Saints v Inverness Caledonian Thistle Preview

Last updated : 27 October 2006 By Stuart Gillespie
We've now played everyone else once and are sitting with an extremely handy total of 14 points. We're also six points above the bottom placed team and - with the way things have gone so far - it looks likely that there will be many teams involved in the relegation battle, rather than just two. This is good news for us.

There's more good news with the fact we nearly have a fully fit squad for tomorrow. Only John Potter and Ian Maxwell will be missing, although Maxwell played in the reserves victory over Falkirk earlier this week. Everyone else - with the exception of Brian McGinty and Marc McAusland as they are on loan - should be available for selection.

The only change I can see to last week's starting lineup is up front. Billy Mehmet may have started the last two games and even scored against Falkirk but, in my view, he's too similar to John Sutton. Therefore, I think it's likely that Stewart Kean or Mark Corcoran (probably the former) will start the game in a bid to offer something slightly different up front. Elsewhere, the team should be the same.

Caley Thistle have won their last three games - including one at Ibrox - and will be looking to continue that run tomorrow, especially as they seem to be better away from home than at the Caledonian Stadium. Games against Caley always seem to have some added spice due to the presence of thuggish right back Ross Tokely, who crippled Chris Kerr in a horrific challenge seven years ago. He will be in for another round of abuse tomorrow, but it rarely seems to have an effect on his play.

Our record against Caley Thistle home and away is pretty abysmal. The win on the opening day of the season was just the second time we'd won in Inverness and the fourth time we'd beaten them (do the maths). They've often been inspired in the past by Paul Ritchie and have rattled goals past us with glee, spelling the end for the Saints managerial careers of both Tom Hendrie and John Coughlin. Thankfully, Ritchie has now gone and another hammering tomorrow wouldn't see us looking for yet another manager.