Our record in Inverness is pretty atrocious. It doesn't manager if we're in the first division or the SPL or our manager is Tom Hendrie, John Coughlin, Gus MacPherson or Danny Lennon. We always seem to struggle there, with the current manager only recording one win there so far. In our first division days we usually returned home with our tails between our legs and an absolute hammering to show for our efforts, something which was pretty much repeated on the opening day of the season. We must put in a much better performance and get a much better result as we try to boost our hopes ahead of the split.
Even without our record, this would be a hard game. Caley Thistle are going along very nicely in the league and, while Europe looks to be beyond them, they've made second year running. Meanwhile, we're kicking about the bottom of the table and facing yet another battle to avoid the drop after the split. It's frustrating that a club with smaller crowds and, presumably, a similar budget can continually finish well ahead of us - this season proving no exception. Hopefully tomorrow we'll at least show we can compete with them on a one off basis, even if we can't do it over the course of a season.
For that to happen we'll need to go with a rather different mindset than the one we showed against St Johnstone on Tuesday night. While I missed the game (a blessing in disguise) I understand there was little fight from our players, ridiculous considering the predicament we're in and that it wasn't exactly the most frightening of opponents. Everyone needs to realise we are in big trouble, regardless of where they think we should be in the table. Get the sleeves rolled up, dig in and fight for every ball. The only people who can get ourselves out of this mess are ourselves - the other teams can go on shocking runs of form between now and the end of the season and they'll still be fine unless we get the finger out.
It's surely time for a few changes to the side after going with the same team for four games running produced a welcome win and three defeats. The win was down in huge part to the impact of Gregg Wylde and he is overdue another chance from the start. He created one and scored one against Kilmarnock yet has barely played since, so now is the time to bring him in from the cold and have him playing one side of Steven Thompson - possibly in place of Josh Magennis. If Gary Teale is fit enough start him too to give us even more width - failing that we should bring in Adam Campbell who, like Wylde, is incredibly unlucky to find himself on the bench after doing very little wrong.
Worryingly, we won't have Marian Kello available as he got injured during the week. That means Christopher Dilo will come in – an able deputy certainly but not as good as the former Jambo. Someone we almost certainly will see in the side is Jim Goodwin. He missed two games through suspension and has been benched since but it'll be a huge shock if he doesn't start tomorrow. He'll certainly sort our lack of fight - in fact he'll probably take things to the other extreme - and we really need his dig in midfield. It's rather telling that he hasn't started the last four games yet Eric Djemba-Djemba hasn't come in for him either. We have David van Zanten back but it's unlikely he's fit enough to play, while Stephane Bahoken is still missing. Would it be a huge shock if we didn't see him playing for us again?
John Hughes wouldn't have been my first choice as Inverness Caley Thistle manager. Since he left Hibs a few years ago wasn't too impressive at Livingston or Hartlepool and probably couldn't believe his luck when he got the Caley Thistle gig, especially as Paul Hartley looked to be the favourite to get the job. He's done OK since he took over, although the team is a few places down the table from when Terry Butcher was in charge, and managed to get them through to their first ever cup final. They did well against Aberdeen and could have won it before they missed out in the lottery of penalties.
Worryingly for us, Caley Thistle have a pretty strong defence. Graeme Shinnie is one of the best leftbacks in the league, although had a spell at rightback earlier in the season when David Raven was out injured. Even there he did well, with Carl Tremarco slotting in on the left. There were a few defensive issues in the League Cup semi-final as Josh Meekings and Gary Warren both got themselves sent off, although the former then had his dismissal overturned. It was rather amusing, especially as they still won, but that aside they are a good pairing and have kept Danny Devine out of the team. Dean Brill is relatively good in goals, although he has made a few errors, and Ryan Esson's time at Inverness may be coming to an end now that he is very much their second choice keeper.
To complete our annoyance, Caley Thistle have a pretty good striker to go with their handy defence. Billy McKay was mince in his first season in Inverness in terms of goals, but has been a scoring machine in the last couple of years. He's currently on 21 goals for the campaign and was the subject of a bit of interest in January. He stayed put and it's probably just as well as the rest of the forwards aren't exactly banging them in. In fairness, McKay is usually used as a lone frontman with the likes of Richie Foran and Aaron Doran playing in just behind, so in that regards their tally isn't too bad. Doran seems to be quite highly rated and might end up winning himself a move back down south in the near future.
Someone who has decided to stay put is James Vincent. The midfielder has missed a chunk of the season through injury but that didn't stop Butcher trying to sign him for Hibs. However, he has now signed a new contract and is going nowhere fast, which is good news as he has been pretty good when fit. He's one of the few members of Butcher's summer shopping to have imposed themselves in the team, with Ben Greenhalgh not playing much and Marley Watkins and Danny Williams getting the odd run out on the wings. Greg Tansey is back after a year and a half at Stevenage, while Ross Draper helps hold things together in the middle of the park. Nick Ross has been terrific alongside him and is a real attacking threat, while Liam Polwarth and Conor Pepper - who hasn't played this season - look like prospects for the future.
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