INVERNESS v DUNFERMLINE - Match Preview

Aberdeen Chairman Stewart Milne realizes that Caley Thistle won't be giving him money any more...

With tomorrow’s match representing something of a historical landmark in the history of Inverness Caley Thistle Football Club, a carnival atmosphere could well be expected in front of a reported 7200 sell-out. After achieving promotion via the First Division and the subsequent stadium/ground problems which have followed, few would begrudge Caley the chance to finally play their home games at home as opposed to forking out over-the-odds sums of money to keep Stewart Milne’s pockets warm. There are however those who would begrudge Craig Brewster’s side a win on their return to their ground, hopefully all of them wearing black and white. With some reports suggesting that as much as 1000 Pars fans could be set for the five-hour journey up north to Inverness – despite the cost of travel, tickets etc costing about as much as a U2 ticket! – an explosive encounter could be in store, with both teams – it would seem – backed by fairly large supports.

Anyone expecting Inverness to approach tomorrow’s fixture with sky-high confidence would undoubtedly be spot-on. Securing SPL football at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium aside, the First Division champions have enjoyed a fantastic season to date defying both pundits and the odds as they continue to fight tooth and nail to remain an SPL side. Whilst the vast majority of Pars fans have been in mourning since the sudden departure of Craig Brewster to the Caley Thistle hot seat, the exact opposite could be said of the Caley fans who have, for the most part, been on a high since the legendary forward’s arrival, such has been the highland side’s recent form – form which saw them emphatically overcome fellow relegation strugglers Livingston 4-1 at the Almondvale stadium last week. Confidence will also no doubt be derided from the fact that on the two occasions the two teams have met this season the highland side have the upper-hand. Only three days after the trip to Iceland the Pars went down 2-0 to Caley in a match more one-sided than a Michael Moore documentary. The second fixture of the season between the teams also adopted a somewhat Michael Moore-esque theme to the proceedings in the respect that Moore’s films usually centre around an inept and incompetent villain i.e. George W Bush, for the Pars v Caley match villain read useless twat of a referee Iain Brines!

With the Inverness masses ready to party the day and night away regardless of the result lets just hope that the Pars players can be one of those party-goers who sneak in virtually unnoticed and leave virtually unnoticed, only remembering to leave with three points. After last Saturday’s encouraging performance – if not result – against Ian McCall’s Dundee Utd, a feeling seems to be airing around East End Park that with the new signings arriving and the injury crisis easing up, the bright light that has seemed so far away in the distance all season seems to be drawing ever closer. The performances of many Pars players in last Saturday’s draw with United pointed towards a bright future with the new recruits – Lee Makel and Jesper Christiansen – in particular turning in very encouraging performances, with six of one and half a dozen of the other to which of the two, Lee or Jesper, was man of the match. With the injury list finally beginning to whittle down to something resembling more of an injured two or three, manager Davie Hay will now soon be able to have a somewhat never-ending squad of players – compared to a few weeks/months ago at least – to choose from. Missing only Scott Wilson (fit for next week’s match against Celtic) Simon Donnelly, Derek Young (both should return to full training in about a fortnight) and Greg Shields (no date has been set on Greg’s return) it could be a safe bet to assume that Saturday’s starting lineup could well be unchanged from last week’s eleven.

With Dundee meeting Dundee Utd in the Dundee derby tomorrow and bearing in the mind the fact that Livingston have about as many points or wins as they do fans, tomorrow’s fixture against Inverness could well represent an opportunity for the Pars to sneak clear of the danger zone approaching a fairly crucial period of games – although such has been the season so far it would seem that every game is as crucial as the next.

No-one likes a party-pooper, but if we can come away form the Caledonian Stadium with a win tomorrow then who honestly gives a monkey what the rest think?! Come on ye Pars!!!