League Cup Preview: Arbroath v. Caley

Caley Thistle begins what I’m hopeful will be a long run in the league cup tomorrow, with the exact same opponent we got last season: the Red Lichties of Arbroath. Last year, I was one of the lucky 1200 or so in the stands at Caledonian Stadium to watch Marius Niculae score once in each half on the way to a comfortable 3-1 win. Our very favorable draw last season (Arbroath, then Gretna) took us through to the quarterfinals, but we ran into a familiar wall at Pittodrie in that round. This year, of course, the Pittodrie curse is broken, but we’ll still take a different ground anyway, if you don’t mind.

Manager John McGlashin has his boys in decent, but not stellar, shape so far this season. Their promotion from the Third to Second Division surprised a few in Scotland last season, but they’ve managed to stay in the middle of the table early in the season, with a win, a draw and two losses from their first four. Their 1-1 draw a few weeks back with still-undefeated Peterhead shows that they are no pushovers, particularly at home, and we’ll face a trip down to Angus to face them this time, rather than the comforts of Inverness.

I still fancy us quite heavily here, but we’re not beyond playing down to a lower-quality team, and so I’ll predict a 2-1 for Caley, with goals coming from Adam Rooney (who has the chance to open his account exactly like Marius did) and Andy Barrowman. No disrespect to Don Cowie - keep em coming - but I’d like to see the strikers do some striking.

Also, congratulations to Jamie Duff on making Setanta’s SPL team of the week for this past weekend. He’s a very talented young player, and has a lot of potential to keep improving. Well done, lad.

Category: Match Preview

Tags: 2nd Round, Arbroath, Defenders, Honours, Jamie Duff, League Cup, Match Preview

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