Inching towards safetyDespite dominating the opening exchanges and Alfie Stewart arrowing in a sublime strike, the Caley Jags failed to capitalise on their early dominance and had to settle for a point in the end when Scott Taggart nicked a header/cross into the bottom corner early in the second half to earn the visitors their share of the spoils. It was a disappointing and frustrating result given the same happened a week ago against Annan. Stewart hit the woodwork just before Alloa equalised.  Billy Mckay had a penalty saved on the hour as was his follow up, and from that point on it looked like it would be another fruitless day. Keith Bray cracked the bar when a goal looked simpler. It almost got worse late in the game when Sammon leapt to gain a free kick on the edge of the box. Worse was to follow as it was Savage and the referee that he conned and Remi was sent off for a second 'bookable' offence. As it was, they ended up lashing a shot against the bar following the free kick with Rice blocking the rebound and eventually they were deemed offside. That would have taken the biscuit but it ended thereafter a point apiece. A better result for a poor Alloa side and a point further away from Annan for the Caley Jags. A word for Rice, good display by the promising young keeper who produced a really good save in the first half from a powerful Scott Taggert strike. However, another frustrating game and more winnable points dropped.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~With Big Musa away this weekend, young Celtic B keeper Aidan Rice was between the sticks on an emergency loan after Musa Dibaga’s Gambian call-up. Longstaff, Bavidge and MacLeod all missed out again.Alloa suffered an early setback having to replace Calum Waters in the third minute. Maybe that unsettled them as we dominated the opening exchanges and got a well worked opening goal after we moved the ball smartly down the right wing before Billy Mckay chipped the ball to the left side of the box where Alfie Stewart took a touch before drilling a shot across the keeper into the bottom corner. That ball was in as soon as it left his left peg without touching a blade of grass until after it hit the back of the net. Boom! We were in total control of proceedings for around half an hour with numerous efforts blocked or off target before Aidan Rice earned his corn saving a thunderous strike from Scott Taggart's twenty-five yard effort, diving high to his left to keep the ball out in what was the visitors first serious foray forward. From this point until the interval we seemed to lose our way slightly and it was now the visitors that were winning the midfield battle, getting second balls and picking up loose passes as we regressed. Luke Rankin had an effort saved by Rice five minutes before the interval, but this one was more straightforward than his previous save. Remi Savage picked up a booking as we had pushed forward to the left of Alloa's goals. For some reason he ended up with a yellow card for possibly a shove on the bye line as he tried to keep the ball in play. Nothing in it really but it would come back to bite him on the arse later. HALF TIME: 1-0We started the second half on the front foot and Stewart hit the keepers right post from a position similar to his opening goal at the other end of the park. Here we go we all thought and rubbed our hands in anticipation, or was it getting colder. Two minutes later Alloa levelled the game after a ball cleared from our box to the left side was crossed back in by Kurtis Roberts for Scott Taggart to get the merest of glances on the ball, and like Stewart's goal, whether it was an attempt at goal or an attempt to head the ball into the box, it was in as soon as it spun off his head with the keeper stranded at the other side of his goal. We upped the pressure on the visitors goal but too many blocked attempts and misses followed before we were awarded a penalty when Ben Brannan was upended in the box as he honed in on goal. Billy Mckay took responsibility of taking the spot kick and unfortunately Billy can't buy a goal just now. Morrison did well to deny Billy, not once, but twice as he blocked the rebound attempt as well. His third penalty save of the season. Twenty minutes later we should have been ahead but after great work Keith Bray took the more difficult option of smacking the ball off the crossbar when he should have been bulging the net. The introduction of Conor Sammon was instrumental in the red card for Savage. Sammon was fishtailing  his way across the front of the box before when he went over an outstretched leg. Referee desperate Dan saw it as a second booking and sent Savage off. We weathered the free kick but five minutes later Alloa thought they had stolen the points after they crashed a shot of our bar before Rice blocked on the line, the loose ball being poked into the net. That would have been hard to take but fortunately the far side lineman flagged for offside we think. A bit of a frantic ending to a game we should have cantered through, but given the circumstances, we are a point better off than we were last week and with Annan losing, a point further away from them with a vastly superior goal difference.FULL TIME: 1-1FT: Cove 0-0 Stenny in late game. PosTeamPldGdPts1Arbroath3017542Cove 3018493Stenny3012494Alloa Ath305415Queen of Sth30-5396Kelty Hearts300377Montrose30-5368Inverness CT304339Annan Ath30-253010Dumbarton ⬇️30-2110 Share of the points between the Caley Jags and the Wasps under the Kessock Bridge.Five points dropped in the last two games which could have secured our safety. It's going to the wire...The lack of firepower through injuries to Longstaff and Bavidge is hurting us just now with Longstaff unlikely to feature again this season and young Alfie's season in the balance with a second scan required to assess the extent of his injury. It's going to be a bumpy ride over the next six games with two difficult away games coming up next at Palmerston and Cove. Red carded Remi Savage will miss the game against Queen of the South. It doesn't rain but it pours.   FULL HIGHLIGHTS     Date:  22/03/2025  Venue: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 1655 Referee: Dan McFarlane Inverness CT: 1Manager: Scott KellacherLineup:  Rice; Brannan, Devine, Savage, Nolan (Ewan 87), Bray, Gilmour, Allan, MacKinnon,Stewart, B Mckay (R Thompson 91)Subs (not used):  Rebilas; Strachan, J Walker, S Thompson, CairnsScorers: Stewart (8)Booked: Savage (41, 86)Sent Off: Savage (86)Alloa Athletic: 1Manager: Andy GrahamLineup:  Morrison; Taggart, McKay (Dewar 46), Devine, Waters (MacKenzie 3), Roberts,Scougall (Sammon 83), O'Donnell, Donnelly (Cawley 82), Honeyman (Buchanan 63), RankinSubs (not used): Ogayi; Mullen, Neill, ThomsonScorers: Taggart (52)Booked: Roberts (36), MacKenzie (54), Dewar (90+4)Sent Off: none

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.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Match/Ticket/Supporters Bus/InfoExpressions of Interest~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our Season so Far on the parkINVERNESS 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 NEWSINVERNESS 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   

Handicap Hurdles And they're off. With a fifteen point deduction because of Administration, we started our League1 campaign again at Dumbarton under the guidance of Scott Kellacher and Billy Mckay for the first time. Danny Devine and Charlie Gilmour were missing which would make Scott Kellacher's team selection more difficult. The Son's were along similar lines to last weeks excellent win at Arbroath. It would be an uphill battle after James Hilton fired the Sons ahead but Jake Davidson headed us level after half an hour and that's how it was at the break. Ryan Blair restored the Sons lead and Hilton added a third to push the Sons 15 points ahead of Inverness. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Not much to shout about in the opening exchanges until James Hilton smacked in the opening goal from the edge of the box to put the hosts ahead quarter of an hour into the game. Inverness responded with player coach Billy Mckay firing over the bar. On the half hour and it was all square. Jake Davidson scored following a corner with a close range header, Paul Allan with the assist. The visitors upped the pressure on the home goal and Billy Mckay headed over before Adam MacKinnon's header was saved by Brett Long in the home goal. MacKinnon fired wide moments later. Mathew Shiels brought Musa Dibaga into action as the keeper saved comfortably. Five minutes before the break a neat move from a corner ended with the Sons defence having to block from Robbie Thompson as he offloaded. Hilton missed the target with a header just before the break as the ball bounced wide. All to play for in the second period.HALF TIME: 1-1No changes at the interval. Brett Long saved from Mckay's low shot five minutes after the restart and the defenders mopped up the loose ball. Dibaga again denied Hilton just before the hour. Ryan Blair edged the hosts ahead after a corner was recycled. Blair finished with a curling shot behind the keeper. Hilton had been causing problems and he notched his second of the game and Dumbarton's third after driving forward and shooting into the bottom corner. A late flurry of activity saw Remi Savage head over from a corner and Sons sub Mumbongo shooting wide on the run. The last action had Long saving from Nolan as time ran away.FULL TIME: 3-1Scott Kellacher's first game in charge ended in defeat at the Rock. Not the start we had hoped for but it was a big ask with Devine and Gilmour missing.Great Summary on CTO by Mantis: Massive disappointment in the end. So much positivity in the bar and in the stand, and the team were excellent first half. Hilton’s goal was pretty much Dumbarton’s only attacking effort of the half, completely against the run of play, but what a worldie giving Musa no chance, although he was allowed too much room to turn. The Sons started the second half much better and I always felt that if they scored first, they would win. One or two experienced pros such as Wallace and Carlo. They stuck to the basics, defended well without trying to be fancy, and hit us on the break. A couple of unforced errors cost us. ICT heads dropped at 2-1 and we never looked like coming back. Fantastic support today and great applause for the team at the end. Rather weird coming to a team with such a poor support when you are used to Championship crowds like Partick and the Pars. Hardly heard a sound when they scored. Big uphill task now. Annan beat QotS 1-0 in the late game on BBC Alba Date:  26/10/2024  Venue: Marbill Coaches Stadium, Dumbarton Attendance: 0872 Referee: Graham Grainger Dumbarton: 3Manager: Stephen FarrellLineup:  Long; Miller, Durnan, Brown, Blair, Pignatiello (Orsi 81), Wilson (McGuffie 81), Niang,Hilton (Wallace 77), Ruth (Mumbongo 81), Shiels (Gray 55)Subs (not used):  O'Neil; Young, Lynas, ClarkScorers: Hilton (14, 72), Blair (63)Booked: Wilson (80)Sent Off: noneInverness CT: 1Manager: Scott Kellacher (Head Coach)Lineup:  Dibaga; Davidson, Ewan, Savage, Nolan, Longstaff, R Thompson (MacLeod 76), Allan,MacKinnon (Strachan ), Bray (C Mackay 77), B MckaySubs (not used): Rebilas; S Thompson, Scorers: Davidson (28)Booked: Nolan (21), Savage (56)Sent Off: none

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