Cove Test

It's a difficult fixture on Saturday as Inverness head East to Altens to face table toppers Cove Rangers at the Balmoral Stadium. It's a 3:00pm kick-off in what will be a serious test of our resolve to remain in League1. A few weeks ago we were rubbing shoulders with Cove. Now we are polar opposites with the Caley Jags at the South end of the table. Scott Kellacher will be looking to get his first win in charge and remains positive after taking a point from Kelty Hearts last weekend. Three weeks after this game, we will be back at Cove for a 3rd round fixture in the Scottish Cup.

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Match/Ticket/Supporters Bus/Info

Expressions of Interest

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Our Season so Far on the park

INVERNESS CT:  D L D D W D D D L  / W L  Our season got off to a slow start with a draw at home to Dumbarton followed by a penalty defeat at Annan. Another two draws against Montrose (h) and Kelty Hearts (a) before our first win of the season over Queen of the South at the Caledonian Stadium. We beat Stirling Albion 3-0 to send us into a fourth Rnd tie away to Livingston thanks to a brace from Adam Brooks and a strike from Adam MacKinnon. That was followed up by us throwing away a two goal lead at Alloa to end up with a 2-2 draw six minutes later. A Danny Devine volley and Calum MacLeod with his first goal for the club were the scorers at Recreation Park. Last time out we had a disappointing 1-1 draw at home against Cove Rangers who opened the scoring through Adam Emslie. James Nolan on loan from Manchester United's youth squad levelled the game before the hour. Next up was a home game against Stenhousemuir. Quite frankly this was a dull game with neither side able to score although Musa Dibaga did make a wonderful penalty save in the first half. Relegated Arbroath was our final game of the opening round of fixtures and despite creating enough chances, we came away from Gayfield with our second defeat of the League1 campaign. Away from League duty last weekend, we put up a good fight against Livingston in the Challenge Cup at Almondvale but lost out 5-4 in a penalty shoot-out after it finished 2-2 over the ninety minutes. Paul Allan and Charlie Gilmour were our scorers during the ninety minutes.

Our first game in the second round of fixtures turned out to be Duncan Ferguson's last stand. It ended like his first game in charge, a win as we defeated Annan 1-0 at home. Administration and management removal followed by five players being released and fifteen points being wiped off our total. First game after Admin was at Dumbarton with Scott Kellacher as head coach and Billy Mckay his assistant on and off the park. Alas it ended in a 3-1 defeat after a promising first hour. Kelty Hearts came North next and went away with a point in a 1-1 draw.

Cove Rangers: L L D L W W D L W  / W W W  After a disappointing League Cup campaign that included a 5-0 drubbing at home by Spartans, Cove got off to a poor start in the League before getting their first win five games into the season when they beat Montrose 1-0 followed by a 3-1 win at Kelty before drawing with the Caley Jags in Inverness. Unfortunately for us they have since gone four games on the trot taking full points. Three of the last four games ended 2-0 to Cove and last week they pumped Dumbarton 3-0 at the Rock. This has shot them to the top of the table with Alloa Athletic on 20 points.

The first encounter this term ended all square in the Highlands: Drab Draw: Inverness hosted Cove Rangers and were without Flynn Duffy, Lewis Nicolson and Ethan Cairns. Paul Allan and former Cove players Luis Longstaff and Charlie Gilmour had returned to the squad with Gilmour and Longstaff starting. Cove had won their last two outings and put three past Kelty Hearts last weekend with Mitch Megginson always a threat up front. Adam Emslie tapped in at the back post to open the scoring after twenty minutes. Substitute James Nolan levelled five minutes after the restart following a corner. A replacement official was required to complete the game and despite fifteen minutes added on, there was no further scoring. FULL TIME: 1-1 The only positive to take from today was Caley Jags fan Jamie MacKinnon stepping in to save the game being abandoned and running the line after the referee went off having made too many wrong decisions... Or maybe he was injured. Apparently the tannoy announcement was so successful the club will do the same at next weeks game with Stenhousemuir and will ask the fans if there is a manager in the stands willing to step in and do Dunc's job. There you go Jamie. This week running the line, next week running the club. The world is your lobster.

LATEST TEAM NEWS

INVERNESS Hope to have Charlie Gilmour back and Ethan Cairns and Lewis Nicolson will be in the squad again.

COVE RANGERS had this squad at Dumbarton and came away with an excellent 0-3 win courtesy of three second half goals. An og by Durnan started the Dumbarton rot swiftly followed by Megginson firing into the top corner. (Screamer alert!) Adam Emslie rounded it all off in the last minute slotting into the bottom corner after being set up by Megginson.

Four wins on the bounce have rocketed Cove to the top of the table after a slow start to the season that included the hammering from Spartans and being dumped out of the Challenge Cup by East Kilbride

PosTeamPldGdPts1Cove Rangers126202Alloa Athletic126203Arbroath120184Stenny121175Queen of Sth12-2176Kelty Hearts126167Montrose122168Annan Ath12-13139Dumbarton12-41210Inverness CT12-2-2