and I, Richard (Hastings) and (David) Proctor have been fantastic with Michael (Fraser) being very commanding over the last few games, which has helped us as well.

"Obviously you want to keep quality players at the club and he (McGuire) is a quality player," he continued. "We have a lot of quality in the squad and hopefully the manager and director of football (Graeme Bennett) can work a deal with Dunfermline to keep Phil here longer, which would be great for the club."

Player/manager Craig Brewster praised the partnership but stressed everybody had a part to play when defending. Last week he started talks with McGuire's agent to keep the 27-year-old in the Highlands and is still hopeful of striking a deal to enable him to continue the partnership with Munro. "They are obviously working well as a pair and that's given the rest of the team a lot of confidence," he said.

Brewster signed McGuire on transfer deadline day in August and handed him his Inverness debut in a 5-0 defeat at Celtic Park in September. Since then the only other time he has lost in Caley Thistle colours was in the 2-1 home defeat against Aberdeen a month later.

A troublesome groin injury ruled him out of the November losses against Rangers at Ibrox and at home to Motherwell, but the team has won all three games since ? without conceding.

The run has added confidence to the whole Caley Thistle squad according to Munro, who was confident they could get a result at home to league leaders Celtic this Sunday. He believed positives could be drawn from St Mirren's 1-1 draw in Glasgow on Saturday.

Munro equalised against Celtic in a 1-1 draw at Tulloch Caledonian Stadium in August 2006 ? the last time Inverness took any points from the fixture ? and is hopefully of getting off the mark in this campaign soon.

Only Ross Tokely has netted among Brewster's back-line and if the manager cannot hold onto McGuire, he may have to revert back to the Munro and McCaffrey combination that has started seven matches this season in games the team have gone on to lose.

More protection has been provided by a five-man midfield in recent weeks, according to 27-year-old Munro who, believes the added competition for places has helped improve his overall game this season.

[12th Man]

I'm amazed how lucky Brewster was to find Phil at such short notice!

I thought how are we going to replace Bobby Mann as he moved on to better things Dundee ? Then along came Dods, and off to DDU ?,and same thoughts again.

Enter McGuire.

In all fairness we are lucky to have the players that we do, all adding something different to the game.

[Alex MacLeod]

Think, if we want Phil in the lineup against Dons, we'll have to shell out some cash to Dunfermline