Today is not a cure-all, but it is a step.

2-0 over St. Johnstone. It might not seem like a great result, but given the way we have played at home this season, it’s one of our better days. Last time we played the Saints, they ended our year-long road unbeaten streak, with a 1-0 defeat. The time before that, they held us at home, 1-1. So this is a team that has given us problems, despite their position below us on the table.

Moreover, this is only our third home win of the season, the other two coming against Hibs on November 20th and Aberdeen on October 2nd. We have lost seven of thirteen total at home – it’s shameful, but something Caley fans have gotten used to. The road is our home, statistically, and it has been for some time.

Anyway, the goals today came from Ross Tokely in the first half and Russell Duncan in the second. It’s not all good news, though. Our insanely long injury list added another name today, with David Proctor limping off in the second half. For those keeping count, that’s 10 players unavailable to us because of injury. For a club like ours, which doesn’t exactly excel in depth, that’s a scary number.

A win is a win, and at this point, a win at home is big for us, so today is a day to celebrate, even if the celebration is a bit muted with worry. Mon the Caley.

Well done, boys. The situation in the league has, of course, taken a downward turn since the last time I was able to update this blog. After a glorious start to the SPL campaign, we have yet to win a match in 2011, losing three and drawing two so far. Our form is loss-draw-loss-draw-loss this early year, and we need to quickly reverse that trend if we’re going to stay in the top half of the league. We now sit 5th, but only one point above 8th place Motherwell in an incredibly tight SPL midtable. In fact, seeing that Dundee United have no less than four (!) games in hand over us and are even on points, I think we can realistically put ourselves sixth.

The rest of February pits us against all bottom-half teams, and we need wins from this stretch:

12 February: St. Mirren vs. Caley
19 February: Caley vs. St. Johnstone
26 February: Hibernian vs. Caley

Time for a turnaround. Maybe today’s big win can help get us back to form. Mon the Caley.

The streak is over, and it couldn’t have lasted forever … but I guess I didn’t think it would end at St. Johnstone. We can hold Celtic, we can hold Rangers, but oh – those Saints were just too much for us. I know that results don’t work that way – that every game is different, and it was pretty incredible that it lasted as long as it did, but still. Ugh.

Well, since my last post, there have been three results, the first three of 2011. They are as follows:

SPL: St. Johnstone 1-0 Inverness CT
Scottish Cup: Inverness CT 2-0 Elgin City
SPL (today): Motherwell 0-0 Inverness CT

The Scottish Cup win over neighbors Elgin was nearly a disaster, and stayed 0-0 until extra time, where both of our goals came. Other than that, we have been kept completely off the scoreboard. Two SPL matches since the break – 0 goals. Away at St. Johnstone and Motherwell … not the kind of places we should concede clean sheets.

Having a look at the league table, the draw today sees us staying in 5th position, three points behind Killie and three points ahead of Motherwell, who both have a game in hand over us. Hearts are running away with the third-place spot, now eight points clear of 4th. The season is taking shape, and although I’d be thrilled with finishing the season in 5th (along with maybe a good Cup run?), we’ll need to find the net if we’re going to stay there, or even remain in the top half of the SPL.

Mon the Caley.

KILMARNOCK
Overall record: 7 wins, 3 draws, 7 losses
Table position: 5th with 24 points, three points below Caley
Away record: 3 wins, 3 draws, 2 losses
Last away result: Celtic 1-1 Kilmarnock
Danger man: Conor Sammon

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A look at Kilmarnock’s season shows how similar they are to our own Caley Thistle. Both are teams currently punching above what most of the league considers their weight. Both have done it largely on strong road performances and struggled at home. Both Killie and Caley have lost 5 of 9 home matches so far this season. Both teams have one very productive scorer, Sammon having one more league goal this season than our man Rooney. Last Tuesday, they frustrated Celtic and very nearly beat them, only an 84th minute equalizer saving a point for the Hoops. The last time we played them was 23 October and ended up in a 2-1 away win for the Caley, and they have not lost on the road since the week before that. They dismantled Hearts and St. Johnstone in back to back 3-0 away wins. This is a tough team.

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Squads
Inverness : Esson, Tokely, Munro, Cox, Shinnie, Duff, Hayes, Ross, Foran, Rooney, Odhiambo, Sutherland, Golabek, McBain, Tuffey, Morrison, Duncan, Sanchez, Innes, Blumenshtein.

Kilmarnock: Bell, Fowler, Wright, Gordon, Hamill, Taouil, Bryson, Pascali, Kelly, Eremenko, Sammon, Clancy, Letheren, Hay, Rui Miguel, Sissoko, Invincibile, Silva.

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Terry Butcher has called for a strong rebound from this weekend’s loss to St. Mirren, and we’ll need it. We played timidly, especially in the second half, and if we do that against Killie, we will lose again.

Let’s get to 2011 in the top four. Mon the Caley.

The second half saw two lovely opportunities for our marksman Adam Rooney, and two gloriously failed attempts. One of them should have been a goal – he has to finish that ball. Nick Ross had a chance too, but went badly high. Target practice will be heavily stressed this week. This has happened so many times, is such a familiar script, that I knew what was coming. Early lead squandered, chances at retaking it missed over and over … and of course, a late winner by the enemy. It was Thomson again, from long range.

I’m a competitive person, and as such, there’s no such thing as a good loss. But a loss at home, to a team we know we are capable of beating on a good or even decent day, that hurts the most. Caledonian Stadium is not a fortress; it’s not even a locked home. It’s a halfway house, where poor teams from around the country can come, have a warm meal, and get back on their feet. Our guests are far too comfortable, and it’s really starting to piss me off.

Mon the Caley.

ST. MIRREN
League standing: 10th
13 points from 16 matches, -13 goal difference
Away record: 1 win, 1 draw, 5 losses
Squad available: Samson, van Zanten, McAusland, Potter, McGregor, Travner, Thomson, Cregg, McLean, Higdon, McGowan, McQuade, Gallacher, Lynch, Barron, Mooy, Love, Dargo.
Danger men: Michael Higdon, Craig Dargo

This may or may not be the return match of Craig Dargo from his injury woes, but if it is, I would throw out the statistics and call him the bigger danger than team scoring leader Higdon. Dargo was one of our best when he played for Caley, and he’s shown us since that he loves to score at Caledonian Stadium, regardless of what team he plays for. We have a few returns of our own, with Gil Blumenstein and Chris Innes. Eric Odhiambo will also be available. Jonny Hayes is a doubt, and frankly, I’d like to see him not play. We need him for a season, not a match, and if there’s a match I’m okay with missing him for, it’s the Buddies at home.

Their away record is about as good as our home one. As legendarily good as we have been on the road, we still cannot defend our home stadium, and the players know it. This is a relegation-threatened team we’re facing, and we need to be able to beat them in Inverness. I think we can, even without the brilliance that Jonny Hayes has shown of late. We’ll need Foran and Rooney to take us ahead, and we’ll need Rossco, Munro and the rest of the backline to pretend they’re on the road and keep us clean. This is a winnable match, and a home win would do wonders for us. Imagine if the SPL feared coming to Inverness the way they fear us coming to them. It’s a happy thought. Mon the Caley.

“It’s a fairy tale, the tale of Inverness Caley Thistle and what we do on the road, it’s just incredible.” – Terry Butcher. Damned right.

There have been plenty of notable moments along the way, like stopping Rangers’ 9-game winning streak to start the season. This game is something of an event in itself, being that Hearts had won seven matches in a row in the league, and sit one spot above us only three points behind Celtic.

It really has been an incredible year: the promotion, the dominating Spring that saw us break away from all challengers in the First Division, and a run that has seen us go fourth place in the SPL.

Now if we could only do nearly the same job at home, we’d be talking Europe.

“I think teams are fearing us, we’ve got guys who will go out there and attack, we’ve got the skill and the speed and we will cause teams bother.”

He’s right – we’re not sneaking up on anyone, not anymore. Not after three matches unbeaten against the Old Firm this season, and not sitting in fourth place in December.

The last time we faced Hearts was in Inverness, back in September, and they took us 3-1. As much as they are looking to gain points on Celtic (unlikely since the Bhoys should handle Hamilton, but stranger things have happened), we are looking to gain on Hearts. We’ve beaten them before, and our road record cannot be argued with, but I’d settle for a draw here. Motherwell sits three points behind us, and they have a trip to the all-too-welcoming Pittodrie to face Aberdeen, so there is a combination of results that could see us drop down to 5th.

The streak is more than a mind-blowing stat – it’s something that gives us a lot of our confidence, something that our home efforts are sorely lacking. Now, the result against Rangers does a lot to help that, but still – the streak is something for the boys to defend, and losing it could mean more than just the points and a place on the table. Let’s keep it going to the break. Mon the Caley.

We had a bit of luck to get away with this one, with Kenny Miller missing a penalty late on to keep the match drawn. Still, we’ll take every bit of this, happily.

Even better, we have a rare treat here at the Caley Offside – an actual goal video. There are advantages to playing one of the Glasgow sides after all. Enjoy Jonny Hayes’ rocket:

Video courtesy of Soccerportal

Even better, we did it in comeback fashion. The Hoops went up 1-0 late in the first half, and followed that with another near the hour mark to make it 2-0. One thing that we have not classically been good at is coming back from deficits, and it has to be said that 2-0 down to Celtic in their house is about as hard a situation as you can get in Scottish football. But Richie Foran brought one back to give us some hope, and it was good old Grant Munro, a man who has done so much for us, that delivered this point with a goal of his own. Adam Rooney, while managing to not score for the first time in what seems like years, was incredibly active all over the pitch, and gets a lot of credit for keeping Celtic on the back foot.

A great day for Caley. Less so for the other northern side, as Aberdeen was beaten and now finds themselves tied on points for the relegation spot. Strange days. But that’s for another post – this one is all happy. Mon the Caley.